Serra gets a tough draw in Bellevue (Wash.), winners of 54 straight, in the 2014 Honor Bowl at Oceanside High School.
Photos by Jeff Napier/Heston Quan, Graphic by Ryan Escobar
football coach Scott Altenberg didn't care who he played at the 2014
Honor Bowl. He just wanted in.
"I have such respect for (founder) Mark Soto and what the event is all about," Altenberg said. "I told him whoever you want us to play or whatever you want, we just want in."
Rasheem Green, Serra
Photo by Ian Tennant
But then he watched tape of the team he's scheduled to play 8 p.m. Saturday at Oceanside — the 13th-ranked
Bellevue (Wash.) Wolverines, winners of 54 straight games and 12 state titles, 11 since 2001 under coach Butch Goncharoff.
"Are you sure there isn't anyone else you want us to play?" Altenberg asked Soto playfully.
Indeed, the Wolverines are every coach's worst nightmare, largely because of the Wing-T system they run. Not only is it something Altenberg doesn't often see – "nobody in Southern California runs it" — but Bellevue also runs it to perfection.
"You just can't replicate it," Altenberg said. "Our guys have tried to all week, but eventually they came back to me and said, ‘Coach, this offense is just weird.'"
Besides all that, the Serra coach said, "Basically, there's nothing these guys do that isn't just about perfect. Special teams, defense, they run their offense precisely. We're going to have our hands full."
That may be, but Goncharoff thinks he has bigger problems. Even though Serra lost eight FBS-scholarship players to graduation in June, they likely have eight more from the Class of 2015.
"It might be the most talented team we've ever played," Goncharoff said. "It's very difficult to assimilate their athleticism."
Serra sports five of the top 80 seniors in the state,
according to 247Sports. Here are their rankings with comments from Altenberg:
No. 5, defensive tackle
Rasheem Green: "He sort of destroys things from his spot."
No. 7, linebacker
John Houston: "He's a freak of nature."
No. 16, athlete
Stanley Norman: "He's as good as advertised, but he transferred in and he's still learning."
No. 76, athlete
Malik Roberson: "He's coming back from an ACL injury, so we'll see."
No. 80, wide receiver
Deontay Burnett "We've had some history at this spot and he has a chance to be special like them."
On the 2009 state championship team, Serra had Robert Woods, George Farmer and Marqise Lee. Lucky Conner Preston got to throw to those guys.
Bellevue has its own history of top-end talent, none better than last year's Pac-12 Freshman of the Year — on both sides of the ball, no less — UCLA's Myles Jack.
This year's team is led by four-star senior tackle
Henry Roberts (6-6, 263), the state's No. 4 ranked player, and No. 12
Mustafa Branch, a senior linebacker.
As talented as Serra is, it did lose its three-year starting quarterback Jalen Greene, who is now at USC, and perhaps the nation's top overall athlete in Adoree' Jackson. He's also with the Trojans.
Serra didn't look very sharp in a 24-7 win over Lakewood, a game that featured 40 penalties. That's not a misprint.
"We'll have to clean a lot of things up if we expect to hang with these guys," Altenberg said.
Altenberg isn't just blowing smoke. Bellevue hasn't lost a game since the second week of the 2010 season including victories against out-of-state powers Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.) in 2011 and Trinity (Euless, Texas) in 2012. Overall, they're 4-1 against California teams since 2004.
Bellevue comes into the game with a 54-game win streak.
Photo by Jeff Napier
The Serra-Bellevue game is the marquee matchup and finishes up the Southern California side of the 2014 Honor Bowl.
The other Southern California matchups — all at Oceanside — are also stealth. Those games are:
Friday5 p.m. —
Helix (La Mesa, Calif.) 1-0 vs.
Del Oro (Loomis, Calif.) 0-1
8 p.m. —
Oceanside (Calif.) 1-0 vs.
Mission Viejo (Calif.) 0-1
SaturdayNoon — Orange Lutheran (Calif.) 1-0 vs.
Centennial (Corona, Calif.) 0-1
4 p.m. — Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 0-1 vs.
Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.) 0-1
8 p.m. — Bellevue (Wash) 0-0 vs. Serra (Gardena) 1-0
Besides the Serra players mentioned above, here are the other seniors ranked among the Top 200 in the state by 247Sports:
Keisean Lucier-South, Orange Lutheran
Photo by Louis Lopez
No. 6 — WR
Keisean Lucier-South (Orange Lutheran) - Undecided
No. 59 — OT
Reno Rosene(Oaks Christian) – Duke
No. 63 — G
Cole Smith (Mission Viejo) - USC
No. 81 — DE
Eddie Rudinski (Oaks Christian) - Undecided
No. 114 — CB
Jordan Miller (Oceanside) - Washington
No. 117 — CB
Jihree Stewart (Centennial) - Oregon
No. 121 — DE
Trevor Howard (Oaks Christian) – Cal
No. 125 — DE
Corey Adolphus (Serra) – San Jose St.
No. 127 — ATH Darick Holmes (Oaks Christian) – Arizona
No. 138 — WR
Greyson Bankhead (Centennial) – Cal
No. 140 — OLB
Casey Toohill (Cathedral Catholic) – Stanford
No. 167 — DE
Juyoung Tommy Woo (Oceanside) – Hawaii
No. 178 — OT
Christian Cronk (Oceanside) – Hawaii
No. 179 — G
Cedric Bigge-Duren (Oceanside) – Washington State
No. 189 — LB
Riley Brand (Lutheran) – Nevada
No. 191 — WR
Alex Bachman (Oaks Christian) – Wake Forest
No. 192 — DT
Ray Smith (Cathedral Catholic) – Boston College
