Ervin Hernandez takes over as head football coach at Sweetwater High School this season. His task will be to push a program forward that finished 1-9 last year, 3-8 the season before, 2-8 in both 2016 and 2017 and 1-9 in 2015.
Wins have been meager since the Red Devils captured back-to-back league championships in both 2013 and 2014 and won the 2013 San Diego Section Division IV championship. The National City team compiled a 19-5 record during those two seasons.
But the seeds appear to have been planted for new growth.
“Our program vision is chasing greatness,” Hernandez said. “Not only on the football field, but in the classroom, at home, and in the community. We want to instill a culture where work wins when wishing won’t. Our 2020 theme is ‘We, Us, Ours’ — meaning we will put our team before ourselves and everything we do will focus on the team first.
“Our number one goal for the program is to have a 100 percent graduation of our seniors either going to college, trade school, military, or a job with the capability to promote. Our next goal is an overall team GPA of 2.75. As a staff we believe instilling these values will create competitive greatness in our program and a culture of success in all we do.”
A two-way player for Paloma Valley High School in Menifee as a fullback and inside linebacker, Hernandez has coached for 11 seasons, though this will be his first year as a varsity head coach. Besides serving as head coach this season, he will also oversee duties as the team’s defensive coordinator.
This will be his fourth year as a teacher at Sweetwater and third year coaching there after serving as the varsity linebackers coach last year and the head novice coach in 2018.
Hernandez brings a wealth of experience to the Red Devils’ brain trust.
He served as the linebackers coach at Helix High School during his final year at San Diego State University in 2007 before completing graduate school at Fresno State University.
While in the Central Valley he served as the junior varsity coach at Clovis East High School in 2008 and the varsity defensive coordinator at Fresno Christian High School (2009-10).
He spent five years as an assistant coach in Arizona for Phoenix Christian High School (varsity defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach) and Paradise Valley High School (freshman defensive backs coach and varsity linebackers coach/junior varsity defensive coordinator).
He took two years off from coaching due to the birth of his son and made the move back to Southern California.
Hernandez said he wants to instill qualities that will benefit his players down the road in life.
“I tell our staff and team that our priorities should always be faith/family, academics, then football,” Hernandez said. “We want to instill young men of character that work and compete in everything they do. It sounds cliché, but my goal is 15-20 years down the road for these young men to grow up to be great husbands, great fathers and successful in whatever career path they choose because they learned character and how to compete and work hard as a Sweetwater Red Devil student-athlete.”
Season preview
Like most teams, the Red Devils are scrambling to start the season and are striving to make the most of what they have.
Top returners include senior running back/safety Mario Villa, all-league lineman Uriel Camacho and junior running back/defensive lineman Javier Sanchez.
Villa rushed for 681 yards and three touchdowns last season to lead the Devils in scoring. Sanchez rushed for 118 yards and scored two TDs.
Junior running back/inside linebacker Carlos Hopper rates as the team’s top newcomer.
“With a little amount of time getting players cleared and not everyone coming out due to COVID, it is going to be a lot of work installing a new offense and defense in a couple weeks,” Hernandez admitted. “We do have a big senior class of 22 seniors, but most were not able to consistently work out on their own during the off. Our goal is to stay healthy, ensure we can play all five games, and compete in every game we play this shortened season. Last season the team was 1-9.”
CIF notepad
The Division V rankings include 19 teams, topped by No. 1 Holtville (0-0), No. 2 Tri-City Christian (0-0), No. 3 El Cajon Valley (0-0), No. 4 Mission Bay (0-0), No. 5 Crawford (0-0), No. 6 Foothills Christian (0-0), No. 7 Clairemont (0-0), No. 8 Fallbrook (0-0), No. 9 Palo Verde Valley (0-0) and No. 10 Calexico (0-0).
Rounding out the bottom half of the division standings are No. 11 San Ysidro (0-0), No. 12 Southwest (0-0), No. 13. Escondido Charter (0-1), No. 14 Marantha Christian (1-0), No. 15 Hoover (0-0), No. 16. Calipatria (0-0), No. 17 Mountain Empire (0-1), No. 19 O’Farrell Charter (0-0) and No. 19 Army-Navy Academy (0-0).
METRO-PACIFIC LEAGUE PREVIEW
Trojans hope to carry momentum from 2019 CIF finals runner-up appearance into shortened 2021 season
The Castle Park Trojans will play four games this season — two home and two away — as members of the Metro-Pacific League.
