To hear the voice of Kolone Pua booming from the sideline during South City’s scrimmage last week with Capuchino, it would seem the Warriors’ third-year head coach is his normal passionate football loving self.
There has been nothing normal about the past year for Pua, though, who only recently started increasing his sideline bravado after a health scare forced him to undergo two offseason heart procedures.
Pua previously was fitted with a V-tach defibrillator following a minor heart attack in 2021. Then, during South City’s Nov. 15, 2024 home game against Gunderson last season, Pua left mid-game to go to the emergency room after experiencing dizzy spells and back pain. Pua was released later that night, but during the offseason experienced similar symptoms. He ultimately underwent two heart ablation procedures, including an eight-hour session June 9, during which his defibrillator was readjusted.
Three days later, Pua had a surgical drain tube removed. Three days after that, he celebrated Father’s Day with a new granddaughter born to his son Kalvin. Pua said he hasn’t experienced any dizzy spells or other symptoms since. But while he sounds the same, he might be hard to recognize after dropping approximately 85 pounds over the offseason.
“I’m almost back to a hundred percent,” Pua said. “I just haven’t hit the weights yet. ... Right now I’m just walking, but I’m feeling good.”
Now, Pua has some rebuilding to do. South City graduated a majority of is core personnel that led the program to back-to-back league championships. The Warriors promoted out of the Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division following the first title in 2023 — the same year they brought home the Central Coast Section Division V crown — but after winning the PAL El Camino Division last season, the program opted not to promote to the Ocean Division.
South City has approximately 50 players in its program split between varsity and junior-varsity. Pua said his hope is to play well enough to promote to the Ocean Division next season. His priority, though, is to continue nursing the program back to health after South City famously didn’t field a varsity team in 2021. That priority isn’t necessarily the wins or the championships, but that it means so much to the students who might otherwise not have positive after-school options.
“They don’t get in trouble,” Pua said. “But this group right here, they have a lot of work ethic. They’re willing to come out and train in the weight room.”
Other PAL teams are seeing more problematic numbers. Terra Nova has promoted several sophomores out of necessity, and currently has just 23 players on roster. Terra Nova’s junior-varsity team has the potential to change the trend down the road with 36 players on roster.
Terra Nova head coach Nick Lotti said it isn’t just the school’s football numbers that are struggling, but the number of students itself is down. The Jefferson Union High School campus saw its enrollment dip below 700 this year. Terra Nova, a former perennial PAL Bay Division power — with four CCS titles and nine CCS finals appearances all-time — now finds itself scuffling in a “B” league.
“We’re 500 kids lighter than we were when we were winning Bay championships,” Lotti said.
Terra Nova coming off a 2-8 overall season, one of the worst in school history, isn’t helping the turnout.
“It’s difficult to recruit kids to come out after a losing season,” Lotti said. “That’s just the ebbs and flows of public school football.”
Lotti said this season has the addition challenge of sacking lunchtime film sessions with the team during the week. The reason for this is none of Terra Nova’s coaches work on campus. Lotti is a physical education teacher, but currently works at neighboring Jefferson High School.
Lotti has been using his station at Jefferson to generate some enthusiasm with Friday’s season opener, though. The Tigers host Jefferson at 7 p.m. for a strange burgeoning rivalry, seeing as Lotti has half the opposing Grizzlies team in his PE classes.
“All the kids know each other,” Lotti said. “So, it’s been a fun couple weeks running up to it.”
Fremont Firebirds
2024: 2-3, tied 3rd in El Camino Division, 3-7 overall
2024 playoffs: none
Fremont-Sunnyvale ended the 2024 campaign on a happy note, knocking off rival Homestead in the Week 10 “Battle of the Bell” game for the second straight year. It was some of the only celebrating the Firebirds did in 2025.
There is reason for optimism. Fremont has long been an El Camino Division stalwart, and hasn’t endured back-to-back losing seasons in the “B” league since 2010 and ’11. Senior linebacker Kaleb Baquero will be central to turning things around.
Baquero was one of the few junior contributors last season on a senior-heavy squad. Now-graduated Henry Buenrostro starred both sides of the ball, and earned 2024 PAL El Camino Division Utility Player of the Year honors as a result. Now, Baquero will serve as the centerpiece of the defense, while junior quarterback Lucus Driscoll Jr. will run the offense.
First-year head coach RJ Davis, a 2004 graduate of Fremont, returns to his alma mater to take over the program from Rob Swartz. Davis’ coaching staff rounds out with Sione Vaiomounga, Daniel Green, Brian Hazle and Ruben Zamora.
