Warriors Confident--Not So Sure, Says Coach

Although El Camino College is favored to win its football season opener Saturday against South Bay rival L.A. Harbor College, Warrior Coach John Featherstone is not underestimating the opponent.

The defending state champion Warriors are confident of adding another victory to last year’s 11-0 streak, but Featherstone said it may not be as easy as Harbor’s 2-7-1 record may lead one to believe.

“They have a much improved team from last year,” Featherstone said. “They’re very strong defensively and they’ve improved offensively. We anticipate a battle.”

But experience should give the host Warriors an edge in the 7:30 p.m. game. They have 34 veterans (18 on offense, 16 on defense) and depth at quarterback.

Sophomore Scott Yessner and freshman redshirt Frank Dolce will run the El Camino offense.

“It’s been an interesting battle between Frank and Scott,” Featherstone said. “After our intra-squad and Rancho Santiago scrimmage, I thought we’d have a clear-cut candidate, but we don’t so I plan to play both.”

Yessner, backup to All-American Dan Speltz last year, adds experience while Dolce contributes speed and a consistent drop-back pass.

Despite their great throwing ability, Featherstone said his team will keep the ball on the ground a lot since it has four top-notch running backs in Aaron Craven, Brian Conners, Neil Tuihalamaka and Richard Harrison.

“We’re excited,” Featherstone said. “We’re anxious to see what this football team can do.”

Harbor Coach Chris Ferragamo seems to have a pretty good idea about that:

“They look very strong. We watched them scrimmage against Rancho Santiago and they’re very solid in all areas. They have no weaknesses.”

Unfortunately for second-year Coach Ferragamo, his team does. He anticipates improvement from last season, but an inexperienced offense will make that a difficult task.

The Seahawks will do a lot of running since sophomore Eddie Lopez is new at quarterback. He was a third-string tight end last year and played quarterback in only two games.