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Warriors to scrimmage with Mount Carmel Aug. 13

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

High school football competition – or at least a scrimmage – returns to Fallbrook tomorrow, Aug. 13, when Fallbrook High School hosts Mount Carmel High School.

Practice for the Fallbrook football team began July 30, so the Warriors had eight practices as of Aug. 7. "I thought they did well," said Fallbrook High Head Coach Troy Everhart. "There's definitely a core of tough players I'm really excited about."

Everhart is excited about the turnout in general. "We've got 92 kids in the program right now, which is a good number," he said. "I'm really pleased."

Fallbrook began the 2020-21 season with 99 players, although many of those split time with other sports due to the compressed CIF seasons. Everhart had 34 varsity players in 2019, which was his first season as the Warriors' head coach.

The 92 players include only 11 seniors. "It's a small group," Everhart said.

That means 81 of the 92 players could return for the 2022 season, and many of them may be on the 2023 or 2024 roster. "I've got a lot of young first-year freshmen," Everhart said.

The coronavirus shutdown postponed CIF sports for the 2020-21 seasons, so the football team began practice in February 2021 and had five games. The Warriors posted a 2-3 record with all contests occurring against Valley League opponents.

The Fallbrook Pop Warner and other youth seasons were outright cancelled. "They lost a whole year of football, and it shows," Everhart said.

The 2020 casualties also included the spring session for training and summer leagues. The Fallbrook Union High School District closed Fallbrook High School's weight room in March 2020, and the school weight room did not reopen until May 2021.

"If it wouldn't have been for Josh Gutierrez up at Ingold, I don't know if this program would be up and running," Everhart said.

During the summer of 2020, the Ingold Sports Center opened to allow some conditioning. "That was absolutely huge," Everhart said.

Better opportunities for parents in other states also took a toll on the Fallbrook High School football program. "People are just leaving California. I've lost a lot of kids the last two years," Everhart said.

Officially a starter is a player who takes the first offensive snap or the first defensive snap of a game, so players may see significant game action even if they are not starters. Fallbrook returns four offensive starters and six defensive starters from the 2020-21 team. Current senior Charlie Stallings, who opted for basketball instead of football in 2020-21, was a starting wide receiver in 2019.

Players at each position will compete for the starting role, and Everhart will make that decision each game based on performance at practice during the week. Everhart also will set varsity and junior varsity rosters on a week-by-week basis.

"We just treat everybody as a varsity player and figure it out from there," Everhart said. "I want kids to play."

 

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