5A1 Central
Region
Bottomline
This region will be tougher then
most people will give it credit for. Three of the four teams made the playoffs
last year and the one that didn’t (Mt. Pointe) had a chance if they wouldn’t have
lost two of their last three games. I think this region could go a number of
different ways and definitely will go down to week 10 to decide the region
champion.
Prediction
1. Desert Vista
2. Basha
3. Corona del Sol
4. Mountain
Pointe
Breakdown
Desert Vista- I might take some flack for picking the Thunder as
my preseason favorite but let me explain my thought process. DV went 7-5 last
year and many have said they have underachieved in recent years. Take this into
consideration; they went 7-5 with 31 of their 52 players being underclassmen.
That means Coach Hinds has a battle tested group capable of doing some big
things. It also means that they return those 31 players that include
division-one talents DE Devon Kennard, WR Allante Battle, WR Luke Matthews and TE Steve Figueroa. Throw in Mt. Pointe transfer Zeb Togiai and you have a formidable core group
of players.
The Thunder’s 7-5 finish included
8 of their 12 opponents making the playoffs (6 of 10 in the regular season),
four of those games were decided by 14 points or less, so a couple of breaks
here or there could have led to a much better season. Some things DV has is
speed and talent, no one will deny that. If they can find a QB to replace Mark
Lund, they could be very good. I call for a breakout season from DV this
year.
Key Losses: RB John Trujillo, K Jordan
Litke, QB Mark Lund, DB Avory Battle, OL/DL Steve Lambe, OL Jeff Melrick, RB
Mario Abbadessa, WR Brian St. Cyr, DL Tyler McClellan, DL Robbie Peterson, DL
Matt McGuire
Key Returners: WR Allante Battle, WR Luke
Matthews, DE Devon Kennard, TE Steve Figueroa, DL Zeb Togiai, P Brock Jolly, LB
Mike Sadoway, RB Chris Jones, OL Connor
Wilson, LB Mason Stanley, DB Cole Pembroke
Basha- Don’t get me wrong, Basha was a
very good football team last year and will be good again this year. The Bears
had a lot of close calls go their way last year and it will be tough to repeat
their performance again. Examples: Of their 11 wins, 7 were decided by 14 points
or less, 9 of their 14 games were decided by 14 points or less, they scored 14
points or less 8 times, meaning their defense kept them in a lot of games. That
defense took heavy losses including their man in the middle Kyle Flannery and
sack master Joe Frias. They return only 25 of 58 players from last year’s roster
not including Hamilton transfer Quinn Evans. The Bears are very well coached and
do return a solid group of players including QB Troy Graham and a massive o-line that includes
center John Fontes and tackles Stave Sabin
and Trevor Bingham. I am not calling for a down year for Basha, just stating
that it will be tough to win 11 games again this year.
Key Losses: LB Kyle Flannery, DE Joe Frias,
OL Adam Benjamin, WR JD Blake, RB Matt Baldenegro, OL Chris Gardner, RB Will Ewing, TE/LB Steve Yena, TE Braiden Seiver,
WR Greg Freeman, DL Rudy Perez, DL Nick Hartung, DB/K Logan Myers, DB Mike
Malone, DE Kodi Otero, DL Nate Ervin, LB Will
Craghead, DB Erroll Tucker
Key Returners: OL John Fontes, OL Steve Sabin, QB Troy Graham, DB Ra’Shad Mason, CB Quinn Evans, P Colby
Denton, OL Trevor Bingham
Corona del Sol- Corona quietly went 7-3 last year in the
regular season with two of those losses being by 7 points or less to two playoff
teams (St. Mary’s and Desert Vista). They lose 21 of the 41 players off of last
year’s roster, the biggest possibly being LB Corey Benson. They might return the
most experienced secondary in the entire state with Elijah Chaing, Lucas
Starkey, Alex Tripp and Eric Benson all getting all region nods last year. RB JR
Hamm and OL/DL Trevor Stapp are two of the region’s top performers at their
respective positions. The group they return is solid and battle tested with over
half of last year’s opponents making the playoffs. The Aztecs could surprise
some people in this region, don’t sleep on them.
