Football Predictions for the New Season

I’m looking into my crystal ball, and here are some football predictions for the upcoming season:

• School spirit will be sky high at , where new coach Christian Pierce has taken over for Larry Edwards after the Coyotes went 3-7 last season – the best season since joining the Marmonte League – and the boys will win their season opener over Granada Hills for the second year in a row.

• The Coyotes will upset Royal in the third game of the season, so they’ll have a winning record of 2-1 before the going gets tough as the league season heats up with a road game Sept. 30 at mighty Oaks Christian.

• Everyone will be worried about the graduation of last year’s star quarterback, Kyle Zion, but newbie Brandon Marin is going to be just fine. It will take him a few weeks to get a feel for being the starter, but with so many good receivers like Caleb Madden and Matt Guttridge, Marin is going to pass for a lot of yards.

• Madden, also a top defensive back, will hit some poor opposing player so hard that he’ll break the kid’s helmet. 

• The coach’s son, junior linebacker Jordan Pierce, is going to be an instant impact player and will soon develop into one of the league’s top young defenders.

•  By the time the season finale rolls around, Calabasas will have the smallest of chances to still make the playoffs, and the Coyotes will rise to the occasion and give Thousand Oaks the scare of its life in the last game of the year.

• Tyson Jones, a top junior, will prove to be a natural after switching from linebacker to defensive line. He’ll also score a lot of touchdowns as a short-yardage specialist at fullback.

• A Viewpoint football fan will blink at the wrong time and miss an 80-yard touchdown run by Adam Markun, one of the fastest running backs in the Prep League. After rushing for more than 1,000 yards as a sophomore, Markun is bigger, stronger and faster, and he’s going to have another huge season. 

• Bolstered by three new transfers from Montclair Prep, which dropped its athletic program, plus a lot of key returning players who prove a lot better than last year, Viewpoint will finish better than .500 for the first time since switching from eight-man football in 2004.

• New defensive coordinator John DiLuigi, formerly of state-power Canyon High, will have a big impact for Viewpoint, which was 2-6-1 last year and gave up more than 35 points per game. This time, the Patriots will have a whole new look defensively – and the result will be a couple of shutouts in the early season that prove Viewpoint should be taken seriously.

• Not only will Viewpoint’s new quarterback Joey Verhaegh be one of the Prep League’s biggest players at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, but the Crespi transfer is also going to be one of the best – passing for more than 200 yards in an opening win at Mater Dei in Chula Vista. The Patriots will be so happy that the long drive home will go by a lot quicker.

• Viewpoint will seize the momentum, and by the time Prep League competition begins, the Patriots will be 4-1 heading into the league opener Oct. 15 against visiting Rio Hondo Prep.

• Shane Bick, who barely got noticed last year as a senior linebacker at Calabasas, will have a breakout season at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, and suddenly everyone will know his name.