Castle Park finished 2-1 in league play last season but caught fire in the ensuing Division V playoffs to reach the championship game, ending the 2019 season with an imposing 11-2 record following a narrow 24-21 loss to fourth-seeded Francis Parker in the rain at Otay Ranch High School.
It was an otherwise magical season for the Trojans, who entered the 2019 league championship game with a 9-0 record against the neighborhood rival Montgomery Aztecs, who claimed the title with a 34-10 victory.
Castle Park most recently won league titles in 2014, 2015 and 2018 and looks to challenge for the top spot again after the Aztecs, last season’s Metro-Pacific League champion, have moved to the Metro-South Bay League for this season.
The Trojans guided by new head coach Paco Silva, who led the Eastlake Titans to a 4-0 showing as Metro-Mesa League champions in 2019 as the team’s interim head coach.
Castle Park excelled with a fabulous junior class in 2019 after struggling through the 2017 season with a 0-10 record.
The Trojans rode the prolific running of Erik Hernandez in the 2019 section playoffs to reach the Division V championship game. Hernandez rushed for 212 yards and scored three touchdowns for Castle Park in the division final after running for 200 yards and scoring three touchdowns in a 22-10 semifinal win over Mission Bay.
He racked up 206 yards and three TDs in a 41-13 win over Palo Verde Valley in the quarterfinals.
In three playoff games, Hernandez rushed for 618 yards and nine touchdowns.
In 12 games during the 2019 season, he rushed for 1,703 yards with 26 touchdowns (25 rushing scores and one touchdown on a punt return). He finished the season with 1,837 all-purpose yards while tacking on receiving, kick and punt returns and interception yardage. He also recorded 14 tackles, an interception and two sacks on defense.
Ramon Cabal led the Trojans on the defensive ledger in 2019 with 68 tackles as a junior while Angel Aguilar registered four sacks as a junior
Xavier Alvarado had five interceptions as a junior. He led the team with 364 kick return yards, returning one interception for a touchdown and one punt for a touchdown.
Division IV notepad
Though no section playoffs are scheduled this year, Castle Park and Francis Parker, as last season’s Division V finalists, have moved up to the Division IV level this season.
Other Division IV teams for 2021 include Vincent Memorial, Classical Academy, Valhalla, Chula Vista, La Jolla Country Day, Montgomery, Patrick Henry, Sweetwater, University City, Rancho Buena Vista, Mount Miguel, Mar Vista, Coronado, Southwest El Centro and Del Norte.
Mount Miguel and Montgomery enter the season as the top two-ranked teams in the division, followed by Valhalla, Del Norte, Francis Parker, Coronado, Castle Park, RBV, LJCD and Patrick Henry to round out the preseason top 10. Next up are Vincent Memorial, Chula Vista, Southwest EC, University City and Sweetwater as top 15 teams in the 17-team division.
Francis Parker kicked off the shortened 2021 season with a 28-6 home field victory against Escondido Charter on Saturday, March 13. Junior Ben Effress (11 carries, 81 yards) led the Lancers with two rushing touchdowns while junior quarterback Gervy Alota (11 carries, 83 yards) scored once via the run, as did senior Uriel Leyva (three carries 20 yards).
Alota led Parker with 148 total offensive yards, including 65 passing yards.
Effress paced the Lancers on defense with seven tackles while Leyva and senior Conor Hickey both recorded five defensive stops, including one sack apiece. Freshman Mason Graves notched a 21-yard interception return.
Cougars could claw way to top
The San Ysidro Cougars could be clawing for the Metro-Pacific League championship this year, according to head coach Keith Aguon.
San Ysidro finished 3-8 overall last season, 1-2 in league play, and lost to Mission Bay in the opening round of the Division V playoffs.
“We have a lot of returning starters and production on offense,” Aguon said. “We expect to trend up on offense that did well in yards against opponents but need to cut down the turnovers. We have a young defense but some new aggressive athletes up front that can fly to the ball that will make up for our inexperience. Our team goal is to win league.”
Top returners include junior quarterback Mathew Jaime, junior slot/strong safety Mckai Jackson, senior offensive lineman/defensive specialist Daniel Placencia, junior middle linebacker Jose Gutierrez, senior cornerback/slot Eli Caranza, junior receiver/outside linebacker Chris Rodriguez, senior receiver/safety Hezekiah Carter, running back/defensive end Brett Laing, senior offensive lineman Antonio Valdez and junior center Frankie Estrada.
Jaime, Jackson, Placencia and Gutierrez were all first team all-league selections in 2019.
Jaime passed for 876 yards with 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while also rushing for 566 yards and three touchdowns. He led the team with 1,442 total yards as a sophomore.
