High school football: Four Valley teams are playing for a shot at history on Friday
It's been 59 years since the football team at Coachella Valley High School played in a CIF championship game. The Arabs beat Mission High 28-6 in that 1964 title game.
Current Coachella Valley head coach Bill Johnson was not yet born. Most of the parents of current players hadn't been born, either.
The Arabs enter Friday's game on the road in Cerritos one win from getting back to another championship game, when they face Cerritos High in the Southern Section Division 12 semifinals.
But they are not the only high school football team from the valley staring history in the face this week. The football teams at Xavier Prep and Yucca Valley and Desert Hot Springs high schools are also playing in CIF-SS semifinal games on Friday, and none of them have ever reached a CIF championship game in their school's history.
“That’s something that hasn’t ever happened in the valley," former Palm Springs head coach Dan Murphy said. "I've never heard of three valley teams making the semifinals, let alone four. That’s so great for the valley."
The historical nature of this week is what makes it so fascinating for high school football fans in the valley. The fact that four teams from the area could play for CIF championships next week is a scenario that has never before surfaced in the storied history of high school football in the valley.
While Coachella Valley faces Cerritos (at Gahr High, 7 p.m.) on Friday, Yucca Valley will face Santa Fe at home (7 p.m.), also in Division 12. If the Arabs and Trojans both win, they'd face each other in a rematch from their Oct. 6 matchup that the Trojans won, 69-45. But this time the game would be in Coachella instead of Yucca Valley.
"It's going to be a big week, for sure," Yucca Valley head coach Jeremy Johnson said following last Friday's 35-0 win over Buena Park.
Xavier Prep, led by head coach James Dockery, will face West Covina at home in Division 10. The Saints reached the CIF semifinals in 2018, but lost that year to Linfield Christian.
Until this season, Desert Hot Springs had never won a playoff game in the school's history. Following a double overtime win last week over Baldwin Park, the Golden Eagles will travel to Santa Monica this week to face St. Monica (7:30 p.m.) in the Division 13 semifinals.
The last valley school to win a CIF championship in football is Palm Springs, in 2014. The Indians beat Serrano, 24-21, with a memorable comeback win on the Diamondbacks' home field in Phelan. Two years later, Rancho Mirage reached a CIF title game, but lost to Arroyo, 35-34 in overtime, on the road in El Monte.
In over 80 years of high school football in the valley, only Coachella Valley, Indio (2), La Quinta (2) and Palm Springs (2) high schools have won CIF titles. Palm Desert and that 2015 Rattlers team are the only other schools to reach a CIF title game in football among Valley schools.
That could all change on Friday. What's especially wild is that Xavier Prep was just 3-7 last year and did not reach the playoffs. Desert Hot Springs was 2-8. Coachella Valley and Yucca Valley were each in the playoffs but lost their first game.
La Quinta was the only valley school to even win a playoff game last season. Now, a year later, four Valley teams will take the field for a chance to reach a CIF title game.
How many of them will make that title game appearance a reality?
"The valley should be excited about this," Murphy said. "It's a great thing and hopefully the entire valley will be out there supporting these teams."
Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
Friday's CIF-SS semifinals
D10: West Covina at Xavier Prep, 7 p.m.
D12: Coachella Valley at Cerritos (Played at Gahr High School), 7 p.m.
D12: Santa Fe at Yucca Valley, 7 p.m.
D13: Desert Hot Springs at St. Monica (At Santa Monica College), 7:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Why having four valley football teams in CIF semis is significant
