Listen to the Pacific Preview Podcast below as Braden Surprenant is again joined by John Maffei of the San Diego Union Tribune, this time to talk about the Pacific League for high school football in San Diego. They are joined by Head Coach of Army Navy Academy Nehemiah Brunson as well as Head Coach of La Jolla Country Day, Tyler Hales. Braden and John give their predictions for each team as well as their preseason league champion.
ARMY-NAVY ACADEMY WARRIORS
2018 RECORD: (3-8)
JV RECORD: Not Reported
2018 NOTABLE WINS: Escondido Charter
2018 NOTABLE LOSSES: Maranatha Christian, Montgomery, Mountain Empire
STARTING RATING: -44.3
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Andrew Davis (OL), Isaiah Tangitau (DL), Drake Fialko (LB), Sam Cushman (QB), Caleb Clark (QB)
REPORT: The biggest challenges for Army-Navy this season are going to be like any season...depth and size. Head Coach Nehemiah Brunson knows that sometimes Army-Navy does not know what kind of personel they are going to get until the start of camp. With most of the players coming from out of state or out of the county to attend the boarding school, and just the sheer numbers of Army-Navy it is difficult to put a winning product on the field. They do however have Andrew Davis returning on the offensive line after being named to Pacific All-League for the second time a season ago. Drake Fialko returns as the starting middle backer for his third season so Army-Navy will have experience on their side. The most intriguing storyline entering camp is the QB battle between Sam Cushman and Caleb Clark, who both took snaps a season ago. Army-Navy is going to deal with depth issues all season, but they are used to it and although we think they are going to go (4-6) this season they can easuly finish with a winning record and sneak into the 3rd place spot in the Pacific League.
EXPECTED WIN/LOSS AND LEAGUE FINISH: (4-6), 4th in Pacific
ESCONDIDO CHARTER WHITE TIGERS
2018 RECORD: (1-7)
JV RECORD: Not Reported
2018 NOTABLE WINS: Hamilton
2018 NOTABLE LOSSES: Calipatria, Army-Navy, Southwest (SD)
STARTING RATING: -57.6
REPORT: The big story for the White Tigers entering the 2019 season is just how quickly can Jon Goodman can turn things around in his first year as head coach. In his previous 5 seasons at Classical Academy, Goodman was (32-24) *according to Partleton Sports* and took the Caimans to 3 semi-final appearances over that time span. In that same time spamn of the last 5 seasons, Escondido Charter is (8-42). It is going to take some time to get things turned around at Escondido Charter, and if Goodwin is able to pull off 3 wins this season, the turnaround is ahead of schedule.
EXPECTED WIN/LOSS AND LEAGUE FINISH: (1-9), 5th in Pacific
FRANCIS PARKER LANCERS
2018 RECORD: (11-2)
JV RECORD: (2-4)
2018 NOTABLE WINS: Tri-City Christian, Montgomery, Maranatha Christian
2018 NOTABLE LOSSES: Tri-City Christian, Orange Glen
STARTING RATING: -19.9
RETURNING STARTERS: 7 on Offense, 6 on Defense
REPORT: This is a team that is the favorite to repeat as league champions becuase they are well coached and they return many players from their CIF finalst team a year ago. The only downside is they lose impact player Ryan Sanborn who will be playing for the Stanford Cardinal this fall. Although Sanford is a kicker, he also played quarterback for Parker as well, and was like a man playing with boys. Whether or not Parker can repeat as being the dominant school in the Pacific League will rely on whether or not they can replace Ryan Sanborn.
EXPECTED WIN/LOSS AND LEAGUE FINISH: (7-3), 1st in Pacific
LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY TORREYS
2018 RECORD: (2-8)
JV RECORD: (4-0)
2018 NOTABLE WINS: Maranatha Christian
2018 NOTABLE LOSSES: Chula Vista, Tri-City Christian, Classical Academy
STARTING RATING: -26.2
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
RETURNING STARTERS: 8 on Offense, 6 on Defense
REPORT: The 2019 Torreys have a lot in common with the 2018 Cathedral Catholic Dons. The current senior class for La Jolla Country Day was apart of a State Championship run Torreys team back in 2017 as sophomores, so were the senior class last year at Cathedral Castholic. The senior class this year at LJCD also took some lumps last year as juiors going 2-8 on the season, just like the Cathedral Catholic team did in 2017 when they went 5-7. Last year Cathedral had one of the best lines they have ever had and returned a lot of impact seniors from the year prior, this season for LJCD thye have possibly one of the best lines they have ever had and they also return 14 of their 22 starters from a season ago. 2018 Cathedral Catholic Dons went on to play for a State Championship last season, we will see if the Torreys can follow suit but one thing is for sure they are going to have a bounce back season from a year ago.
EXPECTED WIN/LOSS AND LEAGUE FINISH: (6-4), 2nd in Pacific
MARANATHA CHRISTIAN EAGLES
2018 RECORD: (6-6)
JV RECORD: Not Reported
2018 NOTABLE WINS: Castle Park, Crawford, Southwest (SD)
2018 NOTABLE LOSSES: La Jolla Country Day, Coronado, Tri-City Christian
STARTING RATING: -34.5
EXPECTED WIN/LOSS AND LEAGUE FINISH: (4-6), 3rd in Pacific
