A “three-peat” is the signature of a dynasty — something that very few teams can achieve at any level of play. Southwestern College’s football team has a chance to make history this year by becoming the first team in school history to compile three consecutive bowl victories.
”We can go to the third bowl game in a row, which no team has ever done,” SWC head coach Ed Carberry said. “And we can win three bowl games in a row, which no team has ever done.”
Carberry led the Jaguars to a 9-2 record last year, and three bowl games in the past seven years, winning the last two in 2012 and 2013. The school has only 11 championships in its history, and has only won two in a row once before — in 1984 and 1985.
To reach the championship game once again, the Jaguars will need to be ranked first or second in the conference by the end of the season. Tough games like a home opener against cross-town rival Grossmont on Sept. 6, or a rematch the following week against Santa Monica College, which the Jaguars defeated to win the first bowl game in 2012, will make the road back to greatness a difficult one.
At the community college level, winning three championships in a row is made into even more of a challenge because of how few players return the next season, and how few actually make it to the end of the season.
“We started with 155 in January … and that number has gone up and down and up and down and we get done at the end of May and there are maybe 70 guys who make it from January to May,” Carberry explained.
However, coaches understand that having to rebuild a new team every season is part of the occupational hazard that comes with coaching at this level.
“With community college you have a kid for a year-and-a-half,” Carberry noted.
“They’re here in the fall, they’re here in the spring, then they play in the fall, then they’re gone,” SWC defensive coordinator Dionicio Monarrez added.
Defensively, the team had to suffer the loss of all-conference and all-state linebacker Khallid Abdullah. Blake Wilson is the only starting returner at linebacker, but coaches say he has emerged as a defensive leader.
The defensive line is in the best shape after only losing one starter from last year’s team.
“I definitely think myself and a few of the returning defensive linemen take on that leadership role on defense,” said Wilson, a former Eastlake Titan standout. “Teaching the young guys and the new guys the defensive scheme and the defensive concept.”
Rebuilding the secondary after losing four players from last year’s team is the biggest issue on defense, especially in a league where teams like to throw the ball deep.
Offensively, replacing starting quarterback and the leader of the offense, Frank Foster, would be the most challenging. The spot came down to two main contenders: former Oceanside quarterback and PPR Player of the Year Israel Tofi Paopao and Luis Perez, last year’s back-up.
Paopao (6-2, 230) is a new addition to the team after returning from Florida International University. Perez backed up Foster and is familiar with the offense, and started two games last year when Foster was hurt.
The team held its final inner-squad scrimmage on Aug. 27 when Paopao shined, leading the offense down the field for a score on all but one drive. Carberry named him the starting quarterback the next day.
“I feel like I did what I had to do coming out here competing,” Paopao said. “I just have to get back out on the field and on the whiteboard and tighten some things up before Sept. 6.”
Carberry credits the preparation of his team to his coaching staff, eight of whom have been with him for the past five years.
“If the coaches are already on the same wavelength, it’s easier to get the players on the same wavelength,” Carberry said. “ That’s made a huge difference — the continuity.”
Carberry went on to say that even among coaches at the community college level, it is unheard of to retain that many coaches for that long.
With a veteran coaching staff and a group of young talent, Southwestern College’s football team may have what it takes to make history.
Southwestern College
2014 Football Schedule
September
6: Grossmont at Southwestern, 6 p.m.
13: Santa Monica at Southwestern, 6 p.m.
20: Southwestern at L.A. Pierce, 7 p.m.
27: Victor Valley at Southwestern, 6 p.m.
October
4: Southwestern at San Diego Mesa, 6 p.m.
11: Bye
18: East L.A. at Southwestern, 6 p.m.
25: Southwestern at Mt. San Jacinto, 1 p.m.
November
1: Southwestern at College of the Desert, 6 p.m.
8: San Bernardino Valley at Southwestern, 6 p.m.
15: Southwestern at Compton, 6 p.m.
22: Bowl game, TBA
