Week 1 previews for Culver City, the Ocean League and Division 7

[gvgrizzlyfan]

The Culver City Centaurs will open their 2018 campaign on the road, at recent traditional opening opponent, West Torrance. West has been a good challenging opponent for the Centaurs, not too soft, not too tough, well coached. They are usually a good gauge to how good/challenged the Centaurs will be that season. West may return a QB from last year, Brandon Poffenbarger, will be embarking on his senior season, but since West did not put up complete stats last year, it is hard to know for sure how good a lock he has on the starting position. There are 5 kids on the roster listed as playing QB. One player that will for sure be seen, barring injury or other issues, will be their SS & WR Dutch Silverlake. He made the Daily Breeze preseason all area team.
The Centaurs are potentially loaded with talent and look deeper along the line of scrimmage then they have been in years. It remains to be seen how many of the big guys will be actual players for Culver City but there is no doubt they should be very good in the slot and WR position. Kevin McGuire, committed to the University of Idaho, returns for his senior season in the slot position. McGuire had 922 receiving yards last year along with 9 TD receptions, averaging more than 18 yards a catch and also accounted for 4 more TD's while running the ball. They say he possess 4.48 speed. I expect he will see some action in the wildcat formation.
Fresno State bound WR Jamal Glaspie returns for his senior season after leading the team with 953 yards in receiving last year. If those two are not enough to keep track of, the secret weapon may be diminutive sized Tyler Luckett. The senior had 18 receptions last year, but 6 of them went for TD's and he had the longest reception of the year last year at 86 yards.
But the Centaurs lost their awesome QB of a year ago, Jonathan Martin, to graduation. He threw for 44 TD's last year. Attempting to fill those shoes will likely be sophomore Zevi Echaus. But he does not come with a lack of experience. Echaus was pressed into service at the varsity level last year, playing in 7 varsity games at QB. He started and played complete games in at least 2, including the first round playoff victory over Heritage Christian. The team has looked good in passing league competition this summer. Last years back-up running back, Joshua Ford, will likely be trying to fill the shoes of the graduated Brandon Oum. Ford had 4 TD's rushing last year along with 2 more receiving on just 9 catches. More on the Ocean League & Division 7 later.

 

[gvgrizzlyfan]

But what about the Culver City defense? It has been the achilles heal of the Centaurs in recent years, partly because the offense can score so quickly they can spend a lot of time on the field. But there is some excitement here too starting with more bigger linemen than previous years, including co-captain Amir Hodge, 6'4", 250, a returning starter from last year, at defensive end and captain Cortez Wright, a 6'1" 210 MLB with 4.6 speed. In the defensive backfield, 4 star division 1 prospect Kary Crump will manning one of the corners while Dominic Tatum(4.57) has transferred in from Alemany to help anchor the defensive backfield. Yes, he is related to the famous Jack.

 

[gvgrizzlyfan]

And what of the rest of the Ocean League? The Lawndale Cardinals are still the team to beat in the Ocean League. They are slotted for Division 5 in the playoffs. Their rankings have pushed up the last couple of years with the presence of RB Jordan Wilmore, 2000+ yard rusher in both of his previous years. I believe he just committed to USC. Wilmore will have to do it without the services last year's talented QB Jalen Hamler, who graduated, but he still has plenty of help, including six other Division 1 prospects of various talent levels. They are:
D1 PROSPECTS
Makell Esteen 6-1 170 Junior CB

Anthony Williams 5-10 170 Junior WR

Jordan Wilmore 5'8" 200 Senior APB

Terence Simon Jr. 6'0" 245 Senior OLB

Stan Livingstone Jr. 6'0" 175 Senior CB

Ryan Rosser 5'10" 180 Senior S

Sione Tai 6'5" 275 Senior OT

The Cardinal defense has also been tough on opponents, only giving up more than two TD's, once, during their regular season schedule last year. They should be very good again. The big question is who will play QB and can they do enough to keep defenses honest against the run. Because teams will want to do everything they can to try and stop Wilmore.
Lawndale will have their hands full right away as they face Division 3 Sierra Canyon in week 1. Sierra Canyon lost their week 0 opener to Westlake by just 35-30. The Trailblazers had some trouble getting untracked against Weslake as they were down 21-3 at the half. Perhaps a little understandable starting a sophomore QB Chayden Peery. Peery was 16 of 25 for 197 yards with no TD's and an interception, but he also got help from the Trailblazer ground game led by senior Ej Gable who carried the ball 25 times for 159 yards.The Trailblazers had 242 yards rushing overall.
I am wondering if the Cardinals have bitten off more than they can chew here in this contest. The defense will have to turn in a big effort that will allow the Cardinals offense to wait for when RB Jordan Willmore can bust out for big gains.

 

[gvgrizzlyfan]

The El Segundo Eagles are the next best team in the Ocean League. The Eagles possess the most accomplished QB returning to start this year in the Ocean League. Matt Romero passed for 1739 yards last year with 19 TD's and he also ran for 459 yards and 9 TD's. The team will go as far as Romero can take them. Coach Shevlin has been trying to hold in the reigns on his QB so he does not take off that often exposing himself to injury, but in Romero's forthcoming senior season, I think he might be a little freer to freelance and take off, particularly when tough league games come around. There is not a lot of other skill talent back from last year so they may have to rely on underclassmen to fill the void. Fortunately, there does seem to be some talent coming up. The Eagles will host Peninsula this week for the Eagles opener. Peninsula was able to pick up a 42-21 week 0 win against lightly regarded Oak Park. The win helped earn Peninsula QB Ethan Gretzinger, Daily Breeze Player of the Week honors. Peninsula will give a modest challenge to the new Eagles secondary. Peninsula may be more formidable then recent years, but if the Eagles struggle against this team, then the likely hood of any big success in the Ocean League is minimal. I don't expect that to happen to the Eagles. My expectation is that Matt Romero will be too much for Peninsula to handle.

