ALLAN STEELE
The only thing Mountain Pass League football teams typically have in common this time of year is trying to figure out how to knock off league power Perris Citrus Hill. But this season all six league teams – including the powerful Hawks – share another trait. Citrus Hill, Hemet, Hemet West Valley, Hemet Tahquitz, Beaumont and San Jacinto all began the year with new starting quarterbacks. For coaches working in new quarterbacks, the first few weeks of the season can run the gamut of headache-inducing frustration to being pleasantly surprised. Through five games, coaches have seen just about everything from their new starters and now the real test starts this week with league play beginning Friday. Are the new quarterbacks ready? “He’s really coming along,” San Jacinto coach Bill Powell said of sophomore Isiah Bolding, who played junior varsity last season. “He’s a dual-threat guy and he gives people a lot to prepare for. … He’s an extremely good athlete, and on top of that, he’s a football player. There are a lot of athletes that don’t necessarily always transition into being good football players. He has great instincts, he can make people miss, he has kind of those intangibles, when to get out bounds, when to take a chance. Some of that stuff is just natural to him.” Bolding has been a combination of efficiency and explosiveness. He’s connected on 40 of 55 pass attempts for 11 touchdowns and just one interception. He’s rushed for 407 yards and a team-high five scores. Citrus Hill’s Jerrell Brown isn’t necessarily a dual-threat quarterback – “We don’t like to have our quarterback that exposed too much,” Coach Eric Zomalt noted – but Brown, who’s averaged 208 yards passing, also leads the team with 452 yards rushing and four touchdowns. “I think I’m a dual threat,” Brown said. “I can run, too.” Brown is a senior who’s progressed through the Citrus Hill program. He was junior varsity quarterback as a sophomore and competed with Brett Hollingsworth last year for the starting job, which was eventually won by Hollingsworth. Brown played defensive back on varsity last year but was knocked out because of injury. He secured the starting quarterback job this year during spring and summer workouts. Lucas Opp could have potentially started at West Valley last season, but then first-year coach Gordon Wood was looking toward the future. “What we tried to do in the process of rebuilding the program and not knowing where everything stood, is give everyone the opportunity to show us what they can do,” Wood said, noting several sophomores, including Opp and the offensive line, played primarily junior varsity last year in preparation for stepping up in 2014. The move worked out well, with senior Mike Cordova passing for nearly 2,200 yards and 20 touchdowns last year. Opp saw some time at varsity and started the first four games this season before missing time because of a knee injury. Hemet’s offense is buoyed by the power running game of Jeff Martin, so senior quarterback Noah Munsinger has been a little under the radar. He is however a valuable part of the Bulldogs offense. “Noah does a little bit of everything really good,” Coach Jeff Reitz said, noting Munsinger, at 6-2 and 225 pounds, is one of the strongest players on the team and started his career as a lineman. “There’s not one thing that he’s not good at and that’s why I say he could be the best quarterback I’ve had here.” Munsinger has passed for four touchdowns and has run for four more. Tahquitz and Beaumont don’t have a Martin-type runner in their offense, but both teams rely on their ground game. That means Titans quarterback William Keegan and Cougars quarterback Noah Rhodes have time to develop and learn the position at the varsity level. “We haven’t put the ball in the air that many times,” Tahquitz coach Dennis Gregovich said. “(Keegan) still needs to become a little more consistent like any young quarterback, but that will come with game experience.” Beaumont’s Rhodes was a defensive back on the junior varsity and had never played quarterback before earning the spot before this season. “Our offense doesn’t call for a lot of passing,” Cougars coach Paul Lopez said, adding that Rhodes has yet to throw a touchdown pass this season but that the team is winning with its running game. It might not be a quarterback who eventually determines who wins the Mountain Pass League title, but coaches seem to agree on two things. Citrus Hill is still the team to beat and grooming a new varsity quarterback isn’t always easy. CONTACT THE WRITER: [email protected]