SD Prep Sports: Prep Football

www.sdprepsports.com

E-mail us at sdprepsports@cox.net

Home   Swimming/Diving   Cross Country  Track & Field   Roller Hockey   Water Polo   CIF Scorecard

2008 Prep Football
San Diego Section

Archives

2007 Season in Review
2006 Season in Review
2005 Season in Review

2004 Season in Review

2003 Season in Review

2002 Season in Review

2001 Season in Review

San Diego Section Log

Season Preview/ Mesa League
Titans get new stadium turf field, hope for renewed success in ’08

Posted Sept. 3, 2008
A new synthetic turf field and two new league opponents await the 2008 Eastlake High School football team. Another winning season could also be in the making for the defending Mesa League champion Titans.

“Both Bonita Vista and Otay Ranch will have good teams, as will Chula Vista, and both Mater Dei and Hilltop have good programs in the making. I think we’ll be challenging for the league title along with those teams this year,” Eastlake head coach John McFadden said.

Hilltop and Mater Dei replace Sweetwater and San Ysidro, both of which move over to the South Bay League this season. Mater Dei finished 5-5 last year with a trip to the Division IV quarterfinals.

Eastlake defeated Bonita Vista, 27-16, for the rights to last year’s Mesa League title, while Chula Vista paraded out to a 5-0 start last season before finishing 8-3 with a 27-0 loss to the Titans in the Division I quarterfinals.

The school’s new synthetic field turf is expected to be ready when Eastlake hosts Steele Canyon in its second home game of the season on Sept. 26 after construction delays forced renovations to begin the first week in August.

The Titans finished 8-3 last season with a history-making trip to the San Diego Section Division I semifinal playoffs. This year’s squad has lost much to graduation — particularly in the person of quarterback Derek Witte and Z-back Jeremiah Andujo — but McFadden feels he may have what he terms the “most athletic” bunch gathered on the field in school history this season.

The key to the team’s success, he said, will be in its returning offensive line. Top returners include juniors Robert Graves (6-3, 260) and Matt Cellery (5-11, 260) and seniors Owen Breeden (6-3, 275) and Ruben Cardenas (6-2, 295). Graves moves to the tight end position this year while Cellery will play guard, Breeden center and Cardenas tackle.

All-state defensive honoree Tony Jefferson (6-1, 190) will buttress the offense at the fullback position in front of new starting quarterback DeAngelo Barksdale (6-2, 175). Both Jefferson and Barksdale are juniors.

Jefferson earned accolades on defense last year at the outside linebacker position while helping lead the Titans to their eight wins in 2007. He joins senior inside linebacker Patrick Jarin (5-11, 235) as Eastlake’s two defensive bulwarks this season.

Senior Randall Williams (Z-back), junior Daniel Diaz (halfback) and senior wide receivers Luis Green and Eddie Vega — all newcomers to starting varsity roles — round out this year’s offensive skill positions. As a Z-back, Williams will serve dual duty as a receiver and running back. Vega will serve a dual role as a linebacker besides his duty in the backfield.

Several players who will be anchoring the offensive line also will see action on the defensive line.

The Titans will face one of their most challenging non-league warm-up schedules in recent memory with defending Division II state champion Oceanside, perennial North County powerhouse Torrey Pines, section Division II finalist Mission Hills, Grossmont South League runner-up Steele Canyon and section Division I champion Poway all occupying spots on the team’s slate prior to its league opener against Hilltop on Oct. 17.

“We’ll either be beat up or tough,” McFadden said in reference to his squad’s brutal non-league schedule.

With inexperience at many starting skill positions, the team’s difficult preseason schedule should provide an ample testing ground — both physically and in mental quickness.

McFadden feels this year’s team is among the school’s quickest ever.

“We’re very athletic,” McFadden said. “We have a lot of inexperience because of the guys we lost (to graduation) but speed-wise we’re as good as we’ve ever been. Our line is solid, which means our offense will be solid. From the progress I’ve seen these guys make over the summer, I feel good about this team.”

