SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL REPORT, Ed. 1, Issue 1
Welcome to the only high School football newsletter dedicated to high school football within the CIF Southern Section.
Greetings! My name is James Escarcega, and I want to welcome you to our most ambitious project ever undertaken for high school football in Southern California.
This is the first edition of a brand-new football newsletter called “The Southern California High School Football Report.”
The goal is simple – help you become a better and more knowledgeable football fan.
First, let me introduce myself. High school football has been in my DNA for over two decades. I’ve coached the game, worked behind the scenes, helped with video, and covered the game for newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the Southern California Newspaper Group.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most innovative football coaches in Southern California. For some of you, I’ve had the chance to coach against you (and you probably have a winning record against me, hello Jeff Bailey). For a small number of you reading this, I’ve also worked with you. It’s safe to say that you have done more for me than I have done for you.
For the last four years, we’ve offered coverage of high school football in the San Gabriel Valley that can’t be found anywhere else. We’ve provided preseason team profiles, positional rankings, behind-the-scenes stories, and much more.
We’ve also provided the most accurate projected divisions for the football playoffs. When it comes to discovering which division your team is likely to be in, we’ve been with you every step of the way.
Many of you have supported us by becoming paid subscribers, and we genuinely appreciate it. We are the only publication that doesn’t take a penny of advertising money. The growth of our newsletter has been enhanced organically by you, the reader. You have demonstrated that if you put a great project out there and work at it relentlessly, it can be successful.
Now it’s time to elevate our newsletter network to the next level.
This newsletter is designed for die-hard high school football fans. If you can’t get enough of high school football, this is the place for you.
Starting today, no one will work harder than us to give you insight into what's happening with football in the CIF Southern Section. We’ll take you behind the scenes of some of the biggest football games of the season.
You’ll get to know the legendary coaches better, along with the fast-rising younger voices who are making a name for themselves in today’s game.
The starting gate opens with what can be described as the most ambitious football preview anyone has ever undertaken. We’ll publish team previews for the vast majority of football in the Southern Section, from the 805 to the 949, from Santa Monica to Palm Springs, and all points in between. Fans deserve to be treated with respect. For years, mainstream media has provided fans with what they think you want to know, on their terms.
That ends now.
If you are a fan or a stakeholder of a team in Southern California, you have the right to know what your team will look like. And you deserve to hear this from the head coach, not from a high school writer.
Next week, over 300 coaches will receive a link to an online questionnaire that should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Once we receive it, we will publish it along with the stat leaders and a schedule breakdown.
Additionally, for schools that have had their student sections evaluated, we will feature a preview of the student section with Manny Alvarez of Section Sports.com. No one analyzes student sections better than he does. You can only access his capsules in our football previews.
The Trinity League is considered the toughest league in the United States. We will feature a special in-depth preview of the league by Orange County football expert Michael Huntley.
For those of you in the SGV and Whittier areas, don’t worry - we will not lose a step when it comes to covering teams in the area, as we have in the past. We will be your leading voice - as we have for the past several years.
Things improve once the season begins.
On Mondays, we’ll have our regular “Under Center” Podcast with Tony Moskal of the CIF Southern Section Football “Game of the Week.” It is the only weekly high school football podcast in the area.
Also on Monday, we’ll have our weekly “End Zone to End Zone” column highlighting football in the SGV and Whittier area.
On Tuesday, we will showcase our weekly column highlighting football in Southern California.
On Wednesday, we will preview the major games of the week, not only in the SGV and Whittier areas but also throughout Southern California.
In the second half of the season, you will receive divisional projections as we monitor where your teams will be placed for the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
And much more – including guest columns from other local writers and, for the first time, from football players themselves.
Many items on our list will be behind a paywall, but the subscription cost for our newsletter is quite affordable. You can choose to subscribe on a monthly or yearly basis.
Since you are part of our newsletter ecosystem, you’ll receive the SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone Newsletter throughout the year, covering football, basketball, wrestling, baseball, and softball.
You'll want to join our paid subscriber list for exclusive access to our divisional projections for basketball, baseball, and softball. No one takes a deeper dive than we do.
We’re excited, and I know you are too. If you’re a football coach within the CIF Southern Section, keep an eye on your INBOX for our online questionnaire to complete, and watch for my calls so we can get to know each other better.
With football season starting in two months, it’s time to wrap up all the pleasantries and get to work.
If you know someone who is a football fan and would like to become a subscriber, please share this story with them and encourage them to join our community. We are all about football – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Let’s get to work
James Escarcega
Editor/Publisher