EL SEGUNDO HERALD August 17, 2017 Page 5
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Do Los Angeles Chargers
Have What it Takes to Win?
By Adam Serrao
The NFL season is right around the corner…
and more than anything, football fans in L.A.
will have to get used to saying the Los Angeles
Chargers now instead of still referring to the
team with the old prefix of San Diego attached
to the moniker. Like with all things, getting
used to that change will simply take time. Time,
however, is something that the Chargers don’t
have much of if the team is looking to adapt
to its new home in L.A. sooner, rather than
later, and steal a ton of fans in the process.
There is no doubting the fact that the Chargers
have talent on their team and throughout their
roster. Can this year’s Chargers team put that
talent together to win the AFC West and make
it into this year’s playoffs, though?
The Chargers will open up the 2017 regular
season and play their first game as a Los Angeles
football team this September 11 when
they travel to Denver to take on the Broncos
at Sports Authority Field. For the Chargers,
this season isn’t so much about the opponents
on the schedule, but more about depth on their
roster. As anyone who has ever played fantasy
football knows, injuries are as much a part of
football as chocolate chips are a part of your
grandma’s cookies. Charger fans were eating
a lot of chocolate chip cookies baked by their
grandmas last season. It’s not if, but when
injuries will occur in the NFL. The Chargers
have been seemingly snake-bitten in recent
years when it has come to that topic, so this
year will be about avoiding injuries that have
the potential to overturn an otherwise very
deep roster.
“I know we can compete,” Chargers General
Manager Tom Telesco said of his 2017 team.
“We have some really good core players here.
I like what I’ve seen from the coaching staff
so far. Obviously we haven’t stepped on the
field yet, so we’re going to find out real soon
where we are. You don’t really know.” One
thing that Charger fans do know before their
team has taken the field is that they have
already lost their second round pick of this
year’s draft , Forrest Lamp, to a torn ACL and
their first round pick, Mike Williams, remains
sidelined for what could be an extended period
of time with a lower back disc hernia. Not a
good way to start things off for a team that
just last year lost its best wide receiver, one
of its best cornerbacks, two running backs
and a slew of other players to injury in what
turned out to be a very disappointing season.
Despite the team’s early rookie injuries,
the Chargers will be looking to turn things
around this year beginning with a move away
from an old and rundown football stadium at
Qualcomm in San Diego into a fairly newer,
yet very small soccer stadium in Los Angeles.
The 27,000-seat StubHub Center should provide
the perfect atmosphere for Charger fans
to get an up close and personal look at their
new team during home games throughout the
year’s schedule. Though a team’s schedule
isn’t everything, the Chargers will face the
third toughest schedule in the NFL in 2017,
based on opponents’ records from last year.
Eight of the teams that the Chargers will face
in 2017 had a record of .500 or better in 2016.
L.A. will face opponents that combined last
season for a .568 winning percentage, which
at first sounds daunting, but fret not--there
are a few saving graces. Three of the team’s
first four games of the year will be at their
temporary new home, the StubHub Center.
Also, the only other two teams in the league
that will face a tougher overall schedule than
the Chargers also reside in the AFC West. The
Broncos have the hardest schedule in the NFL,
while Kansas City comes in with the second
toughest. The Chargers’ only other opponent
from within their division, the Oakland Raiders,
ranks fourth in strength of schedule, just
behind Los Angeles. If the Chargers have to
face a horrifying schedule, at least all of their
rivals will too.
Every NFL season stands alone, so strength
of schedule may not mean much once the
2017 football year comes to an end. No matter
who their opponents happen to be though, the
Chargers are hungry to finally prove to their
fans that they have the talent on their roster
to get out of the gutter of the AFC West--a
place where they have been relinquished to in
recent years. “I think our guys are hungry,”
Telesco continued. “They should be. The guys
that have been here three, four or five years-
-they won five games last year, four games
the year before. You want to show people
you’re better than that. I think they have
that attitude.” That means it’s up to players
like quarterback Phillip Rivers, running back
Melvin Gordon, receiver Keenan Allen, and
a revamped offensive line to make a change
in this year’s Chargers team, once and for all.
With less than a month until kickoff, the
Chargers are getting ready to prove to fans
across Los Angeles that they are the team to
beat in the NFL and the team to root for in
the city. Barring more unforeseen injuries biting
the team like last year, the Chargers have
the talent on their roster to not only compete
for an AFC West championship, but to also
make a strong playoff run. What might be even
more important this year, though, is that with
success also comes ownership of one of the
biggest football markets in the entire world.
– Asixlion@earthlink.net
El Segundo High
Football Coaching Staff
is Recipe for Success
By Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo High School football team
has enjoyed plenty of success in the 24 years
that head coach Steve Shevlin has been at the
helm. No, there aren’t any CIF championships
or many league championships. What Coach
Shevlin has done for years is get the most out
of his athletes. His teams have been competitive
against bigger opponents and schools--and
that is a success.
El Segundo has been long been associated as
a baseball factory with its storied heritage. The
football team is building its own history. Coach
Shevlin has directed his Eagles to a CIF Southern
Section final in 2013, a CIF-SS semifinal
appearance in 2008 and three quarterfinal appearances
in 2009, 2012 and 2014. Also, the
team has won 10 or more games in three of
the past four seasons.
So what is the recipe for the Eagles’ success?
Shevlin says he surrounds himself with
great assistants--and many of those are former
players of his or at the school.
Shevlin was a standout receiver and defensive
back at Culver City and helped lead the
Centaurs to the CIF playoffs. In his 24th year
as head coach here, he is not only the longest
tenured head football coach at El Segundo but
also one of the longest in the South Bay. His
140-105 overall mark is also a school record
and puts him in the select company of coaches
who have won 100 or more games.
Shevlin, who calls the offense, has developed
some of the South Bay’s top quarterbacks. His
teams have averaged 29.7 points per game in
the last 116 games over the last 10 seasons.
He says a goal for his quarterbacks is to throw
for 2,000 yards each year. He has had some
good ones, including Matt Engle (2001-03)
who threw for 8,800 yards and 95 TDs; and
Lars Nootbaar (2013-14), who threw for 5,362
yards and 64 TDs.
Coach Shevlin says any of the success his
teams have had can be traced to his outstanding
assistant coaches. On he has leaned upon to
help with the offense is Gene Engle. Engle,
who was a standout offensive tackle at Stanford
(1977-78), has been in coaching since 1980.
Though he has been the offensive line coach
at El Camino college since 1982 (and retired
last November), he has been helping out with
the El Segundo program since 2001 running
the high-octane offense.
El Segundo Girls Soccer All-Stars
Second in Western Nationals
The El Segundo Girls Soccer (ESGS) 14U All Stars recently placed second out of 38 teams in the Western National Championships!
The team battled hard through six days of tournament play in 100-plus-degree heat, made it to the final day, and came out
top two in the tourney. Congratulations, ESGS 14U Players and Coaches! In the photo: Front row (L to R): Krista Cleland, Erin
Graner, Mya Bennett, Marlee Johnson, Kelly Carignan. Second row (L to R): Grace Bonney, Taylor Gray, Macey Cochran, Mia
Bacura, Alex Hamilton, Haley Hart, Audrey Maloy. Coaches: Rob Graner, Steve Cleland and Rick Mack. Photo Credit: Chris Mack.
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See Coaching Staff, page 14