Football: Marmonte League intrigue

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No league figures to have greater scrutiny this season than the 10-team Marmonte League. There are so many top teams and interesting stories to tell.

No. 1 is what kind of reception Westlake Village Oaks Christian and Ventura St. Bonaventure will receive. And how well Oaks Christian Coach Bill Redell will do against his former assistants, Jim Benkert at Westlake and Tim Lins at Moorpark.

‘I think they’re going to put it on me,’ Redell said.

‘He’s so full of it,’ Lins countered. ‘We’re going to try to keep up with him.’

Benkert, coming off a 14-0 season, has the team to beat.

‘We don’t have any controversies, and that’s the way I like it,’ Benkert said. ‘Everybody is doing great. Nobody took off.’

Last season, Westlake started with two quarterbacks competing for the starting job, then Michael Bercovici left in the middle of the season and Nick Isham took over.

Moorpark has turned over its offense to junior quarterback Grant Rohach, who figures to be the key player if the Musketeers can emerge as a title contender.

Oaks Christian has lots of ‘unknown’ qualities, according to Redell, with the key uncertainty who’s going to replace running back Malcolm Jones and what kind of quarterback Trevor Gretzky will be taking over for Nick Montana. The good news for Oaks Christian is that its new all-weather field is scheduled to be ready for use Monday.

The big challenge for all the Marmonte teams is that there won’t be any easy games. Expect big crowds and big media attention each week, with little time to feel satisfaction about victories.

-- Eric Sondheimer