High School Football Preview: Los Amigos hopes to contend in new-look Garden Grove League

Quarterback Brandon Tinoco believes the Los Amigos High football team will bounce back from last year's 2-8 season.

By Andrew TurnerStaff Writer

Aug. 17, 2018 1:15 AM PT

For the Los Amigos High football team, the 2017 season was nothing to write home about.

The Lobos’ 2-8 record was their worst since 2009, which was just the second season in the soon-to-be 11-year tenure for Carl Agnew as their head coach.

Changes have come in-house and out, as the Lobos look to put a rare losing season behind them. Agnew’s teams have made the CIF Southern Section playoffs in seven of his first 10 seasons.

A more experienced Lobos’ roster has ramped up the physicality in practice.

One thing that went beyond Los Amigos’ control, however, was the impact of releaguing. Only one team left the Garden Grove League. It was the perennial champion in Garden Grove, which was replaced by Loara.

The realignment has the Lobos licking their chops, along with the rest of the Garden Grove League.

“Every coach is talking about that right now,” Agnew said of Garden Grove’s move to the Big 4 League. “Every week, you can actually win.”

The Argonauts had won 32 consecutive Garden Grove League games.

“We’re expecting a lot out of our team and our kids,” said Agnew, whose team opens the season at Dana Hills at 7 p.m. on Friday. “We’re telling them, ‘We expect more, and we expect a lot, especially with Grove out.’

“The league championship is up for grabs. I don’t care who has what coming back, without Grove, everybody can beat anybody, as long as you show up and play.”

As a result of there being 81 teams in Division 13, by far the most of any division, Agnew said the Garden Grove League will likely be sending only two teams to the playoffs.

Agnew said that he kept Garden Grove on the schedule as a nonleague game because he believes playing to that level will give his team a leg up when league begins.

We’re getting payback now, through revenge, after a lot of teams [beat] us. We started like nine sophomores on both defense and offense [last year].

— Brandon Tinoco, Los Amigos High quarterback

Los Amigos’ returning backfield exudes the same confidence as Agnew. Some coaches might want their players to have a short memory after a 2-8 season, but having a chip on their shoulder is not a bad alternative.

“We’re getting payback now, through revenge, after a lot of teams [beat] us,” Lobos senior quarterback Brandon Tinoco said. “We started like nine sophomores on both defense and offense [last year].”

In his first year as the starting quarterback last year, Tinoco’s first option was usually recent graduate Christian Santana.

Tinoco named a number of receivers he has been working with, although full names were optional.

“I don’t even know the last names,” Tinoco said. “We just kind of go by first names here.”

The receivers Tinoco will be throwing to include Adolfo Chavez, Joshua Barriga and Armando Aguilera.

Tinoco showcased the arm strength to give his receivers a chance to make plays down the field.

The calling card of the Los Amigos offense last year, however, was a power running game. Junior Brian Pacheco will once again be the starting tailback.

Los Amigos High running back Brian Pacheco returns after finishing his sophomore year strong, rushing for 439 yards and seven touchdowns in his last three games.

As a sophomore, Pacheco authored several big performances. He ran for 236 yards and two touchdowns against Fairmont Prep in the Lobos’ first game before a deep thigh bruise severely hampered his production.

Pacheco tried to play through the injury, but he managed just 65 rushing yards over the next five games.

By season’s end, the injury had healed, and the numbers returned. Pacheco finished the season with three consecutive 100-yard rushing performances. He ran for a total of 439 yards and seven touchdowns in the final three league games against Bolsa Grande, Santiago and La Quinta.

Agnew feels confident that a healthy Pacheco will produce, especially behind an offensive line that has been putting in the work in the weight room.

Left tackle Salvador Caballero, left guard Arturo Torres, center Juan Mendiola, right guard Victor Salgado and right tackle Jesse Molina are the projected starters on the offensive line.

“Every kid on our offensive line will squat over 300 pounds,” Agnew said. “They all bench over 225 pounds. We’re looking to be right back where we used to be. We used to be right there with Grove as the most physical teams in the league.”

Cross training helped the skills players, too. Tinoco and Pacheco both ran the 400 meters for the boys’ track and field team in the spring.

Pacheco thinks that the additional burst will help him, along with reading the plays before jumping into the running lanes.

“This year, it’s been my footwork,” Pacheco said of his focus. “Maybe just wait a little bit, be patient, and when it opens, go through it fast.

“I’ve been working on my speed, too, getting faster, working hard every day.”

While experience was hard to come by for the Lobos in 2017, linebacker Justin Boyer plans on being the leader his team needs this season.

Boyer has had three brothers — Gabriel, Zachary and Jeremiah — play for the program, and one could easily pick up on the passion the intense junior brings to the field.

Asked what his team must do to spark a turnaround, Boyer said it begins with accountability.

“Just never take a play off,” he said. “I know we did that a lot last year, and it cost us. We could have won a lot more. It was always one player, one mistake, on every play.”

As for how he hopes to inspire his teammates?

“I want them to have the same drive to win as I do, and some of the other guys do,” Boyer said. “I want to kind of restart this legacy of winning. I want to be one of the more physical, more feared teams in the league.”

Carl Agnew is in his 11th season leading the Los Amigos High football team. He has led the Lobos to the CIF Southern Section playoffs seven times.

Los Amigos Lobos

CIF Southern Section Division: 13

Coach: Carl Agnew (11th year)

Staff: Harold McDowell (defensive coordinator), LaRue Carr (wide receivers), Tommy Terrones (secondary), Able Amezquita (secondary), Tito Rosado (defensive line), Alfred Dominguez (offensive line), Maopu Tuato (quarterbacks)

2017 season: 2-8 overall, 1-4 in the Garden Grove League (fifth place), missed the CIF Southern Section Division 12 playoffs

Offensive scheme: Pro-style

Defensive scheme: 3-4

Returning offensive starters: Nine

Returning defensive starters: Nine

Returning with honors: Jr. WR/DB Adolfo Chavez; Jr. RB/DB Joseph Garcia; Jr. RB/DB Brian Pacheco

SCHEDULE

August

17 — at Dana Hills

23 — vs. Ocean View at Garden Grove High

31 — Bye

September