3 New Coaches Among Area HS Football Teams

It's time for high school football's Friday night lights again in the Carmichael-Fair Oaks area, unless you're or , .

There are new coaches in place at , and and , and Rio Americano are looking to build on last season.

Here is a look at our area teams:

-The biggest change is at Jesuit, where Marlon Blanton is the new coach after at the Carmichael school.

Blanton has installed the run-heavy veer offense for the Marauders, who were 5-6 last season and .

"The players are in, they're game but it's still challenging," he said. "The program has been good here but my goal is to improve it going forward."

Jesuit will be led again by quarterback Thomas Sperbeck and lineman Garrett Strohmaier.

"We'll surprise some teams," Sperbeck said. "Coach has done a great job with the new offense."

Strohmaier has made unofficial visits to California and Stanford and is also drawing attention from Ivy League schools, according to reports.

"The key is to focus and have an intensity," he said. "We have one goal, to be section champions, and we know we have talent."

The Marauders open the first five weeks on the road, starting Sept. 1 at Rio and including Sept. 7 at El Camino and Sept. 15 in the at Hughes Stadium. The Falcons now have Carmazzi as an assistant coach. The first home game for Jesuit is Oct. 6 against Ponderosa.

-While Jesuit lost a coaching legend, is getting one in Tom Ingles, who takes over for Matt Polston after 38 years in Washington state.

Ingles' wife is a school principal in Davis and he took the Broncos job since he knew assistant coach Pete De Toro, having coached him up north.

Ingles takes over a team that finished 3-7 last year and behind area rivals Del Campo and Casa Roble.

"It's exciting again; we're trying to get our guys going in the same direction," he said. "The good thing about high school football is that you get a report card every Friday night; I'm hoping we can raise our level of play and be competitive."

Junior quarterback Austin Harmer will lead the offense.

"Coach Ingles has done a great job of brining us together so we're more of a family," Harmer said. "We're trying not to think of expectations but just play every game one at a time."

- Kirk Anderson takes over at Mira Loma for Matt Costa, who is now at Kennedy. The Matadors, who open Friday at Florin, are hoping for a fresh start after a 2-8 season last year.

-El Camino coach Adam Reinking has this to say about the Eagles, who open up Friday at Union Mine.

"Our team is coming off a great summer of success. We had a great showing at Sac State's football camp and won the Oakmont passing tournament in which we beat Placer, a top 10 team in the area, in the finals. This year we return 12 starters and look to have weapons on offense. The offense is lead by returning all league QB Jonah Lessard. He has two tall athletic WR's to throw to in Kevin Wise and Drew Hassenplug. We have a stable of RB's in the back field lead by Eric Thomas, Desmond Boyd-Tanner and Herman Thomas. We have a young offensive line but we are big and agile. The offensive line is lead by returning starter junior Evan Brandt.

Defensively, we have one of the best line backing cores I've had as a head coach. This group is lead by Junior MLB Quenton Hagen and senior OLB Justin Yip and should make it difficult for teams to run on us."

-Del Campo opens Friday at home against Vallejo. Coach Mike Dimino led the Cougars to the playoffs and an 8-4 record last season. The Sacramento Bee says the players to watch are lineman AJ Samataua and RB Josh Blumgold.

-Rio Americano opens Friday at Casa Roble under coach Christian Mahaffey. The Raiders, 4-6 last season, are led by QB Mark Lyon and WR Zach Suarez.

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How will your team fare and why? Tell us in a comment below.