Prep Preview: King at Poly
I’m covering the Riverside King-Riverside Poly varsity football game tonight for The Press-Enterprise. The best part of this assignment will be witnessing which sect of Riverside’s blue bloods earns bragging rights for the next calendar year.
THE LOW DOWN:
The Wolves (0-5 overall, 0-3 Big VIII) are in the midst of one of the worst seasons in the school’s history. New coach Kevin Corridan may have his team playing a physical brand of defense but hard-to-ignore offensive questions remain for the Wolves. As in, where is it? The Wolves are averaging just 7.5 points per game, and haven’t scored more than 13 this season — a 26-13 loss to Riverside La Sierra in Week 2.
The Bears (2-4 overall, 0-3 Big VIII) started the season 2-0 but have struggled mightily to score points, and are averaging just 13.8 per game. I should know, I’ve covered Poly each of the last two weeks, and three times this season. I wrote previews for those games here, here and here. As I’ve written before, Poly lacks the skill position players to compete for a playoff spot. That shouldn’t be a problem tonight. If there’s a team with less offensive talent than Poly its…
KEY PLAYERS:
Riverside King — QB: Brett Hollingsworth, Jr. (6-foot-3, 185 pounds); RB: Kyle Dunbar, Soph. (5-5, 175); WR: Jacob Porter, Jr. (5-10, 140); OL/DL: Josh Walker, Jr. (6-2, 295); Sean Krepsz, Soph., (6-4, 250); LBs: Avery Richardson, Jr. (5-11, 195); Alex Whitson, Jr. (6-foot, 195); Patrick Weidhase, Soph. (6-1, 165); DBs: Garon Graham, Sr. (5-10, 175); Aaron Hickman, Sr. (5-11, 160); David Reynolds, Soph. (5-10, 165).
Riverside Poly — QB: Steven Hamm, Sr. (6-foot-1, 185 pounds); RB: Matt Ybarra, Jr. (6-foot, 170); Leighton Silva, Soph. (5-9, 180); WR: John Stuart, Sr. (6-2, 190); Matt O’Hara (6-foot, 297); OL: Andy Schouten, Sr. (6-1, 216); DL: Greg Hale, Sr. (6-1, 197); Sr. Joseph Oliver, Sr. (6-1, 225); Yancy Calhoun, Jr. (6-2, 265); LB: Roy Hale, Sr. (6-foot, 216); Aaron Thomas, Sr. (6-2, 190); DB: Matt Peck, Sr. (5-10, 185); Mark Badilla, Sr. (5-10, 172).
THE DIFFERENCE:
Another intra-city rivalry game for Poly; this one homecoming. The Bears, who are 2-1 against RUSD in ’11, are do, and coach Jeff Huerta sounded sure that Week 7 would be a good one for his team. He’s probably right — the Bears should prevail in this game — but not by double digits.
PREDICTION: Poly 23, King 14
INLAND FIELDHOUSE 