High School Football America Correspondent
Follow Les on Twitter @leslukach
Upland, CA
– The popping of shoulder pads and helmets is not an uncommon sound
coming from high school fields all across America during the fall.
However, on this sunny Tuesday afternoon the Upland Highlanders and their coach of 19 years, Tim Salter, find themselves in the midst of a bye week, which means practicing in shorts and helmets with no contact. At the midway point of the regular season, the Highlanders find themselves sitting at a perfect 5-0 with only one game having been a test. Salter, he of the four CIF championships, is doing his best to keep the players focused as the team works on the basics during the week.
“We are going back to the fundamentals this week” said Salter. “We are putting an emphasis on the little things as we get ready for league”.
The basics – proper stance, footwork, technique – are things the coach and his staff continuously drill into their players but are being emphasized this week. The coaching staff, many of whom have been with Salter for over 10 years, knows what the expectations are in this small community about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. The expectation is to compete for championships as anything less is considered a disappointment.
“We are a one high school town so this is big part of what we do” said Salter. “We play in front of big crowds at home and on the road. The community has been very supportive of our football program for a long time.”
College coaches have also taken notice of the Highlanders winning ways and are regularly making recruiting stops on campus. That’s what happens when you win consistently while producing Division I talent regularly; there are currently close to a dozen former Upland players in Division I.
The face of this year’s team is DL/FB Joe Mathis, a four-star recruit according to Rivals.com. Mathis, who is being recruited by a who’s who of top programs and garners most of the attention from recruiters, isn’t doing it alone. The Highlanders have no fewer than six players being pursued by Division I schools.
Quarterback Nate Romine has taken the leadership role associated with the position to heart and has made sure the underclassmen understand the privilege it is to play for Upland.
“This year he has to take more on his shoulders” said Salter. “Last year he had four guys who are now playing in the Pac-12 along with Joe (Mathis). More is expected of him because he doesn’t have the veteran group around him”.
Romine, who is getting interest from Boise St., Northwestern, and Oregon, has effectively led the Highlanders in the first five games this season.
“He’s done what we’ve asked him to do and then some” said Salter.
James Johnson, an athletically gifted safety helps direct traffic in the secondary for the Highlanders and is counted on by the coaching staff to get younger guys in the right position.
“He’s another coach on the field for us”, said Salter. “We rely on him a lot and he’s proven he can handle it. James is a very cerebral player”.
Nose guard Taloa Otuafi along with linebackers Zac Toussaint and Nafei Lokotui has proven to be a strength for a defense that’s giving up fewer than 20 points a game. Despite the loss of talent from last year’s team, Upland is focused on getting back to where they’ve been so many times before – deep in the playoffs.
Many believed last season was going to be the year the program earned its fifth CIF title after going unbeaten through a grueling non-conference schedule that included Loyola of Los Angeles and Norco, two perennial powers in the Southern Section.
“I felt like the preseason schedule we played last year really prepared us for the grind of league and the playoffs” said Salter. “That’s the difference between last year and this season, those were two tough and physical games for us”.
The non-conference schedule this year left the Highlanders scrambling to add games as both Loyola and Norco backed out of games with Upland.
“We hadn’t been tested this season until our game against Santiago (Corona) which makes me feel a little better because our guys had to really battle in that game” said Salter. “That’s what league is going to be like for us”.
The Baseline League is regularly known as one of, if not the, best leagues in the Inland Empire. The cream of the crop in the league the last few seasons has been Upland and Rancho Cucamonga, the Highlanders first league opponent this season.
Many outsiders believe that the league title will be won or lost this Friday night, just don’t tell Salter that.
“We don’t put any more emphasis on this game versus other league games,” said Salter. “Our kids understand this game is important because we don’t want to start league with a loss, but at the same time we know that if we win we still have a lot of work to do.”
Despite what the coach says, this is a very big game. The win last season snapped a four-game losing streak in the series for Upland. Two years ago Rancho won on 4th and 7 touchdown pass as time expired. Three years ago Rancho won in the waning moments of the game as well.
Naturally you would think that Upland feels like they’ve gotten the proverbial monkey off their back, but Salter disagrees, “We still feel like we have something to prove. We want to win this game like we want to win every other game, but we recognize that there is added significance to this game given what these teams have accomplished the last few years.”
The winner of this game will be in the driver’s seat of the Baseline League with an early 1-0 record and the head-to-head win. The loser will have an uphill battle to get back to the top of the league standings. One thing we know for sure, like the last six games in this series, the crowd this Friday night is in for a treat.
Helmet courtesy of California Helmet Project
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