Calabasas High Opens Football Season Tonight

The long wait is finally over.

Calabasas High begins a new football season tonight against visiting Granada Hills, the official start of the Christian Pierce era, as the Coyotes have welcomed a new coach following the resignation of Larry Edwards after going 3-7 last year.

Kickoff is 7 p.m., and a large crowd is expected.

“The kids are really excited to get this thing going and to make a new trend of winning some football games,” Pierce said. “We need to be a little careful about the fatigue factor, but I think we’re ready to go.”

Brandon Marin is the new starting quarterback, and he has big shoes to fill as the replacement to Kyle Zion, who has graduated and was Calabasas’ top player last season.

Pierce says he feels good about Marin, along with Ike Fuchs, who also has worked out at quarterback along with other positions.

“Brandon is ready to go,” Pierce said. “I’m sure he’ll be successful, but we do have two quarterbacks with Ike, too, so we’ll make a change if we have to, but I think we’re all set.”

Another key focal point of the offense will be running back Tyson Jones, one of three running backs along with Ryan Duong and Vince Hutchinson. Jones showed flashes as a sophomore last season, and he is also a top defensive lineman. Duong is coming back from an injury, and Hutchinson transferred in; Pierce feels good about all of them.

"Tyson is our main power back, but he won’t be in on every play because we have different packages,” Pierce said. “We’re going to run a spread offense with split backs and also an I-formation. Plus, Tyson will be a single back every now and then.”

Granada Hills has the advantage of having already played a game, as the Highlanders opened with a 14-7 win over Reseda – an opponent that went undefeated in the regular season a year ago.

Last season, Calabasas defeated Granada Hills 17-7. By winning three games last year, Calabasas made significant strides considering the Coyotes had won a total of four games over the preceding six seasons.

READY TO REBOUND

Viewpoint School took its licks last week in an opening 34-6 loss at Mater Dei in Chula Vista, but the Patriots figure to do much better today at 4 p.m. against visiting Villanova Prep of Ojai, which also lost its opener last week with a 48-6 defeat to St. Genevieve of Panorama City.

“We had a great week of practice, better than last week,” second-year coach Chris Adamson said. “I think we’re in a better positions this week. I think we learned a lot last week. I think we match up better physically. I think we’ve had our focus definitely heightened by what Mater Dei exposed both offensively and defensively.”

Villanova Prep defeated Viewpoint 36-15 last year, so the host Patriots are looking to exact some revenge.

“We’ve kind of buckled down this week and have been working on our offensive line,” Adamson said. “We just a little sloppy last game as far as finishing plays and things that I thought we had done better even in our scrimmage, but Mater Dei is a good team that’s going to win a lot of football games this year.”

Viewpoint had difficulty moving the ball on the ground against Mater Dei, barely totaling positive yardage, but Joey Verhaegh managed to pass for 148 yards – a total that could have been better had the Patriots not dropped some passes, Adamson said.

“We’re going to back to basics, and the kids have done a good job this week,” Adamson said. “We’re putting a little more energy and emotion into practice, kind of tightening the ship. I think we’ve coached them pretty hard this week.”

On the bright side, despite giving up 34 points, including an interception return for a touchdown, Viewpoint allowed just 265 yards.

“We didn’t give up big plays,”  Adamson said.

CALABASAS ROSTER

NAME HT/WT No. POS

Max Aveis 5'8 150 22 WR DB

Aaron Bastian 6'5 340 65 DT OL

Nick Berson 5'10 175 60 OL DL

Jordan Bessard 6'0 215 23 LB

Hunter Blythe 5'9 190 55 C

Alex Cardenas 5'6 180 2 RB/DB

Josh Cohan 6'5 215 85 TE

Alex Cowan 6'0 240 76 OL DL

Jon Dehhaghi 6'3 230 75 OL DE

Ian Demroff 6'1 200 5 LB

Bucky Dennis 5'9 180 26 RB LB

Devin Doyle 5'11 165 6 WR DB

Mohammed Drame 6'0 160 80 WR

Ryan Duong 5'11 205 44 RB LB

Marshall Faulk 5'9 230 28 DL FB

Anthony Freeman 5'10 160 15 WR RET

Ike Fuchs 6'0 195 7 QB

Anthony Garcia 6'0 230 57 C DL

Austin Glasser 5'7 175 68 OL DL

Matt Guttridge 5'10 177 3 WR DB

Michael Hirons 6'4 210 19 TE

Mantel Hutchinson 5'11 200 35 LB

2

Vince Hutchinson 5'10 185 25 RB CB

Tyson Jones 6'1 235 32 FB DE

Nate MacDonald 6'2 215 62 OL DL

Caleb Madden 5'10 165 11 WR CB

Brandon Marin 5'11 170 12 QB

Diego Mendoza 5'9 160 24 DB

Sam Mesbahi 5'11 195 56 OL DL

Amirreza Mohkami 6'0 195 52 OL DL

Michael Nemeh 6'0 170 66 OL DL

Jordan Pierce 5'10 200 10 LB FB

Kane Rhee 5'9 165 4 CB

Jahaad Richardson 5'10 165 36 DB

Tyler Rinck 5'10 190 64 OL DL

Anaaya Rosario 5'10 188 59 OL/DL

Nema Sahebifard 6'2 215 8 TE

Kyle Schoen 5'8 175 33 LB RB

Alex Shapiro 5'10 175 17 DB K

Robbie Stein 6'2 245 69 OL DL

Ben Stevens 6'0 195 9 QB

Jonathon Suarez 6'2 230 71 OL DL

Jack Szarabajka 5'11 180 13 QB

Idan Tal 6'0 180 50 DE

Ryan Tiefen 6'2 175 45 TE DE

Mark Weiner 6'0 210 53 OL/LB

Robbie Yates 6'0 185 27 WR DB

Head coach: Christian Pierce

Assistants: Andy Falk, Tommy Flavin, Matthew Hatchette, Ralph Bessard, Ken Cummins, Drew Fasolini, Austin Wheatley, Rich Brown, Kevin Moore.