Blog Post: Agoura High Football Hopes to Improve and Return to Early 2000's Glory

After six straight seasons of having winnings records, from 2002-2007 and one more in which it went 5-5 in 2008, the football team has struggled the past three seasons.

The Chargers were also hugely successful in 2000 and that year, and in both 2003 and 2004, Agoura reached the CIF semifinals. Clay Matthews, the Green Bay Packers star linebacker and Joey LaRocque, also an NFL player who starred at linebacker for Agoura, were both seniors in 2003. The Chargers went 11-2.

But Agoura has won a total of six games from 2009-2011, and head coach Charlie Wegher is determined to see an improvement this coming fall when the Marmonte League will have a new look, having been split into two five-team divisions.

"I'm confident we will win more than one game," said Wegher, whose Chargers won only once in 2011. "We will not be 1-9. We're a little bigger and a little faster. So, there are some pluses. Experience-wise, we're a little younger. We had a lot of injuries last year, and we didn't have a lot of depth which cost us."

Wegher said Agoura, which was 2-8 in 2010 and 3-7 the year before, had to play with undersized linemen - at least undersized for the Marmonte League - the past few years.

"Basically, we haven't been real big," he said. "And playing in our league, if you don't have some linemen that are in the 240 to 260 - pound range who can play, you have a problem. I love our kids, they play their hearts out. But if you don't match up physically week to week, it's hard."

There's good news and bad news with regards to returning players. Richard Poutier, a senior next fall, returns at quarterback and Wegher said he has greatly improved. Also back are: Dylan George, a junior who plays wide receiver and cornerback; Cody Banks, a junior running back/safety; and Tristram Gillettte, a senior who starts at center and linebacker.

"Those guys are good, and we've got some other juniors that are coming up that I think will help us," said Wegher, who emphasized that the won-loss record in 2011 was not caused by a lack of effort or leadership.

"The kids worked hard and I couldn't ask for anything more," he said. "And this year they've still continued some of that. Last year's leadership was outstanding. The kids that were seniors last year were great leaders and the chemistry on that team was exceptional. It was a tough year but they hung in there. They came to practice and they worked hard."

Because of the Chargers youth this coming fall, a question remains as to whether there will be a void in leadership or whether some of the current seniors-to-be or juniors will fill that void.

"I think the leadership, it's evolving," Wegher said. "It's getting better. We're younger, so those kids have yet to completely learn how to do the things that need to get done all the time. But they're still working hard and I think we'll be okay."

Getting back to the bad news. In that department, it seems unlikely that Kyle London, who also plays baseball for Agoura and hopes to play baseball in college, will return to football after suffering a devastating injury in the Chargers football season opener against Ventura on September 9, 2011.

"He's a special player," Wegher said of London, who plays wide receiver and defensive back. "If we had him I think we would have won at least two more games last year. He makes that much of a difference."

London tore the ACL in his knee and also broke the femur bone in his leg, and though he played and contributed to Agoura's league championship in baseball this spring, both Wegher and Mike Cordero, the Chargers baseball coach, said London's leg didn't feel completely healed yet. 

"If he comes back and is able to get close to where he was, that'll be a big boost," Wegher said. "But I'm not confident that's going to happen."

Some more in the good news-bad news department. The good news has to do with young players who will be freshmen at Agoura High this fall. But first the (somewhat) bad news. It has to do with the Chargers assistant coaches.

"The coaching staff is in flux, because I don't have any on-staff teachers (at Agoura High School) right now that are coaches," said Wegher. "On the varsity, we had some coaches who couldn't continue because they are young guys and they had to get a job, and they can't continue to make a living coaching football.

"[But] our defensive coordinator, Sean Ryan, is returning and he's excellent. And the freshmen staff is good. The new guys are good coaches and they're good guys, but they're new to the staff."

Back to the good news about prospective players. At football camps that Wegher and Agoura football held in the spring for sixth to eighth graders, the kids who would be freshmen at Agoura this fall showed a lot of promise.

"We had a really good eighth grade camp," Wegher said. "There were a lot of really good players and I think this coming freshmen team has got some ability and that it could be a really bumper year if we can keep those kids coming here."

The fear, or at least the concern, is whether some of the talented football players will in fact enroll at Agoura High School. Or will they choose to attend, say, Westlake High or Oaks Christian?

"Until they're here you worry about them [coming here]," Wegher said. "We had nine kids last year from ninth, tenth and eleventh grade that went to Westlake, and Oaks Christian had four. There's 13 kids right there that were Agoura-attendance-area kids that were over at those two schools and they're all [good] players. If those guys were here it makes a big difference."

But Wegher said he is confident that the current crop of freshmen-to-be will play for the Chargers.

"We tried to build a relationship with those kids and make sure they know we love them and they don't need to go down the street," said Wegher. "We told them you can stay in your attendance area and stay with your friends and support your community. And I think they're going to be here."

Next blog: How the revamped Marmonte League will affect Agoura's football team. And why the playoff move to the Pac 5 doesn't help Agoura and most league teams.