Prep Football Tour Continues

In this week’s episode, John Devine and Juan Reyes will talk about some of the coaching changes throughout the leagues, including seven new faces on the football sidelines.

Then they'll take a minute to chop it up with new Seaside High athletic director, Casey Neligh, who is looking to turn things around in Spartan Country.   

And finally, John and Juan will jump into some more prep football with updates from our annual training camp tour with stops from Aptos to King City. 

We’ll have all this and more on… the Cover 3 Sports Podcast.

(snippet of "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC used in this episode)

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

And now tuned in to the Cover 3 Sports Podcast, your leader in sports coverage for the Tri County area. And now your host, Juan Reyes and John Devine. Hello, everybody. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Cover Three Sports Podcast. Well, we made it through our first episode after uh that seven year uh absence, and then uh we came back and and now now we're back to deliver some more of that local sports news that uh you love to hear from uh uh here at the cover three sports podcast. And uh you know what, John? Uh we we hit a couple milestones this past weekend. Yeah, first yeah, yeah, for starters. We now we have 250 followers on our Instagram account in just a couple of days. A big thank you to those who hit the follow button. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And then um also we had uh a nice we had 50 downloads for the episode one. Man, I I I knew I knew people wanted this podcast to come back to life, but the response, the love, it's tremendous. I I don't know, I I could feel it. Uh a big thank you as well to our listeners, and uh I thank you. Just uh, you know, we we love we love bringing this uh this uh all this exciting news, all this stuff, all the previews, all that stuff, and uh I'm pretty sure you feel the same, no John.

SPEAKER_04 1:45

Yeah, and the fact that we've kind of kept it on the down, you know, we haven't exactly publicized this as much as we probably should, but uh word of mouth is traveling quickly.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yep, yep, yep, that's awesome. And and then hopefully uh maybe uh word of mouth will kind of uh trickle down, maybe a sponsor uh down the road or something. Uh definitely. Anyhow, uh we have much, much, much to talk about. So uh why don't we just uh dive right into it? All right, in this week's episode, John and I will talk about some of the coaching changes throughout the league, including seven new faces on the football sidelines. And then we'll take a minute to chop it up with new Seaside High Athletic Director, Casey Nealick, who is looking to turn things around in Spartan country. And finally, we'll jump into some more prep football with updates from our annual training camp tour with stops from all the way in Aptos down to King City. We'll have all this and more on the Cover 3 Sports Podcast. Alrighty, welcome back, my friends, mis amigos. ¿Cómo están? Uh hey, I was in the uh I was in the middle of a fantasy football draft earlier. Uh I I don't know how I did. I just I kind of picked a couple of people at the beginning, and then I just kind of let the auto auto draft after that. Uh did you ever get any into uh fantasy football, John? Did did did that ever kind of uh call your attention?

SPEAKER_04 3:28

No. Yeah, part of it is I I just honestly with a family, and you're gonna find this out as your kid grows a little older, it gets more and more challenging. And I don't know, maybe because I'm so engulfed in my present job in terms of trying to handle 20 high schools and a couple of colleges that uh whatever time I have off, which lately hasn't felt like much. Um I'm trying to get away from sports. No, I I I I find myself going to ACDC concerts instead.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Oh, and I got a little surprise for you uh later. Uh we're gonna have a little uh that request that you had last week. I'll I'll I got a little something for you later in the show for sure. Uh and then uh I was I don't know, I'm just looking at my at my fantasy football uh results here, and ugh, I got Jackson Dart as my quarterback. I don't know about that. Uh B. John Robinson, I actually picked him, he was my first pick, and then uh a couple other names. Uh let's see here, Devontae Smith, my wide receiver, and then I actually got uh Trey McBride, that tight end from uh Arizona, see if he has another standout year and another big year in fantasy football for my team. Uh but anyways, we'll I'll I'll write I'll ride with this team uh all the way to last place, I guess. Oh man. Uh so um let's see here. Well uh as you know, you know, like pro teams, uh they they're constantly getting rid of coaches and starting whole new regimes, right? Trying to get this uh, I don't know, trying to trying to re-re start, reinvigorate uh some uh some of these uh franchises. Uh believe it or not, our high schools and junior colleges do the same thing. And uh during the quote unquote off season, uh, you know, usually got head coaches they either retire, step down, or in some cases they get uh pink slipped, which uh we'll get into that in a bit. But uh but uh but you me and you, John, we we talked a little bit about you know just some of these schools that uh that they do have uh some of these brand new head coaches, some of uh, you know, some uh some new faces on the sideline. Um I got three schools in my area, uh Monta Vista Christian, Pajo Valley, and Watsonville. Um again, just uh some some new coaches that uh that have come come in. And I know you had some as well in your in your area, is that right?

