PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS PREVIEW (St. Francis, Don Bosco Tech, La Salle)
By Miguel A. Melendez, Staff Writer
Opposing teams will have to pick their poison when facing St. Francis High School this season.
The obvious choice is Dietrich Riley, one of the best – if not the best – high school football player in California. Zero in on him and the second or third option could burn you.
Completely ignoring Riley, however, is not a wise move, either.
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It’s that kind of flexibility that has Knights coach Jim Bonds excited to begin his 10th season at the helm.
Riley’s final year will be bittersweet for the St. Francis faithful and the rest of the San Gabriel Valley. It’s the last time fans will enjoy the hard-working Riley in action.
When the season’s over, he’ll have to make a decision on where he’ll continue his football career. He’s fielded well over a dozen offers from some of the top programs in the nation, including USC, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama and and Notre Dame.
Despite the exposure in national sports magazines and recruiting sites, Riley’s kept it all in perspective. He’s focused on helping his team improve from last year’s third-place finish in the Mission league and wild card playoff exit last season.
St. Francis returns six starters, including quarterback Justin Posthuma, linebacker Chris Cabrera and wide receiver Austin Nieves.
Bonds is excited about the leadership roles filled by the likes of Riley, Posthuma and Cabrera.
“We have a great senior class and great chemistry on the team,” Bonds said. “You see a lot of talented teams with no chemistry that don’t achieve as much as the should.
“We don’t have as much talent but with the togetherness and brotherhood will take us over the hump.”
The Knights roster this season includes some notable transfers. Quarterback Brett Nelson (6-foot3, 185 pounds) is a junior transfer from Loyola and is eligible to play this season. He’ll serve as Posthuma’s backup.
“Justin’s established he’s the starter going into the season,” Bonds said. “Justin’s been helping Brett with the offense more than anybody, that’s the kind of guy Justin is.”
Also joining the team is junior Ian Hamilton, a 6-foot-4 wide receiver who was at Arroyo last year. Travis Talianko (6-2, 185) is a solid addition at tight end and defensive end. He’s one of seven sophomores on the team this season.
Riley returns this season with a more muscular frame. He put on 12 pounds of muscle and is relishing last year’s role of playing several positions.
“We tried a lot of that last year and moving him around,” Bonds said. “We’ll do similar things with a few new wrinkles. He’s going to play every day no matter where he is.”
That could be at receiver, running back and defensive back.
Said Bonds: “He has unbelievable hands, an ability to run by people, cover people and intercept people.”
BOSCO TECH
Bosco Tech returns seven starters, including Johnny Calderon. He was last year’s quarterback, but the addition of Dylan Welsh allows Calderon to move to the backfield where he’ll be more of an offensive threat for the Tigers.
Welsh is only a sophomore but he’s played well since the start of spring and through fall camp.
“If I would have had another quarterback last year that I could have started we would have had Calderon at running back,” Tigers coach Chris Shockley said. “Being that I have Dylan and he had an excellent summer, we’re comfortable that he’ll be the starter, which will allow me to put Johnny at running back and wide receiver.”
Thus, the Calderon switch gives the Tigers an added dimension it did not have last year.
Aside from Calderon, senior center Josh Aranda and senior linebacker Jesus Pasten, there’s little experience to count on.
Still, Bosco Tech finally will compete in a league at its level.
Instead of playing in the extremely tough Del Rey League, where they faced traditional powers Serra, Cathedral and Harvard-Westlake, the Tigers will play in the Camino Real League.
“We have a lot of respect for Cantwell, La Salle and Mary Star,” Shockley said. “They have excellent coaches over there and by no means we’re taking any of them lightly.”
LA SALLE
La Salle was riddled with injuries last year, resulting in a 1-9 season. The fallout led to Chase Rettig transferring to San Clemente and second-year coach Antoine Peterson revamping almost his entire coaching staff.
It has all led to renewed enthusiasm in the Lancers program.
La Salle returns 14 starters from last year’s team, including its entire line, including Andrew Pankow. The 6-foot-3, 270 pounder is fielding offers from a score of small schools and recently took a trip to Penn State earlier this year.
Also returning is tight end/wide receiver Kishon Sanders, hoping to bounce back from last year’s depleted roster.
“We’re looking for him to have a tremendous season,” Peterson said.
The Lancers will look more explosive this season with skilled positions intact. Mike Alexander, who competed at quarterback in spring camp, will be an asset at receiver.
Four quarterbacks have taken plenty of snaps, but so far junior Will Harriety and sophomore Mike Novell are neck-in-neck for the starting spot.
Alexander is probably the third quarterback with Kishon Sanders also available if needed; he took most of the spring snaps.
This clearly is a different scenario from last year when the offensive coordinator limited snaps to Rettig.
Pat Walker, secondary coach last year, was promoted to offensive coordinator this season.
In having a four-player rotation at quarterback Walker is giving the Lancers depth at a key position.
miguel.melendez@sgvn.com
