Football starts with sweat and hope

Football begins this week with optimism, sore muscles and a lot of learning.|

Football begins this week with optimism, sore muscles and a lot of learning.

This season, teams are only allowed to have double-days - two practices on the same day - every other day. Most area teams have a multitude of veterans returning to the varsity. Those moving up to the big team for the first time will quickly discover there is a big difference in the speed of the game and the size of the players. They will also discover that football is as much a mental game as it is physical as they learn new techniques, plays and schemes.

Casa Grande

Casa Grande, as the Gauchos usually do, will limit physical contact in an effort to reduce the possibility of injuries before the season begins. Practice will be in the evening from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., with an emphasis on integrating a bevy of talented younger skill players with a veteran offensive line.

“I’m excited about your younger guys. We have some good football players in that group,” said Casa coach Trent Herzog.

Herzog and his coaches will have to spend time finding a quarterback replacement for all-leaguer JaJuan Lawson, who is now at the University of New Mexico. Herzog said there will be a good competition between senior Brent Eger, Lawson’s back-up last season; junior JJ Anderson, coming up from the junior varsity; and talented sophomore Frank Gawronski.

Strength of the team will be the offensive line, with all five starters returning. The Gauchos will average 6-feet, 3-inches, 270 pounds across the front. Defensive leader will be returning all-league linebacker Casey Longaker, and Herzog is counting on him to set the work-ethic tone for practices.

“This will be a much different team,” Herzog said. “In the past, our strength has always been in our skill positions. This year it is in the line.”

The Gauchos will hold an inter-squad scrimmage at noon on Aug. 16. On Aug 22 they will scrimmage Piner at Casa at 4 p.m.

Petaluma

Petaluma’s Trojans are in the midst of their annual week-long camp, with the players staying together at the school.

Head coach Ricky Krist said the Trojan players enjoy the camp experience. “They love it,” he said. “This year we have a real creative group. They have set up a room on campus with a ping-pong table and moved in their TV sets and X-Boxes.”

Of course, the main order of business is football and the Trojans worked out twice on Monday and Wednesday.

Petaluma will hold its annual four-way scrimmage on Aug. 22 with Montgomery, Maria Carrillo and San Marin joining the Trojans at Steve Ellison Field.

Krist was pleased with the turnout this year, with 47 players out for the varsity and another 29 on the junior varsity team.

The learning curve for the Trojans should be a lot less steep this year, with the return of several players who received on-the-job training as young players last year. Quarterback Brendan White, wide receiver Luke Wheless and offensive lineman Travis Plank all started as sophomores for last year’s 5-6 team and are expected to be leaders this season.

Petaluma players are also expected to benefit by having new strength coach, Jeff Stanley, on campus as he transfers from Kenilworth Junior High to the high school.

A practice innovation this year is yoga stretching - done in the campus swimming pool.

St. Vincent

There were several new players on St. Vincent’s all weather turf this week, but other then that, things were pretty much the same for the Mustangs.

“Why re-invent the wheel?” said St. Vincent coach Gary Galloway, who has been successfully coaching Mustang football for four decades. His approach worked well enough last year to produce a 7-3 record, a North Central League II championship and a return to the North Coast Section playoffs.

St. Vincent has a good turnout of about 30 players for the varsity team, but Galloway won’t know for sure how many players he will have for his junior varsity team until school starts next week and he has a chance to get a look at the incoming freshman class.

St. Vincent has 17 returning varsity players, but will have to find two key replacements - for quarterback Jack Richardson and running back Derek Murphy, who was also an all-league defensive player.

The quarterback spot is expected to be filled by junior Dominic Pedersen, a talented athlete coming up from the junior varsity, while there are several candidates for the running back position.

St. Vincent will be making a coaching change this year, with Jim Cerf, who coached last year at Piner High School, replacing Galloway’s nephew, Taylor Galloway, who will skip coaching this year to devote more time to his growing family. There will still be a strong family presence on the St. Vincent staff with the head coach assisted by nephew Justin Galloway and son Ryan Galloway.

Tomales

It’s not like Tomales’ Braves were anxious to get football practice started, but the Braves did begin practice at 12:01 Monday morning, the first legal minute possible.

The early practice kicked off a week of camp that included twice-a-day practices on Monday and Wednesday.

For the Braves, the camp is not only fun, but, according to head coach Leon Feliciano, a necessity.

“It is the only way we can get them all together and survive (before school starts) we are so spread out,” the coach explained.

With enrollment dropping, Tomales continues to struggle with declining numbers out for football. To reduce the chance for pre-season injuries, the Braves will not have a pre-season scrimmage against outside opponents.

There is also a chance that Tomales might not be able to field a junior varsity team this season.

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