SPEAKER_04 6:07

We have, and if you count Trinity, which I do, even though it's eight-man football, uh Josh Kelly's taking over that program. And you know, when you only have 12 athletes in a program, and I know it's eight-man football, it's still it'll be a challenge for them, you know, trying to build that program back up. But you make good points. A lot of what you said is I'm gonna point right towards Alvarez right now, where Jason Chicone has taken over that job. And as you know, it's been a carousel of coaches at Alvarez over the last, yeah, well, since the pandemic, they've had uh he is coach number four in the last seven years, with none of them lasting more than two years at a time. The difference with Coach Chacone, though, is I get the sense that he really wants to see uh change. And what I mean by change is you know, Albert uh probably didn't meet the expectations that everybody thought they were going to do after being dropped into the mission division. And a lot of it had to do with discipline. I mean, when you have twelve touchdowns called back in a single season, that probably cost them a couple of games. And when you look at them being a point out of the playoffs uh playoffs last year, uh that uh that uh that was costly. I mean it and um I think with Jacona to helm, and again we'll see, you know, it's easy to preach something. It's getting the kids now to buy in to what he he's explaining to them the importance of being disciplined. I mean Alvarez not only was the most penalized team last year, but had the most ejections in terms of players and coaches.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

And that's that's something something I think that no program would tolerate.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah, no doubt. Uh discipline, right? Uh getting those uh those players in line and and making sure they don't make uh bonehead mistakes, right? I mean, come on, you you gotta you gotta be more you gotta tell those kids to be more more alert, more aware, because I mean this this this is uh getting ejected, that's a big that's a pretty big deal. That's huge.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

Yeah, well the one thing I liked about him that he told me, and you know he can't cut it completely out because I tell these players just stop the chirping. Just go out there and let your you know your body of work uh uh count for something. And and we'll see how it happens. I mean, you can't, you know, some kids are just a little hyper than others, but you know, having watched them out there and practice, you know, they've they've got some talent and uh if they can minimize their mistakes, I think they can compete. And uh you mentioned some of the other coaches here. Mark Ramworth has taken over North Salinas, he's a North High aluminum Tri-County Athletic League Co-Championship team, which God I think goes back to 2009, maybe sooner. But uh he's inheriting a program that's coming off three straight postseason appearances under Ben Straldi. Soraldi stepped down more for family reasons, he's got a couple little kids, but he left the program in uh stable, and Mark understands that, and Mark's just trying to build off that, having been an assistant under Soraldi for the last you know several years. I I liked what I saw when I was out there. I I didn't see a lot of change. There will be obviously from the offensive side. Maybe he'll tinker a little bit with the defense, but uh North Salinas has some dudes, and uh, you know, if they can stay healthy, depth will be their biggest issue. And then at Pacific Grove, uh Jay Earhart has taken over for Jeff Gray, who also I guess can say retired. I mean, I think that was I think he's you know he's coached baseball and soft uh excuse me, baseball and football, I think for more than 30 years at Pacific Grove, and I just think you know his life taken in a different direction. Um Jay, who actually has had some experience over Hollister a few years ago before going over the Pacific Grove, um, isn't trying to reinvent the wheel but wants to see a change, wants to change that offense. And it's as we know at Pacific Grove, a lot of their offense has been run-oriented probably 90% of the time. And that's something that he feels if Pacific Grove is going to compete the nation division south, they've got to be more balanced.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Okay, gotcha. Uh some some alum coming back to uh to kind of help uh, like you said, uh re reinvigorate some programs here uh and get them back uh to their feet for sure. Um let's see here. Um like I mentioned, uh we we I mean over in my area, we had uh three new changes starting with uh Montavista Christian. Um they brought in uh Georgia native uh Joe Sturdivant. Oh, and uh check this out. I mean, he's got a pretty nice record here, uh 52-0 uh at the prep level. And uh he was actually uh one one of the first uh coaches hired over at the IMG Academy. Uh I remember that place. Uh they it's kind of this uh this place where they got uh pretty pretty high pretty uh top-tier athletes uh competing. And um he was actually hired uh by former pro quarterback uh Chris Winky, and I'm pretty sure you you remember that name. Yeah, for sure. Florida State. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

