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Marina looks to improve

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The Marina High Vikings started work on their upcoming, 2013 football season with their first fall camp workout on Aug. 12. In eight short days, they’ll launch their season and do so with several starters back from a three-win 2012 team.

Coach George Pascoe begins his fourth year as head coach with nine returning starters from a team that last year went 3-7 and placed seven players on the All-Sunset League team. Two of those players, tight end/running back/linebacker James Myers, and kicker Landon Marshall, earned All-Sunset League honors last year and return for their senior year. Myers, along with graduated, two-way lineman Izak Faoa, were first-team all-league picks, while Marshall was a second-team selection.

“James [Myers] is a key player for us and if he has the type of season that we think he will, he can be a recruitable player,” said Pascoe, who also coaches defensive backs. “Landon [Marshall] is a key piece of the puzzle for us and is doing a great job of kicking.

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“We have good skill returning and our O-line and D-line must step up and perform for us to have any success.”

The Vikings will have to replace their entire offensive line from a year ago. Faoa completed his high school career in June by playing in the Orange County All-Star Football Game where he was named the co-Defensive Player of the Game.

“You don’t replace a beast on both sides of the ball,” Pascoe said of Faoa. “We don’t have any players who had significant playing time and our line is a question mark. If this year’s group sets up, we could be real good up front.”

The starter’s job at quarterback is still open. Seniors Shane Green and Daylan Harmeyer, a transfer from Edison, are vying for the spot.

“They are still battling and both have had a good camp, so far,” Pascoe said. “They will share reps Friday in our scrimmage.”

Pascoe said that Myers also will see time at running back, a position which is headed by junior Steve Hernandez, who was a 1,000-yard rusher last year on Marina’s junior varsity team.

In addition to Harmeyer, Pascoe said that another transfer joining the team is Dawayne Jackson, a senior from Modesto, who will play wide receiver and defensive back.

The Vikings scrimmage at Segerstrom Friday and begin their regular season in the same way they did last year — against Pico Rivera El Rancho on Aug. 30. In the first week of September, they go across town to face Ocean View which, along with Capistrano Valley in their final nonleague game, is new to the schedule.

Marina and Ocean View were one-time Sunset League rivals starting in 1981 until the early-1990s.

“We have a chance to win if we play well,” Pascoe said of the nonleague slate. “We have a good, inner-city game against Ocean View and Westminster.”

The middle of the schedule has the Vikings playing five consecutive games (one as the visiting team) at their home field site, Westminster High. They play six games, in all, at Bill Boswell Field.

Marina will be out in 2013 to put an end to an eight-year winless streak in Sunset League play.

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Marina Vikings

League: Sunset

Head coach: George Pascoe (fourth year)

Coaching staff: Jim O’Connell (defensive coordinator/linebackers); Andrew Sweet (defensive line); Danny Falkenstein (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks); Turill Engleman (running backs); Matt Brennan (receivers); Doug Fryer (receivers); Ryan Pahnau (offensive line).

2012 records: 3-7 overall/0-5 league (sixth)

CIF results: Did not qualify

Offensive scheme: Up tempo/spread

Defensive scheme: Multiple sets

Returning starters offense: 4

Returning starters defense: 5

Players returning with honors: James Myers (TE/LB, second team all-league, Sr.; Landon Marshall (K, second team all-league, Sr.).

Key returning players: James Myers (TE/LB, Sr.); Cooper Davies (WR/DB, Sr.); Clay Fischer (WR/DB, Sr.); Zach Blair (OL/DL, Sr.); Scott Phillips (WR/DB, Sr.); Shane Green (QB, Sr.); Landon Marshall (K, Sr.).

Key losses: Izak Faoa (OL/DL, first team all-league).

Key newcomers: Dylan Harmeyer (QB, Sr.); Steve Hernandez (RB/DB, Jr.); Dawayne Jackson (WR/DB, Sr.).

The opposition: The Vikings went 3-2 in nonleague play last year against a schedule that included three schools, El Rancho, Westminster, San Juan Hills, on this year’s slate. Ocean View and Capistrano Valley are new to this year’s line-up. The Vikings begin their Sunset League schedule Oct. 11 against Fountain Valley.

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2013 Vikings Schedule

Aug. 23: at Segerstrom (scrimmage), 7 p.m.

Aug. 30: at El Rancho, 7 p.m.

Sept. 6: at Ocean View, 7 p.m.

Sept. 13: Westminster (Westminster High), 7 p.m.

Sept. 20: San Juan Hills (Westminster High), 7 p.m.

Oct. 4: Capistrano Valley (Westminster High), 7 p.m.

Oct. 11: at *Fountain Valley (Westminster High), 7 p.m.

Oct. 18: *Los Alamitos (Westminster High, 7 p.m.

Oct. 24: at *Huntington Beach, 7 p.m.

Nov. 1: *Newport Harbor (Huntington Beach High), 7 p.m.

Nov. 8: *Edison (Westminster High), 7 p.m.

(*denotes league game)

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