Ontario football team to open new stadium against local foe

Hundreds of students, faculty and community members attend the much-anticipated dedication ceremony Tuesday for the new football stadium at Ontario High School. The facility is expected to be completed next month.

Dedication festivities for Ontario’s new football stadium were held in the spring. Now the Jaguars get to play in it!

Ontario High School will finally get to play a varsity game on its own campus this Friday night and it should be a real shot in the arm for a program that has struggled in recent years although last year’s .500 record was a step in the right direction.

The opponent will be Ontario Christian, a school only a block away. Both schools are looking forward to the contest.  Matt Hoekstra is starting his second year as coach at Ontario Christian while John Kusleika is in his third at Ontario.

The teams have scrimmaged the previous two years and this year Ontario spent much of the spring walking over to Ontario Christian to practice because work was being finished up on its stadium.

“Matt was very helpful to us when we needed a place to practice,” Kusleika said. “It should be a fun game. It can be a fun, friendly rivalry. They’re a small school but they’re always pretty good.”

Hoekstra is looking to rely on his running game with a solid trio of Zac Cupp, Blake Biby and Travis Struiksma the contributors. Other key players are senior wide receiver Ian Ulloa and junior quarterback Kevin Jack, who missed much of last season with an injury.

On defense Hoekstra singles out senior outside linebacker Clayton Dahl and senior defensive back Giovanni Debonis.

There has been a battle for the quarterback spot at Ontario with Aaron Delgado and Luis Rivera the candidates. Kusleika said he’ll likely use both and see what materializes. The Jaguars also have a solid running back in junior Antoine Paul, who saw a lot of playing time late last season.

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