And then the guy who played baseball the first uh six or seven years of his career before going back to football, I believe it's a 27-year-old quarterback in Florida State.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Me and my brother were actually talking about that. I was like, You remember Chris Winky? He was like 27 uh coming in, you know, and he's like, What the so uh but uh yeah, no, uh uh Joe, he's got uh he's got some he's got some high energy. He's got he's gonna run a nice pro style offense that uh we'll talk about later in our in our uh previews. And then um, and then over at Paho Valley, we have Ray Myers. Uh believe it or not, uh we worked together at Quiznos when it was here in Watsonville. And so now he's yeah, we're doing our thing, right? And so he's been a longtime assistant coach. Uh more recently at Cabrillo, Cabrillo College, and uh before that, he was at Watsonville and then at Soquel High, uh, under his his dad, Ron Myers. Uh, I don't know, does that name ring a bell to you, uh, John? Yeah, pretty sure.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

Quite a bit of uh quite a reputation over the years in the uh Watsonville area.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

For sure, for sure. Uh, and then uh speaking of Watsonville, uh, we also have a new football head coach there in uh Ty McSwain. Uh he was uh he was the former baseball coach there for the Wildcats for the last couple of years, but now he's gonna take over the football program. Uh Ty has got uh he's got like 25 years of of uh experience coaching uh both uh combined with uh baseball and and football. And I know he was an assistant coach uh on the uh what was it, Aloha High football team. Uh they won an Oregon 6A state championship back in uh 2010. And so uh yeah, and he's also uh he was also an assistant over at George Fox University. And then uh after that he he came over here and that's where he started his uh his coaching career at the Watsonville in uh in 2021. And uh I know um I know Watsonville, uh they got a couple other new head coaches for other programs. Uh I want to say it's Austin uh Liwegard. Uh he'll take over the boys' basketball program, uh replacing Andre Bailey. And then we have Max Gonzalez. Um he's gonna be replacing Ty McSwain uh as the in the dugout as the new uh baseball coach. And then uh Pajo Valley, they have Juan Roman. He's gonna take over the girls' soccer program. He used to be the former head coach of the boys' soccer program, so uh a familiar face there on the campus. And then uh I did a story on uh San Lorenzo Valley. They they're bringing in five new head coaches, uh including a veteran basketball head coach and Todd Kent. He has uh 30 years experience and more than 300 combined wins. Um I know he spent time with UCS. He uh had a pretty nice career there, took him to a couple of uh NCAA Division III uh championship appearances. And uh yeah, I'm excited to see what uh what these new coaches bring uh bring to the table, it should be fun for sure. And then I I know I saw you wrote something on Seaside, bringing in five new head coaches as well. I know uh athletic director Casey Nealig, he's gonna talk to us a little bit more about that. But uh I don't know. I I just I keep seeing these high turnover rates, a lot of these uh schools kind of bringing in more coaches, uh more coaches leaving, more coaches coming in. I mean, do you see a little trend there or what's what what do you what do you think? Is this kind of the norm you would think?

SPEAKER_04 14:53

I think we're going through a I don't want to say a trend, but just a cycle right now. And uh it's hard to coach. And I think a lot of people who get involved in coaching, whether it's for their own kid or or just something that you know they want to stay active and maybe a former athlete themselves, they don't realize the work that goes into coaching. And you know, it it's nobody likes losing, and you know, not everybody's gonna win. And I think uh you mentioned Seaside, and we'll talk to uh Keith Neely in a little bit here, but uh he's about a culture change over there, and he'll he'll talk more about that. But uh that's been a problem with Seaside in terms of just having coaches come and go, athletic directors come and go, and and it's been a problem since the pandemic. And hopefully with Neely there, he can kind of stabilize the ship a little bit because obviously, at least I believe it starts with administration. If you have a sound, solid foundation with your administration, you're bringing in the right people to coach these men and women. And again, it's not just about coaching them, it's also you know, you're an extension of their family for that season, whether it be three, four months out of the year. And you hope that coaches are teaching these kids life lessons, whether it'll be character discipline, learning how to lose with dignity, learning how to win without you know chirping too much. I mean, so there's a there's a lot that goes into coaching, and and I think that's why we've seen a a lot of change of late because I think people don't realize this is work. Yeah, but and if you truly love coaching, you're not coaching for the money.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

No, that's for sure. I know not at the high school level, not especially at the high school level. I know some of these stipends. I mean you could see it for yourself on the the join uh edjoin, you know, dot org website. Uh just just how much these coaches are actually bringing in. And and and like you said, uh I don't think people realize how much time uh head coaches put in to to to their programs and just what they gotta do just to just to get uh games going, you know. I mean it's just it's it's uh it it it's incredible. It's unbelievable what these are what these coaches can do. And uh man, I I I just hope I just hope uh these new these new faces, these new names that we mentioned uh uh break that trend of of leaving after just a couple of seasons. And I I t I totally get it. I get it. I I mean things happen but at the same time I don't know, I just uh it it would be nice to to just see uh coaches stick around like like most did back in the day. I mean i I don't know. I I feel like it's just one of those uh things that's kind of uh fading away, so to speak.

