Carmel football

Carmel Padres (8-4, 6-1)
 No program in the tri-region has won more games over the last seven seasons than the Padres, who have captured 71 games since Golden Anderson took over as the head coach.
 Before insisting that wins have been piled up in the Mission Trail Athletic League, keep in mind that Carmel has also beaten the likes of Palma, Salinas, Monterey, Monte Vista and Menlo.
 The Padres have not been bashful about producing points during their run of supremacy, having put together two of the top 50 point totals in California history.
 "The biggest change for me from my first year eight years ago is we focus way outside the scheme of football,'' Anderson said. "In our culture, the things we work on have nothing to do with schemes.''
 Perhaps because the schemes have been in place for eight years.
 Carmel will again be an offensive juggernaut with the return of tailback Covossay Windham, who has piled up 3,139 rushing yards and 33 rushing touchdowns in two seasons.
 Sidelined last year for three games with a bruised knee, Windham came back with vengeance in the teams biggest games, rushing for 298 yards in the playoffs against Kings Academy.
 The 225 pound Windham is a powerful runner with deceptive speed in the open field. His presence has altered Carmel's wide-open aerial attack.
 Make no mistake, the Padres are still going to throw the ball with Daniel Higman behind center. But the senior quarterback is also capable of rushing for 1,000 yards.
 There is also four-year defensive starter Eddie Osornio, who rushed for over 100 yards in two starts when Windham was out.
 "We have the mine set to gradually get better,'' Anderson said. "We have a long ways to go. We want to lay those building blocks down now."
 What the Padres want to do this fall is take another step forward defensively. While the offense piled up 452 points, it also gave up 340 -- 76 to Sacred Heart Prep in a non-league game.
 No doubt, Carmel got better as the season progressed. Shokh Inagambaev and his team leading 113 tackles and nine sacks are back along with nine other returning starters.
 William Lund, Zach Rossi and Osornio shore up the secondary with Lund having intercepted three passes last year while Christian Stapleton is a staple in the trenches.
 Osornio is also a viable threat on special teams as a returner while Rossi was the Padres kicker last season.
 With the ability to pound the ball offensively and Windham potentially chasing 2,000 yards on the ground, the Padres defense will be a more rested group in the second half.