Prep Football Preview: Beverly Hills opens with Santa Barbara

The Beverly Hills High football team will be facing a much different Santa Barbara football team this Friday. And if they think it's the same Santa Barbara team they defeated last season, they could be in for a surprise.

The Dons snapped a 12-game losing streak on Sept. 3 with a 17-0 victory over Channel Islands in their first game of the season at Peabody Stadium in Santa Barbara. Sophomore quarterback Shawn Ramos finished the night 13-17 with 115 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

"I was surprised at how Ramos played," Santa Barbara head coach Jaime Melgoza told Patch in a phone interview. "But he's started to mature as a quarterback over the summer and really started understanding how to read defenses."

It also was Melgoza's first win as a head coach. The second-year head coach described the Dons as a young but well prepared squad, which starts 10 sophomores.

He said Ramos moved up to junior varsity last year as a freshman, in preparation to take over the starting quarterback job on the varsity squad. Despite his team's youth, Melgoza was confident that Santa Barbara could stretch its winning streak to two games.

Beverly Hills hosts Santa Barbara on Friday night at Nickoll Field. It's the season opener for the Normans, who return several players from last year's team that rallied to beat the Dons, 17-15. Among the returnees are defensive standout Greg Townsend Jr., the son of the former Oakland Raiders defensive end, quarterback Josh Newman, and wide receiver and defensive back Cameron Countrymen.

"They have a pretty good team," Melgoza told Patch. "Beverly Hills also has some really good athletes. To play at their home field is a tough place to play. But if we have a good week of practice, I think we'll perform the way we should and give ourselves every opportunity to win."

Beverly Hills head coach Donald Paysinger recently told Patch that his team's difficult non-league schedule, which starts with Santa Barbara, will prepare his team for its Ocean League and playoff games.

"I expect to go 5-0 in our non-league schedule this season and expect nothing less." Paysinger said. "Last year, I would have been happy with 3-2, but this year we have the team to go 5-0."

Beverly Hills 2010 Football Schedule
Sept. 10 - Santa Barbara High School
Sept. 16 - @ San Marcos (Santa Barbara)
Sept. 24 - @ Hamilton (Los Angeles)
Oct. 1 - Canyon (Canyon Country)
Oct. 8 - Alemany (Mission Hills)
Oct. 15 - Hawthorne *
Oct. 22 - @ Santa Monica*
Oct. 28 - Inglewood*
Nov,. 5 - Morningside (Inglewood)*
Nov. 12 @ Culver City*
* - Ocean League game.