BY JESUS A. RUIZ: Garden Grove’s football league has been dominated by Garden Grove High School for years now with Los Amigos High and Rancho Alamitos High following close behind.
In fact, the Argonauts have notched the top spot in the league every year since 2012, with Los Amigos and Rancho keeping the same position since that year with second and third place league spots.
Not to mention the Argos are the reigning CIF Southern Division champions after defeating cross-town rivals Rancho Alamitos in the CIF final last season.
BY JESUS A. RUIZ: Garden Grove’s football league has been dominated by Garden Grove High School for years now with Los Amigos High and Rancho Alamitos High following close behind.
In fact, the Argonauts have notched the top spot in the league every year since 2012, with Los Amigos and Rancho keeping the same position since that year with second and third place league spots.
Not to mention the Argos are the reigning CIF Southern Division champions after defeating cross-town rivals Rancho Alamitos in the CIF final last season.
This year’s Garden Grove league has the potential to play out a different way.
The Argos will have a team filled with young players ; most of the squad that won last year’s CIF title graduated.
But they are returning about five starters on offense and five starters on defense, said Argos’ head coach Ricardo Cepeda, who was named last year’s coach of the year for the Southern Division of the CIF Southern Section.
Among those returning for the Argos are three players who made the list for All-CIF in their division: Malik Bilal at linebacker, Nathan Garcia at defensive lineman and Jordan Antunez at running back.
These players will have to step up and lead the young blood on the team if there will be any chance of filling the void left by last year’s seniors.
Anything short of success is what Los Amigos and Rancho Alamitos will be hoping the Argos achieve. It is also what they will need if there will be a chance for either of them to claim this year’s league title, but both will need leaders within their ranks to rise to the occasion.
Rancho has a void to fill for the upcoming season and it’s in the most crucial of positions.
Rancho quarterback Nick Brown was the team’s ace in the pocket last season, leading the squad to a 2014 CIF championship final berth. Blake Culbert, a junior this year, didn’t get much playing time last year due to Brown’s dominance, but he will this year and he will have to be ready.
Culbert has some big shoes to fill as Brown had a 61 percent completion average and threw for about 300 yards a game and almost 5,000 on the season. He also threw for more than 50 touchdown passes, setting an Orange County record.
No pressure Culbert, right? But he’s not on his own.
Rancho is returning Joe Navar at the wide receiver position. Navar just missed out being named to the ALL-CIF team last year due to his upperclassmen counterparts at the moment, but now times have changed and he will have to step up as the go-to receiver.
If Culbert and Navar can connect on the field consistently, they could potentially make Rancho’s attempt at the league title, which the Vaqueros haven’t won since 2011, a realization.
Upcoming preseason games will give the Vaqueros a chance to test their depth and see where they are overall as a team. Rancho will need to get the ball in the end zone right from the snap of preseason or risk being left behind for yet another subpar finish in the Garden Grove league.
Out of Los Amigos's three quarterbacks who shared the position last season is returning junior quarterback Jonas Wallace, who threw 26 completions.
With the other two starters gone, Wallace will undoubtedly be Los Amigos’ starting quarterback and will have to be a leader.
Wallace will have an offensive line that has been tested at the varsity level before but they will need to give him protection long enough when up against Grove or Rancho to really make a run at league.
Wallace’s team will be looking to him for leadership and he will need to deliver if Los Amigos wants out of its usual second-place spot.
This year’s Garden Grove league champion will be earned by the team with the highest quality of leadership.
The season is up for grabs between these three teams, and the bottom three will be fought between La Quinta, Bolsa Grande and Santiago, just has it always has.
History says Garden Grove will walk out of the 2015 season with another league title. The Argos have the size on defense and quickness on offense.
But there are just too many juniors in leadership roles to call this season the same way.
Look for Garden Grove to be given a run for the league title by Los Amigos and Rancho. It won’t be too surprising if Garden Grove finishes out of the top spot, but it won’t be anything lower than second.
