Jones Inspires San Gabriel

At the end, when the season finally was over, Keith Jones held his head high and exhaled deeply.

Jones, coach of San Gabriel High’s football team, had just watched the Matadors lose the Southern Section Division VII championship game to West Covina South Hills, but that had little to do with his reaction.

San Gabriel’s season included suffering, celebrating and achieving feats no football team in school history had and, at the end, Jones could hardly believe it was over.

“It was a season I wouldn’t have wished on anyone,” said Jones, The Times’ 2003 coach of the year, whose team was 11-3. “It was a difficult challenge as a coach.”

Three weeks into the season, San Gabriel’s team leader and top player, Kevin Harris, was shot seven times when a fight broke out at a party. He survived, but doctors told him he would never play again. A week later, starting running back Andy Soto injured his knee and required surgery.

San Gabriel started 5-0, but lost two league games. Harris and Soto returned and helped the Matadors qualify for the playoffs, but the challenge on the field had just begun.

In the 49-year history of the school, no football team had won a playoff game. This season, the Matadors won three, including a semifinal victory over top-seeded Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe.

“It was tough to keep spirits up and the kids focused,” Jones said. “I tried to get their minds off of the events that happened and focused on a goal, but at times it just seemed like it wasn’t meant to be.

“I was fortunate to have good kids and enough talent.”

-- Peter Yoon