Youth gone wild at Oak Hills
Year three is when many new schools start to be innudated with veteran leaders. That's not the case at Oak Hills, which is suffering a pretty severe senior shortage after making the playoffs in its first two seasons of play.
"We knew this was coming," Oak Hills coach Robert Kistner said. "A lot of the sophomores from a couple of years ago stayed at their school rather than coming over to play for us because they felt they could get on the field quicker. So we knew that this year was going to be shorthanded as far as seniors go. But we really like the seniors we have."
Leading the way for Oak Hills' senior class is running back Marshaun Coprich and cornerback/wide receiver Garrett Reece-Scott. Coprich (5-5, 180) led the Bulldogs in rushing last year, running for 1,150 yards and nine touchdowns, while Reece-Scott (5-9, 170) was a lockdown corner for Oak Hills along with being the team's leading receiver.
The Bulldogs will need junior quarterback David Richardson (6-2, 220) to take a bit of the heat off Coprich and an offensive line that has three new, underclassmen starters. Richardson threw for 835 yards and eight touchdowns last year, five to Reece-Scott.
"We need David to be good enough to keep eight guys out of the box," Kistner said. "He's been working hard this summer and playing last year is going to help him out quite a bit."
Oak Hills has two seniors returning on the offensive line in Anthony Mejia (6-0, 265) and Garrett Welch (6-0, 265) and will likely start junior Ryan Kistner (6-0, 240) along the offensive line as well. The two other spots are a mystery, with several juniors and sophomore competing. Junior Austin Beltran (6-0, 220) has turned heads at tight end.
Reece-Scott highlights a strong secondary, as there are three players with starting experience returning. Senior Jaquawn Rollen (5-8, 160) will return at safety while Christian Wilson (6-0, 175), who played quite a bit at linebacker last year, will start at the other safety position. The front seven is mostly in flux at this point.
Oak Hills schedule (Home games in CAPS, * Indicates league game)
Sept. 9: DESERT HOT SPRINGS
Sept. 16: at Rialto
Sept. 23: LITTLEROCK
Sept. 30: at Miller
Oct. 7: SILVERADO
Oct. 14: SULTANA*
Oct. 21: VICTOR VALLEY
Oct. 28: at Serrano*
Nov. 4: HESPERIA*
Nov. 11: at Apple Valley*
About T.J.
T.J. Berka has been covering sports for The Sun since 2006. As a graduate of the University of Michigan, T.J. know good sports when he sees them - at least he thinks he does.
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