Otay Ranch reloads for Mesa League title chase

Posted Sept. 3, 2008
The Otay Ranch Mustangs finished 6-4 last season, losing in overtime to visiting Mira Mesa in the second round of the Division I San Diego Section playoffs. Head coach Brad Burton believes this year’s Mustang squad has the potential to compete for the Mesa League championship.

“Our strengths this year should be on the offensive and defensive lines where there is depth and talent,” Burton said.

Top returners include senior linebacker Bobby Mark, senior defensive lineman Emmanuel Luera, junior offensive lineman Andrew King, senior quarterback/defensive back Isaiah Hall and senior offensive lineman Ali McTar.

Mark earned all-league honors last season.

Impact newcomers include defensive back Keyhanti Henry, sophomore linebacker Lauvai Tufele, sophomore offensive lineman James Triplett and junior running back/defensive back Danny Azhocar.

Henry and Azhocar are both moving up from last year’s junior varsity squad while Triplett moves up from the 2007 freshman team. Tufele is a transfer student.
The Mustangs will have to overcome some huge losses to graduation in quarterback Marcus Vasquez, middle linebacker Mike Azhocar and linebacker/ wide receiver Sean Rush. Azhocar was named the 2007 Mesa League Defensive Player of the Year while Vasquez (Western Kentucky University) and Rush (Florida A&M) became the first seniors at the school to sign national letters of intent with a NCAA Division I football program.

As a senior, Rush had 70 tackles, 14 tackles for losses, four forced fumbles, three sacks, recovered two fumbles and blocked a PAT on defense and had 251 receiving yards and two touchdowns on offense. He was named to the 2008 SoCal Bowl.

Vasquez earned all-league, all-section, all-academic and team MVP awards in 2007.

Azhocar and cornerback Scott Catlin participated in July’s Alex Spanos Senior All-Star Classic.

The Mustangs battled three teams last year that made it to the division championships games at Qualcomm Stadium, beating Division III champion Cathedral Catholic and Division I runner-up Rancho Buena Vista and losing a close match-up against Division III runner-up Pt. Loma.

‘Road warrior’ Spartans to rely on Tutogi Express in Mesa race

By Scott Hopkins
Chula Vista High football fans, who will spend their season traveling for both home and away games, may think they’ve accidentally gone to a train station instead.
You see, senior fullback Taimi Tutogi, once he breaks into opposing backfields, is about as big and hard to stop as an Amtrak locomotive hurtling down the tracks
.
Listed as 6 feet, 2 inches, 255 pounds, the fourth-year varsity member is, simply, a man among boys who has already been offered a full four-year scholarship to a Pac-10 university. And dozens more offers are sure to follow if he shows the same form he did last year before being hobbled by a late season injury.

On numerous occasions last season, Tutogi drew gasps from Spartan fans and opponents when he blasted would-be tacklers aside and ran right over others who attempted to stop him head-on.

The first team in Tutogi’s path will be Castle Park, as the Spartans travel to the land of Troy for Friday’s 7 p.m. season opener.

But Tutogi’s success will depend on many players making their varsity starting debuts.

Head coach Judd Rachow notes the 2008 edition of his squad will be attempting to fill many vacancies left by graduated players and tight end Ruben Molina, whose family moved to Arizona.

Besides Tutogi, only senior linemen Tony Moore (6-0, 249), Gilbert Merino (6-0, 266) and Angelo Morales (5-3, 259) return as starters from a team that defeated Vista in the first round of last year’s San Diego Section playoffs before dropping a quarterfinal match against Mesa League foe Eastlake.

“It will be like on-the-job training for many of our guys,” fourth-year coach Rachow said. “How our young players perform will tell how good we’ll be this year. And we had a good junior varsity last season.”

Other teams in the Mesa League, including newcomers Hilltop and Mater Dei, are facing similar dilemmas, Rachow observed.

Rachow sees Mesa League foes as being stronger this season because of the challenging non-league schedules being played by members against top North County opponents. “But having strong teams in the South Bay makes us all stronger,” he said.