SPEAKER_04 17:33

Yeah, we'll see. I mean, again, I I think things go in cycles. And uh sometimes it's just finding someone who truly has a passion for what they're doing and the sport they're coaching. And I've seen coaches stick around for 20, 30 years, I've seen coaches sometimes don't even last a season, so just nature of the beast.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Hey folks, uh welcome back to the cover three sports podcast. Now that was our uh water cooler talk uh for this week. Uh uh next up we have a very special guest in the studio. Uh this former Salinas High standout athlete was a beast on the gridiron, and uh he he brought that same energy with him as a football coach uh starting at uh MPC, Monterey Peninsula College, under legendary head coach Mike Rasmussen. And then he bounced around from Pajor Valley to Salinas, then back to Pajor Valley before he was uh pink slip. And then uh my friends, we have Casey Nealig on on the uh cover three podcast. Thank you for joining us, my good friend. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 18:45

I'm doing well, I'm doing well, Juan. Thanks for having me, and uh I'm excited to uh get this thing going and and be a part of something that's you know bigger than myself.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 18:57

That's Juan, you you're not doing Casey justice. He just wasn't a baller on the gridiron. This guy could shoot basketballs, took his uh Salinas team to a CCSD one finals, and was a pretty good track athlete. And what I mean by that is he hurdled, well, at least he ran through the hurdles, I'll say that.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

I broke hurdles. You broke hurdles, there we go.

SPEAKER_04 19:22

Hey, I I gotta ask you, I gotta ask you, when you were at Paw Hurl Valley as a football coach, whatever happened to Neil Down?

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Neil Down was he was the uh one of the greatest uh student athletes that we ever had. He probably had the fastest 40 uh in school history. Um was a thousand-pound uh member off one list. Uh he was just uh, you know, we know of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, but Neil Downs was one of the most famous athletes we ever had and know a lot as well. Those two guys were absolute, absolute legends over there at PV Nation. And uh just just had a lot of fun with those two uh two student athletes.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Oh, we can't forget aloe vera. I mean, you know, you can't leave him off the list.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

Yeah, Al hey aloe vera was definitely one. He he transferred in from Tijuana Tech, and uh he played a major role on our team as well. He was a great guy. Great kid.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

All kidding aside at somebody else's expense, which we won't even talk about. Uh I gotta ask you, I know you didn't want to leave Toro, I know you love coaching football, but you took this athletic director position at Seaside, and you've told me over the years that you know your goal was to take steps up the ladder in your educational career. What did you see though at Seaside that make you believe you could turn this thing around and change the culture over there, which is you know, it's you've struggled for the last five, six years.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Yeah, yeah, you know, I I think opportunity, you know, came in in um in disguise and um you know I just I I think it was time for me to to advance and and take on a new challenge. Um you know, and and when that opportunity came about, I'll I'll never forget it. I I had texted uh Coach Avala and I said, Hey coach, uh I'm gonna apply for this for this job. And um man, he he definitely advocated for me and we had a lot of talk, and it it's it's truly rare when you have another coach from another team right come up to you after a game and treat you like he was one of your own ball players, you know, and tell you how good you played and just how great you were. Um, you know, and I had that relationship with Coach Ev, you know, 20 years ago when I was at Celina's high, you know, and he is the definition of institutional longevity. And there's not too many other coaches. that have been around for that long that have created those lasting relationships. And that was Coach Av. And so, you know, he was definitely one of my first um, you know, uh mentors and and you know inviters to come on over to this area. You know, and obviously there's a whole bunch of things that are happening over there and dynamics and stuff like that. But um, you know, I wanted to be in a place where I could have an impact, you know, at at a at kind of a higher level beyond coaching, you know, and I wanted to impact multiple sports and multiple people um and try and just change lives in that process. That that was the whole idea of you know applying for this opportunity um to go to Seaside.

SPEAKER_04 22:44

You know, and and when I look at what you've done over the course of what has it now been? Two and a half months on the job?

