Seaside football

Seaside Spartans (5-5, 3-3)
 You saw the potential last year. Young, athletic and dangerously talented.
 Still, growing pains were a part of the process for the Spartans, who only started a handful of seniors in a 5-5 season.
 Improvement continued throughout the year for Seaside, who won four more games following a one win season in 2013, creating high expectations this fall.
 And there should be.
 While a shrinking enrollment at Seaside has cut into the numbers in the football program, this will be head coach Al Avila's deepest roster in five years with 45 players listed.
 "Last year was a maturation process,'' Avila said. "We made some big strides. We're still young. And we're happy where we are at. But we're nowhere near where we need to be.''
 The Spartans bring back a physical and punishing defense, along with a tailback who rushed for over 1,000 yards last fall in Keishawn Robinson.
 The senior was the first Spartan to rush for over 1,000 yards in five years, as the offense backed off from its pass free days and grinded the ball on the ground more.
 "Our skills and a lot of our linemen were sophomores last season,'' Robinson said. "So there's a lot more maturity this year."
  While Seaside would like to be a little more balanced, it may be hard not to run the ball at least 40 times with Robinson and fullback Demarcus Hawkins lined up together in the backfield.
 Hawkins, one of three sophomores that came up to play defense last season, rushed for nearly 500 yards in a limited offensive role. And don't overlook quarterback Malik Jeter.
 "We're athletic and fast,'' Avila said. "We haven't been there in three or four years.''
 Hawkins, a 5-foot-11, 220-plus pound defensive end, is still growing into his body, giving Seaside a dynamic pass rusher on the outside.
 Seaside's defense could be filthy this year with the return of the hard-hitting Jeter in the secondary,  as well as junior linebacker James Lord and junior lineman Sione Kamitoni.
 Offensively, Kamitoni and TJ Tuivailala will anchor an offensive line, opening holes for Seaside's running game to explode.
 What's critical is discipline. Because Seaside is physical, it tends to over pursue on defense, forcing mental mistakes. That has to be cleaned up.
 Seaside plays on emotion. Once the adrenaline wears off, how will it respond? Because it should be the favorite in the Pacific Division.
 "My expectations are to make sure my boys are set and know their stuff,'' Robinson said. "I want to lead by example. We're hoping to do good things.''