Photos: Katella and Irvine complete summer session with competitive passing game

Kade Zimmerman of Irvine hauls in a pass Tuesday against Katella (Photos courtesy Harrison Zhang, For OC Sports Zone)

Katella and Irvine football programs wrapped up summer play Tuesday afternoon with a competitive passing game at Irvine Stadium that seemed to accomplish the goals for both teams.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

Katella Coach Fred DiPalma and first year Irvine coach Tom Ricci used to meet up in Orange League games. Ricci coached Savanna before taking the Irvine job.

“Tom and I are good friends, we planned this months ago,” DiPalma said. “This was great, a great set-up and they have food for us, so that’s even better.”

Katella was 11-1 last year under DiPalma, advancing to the second round of the CIF Division 8 playoffs. The Knights won the Orange League with a 5-0 record and Ricci’s Savanna team was second.

It appears there is some talent again this year, based on the efforts of Katella quarterbacks Pherrell Scorza and Adriel Sanchez, who played on Tuesday.

“I would say average,” DiPalma said when asked about his quarterbacks. “But we’re new, neither one of them started last year. I’m happy with their progress. They’ve come a long way. We could be better, but can’t everybody?”

DiPalma said he is looking forward to the start of the season when the Knights face Valencia on Friday, Aug. 23 at Valencia.

“We open with Valencia, we want to step up to that challenge,” DiPalma said. “All we want to do is play hard and continue the tradition that’s been established the last few years and just keep the train going.”

Irvine was led by junior quarterback Beck Moss, who is moving into the starting role after being the back-up to Marc “Bubba” Filia, who graduated after setting most of the Vaquero passing records in his senior year.

“I told them the parts are all there,” Ricci said. “We just got to get in and bring it all together. When we do that, we’re pretty good. Katella is a great team. It’s a team that won CIF and goes to state (in 2017) and if we can get on the field and compete with them and intercept and throw touchdowns, that’s just gravy.

“To me, it was a positive way to end summer.”

Ricci was pleased to see Moss leading the offense.

“I’m so glad I have that kid and figure I have him for two years, it’s like having a new toy,” Ricci said. “We got to throttle back because he throws such a beautiful fade. We can’t throw fades all day. He’s a prototypical QB and he throws a great ball.”

Wide receiver/cornerback Kade Zimmeran also contributed Tuesday.

“He didn’t really play varsity ball last year and he’s been in hauling in interceptions,” Ricci said. “He’s just a force. I can’t wait to see him action because he does so many good things.”

Moss seemed to be pleased with how the day went.

“It was a pretty decent day,” Moss said. “We still have work to do, but we were doing pretty well today. We’re still meshing as a team, but we’re coming together.”

Moss said the team had some goals this summer.

“Just getting better, working together as a team and still learning the offense,” he said. “It’s still new to us. We’re still trying to learn the offense and become better.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com