Viewpoint Hopes Hard Work Finally Will Pay Off

football team is tired of losing, and second-year coach Chris Adamson vows this year will be different.

Since graduating from eight-man football to 11-man in 2004, Viewpoint has never finished above .500 and has yet to win a playoff game. Last year was Adamson’s first season, and the Patriots were 2-6-1, continuing a trend that has seen Viewpoint compile an overall record of 13-50-1 since moving up.

An exacerbating factor has been Viewpoint’s success in other sports, including 17 Southern Section championships over the past seven years.

This season, Viewpoint has 46 players on the roster—the most in program history—including one of Prep League’s fastest players in running back Adam Markun (1,009 yards, eight TDs as a sophomore) and a dynamic transfer quarterback in Joey Verhaegh from major-program Crespi of Encino.

The Patriots open Sept. 2 at Mater Dei in Chula Vista, a program that has won a total of two games over the past two seasons, and if Viewpoint does not make a good showing, it could be another long year. But Adamson does not think that’s going to happen. He feels good about this year’s team, and the coach has had championship success before during a successful six-year run at Salisbury High, a prep school in Connecticut, before arriving in Calabasas last year.

“I don’t want to blame other previous coaches, but there was never a commitment on the part of the kids here,” Adamson said. “There just wasn’t a commitment to the program in general, from the kids to the parents to the coaches to lifting weights all year round and getting physically stronger, just not a culture of weight-training—but there is now.”

Since last season, when Viewpoint won its first two games under Adamson and then never triumphed again and failed to make the playoffs, the players have worked hard to get bigger, stronger and better. They’ve been in the weight room at 6 a.m., and Adamson said he and the coaches no longer have to “chase kids down” to get them to work out.

“They’re much more physically prepared, and they have a lot more confidence to be successful,” Adamson said. “That’s the thing that’s changing and improving, working hard from 6 a.m. and pushing ourselves.”

With the season opener looming in six weeks, Viewpoint is beginning to participate in passing-league competition, and the Patriots are playing in the Claremont tournament this weekend—one of the only small schools against much larger programs.

“This is our first big tournament, but we’ve been doing seven-on-sevens twice a week with multiple schools, playing against bigger schools like Burroughs, Crescenta Valley, Glendale. We’re really trying to push ourselves,” Adamson said. “We’re excited because we feel like we have a chance to be successful and to get better. The kids have really worked hard, and they can see the difference in their bodies, and I just don’t think we had the same chance last year, so we’re really excited.”

Adamson is hoping new defensive coordinator John DeLuigi will make a difference. He’s a former coordinator at larger schools Alemany and Canyon, where he helped the Cowboys win two Northern Division titles and a CIF State Div. I Bowl championship over his final two seasons in 2005 and 2006.

“That was a big hire for us. John DiLuigi has some credibility,” Adamson said. “With the experience he has at the level of schools he has been at, that’s going to make a big difference. He’s a very hands-on coach, very involved, and he has installed a new system. He brings a lot of enthusiasm and positivity.”

DiLuigi has not coached in four years, having dedicated a lot of his time to following his son, J.J., a running back at BYU.

“I think John is incredibly happy to be back coaching again, and he’s really enjoying himself,” Adamson said. “He’s enjoying the process of building this program, he’s energized, and he’s doing a good job.”

Viewpoint still is not a big team in terms of size across the front line, averaging less than 200 pounds up front, but this season the players know what they’re doing, and they’re a lot stronger than they were a year ago.

“The whole culture is changing,” Adamson said.

VIEWPOINT FOOTBALL

SEASON BY SEASON

The Patriots are 13-50-1 and have yet to win a playoff game since graduating from eight-man football to 11-man in 2004.

YEAR – RECORD – COACH

2010 - 2-6-1 - Chris Adamson

2009  - 0-9 - Patrick Marquez

2008 – 1-8 – Patrick Marquez

2007 – 5-5 – Patrick Marquez

2006 – 2-6 – Patrick Marquez

2005 – 0-9 – Patrick Marquez

2004 – 3-7 – Patrick Marquez

VIEWPOINT 2011 SCHEDULE

Sept. 2 at Mater Dei (Chula Vista), 7 p.m.

Sept. 9 Villanova Prep, 4 p.m.

Sept. 16, L.A. Baptist, 3:30 p.m.

Sept. 30, Bell-Jeff, 3 p.m.

Oct. 6 at Western Christian, 7 p.m.

Oct. 15 Rio Hondo Prep, 3:30 p.m.

Oct. 22 at Flintridge Prep, 7 p.m.

Oct. 28 at Chadwick, time TBD

Nov. 5 at Webb, 7 p.m.

Nov. 11 Pasadena Poly, 7 p.m. at Calabasas HS