West Valley League football media day: Inspiring players, dedicated coaches ready for season

First-year Cleveland coach Mario Guzman with lineman Joshua Reyes, left, and quarterback Domenik Fuentes. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

After filling up on treats from Porto’s, coaches and players from Cleveland, Taft, Birmingham, Chatsworth, El Camino Real and Granada Hills stood at a lectern Saturday morning in the El Camino Real library during a West Valley League football media day and offered inspiring insights to make it clear progress is being made on and off the field in the City Section.

There was 6-foot-2 junior quarterback Nathan Swinson of Taft. He has a 4.2 grade-point average, starts at catcher for the baseball team and is vice president of the Black Student Union. He was once defensive MVP as a freshman at middle linebacker, but quarterback is where he’s needed to lead.

There was sophomore quarterback Domenik Fuentes of Cleveland. He boxes, trains in Muay Thai and is a former defensive player who’s always telling the coach when they’re on defense, “Coach, let me in.”

There was 6-3, 270-pound lineman Adrian Zarsange of Chatsworth. He’ll be a four-year varsity player. His coach, Marvin Street, celebrated his 42nd birthday Saturday and couldn’t be happier with his improvement.

There was linebacker Eddie Plaza and defensive back Antrell Harris of Birmingham. Plaza also wrestles. Harris is one of the fastest athletes and has a twin sister playing flag football. They’ll be the leaders on a team that has 16 sophomores and five freshmen playing varsity with a 43-game winning streak against City opponents.

They and others were impressive in taking the moment to tell their stories. There was first-year Cleveland head coach Mario Guzman explaining the responsibilities of being a high school football coach. If anyone knew what coaches in the City Section must endure, they’d probably wonder…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/west-valley-league-football-media-194306995.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-08-17 19:43:06

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