Seaside football

Seaside (1-9, 1-6)

 It was a bad omen before the first practice last fall when it became apparent that Seaside would not have its football field ready until mid-season.

 It snowballed from there. Arguably one of the best lineman in the county was forced to sit out the first six games because he transferred without moving.

 The freshman program was dropped for a lack of numbers. The Spartans didn't have 65 kids in their entire program. Injuries saw them suit up less than 20 kids for two varsity games.

 "We just fell a part mentally and physically," senior receiver C.J. De Guzman said. "We didn't want to feel that again. Players rededicated themselves in the off-season."

 While the numbers still are not great, they've stabilized. The Spartans went to work in the off-season, determined to regain respect and restore pride in the program.

 "It was an unbelievable off-season," Seaside coach Al Avila said. "Changed started with me. We had to restructure how we think, breaking down film, the weight room. The kids bought into it."

 Dropped to the Mission Division this fall after a 1-9 season may be temporary as the Spartans are retooling rather than rebuilding.

 "I do not know if a resurgence will translate to wins," Avila said. "But we will be better prepared. I have got a great coaching staff. We just want to get back to playing Seaside football."

 Make no mistake, the Spartans are a team in transition with as many as seven sophomores and three freshmen projected to start on the varsity.

 "We would not have done that in the past," said Avila, who has been a part of the program for nearly 40 years. "But we have too bring these kids up to compete."

 Disseminated with injuries last season, Avila held four starters out of Friday's scrimmage with North County and San Benito, including De Guzman, a three-year starter battling an ankle sprain.

 Still flipping the switch and reversing course is the expectation at Seaside, whose attitude and drive was crushed last season by humility.

 "The chemistry is a lot better this year," Avila said. "We're so much further along than we were this time last year. These kids want to study film, pay attention to detail, get better."

 No question the heart of the Spartans will be its physicality in the trenches, starting with having Kufu Leander and his 6-foot-3, 309-pound frame for the entire season.

 Last season Leander -- a member of The Herald's All-County team as a sophomore at Marina in 2017 -- was forced to miss the first six games of the year after transferring.

 At least five college recruiters stopped by during the off season to speak to Leander and defensive end James Milovale, whose is an imposing pass rusher at 6-6.

 The pair are going to create headaches for opponents on the defensive front along with senior Tevita Kamitoni and Jevon Dunklin, and linebacker Dylan Olivares.

 "Dylan has that nastiness to him we have not had here in a while," Avila said. "Jevon is a completely different player from last year and Kefu is in tremendous shape."

 While Avila stopped short of drawing comparisons to defenses of the past, the expectation is it will be good enough to shut down teams and create shorter fields for the offense.

 Can the Spartans offense continue the path they showed at the end of last year in scoring 66 points in their final three games -- 36 points in the previous six games.

 "Our hopes are high," De Guzman said. "We want to bring that atmosphere back to campus. A minor setback sets you up for a major comeback."

 Quarterback Tristan Cortez was under siege all year last fall. When protected, he showed potential, tossing three touchdown passes against Monterey.

 Cortez has had a entire off-season to develop chemistry with the likes of De Guzman, Oliveres and Elijah Quenga.

 Establishing a running game starts with Rusty Finona, Jacob Salinas and Treyvon Campbell, brought up last year as a sophomore.

 "We have a stable group of players to run the ball," Avila said. "We didn't have that last year. A lot of things didn't go right last year."

 In two years in the Gabilan Division, Seaside plummeted to 4-10. The year before, it was undefeated in the old Pacific Division.

 "If we win three games, they'll probably put us back in the Gabilan," joked Avila. "This division is up for grabs. We're just trying to get these guys to execute and let everything fall into place."