South County Classic Preview (Part 1)

<p>On Saturday, 20 teams will gather at Mission Viejo High for one of the last major passing tournaments of the summer. </p>   <p>Mission Viejo won the tournament last year and there were several top teams on hand. This year is no different with some of Southern California's best programs competing.</p>   <p>Here is a look at some of the teams that will play on Saturday:</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>MISSION VIEJO</strong></h2>   <p>Mission Viejo is coming off a strong showing at the Battle at the Beach where they reached the semifinals and lost to champion Mater Dei. The Diablos are very young at receiver and haven't decided on a starting quarterback yet, but the defense is experienced and polished. [player_tooltip player_id='723683' first='Dijon' last='Lee'] may be the best athlete at the event and I am interested to see him on both sides of the ball again on Saturday. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>APPLE VALLEY</strong></h2>   <p>Apple Valley had a nice season in 2022 before losing to Inglewood in the playoffs. <strong>Noah Celie</strong> returns at quarterback after throwing 23 touchdown passes with just five interceptions. <strong>Xavier Salazar </strong>is a running back to keep an eye on who can make plays in the passing game. <strong>Kayden Struebing</strong> leads the defense for Apple Valley.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/AVSunDevilFB/status/1671738895883730944?s=20 </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>CHAPARRAL</strong></h2>   <p>I did not get to see a lot of Chaparral at the Battle at the Beach, but I did see quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='270900' first='Dash' last='Beierly'] looking very good in moments. [player_tooltip player_id='282683' first='Jacob' last='Alvarez'] is the tight end for the Pumas and the defense is led by [player_tooltip player_id='205623' first='Jayce' last='Venable'] and [player_tooltip player_id='689900' first='Aiden' last='Alefosio'].</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/corbinfrutos18/status/1675976150680752128?s=20 </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>CAPISTRANO VALLEY</strong></h2>   <p>Capo Valley has been at passing tournaments the past couple of weeks and have been impressive. [player_tooltip player_id='595827' first='Tommy' last='Acosta'] looked good against very good teams at the Battle at the Beach. He takes some risks with the ball but has good timing with his receivers. [player_tooltip player_id='595817' first='Ryan' last='Isenhart'] is a big target who can cause matchup problems in the redzone. The defense is young but can fly around the field. <strong>Kaden Hunter</strong> and <strong>Hudson Campbell</strong> are two guys in the secondary to keep an eye on.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/TommyAcosta_/status/1675634969413316609?s=20 </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>SCHURR</strong></h2>   <p>Schurr is the lowest ranked team at the tournament but they still had a winning season last year. <strong>Fabian Escamilla Sanchez</strong> is a returning receiver who I expect to get more targets this year and <strong>Elias Navarro</strong> is back at running back. <strong>Caesar Aguilar</strong> is a sophomore who got some varsity plays on defense as a freshman last year and <strong>Brendan Ruiz</strong> could be an impact player on defense.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/coachmark_48/status/1660068052409683968?s=20 </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>BISHOP AMAT</strong></h2>   <p>Bishop Amat is a tough program to keep track of because of recent transfers. [player_tooltip player_id='147734' first='Richard' last='Munoz Jr']. is back and is one of the top safeties in the San Gabriel Valley. Offensively he will likely be a slot receiver but can play quarterback if needed. [player_tooltip player_id='406732' first='Frankie' last='Villalbazo'] is the likely quarterback. Amat is one of the teams I am most curious to see on Saturday.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/richhh_05/status/1670163712270036992?s=20 </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>NORCO</strong></h2>   <p>Norco lost its starting quarterback to transfer and its top overall player graduated and is now at UCLA. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='401231' first='Colton' last='Zeen']</strong> is a sophomore who may start at quarterback for Norco. Linebacker <strong>Nick Zepeda</strong> is back to lead the Norco defense along with <strong>Toby Speake</strong>. The offensive skill positions are a complete mystery for Norco and we may learn a lot more Saturday.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/norcofootball/status/1676332420898127872?s=20 </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>MILLIKAN</strong></h2>   <p>I got to see a little bit of Millikan at the Battle at the Beach but unfortunately it was in a convincing loss against Mission Viejo. A bright spot in that game was a deep touchdown to [player_tooltip player_id='115471' first='Ryan' last='Pellum'] on a blown coverage. [player_tooltip player_id='282737' first='JP' last='Mialovski'] made some mistakes in that game but showed he has arm talent. </p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/MattRMoreno/status/1675194243982446602?s=20 </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>MAYFAIR</strong></h2>   <p>Mayfair has a junior quarterback people are high on in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='723758' first='Jeremiah' last='Calvin'].</strong> Mayfair lost its top receiver [player_tooltip player_id='270895' first='Owen' last='Tomich'] to St. John Bosco so <strong>Jaiden Tanner</strong> may be a receiver to watch. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1000938' first='Chaz' last='Gilbreath']</strong> is a sophomore who may be an impact player on both sides of the ball this year. </p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/jeremiahcalvin_/status/1649483361545752577?s=20 </div></figure>

On Saturday, 20 teams will gather at Mission Viejo High for one of the last major passing tournaments of the summer.