Gunn Titans
2024: 8-0, 1st in Lake Division, 10-1 overall
2024 playoffs: Lost CCS Division V first round
Fourth-year head coach Dethrick Slocum has undergone quite an odyssey since taking over the program at Gunn-Palo Alto.
Three years ago, in the final year of the traditional SVCAL El Camino Division, Gunn endured an abysmal winless season. With it, the Titans dropped to the Lake Division to start the expanded PAL era in the lower “C” league.
They spent the last two years climbing back to the new PAL El Camino Division.
To the winner went the spoils of last year’s championship in the PAL Lake. Gunn is coming off the first undefeated regular season in program history, by virtue of which the team earned six all-league first-team nods, including Defensive Player of the Year, Luke Hines, in addition to Lake Division Most Valuable Player, Sam Dellenbach. Hines, Dellenbach and the rest of the Lake honorees were all seniors, however, and are now graduated, paving the way for a mostly untested varsity group to take over in 2025.
Mostly untested is a far cry from entirely untested, however. Gunn does have senior quarterback Jaden Liu returning. Liu played behind last year’s starter, JJ Racz, and the 6-foot, 175-pounder was a 50% passer in limited time. Add to the mix senior running back Andre Lee, a second-year starter who not only ranked second on the 2024 team in carries, but is the only returning player to record a varsity reception; he had one catch for 62 yards as a junior.
There is a touch more experience returning on defensive secondary. Lee, a defensive back, along with cornerbacks Alex Silverman and Jett Creighton, each recorded one interception last season.
Los Altos Eagles
2024: 2-3, tied 3rd in El Camino Division, 3-7 overall
2024 playoffs: none
Los Altos didn’t have a lot to cheer for last year. Head coach Mark Adams was a whirlwind hire after the previous coach quit just weeks before the season opener. The Eagles went on to open the year 1-5, winning just three games overall, while getting outscored 276-92.
The Eagles glimpsed their potential in the penultimate week of the season, though — a 10-6 win over Santa Clara at Los Altos’ homecoming game in what Adams said was a great program win for his kids.
“Los Altos High School football is not a big-time power and has never really been that way,” Adams said.
Adams is intent on doing everything he can to change that. Heading into his second year, Adams said he had never coached football prior to taking over the program, but did so to prevent the 2024 season from being canceled. It was a tough assignment, as offseason chaos saw four of the program’s top players transfer out.
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Now, Adams is preaching stability, and has the benefit of building off his first full offseason.
“I would say it’s a growth opportunity,” Adams said. “The kids who are there want to build something and I would say we’re at the beginning of something.”
With junior quarterback Giancarlo Mendoza out of action to start the year due to injury, Los Altos will rely on the ground game. Junior Gavin Wu is an all-purpose threat who earned second-team All-El Camino Division honors last year on offense. He will be paired with 6-1 power back John Becker.
Wu doubles on defense as a cornerback and Becker as an outside linebacker, while senior Colin Chin will man strong safety and senior Jose Luis Rodriguez is a two-way lineman who will start at defensive tackle.
“It was a good first year,” Adams said. “We had an offseason program ... so we’re starting to build a real program at Los Altos. So, I’m really happy with the number at Los Altos. All the kids are really committed.”
Santa Clara Bruins
2024: 2-3, tied 3rd in El Camino Division, 4-6 overall
2024 playoffs: none
The last time the Bruins won a league championship was in 2018, when they split the SCVAL El Camino Division title three ways with Mountain View and Saratoga. Talk around the campfire is this may be the year Santa Clara breaks that streak.
“Santa Clara is a good team with a good coach,” Los Altos head coach Mark Adams said. “For me, I think they’d probably be the favorite for our division.”
The 2018 season was significant for another reason, as it marked the first year of head coach Burt Cordera’s tenure. Cordera spent three years at Santa Clara before taking over the program at Kathleen MacDonald-San Jose. Now, Nelson Gifford begins his third year as head coach of the Bruins and will look to make his mark.
Senior running back Joseph Manueli will be the Gifford’s biggest weapon on offense. Manueli was Santa Clara’s leading rusher and scorer a year ago, and will pair with another returning rusher in senior Quinn Raineri. The Bruins will go younger at quarterback with junior team captain Kalani Tesimale under center.
The Bruins will look to pick up where they left off in 2024. After starting the year 2-4 — with one of those wins due to a Week 2 forfeit — Santa Clara closed out the year winning three of its last four, the only loss a 10-6 final against Los Altos that saw the Bruins driving down the field and knocking on the door on the game’s final possession, only to come up short.
