This Thursday night, September 8th from 6-10 pm, you are invited to participate in a fundraising night of fun at Cold Stone Creamery. Not only will you enjoy some fabulous post-Frosh-game ice cream delights but you will have them served by none other than our own Saugus Football Coaches! Yes, that’s right……not only can they coach a winning team they can also whip up an amazing dessert!

Please join us at:

ColdStone Creamery
27071 McBean Parkway,Santa Clarita
Thursday, September 8th
6-10 pm

The full sheet flyer is great for posting up around your school, church, on bulletin boards, etc. The other flyer can be cut into 6 and handed out to teachers, family & friends. Don’t forget tobring the flyer to the store during your fundraiser, or make sure they mention your event at the register. You can also advertise your event by emailing your family and friends, and using social networking methods such as Facebook or Twitter.  Remember, the more people you tell, the more fun it will be!

ColdStone Creamerywill donate to Saugus Football 15% of the sales we bring in. 

Fundraiser flyers should be handed out prior to your event, and cannot be handed out in the lobby or outside the store during the fundraiser.

Thank you for your participation and GO BIG BLUE!!!

Please contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,

Gail Ishimoto
Fundraising Chair
Saugus Gridiron
Saugus Football
gailishimoto@yahoo.com
(661) 904-5403

By Joey Gulino
Signal Assistant Sports Editor

Saugus High head football coach Jason Bornn could be heard loud and clear.

All the Centurions’ offense had to do was gain 6 yards. If it did, then it would score points as part of a drill the team was doing during training camp.

But the defense wouldn’t let it happen.

“That’s 21-10!” Bornn shouted, referring to the defense’s lead in the drill.

It was even more impressive considering the losses on defense and the attrition that’s taken place in the Centurions’ junior class.

Some of the kids decided not to play football this season. Some others moved. Still others are ineligible.

All of it has affected Saugus’ depth on defense. Therefore, building depth has become a huge focus in training camp.

“I think any successful program is going to have to develop their No. 2s and No. 3s,” Bornn said. “That’s what we’re working on.”

While Saugus’ flashy offense has gotten a lot of headlines in recent years, the defense has been just as important to the Centurions’ success. Last season, the defense gave up 20.5 points per game, and it got even better during league play, yielding just 16.4 points per game.

The Centurions held Canyon’s potent offense to just 21 points, and they did a better job than any other league team at containing star Valencia tailback Steven Manfro, despite losing the game 14-3.

“It’s a very emphasized aspect of our program,” Bornn said. “There are different philosophies and different takes on how you build your team, and we feel that we build our team around our defense.”

If Saugus is going to be effective on defense again, it will need to replace seven of the top eight tacklers from a year ago. A couple key parts of the defense are returning, but newcomers from the younger ranks and upperclassmen with limited experience are being counted on to add some depth.

So are players filling new positions.

“I think we’re a hard-nosed defense,” said senior running back Tyler Watt, who’s also playing middle linebacker for the first time this season. “We’re a brotherhood. We feed off each other.”

Some other key contributors on defense include freshman safety Chris Hamilton, senior outside linebacker Cody Taylor, senior defensive lineman Wyatt Whitham, and senior defensive backs Michael Visser, Curtis Kahovec, P.J. McKillop and Colton Jackson.

Regardless of who lines up where, Jackson said the players need to be focused on their jobs.

“We’ve just got to take it as it is,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen during the season. Guys need to step up. I feel we’ll have enough depth this year.”

Some of the newer players can already see the difference.

“Myself, I’ve come along a lot,” Taylor said. “Last year, I was nowhere near as good as I am this year.”

Saugus will likely be mixing and matching its lineups on defense throughout the season. Finding the right combination could make the difference in the league title chase.

“The bottom line is, if you can hold people, you can win a game 3-0,” Bornn said. “If you score 80 points but the other team scores 81, that’s not doing you a whole lot of good.”

