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Football Team-By-Team Previews (Part 20)

September 3, 2009 3:42 PM

A small school power from Southern California – Paraclete of Lancaster – and a similar school from Northern California – Sutter – are leading the way in this installment of this series. Also included are El Toro of Lake Forest, Hamilton of Hamilton City and Banning. Check back on Sunday for the final post in this series.

Note: This is the next-to-last installment of this series. Thanks to all who have sent in capsules about their teams. The series will end with Part 21. To check out our preseason state top 50 rankings, CLICK HERE. To check out our preseason CIF State Bowl Game Ratings, CLICK HERE. You can now follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/calhisports or on Facebook by CLICKING HERE

Team Name: Paraclete (Lancaster)
Head Coach: Norm Dahlia (28-9 overall)

Last Year's Records: 11-3, 8-2 for J.V.
Returning Starters: 17 (8 offense, 9 defense)
Players Most Deserving of Preseason Honors: LB/OL Todd Davis, OL/DE Brandon Owen, WR Kyland Warren, RB/DB Andrew DeLaRosa, DE Lavonte Barnett
Newcomers Who Could Make An Impact: Jonathan Tovar, Roosevelt Davis, Braydon Maish
Coach's General Outlook: One big question mark for us is who will start at QB and RB. We have many starters back at most of the other key positions and should have a very strong and stingy defense with three returning All-CIFSS players (Davis, Owen, Barnett).
Other Teams To Watch From The Area (listed by coach): Quartz Hill
All-league level players with GPAs above 3.50: Brandon Owen, Justin Vargas, Todd Davis
CalHiSports.com Comments: The Spirits started out 0-3 last season, mostly because they played up against big schools, but came back to win the CIFSS Mid-Valley Division title. We will see how good they are right away with a matchup on Friday against Serrano of Phelan, which should be one of the top teams in the CIFSS Eastern Division. If they are that good and beat Serrano, they would cement their status as one of the top Division III South teams for the CIF bowl games. Of course, with Oaks Christian, St. Bonaventure and Serra of Gardena in the 1-2-3 slots, getting up into that realm will be very difficult.


Team Name: Sutter
Head Coach: Ryan Reynolds (1st year)

Last Year's Records: 11-1, 8-2 for J.V.
Returning Starters: 12 (4 offense, 8 defense)
Players Most Deserving of Preseason Honors: LB Austin Morehead (All-State), DE Isaiah Bohmann, WR/DB Leszek Rataiczak, QB/DB Grant Campbell, OL Ryan Cargill
Newcomers Who Could Make An Impact: OG Tyler Niesen and OT Kyle Wilcox
Coach's General Outlook: We should be very tough defensively which should help make up for some of our inexperience on offense.
Other Teams To Watch From The Area (listed by coach): West Valley (Cottonwood)
All-league level players with GPAs above 3.50: None Listed
CalHiSports.com Comments: Reynolds has the tall order of taking over for previous head coach Scott Turner, who set such a high bar for the program. It would be easy to say the Huskies will drop down some with most of the offense graduated, but Sutter football has been defense first, offense second for most of the time and the defense this year should be outstanding. The team's first game is Friday at Live Oak. Watch out for the third game vs. Central Catholic of Modesto.

Team Name: El Toro (Lake Forest)
Head Coach: Robert Frith (first year)

Last Year's Records: 2-8, 3-7 for J.V.
Returning Starters: 16 (8 offense, 8 defense)
Players Most Deserving of Preseason Honors: OT Brian Roth, WR Jesse Bueno, QB Braden Olson
Newcomers Who Could Make An Impact: CB Glen Vallencamp, LB Brian Mokeen, SS Hasan Muhammad
Coach's General Outlook: We have so many returning starters back that we expect to do much better this year. We have good size and strength up front and have some good team speed on both sides of the ball.
Other Teams To Watch From The Area (listed by coach): Tesoro (Las Flores) and Mission Viejo
All-league level players with GPAs above 3.50: None Listed
CalHiSports.com Comments: It could be a strong season for the Chargers. Not only do they have a lot of returning players, but the Sea View League has some rebuilding teams, especially defending champ Foothill. El Toro isn't going to win the league title, but a winning record certainly looks in the cards.

Team Name: Hamilton (Hamilton City
Head Coach: Mark Cooley (93-38 overall)

Last Year's Records: 10-3, 4-6 for J.V.
Returning Starters: 18 (9 offense, 9 defense)
Players Most Deserving of Preseason Honors: RB/DB Omar Diaz, QB Brad Lohse, OL Colby Anderson, WR/DB Drew Knight
Newcomers Who Could Make An Impact: Zach Swain, B.J. Rosen
Coach's General Outlook: We should have a big target on our chest as we return nine guys on each side of the ball that learned a lot from last year's bowl game experience.
Other Teams To Watch From The Area (listed by coach): Modoc (Alturas), Menlo School (Atherton), Quincy, Portola
All-league level players with GPAs above 3.50: Brad Lohse, Drew Knight, Omar Diaz
CalHiSports.com Comments: There might not be too many teams in California who'd like to get that last game completely out of their system than this one. The Braves are coming off that 59-7 loss to St. Margaret's of San Juan Capistrano in the first CIF small schools bowl game and start out this weekend with a test at Menlo School of Atherton. Lohse is among the returnees after passing for 1,517 yards and 13 TDs last year while Diaz also is back after he rushed for 1,175 yards and scored 12 times.