Rachow predicted “league games may come down to the team with the fewest injuries or a key play here and there.”

Spartan players expected to fill big roles include junior running backs Tyrone Richardson (5-8, 153), Anthony Stanislaus (5-5, 150), and linebackers Lucky Manu (5-10, 205), Roman Molina (5-6, 180) and Josh Leon (6-0, 210), who also plays tight end on offense.

Guiding the Spartan offense this season will be the tallest player on the team, junior Victor Perez. At 6-foot-5 and 217 pounds, Perez should be able to spot his receivers if given protection in the pocket. He replaces last season’s all-league signal-caller Taylor Julio, who is playing at Northern Arizona.

Another challenge facing Spartans players this year is beyond their control. Sweetwater Union High School District officials allowed the massive concrete bleachers on the home side of Joseph Rindone Stadium to deteriorate to the point they are now condemned. Large areas of broken concrete, showing exposed re-bar, are visible in the structure through fences with “No trespassing” signs.

Instead, Spartans “home” games will be played at Otay Ranch (three), Hilltop (one) and Mater Dei high schools (one).

While the condition of the structure was known for years, no timely planning was done to replace or retro-fit it, and district officials are now scrambling to make repairs or install aluminum replacement stands in time for the team to play its annual homecoming game on campus in the season’s last week.

Rachow noted the team’s current seniors were freshmen during his first year as head coach and that it would be a shame that they will not get the chance to play a home game.

Mesa League: Quick Hits
Two teams with contrasting student enrollments jump to the Mesa League as the 2008 prep football season begins.

Mater Dei’s Crusaders, with an enrollment of less than 800, return a stable of eight all-South Bay League performers. The small school plays in CIF Division IV but will be taking on the South Bay’s biggest schools in Mesa League contests.

Head coach Matt White can count on returning first-team offense players RB Marcel Pitre, QB Jake Marrion and PK Jason Myers. Defensively, LB Franklin Ausler returns.

Second-team standouts returning are OL Diego Chig, LB David Matranga and DBs Carlos Gonzalez and Luis Carillo.

The Crusaders stumbled to an 0-4 start last season before posting a 5-0 record in league play to claim the title.

San Diego’s Hoover High visits Mater Dei Friday at 7 p.m.

For Hilltop’s Lancers, recent years have seen them struggle outside the South Bay League, so the move looms as a challenge, even though the school has an enrollment of 2,350, placing it in CIF Division II.

Head coach Mike Martinez will welcome back all-South Bay first-team members OL Craig Ruiz and LB Casey Nicholas, who hope to show well against the Metro Conference’s largest schools.

The Lancers also started slowly last season at 0-4. With an offense that passed prolifically, Hilltop put a number of points on the scoreboard, ending up 4-1 in league.

The Lancers will travel to Horizon Christian for a 4 p.m. encounter Friday.

— Scott Hopkins

Season Preview/ South Bay League

Red Devils’ move to South Bay League could reap dividends, run at league banner

Posted Sept. 3, 2008
The Sweetwater Red Devils, according to head coach Tony Garcia, are going to measure their performance this season by three things: hustle, intensity and execution.

He gave all three elements an emphatic thumbs up — or was it a touchdown signal? — following last Friday’s scrimmage against visiting Hoover.

The 2008 edition of the Devils looks to represent itself well in the move to the South Bay League this season.

“We are excited about this season,” Garcia said. “Our kids have been working hard in the weight room and in the classroom in order to fulfill our goal to be league champion.”

The Devils took the first step in preparation of achieving that goal by participating in a full-contact camp over the summer in scenic Monterey. Team bonding also was accomplished, according to Garcia, who won CIF titles with Sweetwater in 1983 and 1984.