Jackson rushed for 498 yards and five touchdowns and also had three receiving touchdowns. He also registered 78 tackles, 4.5 sacks, two interceptions and one fumble recovery on defense.
The team’s impact newcomers include sophomore defensive lineman Erik Padilla, junior running back Johan Gutierrez, junior linebacker/fullback Sal Samano, junior outside linebacker Cesar Lopez, sophomore defensive back Jaden Banner and freshman Juan Castro (athlete position).
The Cougars will play five games after adding a non-league game against Holtville in the final week.
Raiders looking to finally play
Domonic Cruz got his feet wet last season as a first-year head coach at Southwest High School. The Raiders finished 2-8 overall, 0-3 in Metro-Pacific League play, and were out-scored 385-149.
But this is a new season — finally — with a new outlook on just about everything, including high school sports.
Southwest is scheduled to kick of 2020-21 play March 26 with a home game against Mar Vista as the neighborhood rivals play in their annual Battle for the Bell matchup.
Rivalry games were a key component in scheduling such a short season.
The Raiders are set to play just four games.
Southwest’s last game came on Nov. 11, 2019 — a 47-15 league loss to visiting San Ysidro.
“The Southwest Raiders are looking to get to finally play,” said Cruz, a standout player at Marian Catholic High School. “Reps are not only going to be crucial for the young guys but right on time for the seniors. We hope to get every last drop out of the limited opportunities and enjoy the time we have on the field together.
“Ultimately, we want to compete and have fun. We were 2-8 last season and this COVID situation didn’t help out any. We will prepare as best we can and see if the guys can learn to win as a team.”
Top returners include seniors Daniel Carrillo, Nathaniel Rosillo, Joel Salazar and Sebastian Valadez along with junior Brian Malo.
Rosillo, Salazar, Valadez and Malo all earned all-league recognition last season.
Carrillo rushed for 336 yards and passed for 142 yards to rank second on the team with 478 total offensive yards, scoring two rushing touchdowns. Valadez ranked third on the team with 371 total yards, scoring three times on the run.
Impact newcomers include seniors Rio Laxina and Jesse Luna, juniors Angel Cerezo and Mark De Alba, sophomores Sebastian Plascencia and Rafael Teran and freshman Alex Scolari.
Mariners get new coach at start of new era
Curtis Mays was hired just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has had to get to know his team primarily through ongoing online meetings.
Fortunately, the Mar Vista Mariners are blessed with a large group of seniors to lead the way.
“This year’s team will be led by our returning seniors,” Mays said. “They have been through a lot this past year. They have vowed to have a different mind-set and goal going into the shortened season.”
Top returners senior running back/defensive back Issac Maldonado, junior receiver/free safety Dante Pacheco, junior receiver/defensive back Gerardo Moya, sophomore receiver/linebacker Diego Arrizon, senior offensive/defensive lineman Peyton Robison, senior offensive/defensive lineman Pablo Malave, senior linebacker/running back Joseph Garcia, senior quarterback Caleb O’Neil, junior running back/safety Ross Scharping, junior receiver/defensive back Arturo Ruiz, senior receiver/defensive back David Del Rio and junior quarterback Hunter Thomas.
Returning offensive starters include Maldonado, Pacheco, Robison, Malave and Del Rio.
Many players will also go two-ways.
Returning defensive starters include Maldonado, Pacheco, Robison, Malave, Del Rio, Sharping and Arrizon.
Mays lists Maldonado, Robinson, Malave and Del Rio as the team’s top players.
Maldonado scored four rushing touchdowns in 2019 and had one interception on defense.
Pacheco totaled 38 tackles last season to go with one interception. Arrizon and Del Rio each had one pick.
Like many of the Metro Conference’s cadre of new coaches, Mays had to hit the floor running and then hold in place for the better part of a year.
“This will be an interesting year for the Mariners,” Mays explained. “I had just got hired when the pandemic hit and had to scramble getting information and interest in the program. Luckily, we had a bunch of seniors who had stayed in communication with me and got on our communication app to stay in contact. Through this we have learned to become a unit even though we were doing meetings and video online. I truly believe that this will make the students athletes better men as they move forward. They will be #MARINERSTRONG.”
PREP FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Friday, March 19
Non-League
Sweetwater at Chula Vista, 6:30 p.m.
Montgomery at Castle Park, 6;30 p.m.
Mater Dei Catholic at Helix Charter, 7 p.m.
METRO-PACIFIC LEAGUE
Mar Vista at San Ysidro, 6:30 p.m.
