Quick notes before the start of Orange County high school football season

Segerstrom’s football team takes the field for a playoff game last season. (Photo courtesy Mark Bausman, For OC Sports Zone).

It all begins again Thursday night with five football games involving Orange County squads, then a full slate of games on Friday.

Some thoughts going into the start of the high school football season:

• Will Orange and Santa Ana once again battle for the Orange Coast League title, like they usually do, in the final week of the league season? Or will one of the other teams pull off a surprise. St. Margaret’s joins the league for the first time.

• How are opposing teams going to stop Corona del Mar’s talented passing duo of quarterback David Rasor and receiver Cooper Hoch? Tight end Trent Merrimen, the winner of the Jack Elliott Character Award is outstanding as well and the Sea Kings have many other talented players and an experienced coaching staff led by Dan O’Shea.

• Northwood football coach JC Clarke said he hopes that star running back Adam Harper won’t have to carry the ball as often this year so he can keep him healthy for a long season. He indicated the Timberwolves may pass the ball more with quarterback Eugene Miyata leading the attack. But if the Timberwolves fall behind in a game, expect them to go with Harper to turn the tide.

• Segerstrom High School has two talented running backs returning, Noble Acosta and Noah Tagaloa, Both earned All-Big 4 League honors last season. Noah Tagaloa is the son of head coach Joseph Tagaloa, who consistently has his Jaguars battling for a CIF playoff berth. Segerstrom opens up Friday at Thousand Oaks.

• Irvine High School’s football team, led by Tom Ricci, is going for its third consecutive league title. The Vaqueros open Friday night, hosting Portola at Irvine Stadium.

• This will likely be the final year that Saddleback High School plays its home games off-campus. Coach Glenn Campbell expressed optimism that the Roadrunners will be able to play their home games in a new on-campus stadium in 2023. The 2,500-seat facility is scheduled to be open August 2023.

• Crean Lutheran High School’s football team hopes to make some strides under Coach Rick Curtis. The Saints are led by three-year starting quarterback Gavin Rogers. Senior Andrew Duberow, the 2021 Empire League special teams player of the year, leads the rushing attack. The Saints also have two transfers from Santa Margarita: Ty ‘Buck’ Benefield and Carter Jones, who Curtis has been impressed with. The Empire League competition is tough, and includes defending champion Cypress and Tustin.

• Irvine and Portola football teams both relied on explosive running backs this year. Portola had Nova Kebeli and Irvine was led by Cameron Goods. Those players have graduated, so it will be interesting to see who tries to fill the void. Both were very special backs.

• New Calvary Chapel Coach Jack McInally brings a lot of enthusiasm to the program. He’s been an assistant coach under former coach Pat McInally, his father, and seems excited about leading the Eagles.

• Sunny Hills new football coach Dave Wilde has some tough shoes to fill. He takes over for Peter Karavedas, who resigned at the end of the season to take an administrative position at the school. Karavedas led the Lancers to the CIF Division 8 championship in 2019.

• Santiago, led by second year coach Doug Ozsvath, is looking for another big year. The Cavaliers were 8-3 overall and finished in second place in the Garden Grove League with a 4-1 record last season. “Nine of 11 offensive starters return, including quarterback Daniel Gonzales and running back Art Martinez, for a team that averaged 33 points per game,” Ozsvath said earlier this summer. “Most of the O-line returns with Sera Villalobos, Daniel Rubio, Joseph Cruz, Anthony Machuca and tight end Jesse Fuentes leading the way.”

• Santa Ana High School has a talented returning junior quarterback Sergio Torres, who has the full confidence of the coaching staff. The Saints relied on outstanding running back Jason Costa last season, so it will be interesting to see if another back can step up in that role.

Hopefully that gets you ready for some football. OC Sports Zone staff looks forward to this time of the year. Football season attracts our largest reading audience every year and we’re going to be doing much of the same we have in past years. This will be our fourth season of providing scores, photos and stories for Orange County and our site remains free, courtesy of our community partners. All you have to do is go to ocsportszone.com for our coverage.

We need help from team reps and coaches to send us scores and tag us on Twitter: @OCSportsZone or email us: timburt@ocsportszone.com and as reminder, our coverage doesn’t end on Friday nights. It carries over into the weekend when many of you are looking for more photos and stories.

So, please come back and enjoy our coverage!

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

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