BOLSA GRANDE HIGH opened its 2018 football season last week, along with about half of the local schools. The other half will kick off this week (Orange County Tribune photo).

Finally, the early-starting high school football season is starting in earnest, with all local teams in action by this week.

There were the usual opening night jitters but also a slew of new stars and impressive starts.

We were at the Bolsa Grande-Magnolia game last Friday, and while the Sentinels won 30-17, it was hard to get a good read on either team. Each showed great potential, but each also showed a lot of room for improvement, mostly in the science of avoiding turnovers.
Center snaps seemed to bedevil both teams; either too high or too low. But that’s the sort of thing that can be worked out, so we look forward to a more polished game from each very soon.

Football polls got stingier this week

This week’s CIF-SS football polls released on Monday show just three teams in The Tribune’s coverage area ranked in the top 10s. That’s down four from the pre-season poll.

Here’s the local angle on the votes.

• Division 6: Huntington Beach is sixth (Oxnard is ranked number one).
• Division 7: Pacifica is first.
• Division 11: Ocean View is sixth (California of Norwalk is rated first).

Missing from the previous week’s polls are Garden Grove, Orange, Western and Westminster.

A bucketful of water (polo) standouts

Football, of course, isn’t the only fall sport. The CIF-SS pre-season “watch list” for boys water polo includes three teams.

They are: Huntington Beach (Divisions 1 and 2), Ocean View (Division 5) and La Quinta (Division 7).

Week One matchups for the area

All the games listed below are scheduled for Friday at 7p.m., except for the Ocean View at Los Amigos contest, set to be played on Thursday. Our Tribune locals are in bold face.

• Bolsa Grande(0-1) at Bosco Tech (1-0) of Rosemead.
• Edison (0-1) at Oaks Christian (1-0).
• Orange (0-0) at Garden Grove (0-0).
• HuntingtonBeach (1-0) at Western (1-0).
• Anaheim (0-0) at La Quinta (0-0) at Bolsa Grande High.
• Loara (0-0) at Bassett (0-1).
• Magnolia (1-0) at Esperanza (0-0) at Yorba Linda High.
• Marina (0-1) at Torrance (0-0).
• Ocean View(0-0) at Los Amigos (1-0) at Garden Grove High.
• Pacifica (1-0) at Trabuco Hills (1-0).
• Rancho Alamitos (0-1) at Savanna (2-0) at Glover Field.
• Santiago (0-0) at Costa Mesa (0-1).
• Katella (1-0) at Westminster (0-1).

Note: The times and days of games can be changed without notice, so if you’re going to a game, check with the school before starting out.

Key Games to Watch

There are a bunch of good-looking contests coming up in this “Week One.”

• Orange went to the state title game last year, and Garden Grove won the last of a ton of Garden Grove League titles, as well as 32 consecutive GGL games.
• Pacifica, co-champs of the Empire League, crushed Norwalk last week and takes on a tough Trabuco Hills squad. If the Mariners can win this one, they’ll have a much-hyped game next week against Capistrano Valley.
• Huntington Beach, rated sixth in Division 6, will play Western. The Oilers look to be resurgent after beating Canyon 41-15 last week, but it’s the Pioneers who might be the surprise team of the year.
• Western, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2008, blasted Cerritos last week 69-33 in a record-setting contest. Dan Davidson’s Pioneers opened the campaign with walloping of the  Dons. Quarterback Anthony Munoz set a new school record by passing for seven touchdowns in the game. He went 17-for-27 passing for 340 yards.Passing isn’t all Western can do. Rahsaan Hester rushed for 133 yards on 18 carries. He scored two touchdowns rushing and caught two passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. That’s 202 yards total offense. Standing out in the line was Ellis Nguyen, who had eight tackles on defense and was also an offensive lineman. “We jumped out to an early lead,” said Davidson. “Anthony was on fire from the start. Great opening for us.”

The Tribune welcomes information, quotes and statistics about area high school sports, especially football. Send it to orangecountytribune@gmail.com.