PAL Bay Division: Terra Nova

2019 season opener: Riordan at Terra Nova, 7 p.m. Friday

Key returners: Raphael Bendo (sr., QB); Mateo Jimenez (sr., slot); Chase McKnight (sr., WR); Tory Young (sr., G/DT); Tyler Ramos (sr., LB); Dominic Tuiasosopo (so., LB); Vlad Romashko (sr., DT/OL).

Key newcomers: Dominic Gordon (so., QB); Emmanuel Auelua (Jr., G/DT); Emilio Bermudez (sr., SS); Jalen Camp (sr., RB); Dylan Camp (so. DB/WR); Justin Tsang (jr., RB); Dominic Fabiani-Wyatt (jr., RB/LB); Michael Giannini (sr., K/P).

Outlook: A chaotic offseason saw the Tigers land on their feet by turning to, literally, one of the biggest families in Pacifica.

With the departure of head coach Tim Adams — who spanned the five years after the retirement of San Mateo County Hall of Fame coach Bill Gray — Terra Nova made a late hire with Oceana alumnus Jason Piccolotti being hired in the spring.

A former Terra Nova junior-varsity head coach, Piccolotti — who is the youngest of eight brothers and also has three sisters — has never previously helmed a varsity squad, and said he hadn’t given it any thought until midway through the 2019 baseball season at Terra Nova, where he was coaching on the diamond when he was made the offer.

“I really didn’t have a desire,” Piccolotti said. “Then when they brought it to my attention and I called around to see if I could get people to help, that’s when I started to get the itch.”

Piccolotti has gotten quite some high-profile help with the coaching staff. In addition to defensive line coach Sam Losia, offensive line coach Tim Fa’fita, and his older brother Tom serving as associate head coach, Terra Nova has named former Jefferson assistant coach Pat Holmes as offensive coordinator, and Piccolotti’s former head coach at City College of San Francisco, George Rush, coaching the defense.

One of the first decisions Piccolotti and staff had to make was in replacing graduated PAL Bay Division Offensive Player of the Year, Jared Julian, at quarterback. The Tigers have tabbed senior Raphael Bendo to start under center, despite promoting quarterback of the future, sophomore Dominic Gordon, to the varsity squad.

“We’re a hundred percent with Bendo,” Piccolotti said. “He’s got a good arm, he can move, and he picked up the offense quick. And I think people in the league will be surprised of his ability. He’s really good.”

Bendo will have targets as Terra Nova returns over 1,000 cumulative receiving yards between senior receivers Chase McKnight (26 catches for 527 yards in 2018) and Mateo Jimenez (31 for 488).

“It will be different than years past but at the same time we’ll spread it out,” Piccolotti said. “And we have some athletes. I think we’ll be OK to score points.”

Bendo was versatile last year. In addition to completing 16 of 84 passes for 279 yards, he also totaled 13 catches for 159 receiving yards. And he will be spelled at times by the up-and-comer Gordon.

“[Gordon] will see action,” Piccolotti said. “He’s not going to start unless something happens to Bendo but we will get him into games. He’s our future, so we want to make sure he’s game ready. That’s why we brought him up.”