 

[gvgrizzlyfan]

The Santa Monica Vikings are listed as the next best team in the Ocean League, projected to finish 4th. The roster consists of only 35 players and as is sometimes the case with losing teams(3-7), there are almost no stats on maxpreps.com. Talented Tony Muncy has graduated. I remember Melvin Hicks as being a player that showed some spark for the Vikings. The Vikings have a right sized test for themselves in week 1. They are traveling to take on the Compton Tarbabes who beat rival Centenniel of Compton 41-0 in week 0. But Centenniel of Compton is about the polar opposite of Centenniel of Corona. Santa Monica is a bit like the Compton Tarbabes in that they are not the worst team out there, but no one has mistaken them for a good team. The winner of this week's contest might be able to come out with a upbeat season overall, the loser will likely wallow in the shadows with other non-playoff caliber teams. I will pick the Tarbabes although you really cannot put a lot of stock into that week 0 victory.

 

[gvgrizzlyfan]

The Hawthorne Cougars are projected to finish 5th in the Ocean League this year but I consider them the most dangerous of the non-playoff Ocean League teams. Joe Taylor III returns for his senior season at RB after missing the crucial last 3 league games last year. The 4.5 speedster had gained over 1,200 yards in just 7 games.The Cougars return 8 starters on offense, 7 on defense, including a couple of very big linemen. I could imagine there would be a lot of coaches that would like to have stepped into a situation like this. QB is an unknown for the Cougars and was not very good last year. The rushing numbers might be a little deceiving too as many of the yards were gained against some horrible teams. Derwin Henderson returns as the head coach. The Cougars again should be able to open the season looking like superstars as they have managed to schedule 3 cupcakes in the first 3 weeks starting with Legacy, an LA City Division III school. But reality is likely to strike on 9/14 when they play Leuzinger, a team they lost to 55-14 last year. So don't get too excited after the early games. Reality is coming. Still, they have some factors that often lead to success for teams, so maybe, but we will have to wait for the Leuzinger game to know if they are for real.

 

[gvgrizzlyfan]

The last team and mostly lightly regarded in the 6 team Ocean League is the Beverly Hills Normans. They are currently on a 21 game varsity losing streak. Last having won in the second to last game of the 2015 season, a year they went 1-9. 2008 was the last time the Normans even tied for first place in league. However, there were some rumblings of some good things happening at the Freshmen level for Beverly Hills last year. The roster data is too incomplete to know whether there will be a substantial sophomore group on the varsity roster. Calpreps does project that the Normans will be able to break their losing streak this year, possibly in the first game, at home, against Sotomayer, a Division III LA City school. Firebaugh is the next likely victim on 9/21. Cerritos & Gardena are not out of realm of possibility either, but it would have to be a really upbeat year for the Normans to get that far. Still calpreps.com is projecting a 2-8 finish for the Normans which is a step forward when you are dealing with a 21 games losing streak. Good luck to the Normans.

 

[gvgrizzlyfan]

And now for the rest of Division 7:
Buena(0-1) of Ventura is home against Camarillo after receiving a 42-14 shellacking from well regarded Division 7 foe Santa Barbara last week. Unfortunately for Buena, this could get ugly. Camarillo beat Rio Mesa 51-7 last week and is a pretty well regarded program on the upswing, now playing in Division 4. As a matter of fact it looks like it could get ugly for the next few weeks for Buena and I am not sure they will be up to competing with the better teams in their Pacific View League either. It is early, so playoffs are not out of the question, but they look like a long shot right now.

Buena Park(0-1) suffered a similar fate to Buena last week losing 49-14 to a good Santa Ana team. Things should get easier for Buena Park for the next 3 weeks before they get pummeled by Murrietta Valley. Then the most crucial game of the regular season for the Coyotes as they will be at home for their league opener against Sunny Hills. If they can win that game, they would likely finish strong enough to lock up a playoff spot, but they are not favored in that contest at this time.

Millikan is still the #1 team in Division 7 according to calpreps.com. The CIFss post week 0 poll moved them up from #6 to #4. They had a close come from behind 7-3 victory against Carson last week. A highly regarded LA City section team. Their opponent in week 1 is Gahr, a D-6 team that beat lightly regarded LA City Jefferson 54-28 last week. Gahr had 386 yards through the air but only ran the ball for 37. Gahr gave up 296 yards of rushing to a team that apparently was not capable of passing. All this probably amounts to that Gahr should be less of a challenge to Millikan than Carson was. I expect Millikan to win by more than they did vs Carson.

The Warren Bears of Downey did not play last week. They are #2 at calpreps.com. They were #1 in the preseason CIFss D-7 poll, but dropped to #7 in the post week 0 poll. They will open at home against another D-7 foe, the St. Anthony Saints. Warren returns 7 starters on offense and 7 on defense including star QB Chris Venegas, who embarks on his senior season after throwing for over 2,500 yards and 34 TD's with just 5 pics. I suspect the Bears will have little trouble with the Saints as St. Anthony just did not look like it possessed that much talent in the little highlight reel I saw of their 24-0 shutout loss to Valencia of Placentia, another D-7 opponent. More to follow Thursday.

The Santa Barbara Dons are the #3 rated team in D-7 by Calpreps.com. The CIFss did not give the Dons a top ten ranking in the preseason poll, but they are now at #9 after their 42-14 victory over Buena.