Season Preview: Football: Gridiron goals

Football season is approaching which means new faces both on the field and on the sideline. This year, the Brahmas think they have the right mix of staff and players to make an improvement from last year’s 1-9 season.

“We’re still in a rebuilding phase because of our ability to usher players out to the next level,” Head Coach Jason Sabolic said. “It’s always interesting to see how next year’s group plays, and with our recruiting efforts this year, we feel that we should be in a pretty good situation. We’re pretty excited, looking forward to it.”

Assistant Coach Blake Word sees improvement in the team’s makeup already, despite it being so early in preseason preparation.

“I see us making bigger strides than we did last year,” Word said. “I feel like we have a better coaching staff and a better nucleus of players.”

In preparation, the players have been in the weight room everyday stretching and getting stronger, as well as doing a lot of individual drills on the field with position coaches.

“I’m on the field everyday working with the receivers and getting bigger in the weight room,” quarterback Jonathan Saavedra said. “One thing I’d like to focus on more is reading defenses. Understanding coverages and knowing where the weaknesses are, so that’s one thing I’ve been trying to fine tune in my game.”

Although they don’t have full-time staff this year, Sabolic thinks the players will do well this season.

“We’re really trying to be in a good position this year to win some football games, and we’re really excited to see where our efforts lie and the hard work that we put in,” Sabolic said. “We’re doing well by kids and making sure these players move on from this school onto the next level.”

Los Angeles Valley College is the school the Brahmas look forward to playing every season.

“Valley College is our big rival, so that one game is always circled on our schedule,” Sabolic said.

Some other schools on the Brahmas’ schedule are Allan Hancock College, Antelope Valley College, Moorpark College, Southwestern College and San Diego Mesa College.

The Brahmas will open fall camp on August 11, which will give a better indication of how many players they’ll have and how well they’ll perform.

“Everybody’s been down on us because we were 1 and 9, and not a lot of people think we’ll be any good this season,” Saavedra said. “I’d just like to say watch out for us because 1 and 9 is for sure not happening this year.”

The first game of the season will be on September 2 at Moorpark College.