It's finally time for some football

It will be tough to top last year which saw a big shakeup on the Peninsula football scene. Two downtrodden programs over the last decade, Jefferson and Sequoia, rose from the ashes to put together tremendous and exciting seasons in 2010; two other pro-grams, Terra Nova and Sacred Heart Prep, scaled the mountain to become Central Coast Section champs; Sequoia advanced to the Division II title game and Jefferson fell to Terra Nova in the final minutes of the Division III semi finals.

Will history repeat itself? Who knows?

While we won’t know until the end of the season, we do know there will be some changes in the three-division Peninsula Athletic League. Last year’s Ocean and Lake Division champions, Jefferson and Sequoia, respectively, are each taking a step up in competition with the Indians moving into the Bay and the Cherokees joining the Ocean Division.

Just as amazing is the biggest-name team moving down. This year, Aragon finds itself in the Ocean Division for the first time since the PAL was created.

On the scheduling front, you will notice an increased number of 8 p.m. games. That’s because several teams in the PAL are now fielding freshmen teams, seven or eight in PAL commissioner Terry Stogner’s estimation. That means there will be two games —freshman and junior varsity — being played before varsity games. For Serra, its annual tilt with De La Salle is over, for the time being. But that doesn’t mean the Padres won’t be playing some marquee non-league squads this season. After opening at home Sept. 3 against CCS power Wilcox, the Padres will host East Bay power and quarterback central Monte Vista of Danville. They will close the non-league portion of their schedule against another North Coast Section power, Encinal of Alameda.

Speaking of the West Catholic Athletic League, a WCAL coaches poll was recently released with Serra predicted to finish third behind both Bellarmine and Valley Christian. The Warriors boast one of the hottest college prospects in the nation in running back Byron Marshall.

In the PAL, the two biggest names to watch are both quarterbacks: Terra Nova’s Chris Forbes and Sequoia’s James Beekley.

Forbes averaged over 230 yards passing last season and was one of the top runners in the league as well. His season-ending knee injury in the final moments against Jefferson in the Division III semi finals knocked Forbes out of the Tigers’ title-clinching game, so look for him to try to finish what he started.

Beekley, another three-year varsity starter, was similar to Forbes in both passing and running, although the Cherokees were much more dependent on the rushing attack than Terra Nova last season, but Beekley had a big hand in both areas of the offense.

The College of San Mateo squad, 2009 Northern California champions, hope to improve on an 8-3 record in 2010. While the Bulldogs went 5-0 in the non-league portion of their schedule and won their annual Bulldog Bowl, a 27-20 decision over College of Sequoias, they are looking to better their 2-3 mark in the NorCal Conference, the toughest conference in Northern California and one of the top conferences in the state.

So what does the 2011 season have in store? Which teams will surprise? Which will disappoint? Which players will have break-out seasons? All those questions will be answered in the coming months and we’ll begin to find out in just a couple of weeks.