Sports
Berean Christian Football Preview: Barcelon Wants Tough Defense, Balanced Offense
Eagles' show a good mix of everything at scrimmage.
Returning Starters: 6 offense, 7 defense.
Top Offensive Players: Matt Morgan, QB; Tyler Charette, WR; Ryan Geotting WR; Michael Houseman, RB/CB; Logan Lisle, RB.
Top Defensive Players: Devin Alexander, ILB; Clayton Temple, ILB.
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Rising star: Luke Miner, junior, RB.
Team Strengths: Defensive line, but generally balanced on offense and defense.
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Areas to Improve: Overall experience.
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If the Berean Christian High football team can continue to play as well as it did in its scrimmage on Saturday, it will be a force to be reckoned with in the Bay Football League all year and in tonight's season-opener against Mission San Jose at Tak Fudenna Stadium in Fremont.
The Eagles, who kick off today at 7 p.m., moved the ball with ease, showing signs of promise on offense, often moved the ball from midfield into the end zone within a handful of plays. Head coach Mark Barcelon expects his team to repeat that on game days this season.
"We were pretty pleased with our offense," Barcelon said. "They were able to move the ball on the ground and in the air. They were able to move it out of the pistol offense. They were able to move it out of our flex and our basic pro, so I was pretty happy with our guys."
Senior quarterback Matt Morgan will be taking the snaps under center to start the season. He enters this season as the starter for the first time after seeing his first significant playing time behind center in 2009. Morgan threw for 1,139 yards and 15 touchdowns with eight interceptions last season.
The poise and experience he's gained since last year showed at the scrimmage.
Morgan will have two of his big targets returning at wide receiver. Although he lost last year's leading wide out, brother Chris Morgan, he will have Ryan Geotting and Tyler Charette split out wide to pick up the slack. Charette caught 14 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns while Geotting snagged 17 passes for 410 yards and five scores last year.
"On offense we want to be balanced in all our formations. We want to be able to run and pass out of everything," Barcelon said. "We worked on that (in the scrimmage) and I'm pretty pleased. We have some things to work on but I'm really pleased."
Leading rusher Logan Lisle also returns to the backfield after rushing for 361 yards on 58 carries and four touchdowns in 2009.
"I look for Logan to pick up right where he left off last season," Barcelon said.
He wants his defense, however, to push hard every chance it gets.
"We just really want to be balanced, particularly on offense, and significantly aggressive on defense," Barcelon said. "We want to cause turnovers on defense, that's our goal. We want to hit hard and cause turnovers."
He'll have last year's leading tackler, Devin Alexander and first-year varsity player and junior Clayton Temple at inside linebacker to help him reach that goal. Alexander had 82 tackles in 2009, and Temple is showing promise.
The Eagles finished a game behind BFL champion Salesian in last year's standings. Berean hung with Salesian, trailing by two points headed into the fourth, but fell 35-25.
"They're a good team to play," he said. "They play hard, they're good sports. They're the favorite until somebody beats them."
The Eagles did reach the NCS playoffs, but were ousted at home by Justin-Siena of Napa in the first round 29-7.
Although Barcelon wouldn't say a single game would make or break anything, this year's game with Salesian in the final week of the regular season could decide who wins the BFL.
"Those teams are all tough teams, we don't have any breathers," he said.
Schedule
9/2 Thursday 7 p.m. @ Mission San Jose (at Washington High School, Fremont)
9/10 Friday 7:30 p.m. @ St. Helena
9/17 Friday 7:30 p.m. @St. Patrick/St. Vincent (Vallejo, CA)
9/25 Saturday 1:30 p.m. Galileo
10/09 Saturday 1:30 p.m. Monterey
10/16 Saturday 1:30 p.m. St. Elizabeth
10/23 Saturday 7 p.m. @ Valley Christian (at Chabot College, Hayward)
10/29 Friday 7 p.m. @ California School for the Deaf (Fremont)
11/06 Saturday 1:30 p.m. Harker
11/13 Saturday 1:30 p.m. @ Salesian (Richmond, CA)
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