There have been three summer seven-on-seven passing tournaments and three championships won by Mission Hills Alemany, which is already in peak form.
Of course, it's much better to be playing football in December than June, but the bottom line is the Warriors have shown they are loaded with quality skill-position players and should be a factor in the Pac-5 Division title hunt this fall.
Three of Alemany's receivers — seniors Steven Mitchell and Devin Ross and sophomore Sean Holmes — have college scholarship offers. On Sunday, Mitchell committed to USC.
When opponents try to stop Mitchell, it leaves Ross or Holmes available as a deep threat for quarterback Devon Dunn.
But when the game is on the line, Mitchell is the player who can make a difference. He caught a winning 40-yard touchdown pass on the final play Saturday in the semifinals of the Dana Hills tournament to beat Upland. He might be the No. 1 receiver in Southern California, which is why the Trojans pulled the trigger and made an offer that Mitchell immediately accepted.
Alemany is 21-0 in its three tournaments, including a couple of overtime victories.
"That's not going to get us anything in December," Herrington said.
The big question people are asking after each Alemany victory: "Do they have a line?"
"It's a question mark," Herrington said. "We're not imposing."
But Alemany does have a couple of 300-pound defensive linemen, so the cupboard is hardly bare.
Welcome, Ian
It was the summer debut for Mission Viejo's new quarterback, Ian Fieber, a junior transfer from Orange Lutheran, and what a first impression he made.
Let's just say the vertical passing game is back for the Diablos.
"He's got big-time arm strength," Coach Bob Johnson said.
And he demonstrated it again and again at Dana Hills. The Fieber-to-Max-Redfield passing combination ought to be very effective this fall.
Oaks Christian questions
Whether a team wins a passing competition offers little evidence of what might happen when pads are put on, but what does provide clues to fall performance is the attitude and effort of players, and Oaks Christian players looked surprisingly uninterested at times Saturday at Dana Hills.
The Lions have a new coach, former college assistant Jeff Woodruff, but virtually all the assistants are back from the Bill Redell era, so continuity in the coaching staff was supposed to keep things rolling.
Maybe the players were tired from all the practices they have been going through. Maybe the absence of one of their best players, receiver Francis Owusu, who was taking an academic test, had a big effect. Whatever the reason, the team appeared to just go through the motions and lacked an on-the-field leader.
Last season, Jordan Payton or Ishmael Adams would have used their intensity to wake up teammates. Who's going to take over that role? There's plenty of time to find somebody the rest of the summer, but it's a warning sign of potential problems for the fall.
Transfer QB
Westlake Village Westlake Coach Jim Benkert was on vacation in Philadelphia this last week, but word spread the Warriors would be getting a transfer at quarterback in Danny Hong, a sophomore from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.
There should be more quarterback movement as school ends and players begin to see who's first string and who's second string.
--Eric Sondheimer