Team Name: Banning
Head Coach: John Stockham (10-12 overall)

Last Year's Records: 7-5, 3-7 for J.V.
Returning Starters: 11 (6 offense, 5 defense)
Players Most Deserving of Preseason Honors: QB/DB Derron Smith (league MVP, all-CIF) and LB Ralph Lamas (all-league)
Newcomers Who Could Make An Impact: RB John Hunt, SS Michael McDowell, LB Eli Porter
Coach's General Outlook: We don't have much depth but we do have real good team speed and should be better than last year, in which we reached the second round of the playoffs.
Other Teams To Watch From The Area (listed by coach): Citrus Hill (Perris), Corona Centennial, J.W. North (Riverside)
All-league level players with GPAs above 3.50: QB/DB Derron Smith
CalHiSports.com Comments: Smith is one of the most talented players in Riverside County and is getting offers from numerous colleges, including Nebraska. As a junior, he passed for 1,214 yards, ran for more than 1,000 yards and also had 87 tackles and three interceptions on defense. With Smith back among the 11 returning starters, the Broncos could go far in the CIFSS Eastern Division playoffs. They still have a way to go to catch up with league rival Citrus Hill, but should give San Jacinto (another traditionally strong team out of the Mountain Pass League) a run for its money.

Teams Previously Featured In This Series


Acalanes (Lafayette) Part 8
Alemany (Mission Hills) Part 1
Aquinas (San Bernardino) Part 4
Arroyo Valley (San Bernardino) Part 7
Atascadero Part 19
Avenal Part 19
Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) Part 10
Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento) Part 12
Capital Christian (Sacramento) Part 17
Carmel Part 9
Casa Grande (Petaluma) Part 6
Casa Roble (Orangevale) Part 1
Castlemont (Oakland) Part 15
Centennial (Corona) Part 5
Central Valley Christian (Visalia) Part 9
Chaminade (West Hills) Part 13
Citrus Hill (Perris) Part 1
Clayton Valley (Concord) Part 12
Compton Part 2
Corona Part 3
Del Oro (Loomis) Part 16
East Nicolaus (Nicolaus) Part 1
Eastlake (Chula Vista) Part 2
Edison (Huntington Beach) Part 11
Escalon Part 15
Foothill (Palo Cedro) Part 8
Foothill (Pleasanton) Part 2
Francis Parker (San Diego) Part 7
Granite Bay Part 7
Grant (Sacramento) Part 9
Hilmar Part 18
Kearny (San Diego) Part 17
La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) Part 14
Lincoln (Stockton) Part 11
Los Gatos Part 3
Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga) Part 19
Loyola (Los Angeles) Part 14
Lutheran (Orange) Part 16
M.L. King (Riverside) Part 18
Marin Catholic (Kentfield) Part 3
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) Part 3
Milpitas Part 4
Mission Hills (San Marcos) Part 5
Mission Viejo Part 7
Modoc (Alturas) Part 13
Monte Vista (Danville) Part 17
Mt. Pleasant (San Jose) Part 17
Napa Part 10
Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) Part 8
Oakdale Part 6
Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) Part 12
Oceanside Part 10
Palmdale Part 11
Paloma Valley (Menifee) Part 16
Paso Robles Part 15
Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) Part 13
Poly (Long Beach) Part 15
Ponderosa (Shingle Springs) Part 5
Rocklin Part 18
San Pedro Part 8
Santiago (Corona) Part 9
Serrano (Phelan) Part 12
Servite (Anaheim) Part 4
St. Joseph (Santa Maria) Part 6
St. Margaret's (SJ Capistrano) Part 18
St. Mary's (Stockton) Part 19
St. Vincent (Petaluma) Part 14
Strathmore Part 13
Twentynine Palms Part 10
Vacaville Part 4
Vacaville Christian Part 19
Valencia Part 6
Vanden (Travis AFB) Part 16
Washington (Easton) Part 5
Wheatland Part 11
Whitney (Rocklin) Part 14

Comments or corrections? Email mark@studentsports.com and be sure to leave a comment so others can check out what you have to say.

football, CA football, Todd Davis, Paraclete, Austin Morehead, Sutter, Brad Lohse, Hamilton, Derron Smith, Banning, Brian Roth, El Toro

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