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

I mean it's a short time, but some of these coaches that you're bringing in, and not we're not just talking football here, we're talking softball, basketball, soccer. I mean these are credible coaches. And and they're coaches I I again I feel like the last few years at Seaside it's been a carousel not only of athletic directors but of coaches. And I think that's contributed to the part of the struggles of those programs over the last like I said since the pandemic. Um what what did you do I don't want to say to convince them but in your conversations with them I get the feeling that not only you guys are on the same page but these are guys and that want to be a part of the solution.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Yeah and you know I think it I think it starts with your administration first, right? And um if if you have a solid administration team you know that that kind of shares a similar version or vision of of what you think athletics should be, right? That's your starting point. You know and I think coming in from just just having you know that championship pedigree from you know the Alice Al Eagle days with Mike Art and John right and then going into the high school level uh with Coach Swagger and Ironside and Udo, right, and then transitioning that up into the college level with RAF you know like you you really understand what what what it's about to to create a foundation right um you know Coach Wooden talks about the pyramid of success and and stuff like that. And and I think there's a there's a it's a famous quote right where they ask you kind of like you know well what's your favorite place to be you know and it's like my favorite place is to be with my people you know and and that's what I'm trying to create is I want to create that championship environment um with coaches that provide salt licks to the horse on their way to that pond. So when they do get to that pond they're thirsty and I think that creating that championship environment with with these new coaches that I've been able to to have conversations with and share my vision and you know the the template doesn't change it's just a uniform right and we create that production over potential and you know establish standards and put systems in place and I think that is the template to success no matter where you're at and that's what I'm trying to trying to recreate here um at Seaside and so far so good right until I open up another email and then I'll figure out a new problem that I gotta solve right so yeah that's it you know the one thing you told me when you got this job is you said I don't want to hear any more excuses.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

I don't want to hear that all our athletes are going to moderate or going to marina because if anybody doesn't know the MPUST district is an open enrollment.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

You said you know what if we take care of business here they will come yeah yeah and and I think that's kind of the the first step right is is getting a getting an athletic environment with coaches that know what they're doing, know what they're talking about because kids are smart man. Right? They they know when you have a coach that can hold you accountable and not get away with certain things um you know they know they know what they're gonna do and there's the blueprint to success and so that's my big thing right here is just creating a a a coaching environment with where kids can be successful but also you know I want coaches that that are going to teach kids how to be men right and women to be women and you know what are they going to look like 10 years down the road? Are they going to be you know um awesome people are they going to be you know contributing to the community are they going to be mamas are they going to be papas you know I we want we want to create that fabric of of student athletes to be successful right because 10 years from now I'll tell you how good of a coach I was you know if that is an entrepreneur if that's a father if that's a dad right like I want those coaches to come back to me. And um you know I I want to be on that level where my grandpa was you know everybody would come up to him and give him a hug and you know and he'd have a conversation with them and then he wouldn't remember their name you know because he had so many of them but he would remember their face you know and it's just that's institutional longevity and I want to create that you know where people want to be around right and then if we do pass the torch, you know we're not leaving we're leaving it better than what we got it. Right. So we we got our work cut out for us but you know I think we're on the right path and and that's really all that you can do is outwork yesterday and and just you know hold yourself accountable across the board.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

Yeah and for those that don't know uh Casey's grandfather was a legend in Sleeness and Cork Hatton so you can correct me on this Casey but throughout his basketball career at all levels and he win some like eight hundred games I don't know the total amount but he's he's definitely up there.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

Uh we started coaching in sixty five uh when the school opened um you know and then took a couple years off uh my grandma had passed away and then he came back and uh got it going with Coach Rear. Um and then just wanted to coach the game and took over JV basketball and uh coached JV basketball for uh you know Googleplex years and uh finally retired. You know, so yeah. Um I I don't know his total win count but he's definitely he's up there for sure.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Hey before we let you go just curious are you you obviously you're an administrator right now so you're not doing any coaching. But are you gonna miss coaching?

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Will you have time to miss coaching Yeah I I I you know the bug keeps coming around I keep lingering into the gymnasium I keep heading down to the football field you know um but I just I'm just so excited about being a part of you know this new role right and it's so exciting because I I kind of got my hands in on a couple little things and I and I have a great relationship with the coaches and if I make suggestions or hints they're super receptive on that you know but um yeah maybe one day when I figure out you know how how everything works but as of right now I'm I'm really just enjoying this this role and being able to get home and have dinner with my family at a decent hour right that's that's the big thing and uh focus on what's important sometimes right absolutely well on I told you we had a uh a guest that would open some eyes yeah yeah for sure no doubt man yeah thanks Casey I thanks for all the insight I I I love uh I I love what's going on over at Seaside.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

