Rio Hondo Prep's Mark Carson is SBLive's CIF Southern Section Football Coach of the Year

Carson won a CIF title with a 37-man roster out of a school with just 66 boys in 2023

It's hard to fathom winning a CIF title with just 66 boys on campus, but Mark Carson did it.

Rio Hondo Prep won the CIF Southern Section Division 9 crown with a 29-27 win over Santa Monica High, which boasts an enrollment of more than 2,500 students.

Rio Hondo Prep has 120 students, boys and girls.

The Kares finished the season 13-2 under Carson, who has been at the school for 21 years and just wrapped up his seventh season as the head football coach.

All-Southern Section high school football team: Meet SBLive's 2023 selections

Maybe, the most endearing quality of RHP's mission is its tradition and culture that requires all incoming freshman to be part of the football team. This year's 19 freshmen participated in some form or fashion, according to Carson.

"... you're going to be part of the program in some way: a manager, being in the band, do media, something like that, and support the team in some manner," Carson told SBLive in November.

Rio Hondo Prep football tradition is unlike any other, forging another CIF final appearance

2023 YEARLY AWARDS

• Player of the Year: Cornell Hatcher, Corona Centennial, Sr.

• Offensive Player of the Year: Brady Smigiel, Newbury Park, So.

• Defensive Player of the Year: Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, St. John Bosco, Sr.

• Breakout Player of the Year: Caleb Sanchez, St. John Bosco, Sr.

• Freshman of the Year: Richie Wesley, Sierra Canyon

• Coach of the Year: Mark Carson, Rio Hondo Prep