SAUGUS – With the high school football season starting soon for the majority of the teams in the Daily News area, the Foothill League teams gathered recently at the league’s media to discuss expectations for the 2026 season.
“Obviously, it’s gonna start with these guys and their commitment to each other,” Valencia head coach Larry Muir said during the event Saturday when discussing how a successful culture is created.
Valencia won its third consecutive league title last season by going 9-1 overall and 6-0 in league. Valencia had an explosive offense led by running back Brian Bonner – now at the University of Washington – and quarterback Brady Bretthauer – now at College of the Canyons.
Valencia sophomore quarterback Evan McCalister will look to continue that tradition as he begins his first year as the starting signal caller.
McCalister was impressive when given the opportunity last season. He was 14 of 19 passing for 306 yards with four touchdowns in a 47-44 road win over Paraclete.
He also showed well for himself when replacing Bretthauer as a freshman, showing great accuracy that should make him a name to watch this season.
“Last year definitely helped me a lot,” McCalister said about those appearances.
“This year, I just believe I’m gonna keep leading, keep commanding the offense. Our defense is gonna do their thing, special teams, but yeah, that’s just how I feel about it.”
Senior Nico Funez will replace Bonner at running back after getting playing time at slot receiver and as a backup behind him the last two seasons.
Other Foothill League teams, including Hart, Saugus, Golden Valley, Canyon and Castaic, previewed their seasons at media day as well.
Here are some of the interesting storylines around the league:
Hart returns a deep offense led by receiver/running back Matix Frithsmith.
Frithsmith accounted for over 2,300 total yards and 27 touchdowns last season as the Hawks finished 7-3 overall and 5-1 in league. The Hawks lost in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs.
Receivers Michael Toner and Silas Tucker and running back Josh Rogozik are other notable returners for Hart.
The Hawks also have a new starting quarterback in junior Camren Ketner. Last season’s starter, Jacob Paisano, is headed to the University of Northern Colorado to play college football.
While Hart does have weapons returning, it will be intriguing to watch how Ketner adjusts to a starting varsity role after being called up from junior varsity ahead of this year.
Saugus heads into this campaign coming off of one of its most successful seasons in years. The team went 8-2 overall and 4-2 in league before losing to Apple Valley in the CIF-SS Division 7 semifinals.
It was a remarkable turnaround by the Centurions, who had gone a combined 2-18 the previous two seasons.
Senior wide receiver Landon Lattimore had a lot to do with the turnaround. He had a record-setting campaign, as he hauled in 83 receptions for 1,171 yards and 17 touchdowns across 13 games.
He became the school’s career record holder for receiving yards (2,217) and touchdowns (27), and he is arguably one of the more underrated receivers in the area.
With his name already in Saugus’ history books, he’s ready for more this season.
“Honestly I just wanna improve every day and make myself better, and honestly, just throughout the season,” he said. “I wanna break my own record again, just get as many yards and touchdowns as I can.”
Saugus has to replace quarterback Jake Nuttall. A decision on who will take over that spot is “to be determined,” according to coach Jason Bornn.
“We’re really excited about Brayden Connelly, our junior returning player from a lower level, and our incoming freshman Zach Barnes,” Bornn said. “They’re competing equally. We’re excited to get them both an opportunity.”
Golden Valley just missed out on reaching the playoffs last season as the team went 4-6 overall and 3-3 in league.
The Grizzlies lost to Saugus 32-29 in a battle for the Foothill’s final automatic playoff spot that went down to the wire last season. Golden Valley also missed out on an at-large berth.
“We need to learn that we need to finish games,” Grizzlies coach Dan Kelley said Saturday.
Linebacker DJ Terry and strong line play from an experienced unit will go a long way toward determining what Golden Valley’s future holds in 2026.
“I think my biggest motivation is some of the failures we had from last season and I just really wanna have a good senior campaign,” Terry said.
“Just build a different mindset than we had from last season,” he added. “We have a new group of guys this year.”
Kelley summed up his philosophy this way: “We return three offensive linemen. Everybody in this room knows I like to run the football, so that’s the biggest thing is developing the offensive and defensive line. We wanna run the ball and we wanna play tough defense.”
Canyon, West Ranch and Castaic look to rebound from difficult 2025 seasons.
Sean O’Brien is West Ranch’s head coach this year, while receiver Charlie Samuelson is a notable returner on offense. The senior had 23 catches for 503 yards and four touchdowns last year.
Quarterback Julian Carlin will be Canyon’s starter this year. Coach Ken Holsenbeck noted that he likes to run the ball on offense, so senior Benicio Wright might play a big role.
Castaic is coming off a winless season, but coach Sirr Guy Shakir sees reasons to be optimistic coming into the new season.
“They’ve (the team) had those difficult conversations,: Shakir said, “those difficult moments, and this group up here (for media day) has resonated with the rest of our team because they understand that the only path is … you’ve gotta go through it, you’ve gotta battle. They’ve done that since December, so based on that work ethic, based on that competitive character, I’m confident.”