It was a big success with 24 varsity and 16 JV teams from all over Southern California. There were teams from as far south as Long Beach and as far north as Santa Maria. On the opening day Saugus Varsity went 2-1 losing to Long Beach Poly while winning over Agoura and Sierra Canyon. This solid record put Saugus into the winner’s bracket on Saturday where they lost to Canyon and Valencia. The Saugus JV team won decisively over Crescenta Valley while losing 2 close games to Golden Valley and Oaks Christian. Golden Valley was the surprise team of the foothill league going 3-0 on day 1 while Canyon went the furthest of the Foothill League teams on Saturday’s playoffs, losing a close game to Thousand Oaks to end their bid at the championship. The finals found a rematch of last year, with Long Beach Poly facing Westlake, however the outcome was reversed with Long Beach Poly getting their sweet revenge.

This year Saugus added a Lineman challenge to the tournament giving the big guys a chance to compete. This brought a lot of excitement and sportsmanship to the tournament.  Saugus had 2 Varsity and 2 JV lineman teams competing. While Saugus didn’t win there were some exciting moments for them. The Varsity “A” team pulled off a 3^rd place finish in the Medicine Ball throw, while the Saugus “B” team was involved in one of the most exciting moments of the day competing head to head against power house Alemany in the Tire Flip relay.  They were able to edge them out by just inches when Dylan Petrovich blazed through the final leg of the race. You could have heard the noise from 2 blocks away as Saugus was not only cheered on by their own teammates but by other teams as well. It was a great display of sportsmanship. The Saugus JV “A” team finished 2^nd in the 40 yard dash and the shuttle, while the JV “B” team took a 2^nd in the Farmers Walk.

Some individual performances worth noting were the fast sled pull times of Dylan Petrovich and Wyatt Whittam, the long medicine ball throws of Adam Edwards, Wyatt Whittam, and Denley Rodriguez, the great farmer’s walk of Wyatt Whitman, and the fast 40 yard dash of Trevor Anthony. On the JV side Chad Deshamps blazed through the 40 and the Shuttle in great time while Jacob Montoya launched the medicine ball as far as some varsity lineman. The finals had Canyon out-pulling Valencia in a Tug O War on the Varsity side while Valencia out-pulled Canyon on the JV side. Judging by the buzz around the park from players, parents and coaches, I’m sure this event is around to stay.

There were well over 100 volunteers working extremely hard to make this event a success. The Saugus Gridiron Board would like to thank all the volunteers and sponsors. We couldn’t do it without everyone’s support.

Wayne Edwards

Passing Tournament Chairman

By Cary Osborne

Signal Sports Editor

It’s hard to characterize it as a possible turnaround when the faces are completely different.

How about turned right side up?

The Saugus freshman football team has a lot going for it this season.

Most notably, the Centurions freshmen are more experienced in football compared to last season’s 3-7 team.

There are approximately 10 kids on the team who played for the Saugus Spartans — a youth football team which saw its first year of action in 2009 and is a feeder team to the Centurions.

“That’s a big advantage right there,” said Saugus second-year freshman head coach Kevin Miner. “We’re so much further ahead this year than we were last year. We’re moving ahead so much quicker. We have the defense and offense in place more than last year.”

Miner said a lot of it has to do with the non-Spartans kids learning from the Spartans kids.

It’s no surprise that some of the kids expected to carry heavy loads are Spartans kids.

Quarterback Tim Kahovec is one of those players.

He has experience in the system and Miner said he makes the right reads.

Jon Russell and Austin McKinney are both in the mix at running back and both are hard hitters, Miner said.

Look for both to be impact linebackers as well.

Reid Rupe is a third running back who has shown a talent for the position.

The Saugus offensive line also boasts size, as Miner said he has a couple of players at 230 pounds — strong Torrey Patterson and 6-foot-4-inch Marco Ayala.

On the defensive side of the ball, Steven Kwak, Jacob Montoya and Michael Ponce are key players.

Miner said he needs to find a way to get athletic Alex Sanchez on the field because he might be the fastest kid on the team.

Now, if those players can stay in the program.

Many of the players from last year’s freshman team didn’t continue playing in 2010.

If this crop does, Saugus might have a lot to build on.