Jamboree/scrimmages

With the start of the prep football season bumped up a week in the Central Coast Section, jamborees and scrimmages will unfold this Friday and Saturday.
 Normally, events like these are more of a tease to the start of the season a week later -- a chance for an unheralded player to get the attention of his coach in a game type situation.
 This season might be slightly different. Of the 17 programs in Monterey County, 13 are breaking in new quarterbacks.
 You can't fully emulate game situations in practice. Nor can you get a feel of how well your players  will adapt to a new system until you line up against an opponent.
 As vanilla as jamborees and scrimmages have been in the past, you might see some teams show a little more of their attack -- if for no other reason than coaches don't know.
 Two quarterbacks that put up solid numbers last year will be on the same field Friday at the Salinas Jamboree at Rabobank, in Alisal's Raul Garnica and North Salinas Tim Burkhardt.
 Burkhardt took the Vikings to a Pacific Division title last year, earning an invitation to the Gabilan Division this year.
 Beginning his third year as the Trojans starter, Garnica could threaten a lot of Alisal school passing records this fall.
 Alisal is debuting new coach Cesar Chaidez as is Alvarez with Brad Mendes. Mendes was a coach last year at Salinas, which is chasing its 10th straight playoff spot.
 Greenfield will host the South County Jamboree, having changed its schemes on both sides of the ball this year.
 Defending Mission Trail Athletic League champion Soledad will put the ball in the hands of tailback Emmanuel Ortega this year and rely on a nasty defense.
 Among the new quarterbacks in the MTAL is King City's Tommy Stephens, who has watched three older brothers come through the program. Gonzales has two quarterbacks battling for the job.
 Noah Cryns, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season for CCS finalist Pacific Grove, will touch the ball on every snap as the quarterback this fall.
 The Breakers will host a jamboree Friday that will include Seaside and its menacing defense, and Marina.
 Carmel will scrimmage North County and host Gilroy Friday while Monterey will host Bellarmine and San Benito in a Saturday scrimmage.
 Chasing its 33rd straight playoff appearance, Palma will scrimmage St. Ignatius in San Francisco on Saturday. Trinity is also in a Saturday Jamboree.