“We began a discussion that those teams that win championships take personal responsibility for excellence in their life — excellence in their home, classroom and field,” the SuHi coach said. “We set a goal of a 3.0 GPA for the team. This is a close-knit group of kids and it shows in their desire to work hard together. These seniors were league champions when they were freshmen. We are very excited and our overall outlook for this season is good. We are reaching out to our tradition of winning here at Sweetwater. It’s been 20 years since we won a league championship here — 20 years too long.”

The Devils scored four touchdowns in the scrimmage against Hoover, including two by senior Cesar Chavez and one each by juniors Rapi Sotoa and David Fuerte.

Sweetwater has eight returning starters: senior captain Rudy Garcia (linebacker/tight end), senior Markus Pierce-Brewster (outside linebacker/tight end), Fuerte (defensive back/running back), senior Chris Metoyer (offensive lineman), junior Jose Lopez (linebacker), senior Alejandro Carrillo (offensive line) and Sotoa (defensive back/running back).

Pierce-Brewster earned Second Team All-Mesa League honors last season while Garcia received honorable mention recognition.

Impact newcomers include seniors Tony Aguirre (offensive line), David Taele (running back/defensive lineman), Jason Salmaron (wide receiver), Chavez (running back/defensive back) and Lucas Martinez (linebacker/running back), a transfer from Mater Dei. Taking over the quarterback duty this season is sophomore Adam Aguon, who adds some genuine size to the position.

Sweetwater finished 2-7 last season (0-4 in league play) after compiling a disappointing 0-10 campaign in 2006.

Almost all in the program feel the days of being subjected to a running clock to prevent the score from ballooning to embarrassing proportion are over.

The next step, of course, will be to show those results on the field. That is going to be a very interesting odyssey this season — one made even more challenging by the recent condemnation of the concrete bleachers at Gail Devers Stadium. School administrators said ticket sales will be limited to 800 for the two games that will be played at home (Sept. 5 against Orange Glen and Sept. 26 against Christian), with seating limited to the aluminum bleachers usually reserved for visiting fans.
The annual Legacy of Pride Game against Chula Vista will be played Saturday, Sept. 13, at Southwestern College.

There is hope that retrofitting of the concrete bleachers will be completed in time for the last regular season game against San Ysidro, tentatively penciled in as this year’s homecoming game.

Things looking up all-around for Sweetwater Red Devils

Pride at Sweetwater High School is something to take note of this season. It looks to be on the rise, especially in regard to the Red Devils’ sports teams.

“The move to the South Bay League is a good move for us,” SuHi Principal Wes Braddock said. “We seem to have been in a rebuilding mode the last few years but our fortunes are about to change, I think.”

Sweetwater, along with San Ysidro, shifts to compete in the generally smaller enrollment South Bay League this season after competing against the Metro Conference’s largest enrollment schools. Sweetwater officials said the move is a “perfect fit” at this time. They prefer to term the transfer a “move over to” rather than “move down to” the South Bay League.

“The demographics in the South Bay League are a better fit for us,” Braddock said.

The SuHi principal was interviewed while watching the school’s varsity football team scrimmage visiting Hoover last Friday. While he was along the stadium sideline watching the current fortunes of the Red Devils unfold, he pointed to the lower field and smiled in regard to the future of the Sweetwater football program.

A look over the fence revealed scores of young football players huddled in groups amid the great expanse. “The National City Diablos youth football program is now in its second year and about 400 strong and is growing by leaps and bounds,” Braddock said. “The future of Sweetwater football looks good.”

The present should yield several league championships in upcoming South Bay League competition.

The general upturn in athletic fortunes at the National City campus began last season when the boys soccer team won the San Diego Section Division I championship title and the girls track and field team captured its first league championship title in a quarter of a century.

The girls cross country team finished one point out of first place in the final Mesa League standings last season and returns virtually everyone of note. The Red Devils have to be considered a favorite entering the 2008 South Bay League season. In fact, a top five finish at the section finals is within grasp for this talented group.

The SuHi cross country program continues to be headed by Tim Latham, who also serves as the school’s athletic director. He agrees with Braddock about the good timing of the move to the South Bay League.

