Got to Admit It's Gettin' Better: After Rough Season, Harvard-Westlake Football Focuses on Improvement

For Harvard-Westlake High’s football team, the best thing about last season is it’s over. The Wolverines made a jump in competition to the Mission League, and the results were not pretty: a 2-7-1 record, a last-place finish, and a losing streak of six games to finish the season.

The team was young, besieged by injuries, and there was a quarterback controversy, as sophomore Chad Kanoff pushed returning standout Max Heltzer and eventually won the starting job – not as glamorous as you would think when you take in losses of 52-13 to Serra, 45-24 to Chaminade and 49-17 to Alemany.

But the good news is, a lot of those have grown up and are still around, the injuries have healed, and Kanoff is primed for a big season after 863 yards and eight touchdowns in his first taste of varsity football.

“We’ve got a lot of people back, so we better be better because we have the same schedule,” coach Vic Eumont said. “We’re looking forward to the season. If Chad does his job and gets the football to the right people, I think he’s going to have a good year.”

Running back Jamias Jones, Harvard-Westlake’s leading rusher last season with 371 yards and a touchdown despite an ankle injury, is back, too, along with promising receiver Clinton Hooks (20 receptions, two touchdowns).

Among the other key returnees are running back Corry King, receiver Chris Sebastian, all-league defensive back Charlie Porter, defensive back Cameron Komisar, offensive linemen Tommy Oser and Duncan Shalfot, defensive linemen Andrew Green, Wade Clement and 6-foot-8 Dave Winfield, linebackers Richard Chung and Connor Kalantarid and kicker Jack Klempo.

“We’ve got some pretty good athletes on both sides of the ball,” Eumont said. “Andrew Green is a three-year starter, and he had an excellent season last year despite having a hip injury. We had a lot of guys who were injured last year. Wade Clement played just one game before he got hurt, and we was going to be good – he had an interception in his only game.”

Winfield is an interesting project. He is the son of former Major League baseball star Dave Winfield, Sr., but the youngster is still growing into his body.

“He still has  great potential but he’s got to stop getting taller before he can grown into his body,” Eumont said. “He’s also busy during the summer playing basketball.”

The one thing Eumont knows for sure is he and the Wolverines want to win more games.

“We lost last year, and I did not like it,” Eumont said. “I’ve been on both sides, and I like winning a lot more than losing.”

KEEPING TABS

Former Harvard-Westlake football/basketball player Nicky Firestone, the son of popular TV sports personality Roy Firestone, is playing JC football as a freshman receiver and return specialist for Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

“He didn’t play his senior year because he was injured, but he’s a good player – he’s really focused,” Pierce coach Efrain Martinez said. “He’s a (college) qualifier, so I think he’ll be with us for just one year before moving on somewhere.”