Prep Football: Arcadia Looking to Remain on Top in Pacific League

Jon Dimalante is not new to high school football. Entering his 16th season as the head coach at Arcadia High, the soft spoken coach, has reason to be excited about the upcoming season for his reigning co-Pacific League champions.

His team won the Glendale Tournament, the only passing league tournament that it has played in this summer. The Apaches, who went 7-4 last season, have two more tournaments coming up at Santa Fe High in Santa Fe Springs and at Marina High in Huntington Beach.

“We have two more weeks after this and then our dead period starts for three weeks,” Dimalante said. “The goal is for the kids to stay in shape and stay strong. All the hard work they’ve done (needs to) continue during those three weeks.”

The Apaches are led by senior quarterback Myles Carr and receiver/safety Taylor Lagace.

The later recently gave an oral commitment to the University of Washington.

“It seemed to be the best fit,” Dimalante said.  “He seemed to be comfortable (there). He’s an exciting player.”

Lagace is the first Arcadia player to commit to a major college program since Todd Golper signed with UCLA in 2009.

“The coaches up there, I loved everything about them,” Lagace said. “I saw the Christian clubs up there were solid. Just everything about it went well.”

Carr is also expected to play at a major college.

“He got offered by Sacramento State already and there’s some others,” Dimalante said. “Myles is just real versatile. His leadership and experience, all the work he’s put in during the offseason; to have that in a quarterback is a nice thing to have.”

Junior tailback Sheldon McKinley and senior tight end Robbie Haines are two others that could make a big impact offensively.

Dimalante said while his core group of skill players return, he does have some holes to fill.

“We lost some in the offensive line,” Dimalante said of graduated players. “We have one returning starting offensive lineman in Ryan Campbell. Our linebackers are young kids who haven’t had a whole lot of game experience.”

But one thing that Dimalante likes is the attitude of his players.

“We have some talented kids that want to win here and that’s half the battle,” he said.

Dimalante’s success over the years has spread out to other schools. This season he adds to his staff Chris Long, who was the head coach at league rival Hoover High in Glendale. Long will be the assistant head coach.

Long’s replacement at Hoover is Andrew Policky, an Arcadia graduate who played for Dimalante and also was later an Apache assistant coach. Long played for Dimalante at Serra High in Gardena.

“He’s been at Hoover the last three years and he did a fantastic job. He’s just working on finishing his credential. I’m excited he’s going to be over here,” Dimalante said of Long. “I’m excited for (Policky). I know he’s going to do a good job over there.”

Although his team appears to be one of the favorites for the league title, Dimalante isn’t counting on any easy games.

“Our league is competitive with Burbank, Burroughs and Muir,” Dimalante said. “Pasadena is going to be much better. From what I’ve seen they look talented.”