While warm summer days are now the norm on the Peninsula, heated battles are taking place daily on the football field at Point Loma High as a group of teens attempt to impress their coaches and win a coveted starting position.
Head coach Joel Allen and his staff will be carefully watching them during a scrimmage on Aug. 12, as players fight for starting positions with only one week remaining until the team’s season opener.
San Diego CIF officials have moved up the football schedule this year so the 11-week season now ends at the end of October with playoff games concluded by November’s end.
The Pointers are scheduled to scrimmage against The Bishop’s School where Allen posted an impressive record of 100-39-1, a .739 winning percentage, during 11 seasons that included a state championship, three CIF championships, and an undefeated season.
On Aug. 19 the Pointers will welcome Santana High to Pete Ross Stadium to take on the Sultans in a 7 p.m. battle that will serve as the first test for a Pointer team that finished the 2021 season 4-6 overall with several close losses that could have been wins.
Allen plans to make some adjustments in the Wing-T offense he installed last year as he attempts to match his system to the talents of his players. The Pointer defense will remain largely unchanged but looking for improved play.
For the Pointers’ offense, QB Jackson Emerson returns for his senior season. Last year, his completion rate was .470, a number Allen would like to see rise. Emerson’s yardage total was just below 100 yards per game. Leading receiver, senior Drake Cobb (19 catches, 209 yards, one TD) is back as is junior all-around player Aaron Lee who caught eight balls for 167 yards, a 20.9 average, and one TD. Senior Noah Turbeville only caught four passes before being injured but they averaged 31.5 yards.
The Pointer running game should once again be powerful and productive. Turbeville (516 yards) and senior Chase Lowary (830 yards) will be counted on. Lee added 183 and senior Cameron Lucas 123 to total 1,652 yards by the quartet.
In all-purpose yards per game, the Pointers averaged a very respectable 369 yards and scored an average of 30 points.
The defense will be led by senior Chase Lowary, an extremely strong player who, Allen believes, can play at the next level.
Defensive returners include seniors Emmett Jacobson, Max Umberg, Jack Kelly, Hunter Whitman, Nicolas Vegas, Charles Romero, Jack Tuohy, Diego Huerta, and Cobb. Juniors include Robert Wood, Nate Terzoli, Matthew Cleator, Joaquin Edwards, Shaun Ducharme, Rocket Robinson, Brady Allen, and Lee. Many of these are linemen who play both offense and defense.
Lee continues as the placekicker while Cobb handles punting duties.
As for the Sultans, they are coming off a good season (8-3 overall, 3-2 in the Grossmont Valley League) with a thrilling overtime CIF Div. III playoff win over Imperial before being eliminated by Mt. Carmel.
The QB job is open at Santana but running backs Luke Nash and Linden Benson return to the backfield. All leading wide receivers have graduated. Head coach Tim Estes and staff will be working to replace these and other positions.
EXTRA POINTS
Varsity games this season will start at 7 p.m. and be preceded by junior varsity games at 4 p.m. The Pointers’ away game vs. University City has been moved from Friday, Oct. 14 to Saturday, Oct. 15.
Point Loma once again has a freshman team and it will play on Thursdays at the opposite site of the Friday games.
The Pointers will travel 116 miles for their second game on Aug. 26 to be played at Central High School in El Centro. The Spartans rode a bus to San Diego last year to play the Pointers.
