PAL Lake Division: Woodside Wildcats

2019 season opener: Woodside at Sequoia, 7 p.m. Friday

Key returners: Brody Crowley (sr., QB); Josh Peterson (sr., TB); Tommy Williams (sr., TB/DB); Ethan Mooney (Sr., WR/DB); Will Polati (jr., OL/DL).

Key newcomers: Cody Bowers (jr., TE/DE); Deontae McKean (jr., WR/DB); Zach Scher (jr., RB/DB).

Outlook: The Justin Andrews Era has seen plenty of fast starts, followed by poor finishes. Over the last five years, the Wildcats have gone just 4-23 in division play — going 1-4 in the Lake Division last season.

Andrews said he believes he’s done a good job of finding the athletes on campus to play football. Now, it’s trying to get them to buy in to the program.

“A big challenge is going to be can we compete in the later part of the season?” Andrews said. “We do rely on a lot of players who are brand new to football or, for various reasons, can’t put in the time in the weight room.”

As such, Andrews said he plans to simplify the schemes used on offense and defense. The hope is that when injuries do hit, there won’t be as big a dropoff when he has to go to a replacement.

“Once one guy gets hurt, it’s tough to replace him,” Andrews said. “This year, we changed the way we trained. We also made schemes simpler in case we lose guys.”

Brody Crowley was one of those guys the Wildcats lost that scuttled their 2018 season . Crowley, who returns in 2019 as the starting quarterback, was averaging 201 yards passing through the first four games of the season, during which time the Wildcats were 3-1.

Injury ended Crowley 2019 campaign, but Crowley is healthy to start 2019 and Andrews is looking forward to what he can do.

“He’s excited about the season,” Andrews said. “Our goal is not to have him do as much as he did last year, try to keep him in good position … to make the plays that need to be made.”

But injuries have already been a factor for Woodside as Will Holthaus, who was slated to be a stalwart on both lines, will miss the season following shoulder surgery.

Josh Peterson will be the workhorse out the backfield and is the team’s leading returning rusher. He will be spelled by Morrise Law.

Will Polati, who played a lot last year, will anchor an offensive line that will have four new starters. The defense will also have a lot of new starters, so the Wildcats may go through some growing pains early.

“Last year, we started off hot and in position … and then we atrophied,” Andrews said. “We get a lot of good, hard-working kids who aren’t necessarily football-first kids.”