CALIFORNIA - The California Pintos are coming off of a tough season.
California, 0-10 last season, has a new head coach in Derek Scroggins, who coached for the El Dorado Springs Bulldogs last year where they went 8-3 and lost to Versailles 48-36 in the Class 2 District 4 semifinals.
Scroggins said he feels the Pintos have a strong group of players on both sides of the ball.
"We've got only a couple of kids that are going to have to play both ways as starters," Scroggins said. "We feel like we've got pretty good depth across the board and should be solid at all spots. We don't really feel that we have a spot that's a weakness for us. We feel pretty solid."
The Pintos showed some good depth on offense during the California Jamboree.
"I know that offensively we had guys in and it wasn't even just the first-string guys, our second-string guys that we were rotating in during the varsity plays and when we got to the JV we were impressed with how most of them played," Scroggins said. "I feel like we've got so many who can play at a high level."
Scroggins has a good idea about California's starters, but that can change.
"We feel like we've got a pretty good idea as far as most position battles go, but there is always a couple of days there for kids to jump up and show us why they deserve to start over other kids," Scroggins said.
Fundamentals will be a big part of the team's offense this year."We are going to try to be fundamentally sound and finish our plays and follow our blocks," Scroggins said.
What the offense focuses during the game depends on what their opponents defense gives them.
"We want to be versatile enough that if the defense wants to give us the run we will take it, and if the defense wants to give us the pass we are able to take that," Scroggins said. "Chances are we will be a little bit more run heavy than we are pass heavy but we like to pride ourselves in being adaptable to what the defense gives us and what our kids are capable of doing."
For defense, Scroggins said the team needs to do a better job of finishing tackles. He said the Pintos are going to pride themselves on being fast and aggressive.
The Pintos will host Lighthouse Christian Academy of Springfield to start the season tonight at Riley Field. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Scroggins said the Pintos need to be ready for the pass, because Lighthouse Christian will throw the ball often.
"They are a really good spread team," Scroggins said. "We are ready for a good physical game with an explosive offense."
Lighthouse Christian finished 9-3 last season, with one of its losses coming by eight points to Skyline.
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Related Media
California Pintos Football Podcast [Lighthouse Christian Academy preview, Aug. 30, 2019]