For all of you Bishop Amat honks, this is an intriguing season. Was the first-year under coach Steve Hagerty an aberration? Do you really expect them to improve on 7-4? They came within minutes of knocking off eventual champion Long Beach Poly at Veterans Stadium, so what can they do for an encore, especially after losing the likes of Isaiah Bowens, Sheldon Price, Brent Seals, and Jesse Prieto on D? If you have been wondering the same thing, so has head coach Steve Hagerty. Here is an excerpt from our Sept. 3 Football Preview on the state of Bishop Amat.

“We know the risk after what happened last year is that we could take a step back,” Hagerty said. “The second year is always the hardest on a coaching staff. If we take a step back everyone is going to say last year was a fluke, that we got lucky. But that’s why you go to Bishop Amat, to take on that pressure and that expectation. We have no intention of taking a step back, we’re moving forward.”