South City Warriors
2024: 5-0, 1st in El Camino Division, 9-3 overall
2024 playoffs: Lost CCS Division V semifinals
South City has been one of the PAL’s great success stories in recent years. Since former coach Frank Moro resurrected the program in 2022, his former right-hand man and proceeder Kolone Pua has helmed a glory era of Warrior football.
In the first year under Pua in 2023, two years after not fielding a varsity team, South City reveled in a CCS Division V title run, the first CCS championship in program history. A PAL promotion didn’t slow the Warriors, as they went from running the table for a 2023 Lake Division championship to strong-arming their way to back-to-back titles with an undefeated run in the El Camino Division last season.
Despite last year’s league title, the Warriors, after graduating 16 seniors, opted to stay in the El Camino Division. Much of South City’s reemergence was built on that graduating class — especially running backs Elijah Fields and Darren Miller, who are both enrolled at Simpson University in Redding, with Miller on roster as a safety for the NCAA Division III Red Hawks — leaving the Warriors with just five returning starters.
“Hopefully we compete this season,” Pua said. “I don’t think we’ll be as competitive as last season. Hopefully we’ll be able to compete with everybody in our league, because every team in our league kind of got better.”
Senior running back Devon Jackson climbed the deep depth chart to get some reps last season, and will serve as the primary back in 2025. South City will make up for less rushing depth with more passing plays, with 5-8 senior quarterback Anthony Howell slated to start under center in Thursday’s season opener at home against San Lorenzo Valley.
“We’re going to try to throw a little bit more,” Pua said. “But everything is going to go through Devon Jackson. ... Hopefully our guys can make holes for them that they can go through.”
Howell is competing with Darren Miller’s younger brother, Thomas Miller, at the QB spot. The Warriors saw glimpses of Thomas Miller’s potential last season, after he missed the first half of 2024 as a transfer. And while there are other positional options for the tall, athletic senior, his RPO chops might be too good to defer to a wide receiver role.
“This year he’s picking it up,” Pua said. “So, he and Howell are battling to see which one is going to lead us this year.”
South City’s other first-string returners play up front, with senior tackle Abdel Olivas Santos and senior guard Samuel Barillas anchoring the right side of the offensive line. On defense, senior Joseph Preciado was the only linebacker to record an interception last season.
Terra Nova Tigers
2024: 0-5, 6th in Ocean Division, 2-8 overall
2024 playoffs: none
Terra Nova is looking to a seasoned quarterback and a new offense to jumpstart the program in 2025.
Second-year head coach Nick Lotti is pivoting to the power game with a pro double tight offense. It was a necessary change that started midway through last season, after Lotti’s ambitious run-and-shoot offense wasn’t panning out.
Third-year quarterback Joey Donati heads into his senior year, and the converted defensive end is looking to be a difference maker. Despite a historically down year for the Tigers, Donati totaled over 1,000 yards of offense in 2024 (870 passing, 376 rushing), and showed off his legs in last week’s three-team scrimmage with Live Oak and Woodside by breaking a 40-yard touchdown run on designed QB keeper.
“He’s been putting in a lot of work,” Lotti said. “In just our scrimmage, you can tell the difference from where he was last year to where he is this year.”
With just 23 players currently on the varsity roster, Terra Nova will be relying on most of their players to go two ways. Donati is no exception, as he will double at defensive end, the role that got him promoted to varsity near the end of his freshman year.
Among the other two-way skill players are Austin Snead, senior running back/free safety; senior Jacob Whitehead, senior wide receiver/cornerback; junior Isaiah “Birdie” Birch Corona, wide receiver/strong safety; and senior Elijah Ramirez, running back/linebacker.
“With our team, it’s every man on deck,” Lotti said. “Everyone’s playing both ways.”
Austin Snead — running behind his younger brother, junior center Trevor Snead — marks a shift in the backfield personality in a big way. Last year’s leading rusher, graduated Zach Perez, was a quick and stealthy back, whereas the 5-9, 170-pound Austin Snead is a straightforward smasher.
“Austin’s more BYOB — be your own blocker,” Lotti said. “He lowers his shoulder and he’ll go get you 5 yards.”
Along with Birch Corona, who as a sophomore last year led the Tigers with 451 receiving yards, fellow junior Holden Najar steps into a starting receivers role. Najar saw the field as a sophomore as well, totaling nine catches for 57 yards.
“You could tell in all of all passing leagues that they’re starting to figure each other out,” Lotti said. “They’re starting to click.”
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