Sunny Hills Coach Pete Karavedas cherishes opportunity to lead North in all-star game

Players and coaches from the North all-star team gather for a team picture. (Photo courtesy OC All-Star Football Game, Arnold Leos).

Sunny Hills High School football coach Pete Karavedas is excited to have the opportunity to coach the North team in the 62nd annual Orange County All-Star Classic Saturday night at 7 at Newport Harbor.

Karavedas, who led Sunny Hills to the 2019 CIF Division 8 title, was supposed to be the South coach in the 2021 game, but it was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year, the game, sponsored by Costa Mesa United and the Los Angeles Chargers, returns and Karavedas said Wednesday he’s thrilled to be a part of it.

“For the kids to have an opportunity one last time to get out there and play high school football and many of them are playing with teammates and just to get the chance to represent their school and their family one last time is pretty special,” he said.

Karavedes said he’s been impressed with the talent on the field.

“It’s been a lot of fun, first of all, great kids from some really quality programs from around North Orange County,” said Karavedas. “What makes football fun is competing but also getting to know people, and very talented football players. Guys have been grinding, we’ve been working and we got two more practices and a walk through left and things are starting to come together nicely.

“Obviously, the South should be real, real good and it should be a lot of fun to run around Saturday night.”

Three players from Sunny Hills are on the squad: strong safety Nick Wilde, wide receiver Dylan Lawson and defensive end Josh Maldonado.

“Nick Wilde is a DB for us and was obviously a big part of our team this year,” Karavedas said. “Dylan Lawson is a wide receiver and he’s commmited to University of San Diego as a tight end. Nick has committed to Claremont McKenna as a DB and Josh Maldanado is kind of an all-purpose lineman, he played offensive and defensive line for us during the season so he’s been great to have as an all-star because we can plug him anywhere. Same thing with Nick.”

Karavedas said it’s been a challenge to put all the pieces together.

“It’s a good problem to have but we have several guys on this team who are All-CIF and all-league and they’re all used to touching the ball a whole lot, so how do you make sure you have good players everywhere and make sure you distribute the ball effectively has been a nice challenge to have,” he said.

“It’s a grind for those two weeks but we’re going to commit to this and we’re going to sell out to this and it’s going to be over really quick, so try and stop and smell the roses and enjoy it while you can.”

The South won the last all-star game in January 2020, defeating the North 27-13 at Orange Coast College. The South has won the last six games and leads the series 32-26. There have been three ties. For a story and photos on the 2020 game, click here.

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