Football preview: Harris leads Glendale into new era
Glendale High is looking to reboot the Nitros football program in the upcoming season under new leadership.
Taking over the reins is new head coach Cary Harris. He replaces George Maiale, whose tenure lasted three seasons in which the Nitros collected just four wins.
“I just want to establish a good culture here at Glendale High School, just to compete and show great effort, sportsmanship and play as hard as you can,” Harris said.
Harris had a standout football career on the field, starting at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. He then played at USC as a cornerback and was subsequently drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft.
The top position at Glendale will be Harris’ first high school head coaching position, although he has assisted at myriad high schools. For the past four years, Harris served as the defensive backs coach at Moorpark College.
Now he has turned his focus to high school coaching and its opportunities to mold kids on and off the field.
“I wanted to get down to the high school level and learn youth sports,” Harris said. “I really wanted to teach these guys the fundamentals they might need to be great young men when they get older.”
One of this season’s goals is winning games, something that has been difficult in recent years for the Nitros, who have not had a winning season since 2008. It will be a learning process that is already underway.
“We are learning how to practice hard [and] how to take care of our team,” Harris said. “We’re learning what is important in the run and pass game, what is important on special teams and how to put us in position to win football games.”
Harris will also focus on maintaining effort and a competitive edge throughout the season regardless of the results.
Harris said one of the things he will look for from his team is “to be able to fight adversity. When adversity hits or something goes wrong during the season, how are you going to respond? Are you going to encourage your teammates? How are you going to respond after a win or a loss? Are you going to still work hard and bring the same kind of effort and attention to detail every week?”
The Nitros will feature a balanced attack on offense, looking to combine the air and ground games. However, Harris has not come to the job with preconceptions about a style of offense, but instead is adjusting based on the abilities of his players.
“We’re looking at various different offenses and things of that nature just trying to fit the players we have,” Harris said. “We’re trying to do the best for the players we have in the system right now.”
On defense, effort will be as important as scheme.
“We just want to bring a physical presence to Glendale High School,” Harris said, “make sure we stop the run game, do a good job protecting the deep ball, tackling and showing great effort.”
The top returner for Glendale promises to be senior running back/linebacker Chris Ibarra, who earned All-Pacific League and All-Area honors last season.
Others players of note will be a crew of seniors: quarterback/linebacker Tony Alvarez, Seth Harley at senior tight end/defensive end and Andrew Issagholian at tight end/defensive end. Brandon Juarez will also make an impact at safety and wide receiver.
“We always have open competition among all the players,” said Harris, whose squad will play seven games on its home turf of Moyse Field. “It’s about how you compete during the week, who is continually competing and giving great effort. We’ll put the best guys out there.”
Glendale will play three nonleague contests, starting with a road game against Maranatha on Aug. 17. The Nitros last won their season opener in 2015 against San Gabriel, which was Maiale’s first game.
The Nitros’ home opener will be on Aug. 31 against Mendez, which they defeated 46-14 last season. T
In Pacific League play, Nitros currently have a 21-game losing streak.
“I know there is great competition,” Harris said. “We play seven league games. That is a lot of league games; most play five. So there are good teams out there that play hard, that have a lot of players out there. We’ve got to able to go out there and compete.”