WOODLAND HILLS — The six football teams comprising the West Valley League — Birmingham, Cleveland, Chatsworth, El Camino Real, Granada Hills and Taft — met Saturday morning at El Camino Real for media day.
Each team was represented by coaches and two players, and of the 12 players present, nine were seniors. And while all the coaches stressed the importance of having senior leaders, they acknowledged a common theme for this upcoming season: The West Valley League will be chock-full of youth.
“Last year I think we graduated 25 seniors and a couple other guys leaving,” Birmingham head coach Jim Rose said. “I mean, 16 sophomores, I think that’s crazy. It’s by far the most we’ve ever had. But that also means our ceiling is really high. So maybe it’s not this year. If it’s not this year, it’s definitely next year.”
“We’re going to be super young,” Cleveland head coach Mario Guzman said. “I was actually on the drive down here kind of tallying up seniors on both sides of the ball, and I have three starting seniors on offense and four on defense. So, the rest of us, the rest of the core, the group is comprised of sophomores and juniors.”
Birmingham, Chatsworth, El Camino Real, Taft coaches and players at media day pic.twitter.com/BRPSgmkvk9
— Dan Lovi (@LoviSports) August 17, 2024
One of those sophomores for Cleveland is quarterback Domenik Fuentes, who played on defense last year.
After a midseason injury to the starting quarterback last season, Fuentes filled in and hasn’t relinquished the role since.
The Cavaliers know they’re fortunate to have found their quarterback for the present and future, but keeping him out of the game on defense could prove difficult.
“Got to kind of keep him on the sideline. It’s tough. He’s an athlete overall,” Guzman said of Fuentes. “He’s our best passer, he’s our best runner, he’s our best tackler. It’s tough, kind of handcuffing him to quarterback.”
“I’m out there on the sidelines with the highlighted jersey like, ‘Coach let me in,’” said a smiling Fuentes, who also said he begs his coach every day to let him play defense.
Taft coach Thomas Randolph is facing a similar situation with junior starting quarterback Nathan Swinson.
As a freshman, Swinson played middle linebacker and was the leading tackler on the JV squad, winning Defensive Player of the Year.
Swinson has been reminding his coach of that ever since, imploring him to allow him to play on both sides of the ball.
“I have zero intention of him going back on that side of the ball,” Randolph said. “But I know he has every intention of going back on that side. So that’ll be a battle for another couple years.”
“For all the teams, the QB is the main guy, the leader,” Swinson said. “My leadership is a thing that I’ve been complimented on. So I’m going to try to make sure my team’s all hyped up, ready for a game, make sure we’re all cheering each other on on the sideline. Make sure everyone’s engaged in the game.”
For Birmingham, the defending league champs seniors Eddie Plaza and Antrell Harris will be tasked with mentoring the younger players.
Plaza, a two-time first-team All-City Open Division selection, is looking forward to bringing the new players along, much like a mentor of his did when he started his varsity career.
“When I was a freshman and a sophomore, I had people like (Delamonte Barnes), he led me through my rigorous freshman year,” Plaza said. “So I try to take in the footsteps as him and just teach these guys to just play fast and don’t really think too much. On defense, you just have to go.”
The host of the event, El Camino Real, had two seniors representing the program: Javan Kaggwa and Rafael Cortez.
While the Royals will rely heavily on their play on the field, more importantly, they’ll rely on their guidance off it with the younger players getting acclimated to the game.
“Just to join the club, we’re a younger team too in a couple areas, except for these two individuals who get to lead us,” ECR head coach Jason Sabolic said of Kaggwa and Cortez. “And hopefully we’ll bring those next guys up to be better.”
Hand in hand with the influx of young student-athletes is the growth of the football programs as a whole.
Five of the six schools have over 100 players in the program across all grade levels and Chatsworth isn’t far behind.
“We actually have our biggest varsity roster since I’ve been there. We have 40 players,” Chatsworth coach Marvin Street said. “Overall, I believe we have 87, still some kids trickling in. I’m just really excited about the competitiveness that’s going to exist in the West Valley League this year.”
Sabolic even brought up the idea of starting a freshman program across the West Valley League once the numbers get to where they need to be.
“Maybe eventually one of these years we’ll get around to being like the Southern Section programs and start a freshman league if we all have enough kids,” he said. “Maybe that’ll be fun and good times and extra work for all of us as head coaches, even though I know we love the grind.”
Five of the teams begin the season next week against nonleague competition. Birmingham is still looking for a Week 0 opponent and will start the season on Aug. 30 if no game comes to fruition.
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