“The best way to describe it is that we’ve just been down,” he said. “It’s not just the move that looks to help turn things around. We’ve got a lot of good coaches on campus doing a lot of good things. It’s a cycle that things go through.”

There's also other reasons for renewed pride in National City this season. On Sept. 13 at the annual Legacy of Pride football game against Chula Vista, the school will honor members of the 1983 CIF championship football team as part of official 25th anniversary festivities. Current SuHi head football coach Tony Garcia was a member of that history-making team.

Nowhere to go but up for Eagles
First senior class At Olympian high wants to leave its mark

Posted Sept. 3, 2008
It might not be wrong to pitch the Olympian Eagles as the most improved team in the Metro Conference this season. The Eagles qualified for the Division V San Diego Section playoffs in their start-up varsity season in 2007, albeit with a 2-7 regular season record. However, this is the first season that Olympian will have seniors in its lineup — making last year a learning experience and this year a chance for those players to leave their mark on the fledgling program.

“We’re getting better and better,” veteran head coach Gil Warren said. “The key is to do the ordinary things better than the other people — play smart and not give up the big play.”

The Eagles totaled 32 players at the varsity level last season; this year’s count is 44, including 11 seniors.

“We didn’t have a JV team last year. We didn’t have enough players,” Warren said. “But we had a freshman team. I kept that group together as a freshman team. They’ll be our JV this year. Several of the better kids have moved up to varsity. We have 60 kids out for freshman football this year — that’s an enormous number for this school.”

Warren admitted there are a lot of expectations this year as student enrollment has increased from 850 to 1,356 students.

He cited an improvement in team attitude and improved strength from off-season workouts in the weight room.

“We need to hold together and not be pushed around,” he said. “Football is not a contact sport, it’s hitting.”

Four players earned Second Team All-South Bay League honors last season.

Ryan Van Nostrand (quarterback) and Hollis Hulin (wide receiver/defensive back) both earned second team all-league offense honors as sophomores while Marquez Garrette (defensive back) and Christian Munoz (offensive lineman/linebacker) both earned second team all-league defense honors as juniors.
Other seniors expected to impact this year’s lineup include defensive backs Royarmani Brambila, Robert Chavira and Gabe Reyes and lineman Mario Cedano and Brandon Rodgers.

Warren said the key to the team’s fortunes this season will be the performance of its offensive line.

“Last year we weren’t very big and weren’t very strong,” he said. “The kids have worked hard over the summer to get stronger. They have confidence. They understand now what it takes. When we played a big, strong team like Montgomery last year, they got a number put on them. They’ve resolved not to let that happen again. Our goal this year is to worry about ourselves, not the other team.”

Quick hits: South Bay League
Montgomery Aztecs
An act of God prevented the Montgomery High School football team from playing the Mater Dei Crusaders for a share of last year's South Bay League title amid the devastation caused by the series of countywide wildfires. The Aztecs, over the intervening year, have grown from that experience and enter the 2008 campaign with one resolve: to win the South Bay League championship.

Redemption? Perhaps. It could taste sweet after last year's second-place finish (tied with Hilltop).

Montgomery is one of the few teams in the Metro Conference that didn't lose its starting quarterback to graduation and Marvin Bobadilla should find ample targets in wide receivers Chris Mathis and Johnny Miranda. The Aztecs will need to retool following huge hits due to the graduation of South Bay League superstars Brandon Meredith and Juan Moriel. However, head coach Julio Alcala appears to have a competent corps of players — keyed by 15 returning starters — who are motivated to make their mark on the field.

The Aztecs program has been on a decided upturn the past several seasons and it appears this year's team will continue that upward swing — perhaps to a league title.

The Montgomery offensive is buttressed by offensive linemen Jaime Orozco, Ruben Sanchez, Faaliga Siatuu, Jonathan Villanueva and Dimitrus Vlahakis. Diego Rodriguez and Billy Cook are slated to take over in the backfield. Top defensive players include defensive backs Anthony Gomez, Robert Sanchez and Tasi Carbullido, defensive ends Ryan Felarca and Michael Valle and linebackers Davon Jackson and Luis Necoechea.

