Football: Grizzlies Eager to Build on Best Season in School History

After guiding to a school-record 12 wins and a berth in the , coach Eric Billeci was content just relaxing at home during Winter break — then his cell phone rang.

"It's a week after the season ended and I get a call from an unidentified number," he said. "It's one of our juniors and he says, 'Coach, can you come down and open up the weight room?' We had about 20 guys ready to start lifting and from that point we were off and running."

No rest for the weary?

"Those guys were eager to get back and to build on top of that success," he said.

There's plenty of reasons to think the Grizzlies are ready to pick up where they left off, starting with the talented backfield of Armani Washington and Jerrell Dunn.

As it did a year ago, Cal will be creative in the ways it gets Washington the ball in space. Dunn will be the starting tailback, replacing productive Kyle Alvarez.

Possibly the biggest surprise a year ago was the play of quarterback Drew Reil. Thought of as a potential weakness going into the year, Reil turned out to be one of the best signal callers in school history — replacing him will be senior Kevin Farley, but athletic sophomore Cameron Owen will figure into the team's game plan each week.

"(Farley) is very cerebral," Billeci explained. "I don't have to tell him things twice, he gets it. It's like having a coach out there."

Owen has impressed Billeci as well, thus the early varsity promotion.

"He's just shown us good poise," Billeci said. "He doesn't act like a sophomore on the field."

The offensive line isn't as big as it was a year ago when it was an obvious strength of the team, but don't expect much drop off. The new starters were able to get plenty of game experience thanks to several lopsided Cal wins.

"I'd say we're comparable to where we were this time last year on the line," Billeci said.

Brian Watkin, Izaiah Ortega, Daniel Hornet, Paul McBam and Brett Higby will be the starters.

Receiver Blake Guardino and running back Karris Johnson could make an impact as juniors.

While the Grizzlies don't have the Division-I recruits that the litter the rosters of other EBAL teams, their recent success was enough to garner a No. 17 preseason state ranking from Cal-Hi Sports/ESPN Rise and a No. 3 spot in the Bay Area Top-25 by the San Francisco Chronicle. 

"I think a lot of the other teams have marquee names -- guys who have been offered scholarships," Billeci said. "I kind of feel like the underdog again even though all these rankings have us so high."

Cal will kick off its season tonight at home against Washington at 7 p.m.

The Grizzlies started and ended their season with home losses to the Huskies in 2009, before in the season opener in Fremont.

"We still haven't forgot those games," Billeci said. 

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2011 Varsity Schedule