Rough start for Verbum Dei

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After losing 15 starters to graduation, Verbum Dei Coach Kendric Knox knew his team would be in for some tough times this year.

But this tough? ...Yep.

‘It’s been some good stompings this year,’ Knox said. ‘We knew the schedule was going to be tough.’

Verbum Dei, which went 11-3 and won the Southern Section Mid-Valley Division championship last season, has given up 127 points and endured humbling defeats in its first two games.

The Eagles were shut out, 56-0, in their season opener at San Francisco St. Ignacius, and they lost, 71-7, to Compton, the No. 17 team in The Times’ rankings, last week.

‘We’re not doing too well, giving up all those points,’ Knox said. ‘But it just kind of gave us a sense of where we really are. We’re not really at that [championship] echelon right now.’

Knox, however, isn’t overly concerned about the early results, saying he is looking for progress and development in a young team that includes 12 sophomore starters, including quarterback Brandon Summers.

‘I just kind of knew going in that this was going to be a time of testing,’ he said.

Summers has shown promise, having thrown for five touchdowns in a victory over Los Angeles Baptist in the first round of last year’s playoffs. He and the Eagles’ top running back, 5-7 junior Shawn McKnight, will each be in the spotlight this season after serving primarily as backups in 2006.

They couldn’t help much against St. Ignacious, which Verbum Dei played for the first time in a ‘brotherhood game’ between Jesuit schools, or Compton, a school coached by Verbum Dei graduate Calvin Bryant.

Things should be looking up for Verbum Dei this week, though, as it takes on Whittier on Saturday night at Compton Centennial High.

Whittier only scored 41 points in a 41-34 double-overtime victory over Bellflower last week.

- Lauren Peterson