Heritage, Paloma, Santa Rosa football teams open on Friday

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The varsity football teams from Heritage and Paloma Valley high schools will be at home Friday at 7 p.m. for their season openers.

Santa Rosa Academy will open its season at 7 p.m. at Desert Christian Academy of Bermuda Dunes. Liberty High opened its season Thursday afternoon with a 38-21 victory over the North High JV team in its first game in school history.

Coach Andre Smith’s Heritage Patriots will play host to Santiago High of Corona in their opener. Smith said more than 100 players participated in summer workouts and made great progress. Smith replaced Adam Contreras, who left after one shortened season to rejoin head coach Kraig Broach at Liberty.

“The kids are happy to be back,” said Smith. They’re eager to kick things off. I really think they’ve made some great strides.”

Smith, who served as offensive coordinator at Murrieta Valley last season, said the players have adjusted well to some adjustments in the system the Patriots will run.

“It’s a cultural change we brought in,” he said. “It starts with how we practice. We have less guys playing both ways. Offensively, we’re completely different. It will be more like a West Coast [passing] offense – but it all starts up front.”

Smith said the offensive line is one of the strengths of the team. That unit will be led by seniors Conan Tautala (6-2, 332), Nathan Guerrero (6-5, 357) and Anthony Fraund (6-1, 289). They will work to protect returning quarterback Hayden Lara. Running backs will be Jason Chupany and Angelo Serena.

On defense, Smith has high praise for linebackers Kanye Young and Jakob Garcia. Kyle Basham is a standout defensive back, and Aurelius Thomas stands 6-5 and 200 at defensive end.

Former Paloma Valley lineman Zach Dilley will begin his first full season as head coach when the Wildcats take their home field against Vista. Dilley said the combination of experience gained during a shortened spring season and a solid summer session has the Wildcats headed in the right direction.

“The spring gave us a heads-up on some players so we know more what to expect,” Dilley said. “I don’t know if it had a huge impact, but it helped, and we made a lot of progress over the summer.”

Dilley said the team was a bit low on numbers at the start of the summer and that “being my first year, it was tough getting the word out”, considering the pandemic and everything going on, He said some of the jerseys and helmets are still coming in after the delay in equipment production and delivery.

But Friday night, it’s full steam ahead, ready or not, and Dilley is excited about what he sees on the field.

Noah Howard, a junior, will start at quarterback. “He’s been real consistent and makes good decisions,” Dilley said. Protecting Howard will be a strong offensive line featuring junior nose guard Corey Morris and center Quinn Kuhl, who has moved over from left tackle because of a teammate's injury.

Sophomore Aaron Young started training camp at defensive back and has excelled recently at wide receiver. The defense is led by defensive end Nick Zimmerman and linemen Kirk Randolph and David Edmonds.

Santa Rosa Academy opens the season with four straight road games before hosting its first home game Sept. 25 vs. Temecula Prep. The Rangers will also have home games against Capistrano Valley Christian (Oct. 2) and Hamilton (Oct. 16).