Sizing up Area Prep Teams: Poly----as Usual----Is at the Top : A preview of the Southeast/Long Beach area high school football teams: : Camino Real League

Verbum Dei is the coaches’ pick to win the league title. Pius X joins the league after moving from the Angelus League and could fight for a playoff spot. St. Anthony and Cantwell are questionable.

CANTWELL--Doug South enters his second year as coach with this assessment: “I set our goals too high last season and things just didn’t work out (0-10 record). We’ll be better this year, because we we’re taking each game one at a time.” Thirteen starters return, including quarterback Joey Gonzales and wide receiver Ray Walker, who caught 46 passes last year. Cantwell has gone 19 games without a victory.

PIUS X--Former Coach Ken LaVigne, who has entered private business, has been replaced by Clark Bruner, who was a Warrior assistant for eight years. Only four players return from a team that went 4-6--one of its best records in the past decade. The experience gained by competing in the more difficult Angelus League may be to the Warriors’ advantage, according to some coaches.

ST. ANTHONY--Jon Adler, another first-year coach--the third the Saints have had in as many years, has replaced Ken Sharrar, who accepted a student assistant job at USC. Adler has just two starters back from a team that qualified for the playoffs. They are Charles Gaither, an outside linebaker and Dan Ash, a free safety.