I'm excited to see what the future holds I I know uh I I know you got a thing or two about uh about turning programs around uh I know you did it over at P V and and uh yeah it it's I'm I'm excited man I'm I'm I'm I'm uh fingers crossed good luck to you man for sure yeah thank you I I I'm gonna I'm gonna take all that with me and and hopefully we're gonna be hanging some banners up here in the gymnasium and getting kids excited about you know where they need to be at awesome awesome all right awesome sounds good thank you again Casey thanks for joining us today uh hope to see you soon appreciate it Casey for sure yes absolutely thanks guys for having me anytime you know and uh I'm always available for you guys I appreciate you guys sounds good thanks thanks again man have a good one thank you cover three sports podcast hey Jonathan there's that uh little AC D for you I finally figured out how to put in our podcast I just hope we're able to to use you know fair use it uh without getting in trouble but uh but there you go just bring back memories two weeks ago today I was just at Levi Stadium enjoying it for you thunderstruck yeah was that I again I think we mentioned this last week but I was just blown away how these 70 year old dudes can sit out there and run up and down a stage and not only sing but play guitar and gives me hope for the future for myself. For sure for sure uh let's see here um just kind of going back on case uh I I remember when he first took over uh well he was first the defensive coordinator then he got bumped up to the head coach and uh I I don't know I I just felt even at that time I I had a I had a good feeling that he was gonna turn things around which he did uh he led the the Grizzlies there to their their best year uh in 2025 uh it was their best finish in in in the program's history they went uh six and four overall and um yeah that runner up in in that uh in that peacows uh Santa Lucia division going five and one in league play I mean I I I just I just thought he did a tremendous job uh again just turning that program around in in just three years.

SPEAKER_04 32:02

Well I'm old enough to remember Casey when he had hair in high school and uh you know he was a phenomenal athlete you know sometimes played right to the edge of things but uh as he's gotten older he genuinely cares about kids and he wants to do things the right way it's not just his way it's what's gonna work and uh I think you're gonna see a big change at Seaside not gonna happen overnight but give this guy two or three years and all of a sudden you won't hear people complaining about Seaside losing athletes to their schools.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

There you go. Then that's what we want to see for sure. Alrighty uh moving on to our final segment of the day John I I know you got a lot cooking here. I know you've been in the in the in the kitchen we got chef chef john right here uh tell tell us tell us where where you've been uh on your tour to divine uh as we as we say well as you know I have 20 stops on the tour and I've got to 14 as we speak um I guess it'll get a little easier for me now because most of the stops are on the peninsula after Carwick finally disappeared.

SPEAKER_04 33:19

But uh I gotta tell you the I've had the extremes in terms of weather going down to King City when it was 88 degrees and then hanging out at Rancho San Juan with a fog rolled in and it was like 58 degrees. But what what I've noticed and usually I can tell you that you know this team's not going to be very good or this team's going to surprise me. Every stop I've had so far and again there's still seven more to go or six more to go everybody in my opinion has looked better than last year at this point in time. Now don't get me wrong I don't think being at a practice for two hours is a fair evaluation of you know what you see in a team but at at the same time you know when you see the energy like I was out at Alice South a lot of energy music blaring kids are just jacked and you're sitting here saying you know they got some players you know that if they they can make this offense work that head coach Francisco Estrada wants maybe they can make some noise in the gallon division and not be one of these teams that just hopes to make the playoffs. You know this is his third year now he these kids are all his kids in terms of being in his system and things just looked a little easier in terms of what they were doing out there. And going down to King City I you know obviously they're coming off their first league title in 43 years. There's momentum down there right now. A lot of those guys are back from last year's championship team and I remember talking to Rocky Villa Nueva who was the defensive player of the year he said hey this isn't a one year thing you know we don't want this to be a fluke we want to leave a legacy here and one way to do that is to repeat defeat and take it as another step forward. So we'll see what they how they go. The mission south as we've talked about is very competitive with Stevenson and Soledad and Pacific Grove North County Alvarez and you know so they there will be challenges in their path but if they stay healthy they've got a lot of talent you know Carson Tidwell having broken every single season career rushing record down there in South County broke the county record for 400 I guess 419 yards last year in a game against Alvarez where at the time that was a battle for first place so it wasn't like he was just picking up yards on a bad team so a lot to look forward down there.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

