Daily Countdown:The best football teams in the area — covered by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News and Whittier Daily News — are ranked in the preseason Top 10. The countdown will conclude with the top team unveiled on Aug. 14.
No. 7. La Serna
Spring record: 6-0
Strengths: It would be hard to find a better receiver and playmaker in the area than La Serna senior Jake George, who has been dominant since his sophomore season. The big question this season is who will be throwing the ball to him? La Serna coach Andy George has quite a battle at QB between junior Jake Long and sophomore CJ Ceron. No doubt, whoever wins the starting job, the Lancers’ offense will be one of the best around again. Look for offensive coordinator John Caballero to be dialing up some more creative ways to get a lot of production out of that combination. La Serna has always produced a powerful running game and look for running back Owen Long to shoulder a lot of the weight.
Outlook: Could this be the year that the Lancers are knocked off the pedestal as the champions of the Del Rio League? On paper it seems like that could be the case as California and El Rancho have made huge inroads. The Lancers welcome back only four starters from last year’s extraordinarily talented team. Based on prior experience, it would be unwise to count out La Serna. The Lancers have emerged as one of the top teams in the Whittier area and should once again be champions of the Del Rio League. “It’s been pretty awesome seeing their development thus far and I can’t wait to see it all come together,” George said.
Top Players
(Player name, Year, Position)
CJ Ceron, So., QB/Safety
Max Dressen, Jr., DL
Jake George, Sr., WR
Jake Long, Jr., QB
JJ Martinez, Sr., OL
Nick Meza, Sr., WR/DB
Schedule
(home games at California HS)
Aug. 20 vs. Bonita
Aug. 26 vs. Warren
Sept. 3 at Los Osos
Sept. 10 vs. Tesoro
Sept. 17 at Valley View
Sept. 24 at Culver City
Oct. 7 vs. Santa Fe
Oct. 15 vs. California
Oct. 22 at El Rancho
Oct. 29 at Whittier
