It’s a year full of “new” for the Eastside’s most storied football teams. The Roosevelt Rough Riders and the Garfield Bulldogs — fierce rivals since 1925 — are gearing up for another East L.A. Classic on Oct. 24. But this year isn’t only about continuing tradition; it’s also about navigating change.
Both schools enter the 2025 season with new coaches at the helm, fresh players on their rosters, and long-awaited upgrades to their home fields.
The new school year, however, also brings new challenges. Typically, the schools’ football programs begin preparing during the summer months — but this year, preparations were disrupted by intensified immigration enforcement operations across Los Angeles, including parts of the Eastside.
Here’s a look at how the East L.A. rivals navigated a summer of immigration raids, prepared for the season, and what’s next.
Homegrown coaches at the helm
Both schools have turned to familiar faces, promoting alumni and assistants to lead their football programs.
Garfield alum and former quarterback Patrick Vargas is now the Bulldogs’ head coach after years as the team’s offensive coordinator. In 2008, Vargas led the Bulldogs to a stunning 29-28 victory over City Section powerhouse Birmingham in the season opener. He graduated in 2009.
Over at Roosevelt, Ernesto Ceja has taken over as head coach after serving as an assistant coach since 2017. Ceja brings deep roots and experience as a Rough Rider. He graduated from Roosevelt in 1995.
Ground game in focus
Both Vargas and Ceja plan to rely on their run-heavy offenses as they shape their season.
Garfield returns the core of its offense, led by senior running back Cesar Reyes and senior quarterback Robert Cedillo. Reyes is aiming to run over 2,000 yards this season.
Roosevelt, which traditionally runs the Wing-T, a run-heavy offense that utilizes multiple runners, will rely on senior captain and fullback Sebastian Clark. Ceja said they also plan to throw the ball more this year with senior quarterback Jason Moreno.
Impacts of summer ICE raids
Typically, coaches use the summer to integrate new players. But this year, schools across Los Angeles had to navigate fears from students, parents and staff as the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement operations.
At Garfield, between 10 and 15 players missed practices in June, according to Vargas.
“We were affected,” Vargas said. “Many of our student athletes messaged us, [saying] ‘Coach, I can’t attend practice. My parents don’t feel safe with me attending practice. My parents don’t feel safe taking me to practice.’”
Garfield usually takes its annual “dead period” in late June — a scheduled break when players get about two weeks off to enjoy their summer. This year’s dead period was shortened to 10 days.
“When we got back from our dead period…they kind of slowly started trickling back in, and as we got closer to officially starting, that’s where our numbers started to peak a little bit more,” Vargas said.
Over at Roosevelt, the situation played out differently. Coach Ceja said the program wasn’t directly impacted by immigration operations, but that staff was there to offer support in case it was needed.
“We told them that if there were any issues as far as immigration, if you’re being stopped, or there’s any issues with your family, just let us know, you can miss practice. That’s not a big deal. Don’t ever think that you’ll be cut because I didn’t show up because of this; family comes first,” Ceja said.
In response, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced safeguards for students for the 2025-26 school year.
New fields, same rivalry
Throughout the summer, Roosevelt held practices on the school’s softball field, while Garfield conducted theirs at Griffith Steam Magnet Middle School. The teams are now working to get used to their new fields ahead of their home openers.
At Roosevelt, the renovations include new metal bleachers, a new scoreboard and improved field lighting. The field will feature a new natural grass surface and will be surrounded by a new synthetic running track.
Garfield’s field is also seeing major improvements, including a new booster pump for its irrigation system, a synthetic turf football field, a new surrounding track, a digital scoreboard, and updated bleachers on the visiting side.
Upcoming games
Garfield opens the season at home against Bakersfield High School on Aug. 28.
Roosevelt has its first game against Paramount High School on Aug. 22, before hosting its first home game against Lawndale High School on Aug. 28.
The Eastside rivals will face off in the 90th edition of the East L.A. Classic on Oct. 24 at East Los Angeles College, an LAUSD spokesperson confirmed.
Boyle Heights Beat reporter Andrew Lopez contributed to this story.
