Ocean View High School’s football team, led by first year coach Jimmy Welker, is preparing for its season opener at home against Santa Ana Valley on Friday, Aug. 20. Welker, a former defensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Portola, replaces Luis Nunez, who resigned after the season.
“We’re a program in the middle of a rebuild,” Welker said. “We started summer with about 14 guys and opened fall practice yesterday with about 40. We’ve got five returning players with true varsity experience, and a good group of junior, sophomores and freshmen who will all be contributing on Friday nights this fall. We’ve overhauled our strength and conditioning program and the players have responded. Four of our five starting offensive linemen squated over 350 during our summer max week.”
The top returing players include offensive and defensive linemen Luke Crabtree, JD Barreto and Jason Cervantes. Welker is counting on big seasons from newcomers Keiki Leuta, an offensive lineman and linebacker; Haston Allen, a running back and defensive back, Frankie Armenta, a qurterback and defensive back; Seth Chuchwell, a quarterback and defensive back and Angel Adame, a wide receiver and defensive back.
Welker will bring a completely new offensive and defensive scheme and said it “has taken some time.”
“We’re really having to teach basic fundamentals and through constant reps, there’s progress daily. Having a lot of players who have missed practices due to working in order to help support their families because of COVID has been a challenge. But we’re overcoming adversity daily, we’ve restructured our fall practice schedule to accommodate and now that everyone is here and on board, I’m excited for what the future holds for this team. We are going to play a special brand of football and our players understand the decisions we’ve made as a staff are to give us an analytical and competitive advantage against our opponents.
“We’re going to go be tested each week with our schedule as many of the other programs have new coaches as well, and our young players are going to get thrown in the fire. I think we’re going to be one of the few schools starting freshman on the varsity for every game this year as we’re a one level program. And hopefully with some growth and success we can make a run to put ourselves in position to win the league and make the playoffs, while turning some heads in the community that there’s a chance to play early and often for future players who come to OV.”
2021 OCEAN VIEW SCHEDULE
Friday, Aug. 20, vs. Santa Ana Valley, home
Friday, Aug. 27, vs. Los Amigos at Garden Grove
Friday, Sept. 3, at University
Friday, Sept. 10, vs. Cerritos at Gahr High
Friday, Sept. 17, vs. Walnut, home
Friday, Sept. 24, Rancho Alamitos, home
Friday, Oct. 1, Marina at Westminster
Friday, Oct. 15, Godinez, home
Friday, Oct. 22, at Laguna Beach
Friday, Oct. 29, Westminster, home
–Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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