The Aztecs lost by three points to Brawley in last year's San Diego Section Division III playoffs in the quest for the school's first post-season win since 1986.

Castle Park Trojans
The Trojans hit the rebuilding mode last season, stumbling out of the chute in their opening few games but steadily gaining confidence and on-field poise as the season progressed to finish 2-7 overall. Expect more of the latter this season as Castle Park looks to rebound under second-year coach John Senesky to challenge for the South Bay League title.

The Trojans return 12 starters. Quarterback Richard Cooper, running backs Dominique Fuqua and Gilbert Lopez, tight end Michael Hodges and wide receiver Adam Tolbert look to be the key players. Leo Garcia (offensive line/linebacker) earned all-league honors last season.

Mar Vista Mariners
The Mariners have won just three games in the last two seasons but third-year coach Brian Hay expects more from this year's squad that returns 15 starters and may be deeper in terms of sheer athleticism than past editions.

All-league returners include quarterback Greg Charley, defensive lineman Omar Ceja and Paul Evans. All have an additional year of experience and, more importantly, boast field presence (Charley and Ceja are both 6-1 while Evans is 6-0).

San Ysidro Cougars
Head coach Gary Pugh said the move to the South Bay League should help his team in terms of a more competitive schedule. The team’s goal is to reach the playoffs for the second time in school history.

Running back/defensive back Josh Morrison and running back/linebacker Kevin Schultz are both returning All-Mesa League selections. Other impact returners include Armando Godoy (TE/LB), Paulino Gonzalez (QB), Anthony Diega (FB/LB), Cesar Perdin (OL/DL) and Jose Figueroa (OL/DL).

Southwest Raiders
Looking past the Raiders might be the wrong thing to do this season. Running back Rosendo Luna is being touted as a breakout player while tight end Gustavo Gonzalez looks to be another offensive standout. A junior-laden offensive line is led by potential college prospect Dutcher Taylor (6-2,

Prep spotlight:
Wolf Pack gears up for defense of league title

The West Hills Wolf Pack captured last year’s Grossmont North League football championship title with a 3-0 league record, finishing 6-5 overall after a loss to Helix in the second round of the San Diego Section Division II playoffs. With 33 seniors and 19 returning starts, the Wolf Pack appears in good shape to defend its league banner.

West Hills’ top returners include seniors Christian Fonseca, Michael Lobaugh and Kyle Petersen.

Fonseca is the team’s standout utility performer at running back, linebacker and punter. He rushed for more than 500 yards as a junior and earned all-league honors as a punter.

Lobaugh will see duty on the offensive line and at linebacker. He was an all-league lineman last year. Petersen, a linebacker, is a returning three-year starter.

Impact newcomers include juniors Alan Parks (a running back/defensive back up from the junior varsity) and Cody Maxwell (an all-league transfer from La Jolla Country Day at linebacker).

West Hills defeated Westview, 28-21, in the opening round of last year’s CIF playoffs. The Wolf Pack kicks off its 2008 season with a 7 p.m. home game against Patrick Henry on Friday, Sept. 5.

High School Football Openers
Non-League
Friday, Sept. 5
Santana at Kearny, 6:30 p.m.
Patrick Henry at West Hills, 7 p.m.
Cathedral Catholic at Steele Canyon, 7 p.m.
Rancho Buena Vista at Helix, 7 p.m.
Clairemont at El Cajon Valley, 7 p.m.
Mission Bay at Granite Hills, 7 p.m.
Christian vs. Cardenas Federal Prep (Tijuana), 7 p.m. (Valhalla High School)
Mount Miguel at Southwest, 7 p.m.
Grossmont at Otay Ranch, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 6
Monte Vista at Point Loma, 1:30 p.m.
El Capitan at Morse, 2 p.m.
Foothills Christian vs. Escondido Charter, 7 p.m. (Orange Glen High School)
Valhalla (bye)