Nice nice yeah you mentioned uh looking for a lot a lot to look forward to right uh I I I went out uh to a couple of of schools up in in the Santa Cruz county area um I went out to aptos and then uh Montavista Christian uh two programs that are hoping to to turn things around after uh uh uh I mean let's let's call it uh how we so how we see it right it was it it was not a so good season for them and uh but I'm sorry Juan what what do you I'm curious what did you see with Aptos because I'm one of those guys that thinks their stay in the mission is going to be brief. Yeah I I was gonna say I mean we we can start off with Aptos I mean uh no long when you you mentioned it no no longer members of the Gablin division uh for the first time since what 2018 right is that when it first started you can make the argument that they're the reason the Santa Cruz Coast athletically dissolved about a decade ago because they were so damn good they were dominating the league and they finally said hey we want better competition we're going to the Gavin division yeah which they you know had plenty of success up until last season when they kind of you know struggled now they're in the mission division but I I don't see it being long term. No I I don't think so either and it's I mean now they're in the uh mission north division or is it mission division north I don't I don't I don't know I don't even know but uh these names always get changed around but anyhow uh the the Mariners uh yeah I mean they're gonna square off against uh some former uh Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League foes uh go figure um they're they'll be going up against uh San Lorenzo Valley Scotts Valley uh Monovista Christian again who I went to go see St. Francis and Watsonville and um I think you might be right I mean and and and uh head coach Zach Hewitt I mean he's he's pretty he's pretty pumped uh to again to get those uh revamp those old rivalries but I don't know I I think he's thinking the same I don't think they're gonna be in in that mission north uh for very long um and he's we'll go for it what's up I was gonna not to change the subject but is one of this a change in their offense uh it it'll they'll change it up a little bit um I I'll definitely I'll I I yeah I'll get into that uh here in a bit because yeah I I'm stoked to kind of talk about what they got going on but uh it it's gonna be it's gonna be a pretty competitive uh mission north uh it's gonna be one of those like like the like the mission south right I mean it's it I don't know it it's gonna be uh uh a gauntlet for those teams uh within that division and and and I you know i i it it's gonna be fun it's gonna be fun I've said this for the last few years that I do believe you know the Pacific Coast Athletic League is built on equity and and I do believe for the the Santa Lucia and the two missions the South and North they've got it right uh the GAB is still a work in progress and again we'll get into that you know down the road in terms of some of the teams in the Gabling division.

SPEAKER_04 38:47

Yeah but I mean there are there are three teams and I said this last week and I'll say it again bar and injury that are just uh just a a a step above the other uh five members in the gab and that's no secret when we're talking about point is what's still kill that doesn't mean a school like Carmel or Monterey can't compete but uh it's you don't ever want and I haven't heard this yet but you don't want to ever hear a school saying we're playing for fourth place.

SPEAKER_05 39:18

Right.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

If that's how they feel then you know that's how the kids feel.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

Yeah no for sure for sure yeah that gabbling is tough and and I and I know it like you said it's always the top four right and but and Aptos is usually in that mix but I I I don't know I just believe last year's group did did have a hard time just kind of just I guess adapting to to to uh the speed of the game or not the speed of the game but it's I guess the uh just a little bit the competition you know I mean uh but but I I I know Zach he's got a uh he's stoked he's stoked to have this new uh group of seniors coming in uh guys trying to re-establish that that winning culture right uh that it really didn't go anywhere I guess it kind of just diminished a bit last year but but uh here here here I'll I'll let you hear what uh Zach had to say.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

We're consistently getting better. You know um at the end of the day it's just are we are we getting better are we getting getting worse because it's not real staying the same right and you know some days they're really good days some days it's like okay we got a little bit better today but we're just we're consistently getting better. The thing that I'm liking is uh I'm really seeing our offensive line start to assert themselves and like poles are really starting to open up because it it's hard when you do what we do like our defense knows our offense like the back of their hands. Yeah and so they're they're making plays and it's really hard against ourselves. But when we're consistently moving the ball against ourselves and something's going probably right.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