Key Losses: QB/K Gavin Rodriguez, TE Justin
Kelly, WR/DB/P David Coxe, QB Ryan Howard, RB Donovan Connor, RB/DL Scott Orr,
OL/DL Ryan Kelly, OL/DL Bill Kirgis, WR Josh Lange, DL Drew VanderWerf, LB Corey
Benson, DL Eric Williams, LB Tyler Blum, LB Erik Lorenz
Key Returners: RB JR Hamm, OL/DL Trevor Stapp,
OL Tyler Giannonatti, OL/DL Wyatt Cahill, RB Kyle Schmella, DB Elijah Chaing, DB
Eric Benson, DB Lucas Starkey, DB Alex Tripp
Mt. Pointe- The Pride started off the year
strong with a 4-1 record but fell apart in the last five, dropping three of
five. They went one and three against playoff opponents in that stretch. One
thing that stands out to me is they only return 23 of the 60 players from last
year’s roster, the biggest losses being bazooka foot kicker Spencer Thompson, DT
Zeb Togiai and all region MLB Kyle Drake. The cupboard is not completely bare
with the return of the dangerous Wheaton brothers Marquese and Markus returning
at RB and WR and big OL Gage Gorman returning up front. This team has some
talent but I think they would fare better in a different region because as I
stated earlier, the Central Region is pretty tough this
year.
Key Losses: OL/LB Cameron Kastl, TE Alex
Romero, LB Kyle Drake, DT Zeb Togiai, DB Chris Stamps, K/P Spencer
Thompson
Key Returners: WR Markus Wheaton, RB Marquese Wheaton, RB Ben Smith, OL Ricky Dennis,
DL Trevor Dennis
24-7Football.com Preseason All
Central Region Team
QB- Troy Graham-
Basha
RB- JR Hamm- Corona
RB- Marquese Wheaton- Mt.
Pointe
WR- Allante Battle- Desert Vista
WR- Luke Matthews- Desert Vista
TE- Steven Figueroa- Desert Vista
OL- Trevor Stapp- Corona
OL- Steve Sabin-
Basha
OL- John Fontes-
Basha
OL- Gage Gorman- Mt. Pointe
OL- Tyler Giannonatti (JR)-
Corona
K- Brock Jolly-
Desert Vista
Return- Allante Battle- Desert Vista
DL- Devon Kennard (JR)- Desert
Vista
DL- Zeb Togiai-
Desert Vista
DL- Trevor Stapp- Corona
DL- Wyatt Cahill- Corona
LB- Mason Stanley- Desert Vista
LB- Mike Sadoway-
Desert Vista
LB- Brian Rheault-
Basha
DB- Quinn Evans-
Basha
DB- Allante Battle- Desert Vista
DB- Marquese Wheaton- Mt.
Pointe
DB- Elijah Chaing- Corona
P- Brock Jolly-
Desert Vista
Coach of the Year- Dan
Hinds- Desert Vista
Offensive Player of the
Year- Allante
Battle- Desert Vista
Defensive Player of the
Year- Devon
Kennard- Desert Vista
Central Region Top 15
Players
1. Devon Kennard (JR)- DE- Desert
Vista
2. Allante Battle- WR-
Desert Vista
3. Steve Figueroa- TE-
Desert Vista
4. Luke Matthews- WR-
Desert Vista
5. Quinn Evans- CB-
Basha
6. Zeb Togiai-
DL- Desert Vista
7. Trevor Stapp- OL- Corona
8. Marquese Wheaton- RB- Mt.
Pointe
9. JR Hamm- RB- Corona
10. Steve Sabin- OL-
Basha
11. Troy Graham- QB-
Basha
12. John Fontes- OL-
Basha
13. Markus Wheaton- WR- Mt.
Pointe
14. Elijah Chiang- DB-
Corona
15. Mike Sadoway-
LB- Desert Vista