Football preview: Better conditioned La Cañada seeks to rebound
Less than an hour before arriving on the field for practice in sweltering temperatures, a throng of La Cañada High football players were at work in the weight room.
Multiple weight benches were occupied with the athletes bench pressing in their quest to get stronger in preparation for the upcoming season.
It’s a sign of progress being made for La Cañada, which will begin its campaign with a nonleague game at 5 p.m. Friday at Hoover.
La Cañada finished 0-10, 0-4 in the Rio Hondo League last season, leading coach Jason Sarceda to implement a more rigid course toward conditioning.
“Right after last season, a lot of our guys went right to the workout room to find ways to get stronger,” said Sarceda, who begins his second season as coach after serving as defensive coordinator for five seasons. “We want them to be more accountable and committed to the program.
“We’re going to have right around 28-30 players and most of them will be asked to play on both sides of the ball. So, they’ll be out on the field for most of the game. That’s why we’ve been so big on the conditioning aspect.”
La Cañada scored 72 points and yielded 444 last season, one that Sarceda and the Spartans have put in the rear-view mirror. The Spartans are looking to get ahead of the curve in anticipation of the Hoover contest.
Practices have been efficient, leading to a growing wave of confidence.
“[The coaching staff and I] came in under the gun leading up to last year,” said Sarceda, who is the program’s fourth coach in the last six seasons. “We tried to make things happen.
“The coaches and I are all on the same page and we’ve had time to reflect and work on things the team needs to get better at. I’m certainly appreciative of that. We want players here who are interested in making progress.”
La Cañada last qualified for the playoffs in 2014 and will look to post its first winning campaign since going 6-4 in 2016.
Sarceda and Co. believe the future appears bright.
“We have a nice mix of talent and we have around 17 seniors, 11 of whom played last season,” Sarceda said. “We also have some juniors and a couple of sophomores who will be in the mix.
“I think you’ll see us be competitive in every game and we definitely want to make the CIF playoffs.”
The Spartans will look to be more athletic on both sides.
The quarterback will be senior Matt Bromley, who got his share of playing time last season.
“I’m definitely expecting more from our offense and defense,” said Bromley, who will also play safety. “I think our offensive line will be much stronger and we’ll try to focus on better protecting the ball and clock management.
“We’ll look to make a few more plays on defense. We sometimes fell behind early after the first drive or two of the game.”
JT Knapp, a senior a wide receiver/safety, agreed.
“It was frustrating giving up points on the first drive and we want to change that,” Knapp said. “I think we’ll be a stronger team.”
Many of the projected starters have yet to be named. Sarceda said spring and summer ball sessions mostly served as auditions for players looking to track down a starting spot.
In addition to Knapp, the receivers could be seniors Jackson Sost and Dalton Pell and junior Kirk Fungo. The running backs could be Trevor Lee and Joe Travis, both seniors.
The possible starters on the offensive line are seniors Derek Albanese, Eugene Hong, Pedro Ortiz, Mitchell Staron, Liyu Sun, John Woodhouse and Chris Yoon and juniors Luis and Mario Colon and Griffin Dilbeck.
Sarceda would like to see a huge improvement on defense after the Spartans yielded 50 or more points in a game six times last season.
The linebacking group could be Lee, Pell and Travis. The defensive line could be paced by Albanese, Hong, Ortiz, Staron, Woodhouse, Yoon, Dilbeck and the Colons.
In the secondary, junior Walker Naggett will serve as a cornerback with the other spot still up for grabs. The safeties could be Bromley, Knapp and Sost.
The kicking responsibilities could be handled by seniors Jake Tolkin and Kala Shute.
La Cañada will begin league Oct. 5 against visiting San Marino. It will wrap up the regular season Oct. 26 at Temple City. Monrovia won the league championship last season. La Cañada’s last league title came in 2004, when it split the crown with Monrovia.
“I expect our league to be competitive again,” Sarceda said. “San Marino will be solid, as will Monrovia and South Pasadena. I don’t know much about Temple City.
“I think it’s going to be a true dogfight in our league.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