Because that means the old line's gonna dump uh again you know just uh um uh a name uh just the name of uh some of those seniors uh Ryan Murphy a pretty explosive athlete uh he's he was on the lacrosse team uh Ben Martin a big uh unstoppable lineman as uh Zach likes to say uh Eli Fry another uh powerful lineman Preston Carvalho stud wrestler as well and then uh River Cook who uh excuse me I'm CCS boys soccer champion River Cook who had uh who had this to say during practice overall like as a team we've been working hard uh a lot of the upcoming kids that came from JV last year the the juniors they've been putting in adding a lot to our the talent on the team and just having high energy which is good even some of the new guys um as opposed to the kids that we had last year they're honestly having some of them having higher energy than the returning seniors just like I think they're just really amped up to get on the field and play their first year of varsity so they're they're just like really upping that level of play and the energy have to hold together. They got a pretty good group they got some juniors as well uh their starting quarterback is going to be uh Jared Verdia uh has got a strong arm uh makes pretty good decisions and he runs that uh that wing T offense uh pretty well um so it'll be interesting to see what what Zach can do with this group and I know they'll be traveling to San Benito County to scrimmage against uh Hollister uh who uh is in that gavlin still and then uh they'll also be scrimmaging against uh Sobrado as well uh I think they were CTS uh runner up uh uh I want to say division four I can't remember off the top of my head but uh yeah that should be a nice warm-up for for aptos before uh that season opener against the Kings Academy there on August 28th at 730 p.m and then finally we have Monovista Christian who uh you you you kind of wanted to talk about uh the offense um again I think this is another group that's uh that's on the upright so to speak and I think one word to describe that mood in the locker room is confidence um Evan Vese he's coming back he's a senior starting quarterback he's got uh pretty pretty uh pretty strong arm as well um good good leader I've seen him out there kind of uh pumping up the the teammates getting them on on the the same page so to speak and then he's got uh Jordan Ramirez who he's gonna be uh passing that ball to and and then um Ramirez he he also plays uh uh on the other side of the ball on defense and uh yeah they they got a pretty good group uh they're gonna run I guess a a pro style offense uh again uh led by Vessi and then um it it'll be it'll be it'll be interesting to see I I don't think they're gonna pass it as much as they did last year. Uh I'm pretty sure uh they passed it uh I want to say like eighty to eighty five percent of the game. Um but uh hoping hoping to see a little mix and hoping to see something different uh over at Monta Vista. And then uh I guess for newcomers we got uh Here, all juniors. Um, we have Seth Istorga. Yeah, he's expected to be a two-way starter on both the offense and defensive lines. And then we have Reese Walker, who uh who actually made a name for himself as a sophomore. He came in. Uh he's gonna be a running back and a linebacker. Um, he's uh he's a pretty big dude. Uh he's gonna make a pretty big impact on that field. And then uh another guy that I saw was uh Brandon Hagen. Uh he's a running back, also plays linebacker, but I did see him uh take a couple of carries there during uh practice. Uh he's got nice footwork, uh really, really smooth running, and uh looks like he's gonna be able to break some tackles as well. And then also it's funny because we we usually never give the kickers any love, but uh they have Massimo Mello, uh a kicker with a boot. Uh he was he was making them from 35 yards. Possibly he can probably even get to that 40 yard range as the uh season progresses, and uh pretty pretty good for uh for a junior, uh considering you know that's uh again we we never give the kickers any love. And um I I just to me he stood out. He had he had a nice uh nice boot right there. And uh he might he might be uh he might be of use as the season comes along for sure.

SPEAKER_04 45:19

Yeah, I was gonna say kicking uh can be a big part of high school football because if your kicker can kick it into the end zone, that means every team starts on a 20-yard line.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

No matter what, exactly, for sure. No, no chance of them returning. Uh and then uh yeah, Monta Vista, they're they're gonna scrimmage here against uh Rancho San Juan, Parjo Valley, and uh King City on August 21st. Uh they're gonna be at Alis Al High. Uh nice test for them as well, uh right before they they kick off the season at uh Seaside on uh August 27th at 7 30 p.m. We got we we got we got a lot of coverage, man. I mean this is I I love doing this. I I you know this is this is our f our favorite time of the year. I know you got way more schools than I do, but like I said, it's there's nothing that uh there's nothing that beats going out there and again just kind of getting a feel for these teams, the coaches, the kids, and and uh you know, and then just kind of this is where everyone's oh and oh, clean slate. Let's see, uh let's see what we got, you know.

SPEAKER_04 46:28

And so well, and and again, I think every stop I've been to to this point, I think every school believes they have a legitimate shot to chase a championship or at least make the playoffs, and I can't remember the last time that's been the case. Now I do have six other schools a hit. Maybe something will change, but it it is it it you know we'll get to all the other sports as the season's you know gets going because obviously volleyball and flag football and water bowl and cross country they're important as well. But just something about a sport where you only play once a week and you only get 10 games, it just magnifies everything. And and again, as we go into the season, as you mentioned, we have a lot of scrimmages and jamboree type formats this weekend. I from what I've gathered, uh every one of the schools I've talked to believes we're gonna be better than we were last year.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Yeah, yeah. I love, I love again, and that's another part why I I like this part of the season as well, is because everyone's just beaming with that. Uh again, I I hate to use that word confidence, but uh and it is, it is, you know. I mean, again, everyone's oh no, let's do this. Let's let's get in there and and see what the the other teams got. Well, uh, looks like that's our show for today. Uh join us again on Thursday as we continue our high school football tour, and we'll have a couple of uh of uh specialty guests coming uh along the way, and uh we're gonna keep Thursday's guests as a secret, and uh you'll find out who that who that is. And then uh please make sure to subscribe uh to our cover three sports podcasts on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. And if you really enjoyed the show, please please please take 10 seconds to leave us a quick review so that other people can uh look this up. Thanks again for listening, and uh we'll catch you next time.