Camp California

I’ve had the chance to visit a few camps and will be posting some tidbits on the blog over the next few weeks. Please don’t forget to read the paper as some of these notes have already been published. Today, I’ll start with the defending Del Rio League champion California Condors.

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ARCE HAS IMPRESSED

There were several players who impressed California coach Jim Arnold over the last couple of passing scrimmages. The one whose surprised him last Thursday was backup quarterback Mark Arce, formerly of St. Paul.

The discipline transfer completed 6 of 10 passes versus Los Altos last Thursday with a touchdown.

“Mark is good, I’m not going to lie,” Arnold said. “The bad news is that I don’t have Mark until Game 5.”

Arce is ineligible until Oct. 7. It will be interesting to see what his position will be upon his return.

Let’s not forget, though, that Arnold has total confidence in starting quarterback Adam Contreras.

The one advantage he gave Arce over Contreras was Arce’s ability to “just play” over Contreras’ tendency to over analyze.

That may have been highlighted by Contreras three combined touchdowns against Los Altos, Rosemead and Northview.

The quarterback also had three timed sacks, though, compared to none for Arce, who quarterbacked the team’s second drives.

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ALOHA TO LOUIE ZAMORA

One of the hottest issues surrounding the California coaching staff during the spring was whether or not two-year coach Louie Zamora would leave to join new Los Altos coach Jim Arellanes.

While Zamora has been with the Conquerors now for about three months, he had an interesting chance to face his former team on Thursday at Los Altos and Tuesday at Santa Fe in different passing tournaments.

“It was pretty cool to go against my old teams and my old coaches,” Zamora said. “Everyone that I coached against and who coached me was there, so that was cool.”

Arnold had no hard feelings.

“You can’t fault the guy,” Arnold said. “He got a coordinator position and was looking to move up. I wish him the best.

Zamora is both the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Los Altos.

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PLAYERS STEPPING UP

One of the surprising players that stepped up was sophomore receiver Aaron Garcia, who tied for the team lead with two touchdowns in the Los Altos scrimmage.

“He’s solid, that’s for sure,” Arnold said of Garcia.

As for leadership, senior Ben Siepak played versus Los Altos, Rosemead and Northview despite a visibly bloody knee and pain.

While Siepak is definitely one of California’s impact players, he earned points with Arnold for his toughness.

“He’s a tough kid. He’s going to be one of our leaders,” Arnold said. “He and (Max Gonzales) are two kids that we’re going to expect to go and not come off the field. They’ll play safeties and they’ll play the outside receivers. They’re going to be good for us.”

Siepak hauled in touchdown passes against Los Altos and Rosemead.

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