You could hear the disappointment in the voice of Poway High football coach Brandon Harris after the Titans fell to Rio Hondo Prep in the Southern California Regional Division 3-A championships, 28-14.
It didn’t last long.
“A lot of good came out of this,” said the first-year coach. “I wasn’t hired until late March and spring ball was rushed. The guys really hadn’t hit the weight room and, of course, didn’t know the new system.
“Despite all of that, we competed in almost every game. It was a huge learning curve and in year two, we’ll be bigger and stronger and smarter.
“We’ll create a pipeline with our youth football league, we’ll be in the summer 7-on-7 league and any other 7-of-7 league or flag football league we can.
“We lose 21 seniors, but we had 55 boys out for freshman football and expect another big turnout this year. Winning the section Division 2 title and getting to the Southern California Regionals finals was huge, and I know it’ll have an impact on our numbers.”
Such is the life of a varsity football coach — no rest.
While the Titans will need to find a quarterback to replace senior Ty Hurst, who ed for 2,381 yards and 22 touchdowns, consider that the entire offense line that opened the holes for junior Luke Jorgensen to run through for 1,201 yards and 19 TDs, returns.
That line, promises Harris, will be bigger, stronger and faster and includes tackles Delonte Hillery and Colin Raibert, guards Jake Jaworski and Matthew Thomas and center Body Bedard.
He looks back on the season, and the Rio Hondo Prep game, as a giant learning session. It had highs like winning the section title and three straight playoff games after lows like losing six straight Avocado League games en route to a 6-8 record.
A school record 63 points against University City and 62 the next week against Mater Dei Catholic were definite highlights.
Making things even more interesting, the Titans will move to the Palomar League next season while San Marcos is expected to take their place in the Avocado League.
Harris makes no excuses for the loss to Rio Hondo Prep but he did miss 6-2, 230-pound linebacker Peter Weiderman, who was injured before the game, and another player, junior Eli Alsop, a 6-foot, 175 safety, was hobbled the second half with a hamstring injury.
“Their plan was obvious — keep the ball on the ground and limit our number of plays,” said Harris. “We were tied 7-7 at the half but we went three-and-out, then turned the ball over and before you knew it, it was 28-7.
“We went long periods of time without scoring. Looking back, we could have had a more -heavy scheme, but they played keep-away, running the clock, and it worked.
“This was both of our first times in the Regional finals and that’s something that we plan to build on. We were section champions, and that’s a good start. Now we’ll look to repeat.
“We got better every week and this was a fun group. We’re excited about the future — we’ll be back.”
