Football Ready for 2017 Campaign

Posted: Sep 07, 2017

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – With the 2017 campaign about to begin, the Cal Lutheran football team is hard at work and ready to compete for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title. The Kingsmen bring back a lot of talent as they return 48 student-athletes and have 53 newcomers.

Quarterback Adam Friederichsen returns for his senior season. The Westlake Village, Calif., native started all nine games in 2016 and threw for 2,145 yards (238.3 YPG) with 20 touchdowns against only five interceptions. He completed 153-for-275 passes for a completion percentage of 55.6. The dual-threat quarterback also accumulated the third-most rushing yards on the team with 216 and added three rushing touchdowns.

The Kingsmen offense scored 30-plus points per game last year and looks to maintain that offensive fire-power this year as the top-five scoring options from a year ago will be back. Senior wide out Aaron Lacombe, a 2016 First Team All-SCIAC performer, led the offense with 11 receiving touchdowns. He caught 40 passes for 886 yards including a career-high 164 yards in the season finale against Pomona-Pitzer.

Senior wide receivers Wendell O'Brien, Josh Mooney and tight end Diego Hernandez joined Lacombe as Friedrichsen's top targets in 2016. O'Brien was second on the team in receiving touchdowns with five, Hernandez caught three and Mooney added two more. The trio combined for 57 catches and 761 yards on the season. Senior Richard Caceres will start in the slot for CLU.

Starting in the back field for the Kingsmen is Second Team All-SCIAC performer, senior running back Chris Beeson. In his first year with Cal Lutheran, he ranked third in the conference with eight rushing touchdowns. Beeson compiled 668 yards with an average of 5.7 yards per rush. He had 783 all-purpose yards and averaged 87 yards per game. In a 53-36 win against Occidental, Beeson rushed for 161 yards with two touchdowns on only 16 carries.

With most of the offensive line having graduated, some new faces will step into the starting roles. The line will look to leadership from junior center Joseph Carbine and junior right tackle Gavin Hrey. Three sophomores will complete the offensive line as Daniel Avila will be left tackle, Andrew Reyes is the left guard and Frank Molina is the right guard.

On the defensive side, seniors Acquarey Eddington, Nick Gordon, Dane Griffin and Kaiden Mowery lead an experienced defense on the gridiron. The duo of linebackers, Eddington and Gordon, led the defense in tackles a season ago. Eddington was named Second Team All-SCIAC after he compiled 55.5 tackles (32 unassisted), 15.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Gordon tallied 52 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, four break ups and recovered two fumbles.

Griffin and Mowery both play defensive end and will look to shut down opposing running backs. Rounding out the defensive line at nose guard is sophomore Ryan Munoz. Starting at the outside linebacker positions are juniors Ethan Pulley and Ty Lozano. Lozano recorded 39 tackles and two interceptions in 2016.

The defensive back unit will be a forced to be reckoned with as it returns a strong core. Juniors Klayton Wood and Christian Rivers will start in the secondary safety and free safety positions, respectively. Starting at cornerback for the Kingsmen are sophomores Jerome Hull and Obasi Dees. Hull recorded three interceptions a year ago while Dees tallied six breakups.

For special teams, junior Dominick Grimm will take over the place-kicking duties. Andrew Reyes will handle the short snaps and senior Auston Kniseley will be the holder. Junior Anthony Rios-Carlsen will be the long snapper and Wood is the punter. Wood averaged 35.9 yards per attempt last year. He had a long of 53 and placed nine punts inside the 20.

Caceres is in charge of punt returns while junior Devonte Dixon will join Caceres in kick return duties. Both are doing returns for the first time at CLU.

The Kingsmen open the season Saturday against Pacific Lutheran at 7 p.m. The Violet and Gold will then be on the road for the next three weeks.