Some Sharks caught a bit of air last Friday morning on the Malibu High School gridiron.
During a tackling drill that featured members of the Malibu High football team sprinting from sideline to sideline in snake-like pattern, something happened as the pigskin players etched closer to the edge of the field. They squared their hips, lowered their shoulder pads, arched-up their helmet-adorned heads and exploded toward one of the eight tackling dummies held up by Malibu assistant coach and managers.
A few of the players’ cleats achieved liftoff as they wrapped up and took down the dummies as coaches yelled encouragement.
Malibu head coach Terry Shorten said in the early part of the week the team did a lot of conditioning work, but the team strapped on their chinstraps in the later days.
“It’s starting to get a lot of fun right now and going to a new level,” he said.
The ball coach said the varsity and junior varsity football players spent a ton of time together during the week dubbed “Hell Week.” The players practiced twice per day Monday through Friday and lifted weights between practices. The Sharks also practiced last Saturday morning.
Shorten said the week was focused on team building.
“The kids are really investing a lot of time this week into building a successful season,” Malibu’s second-year head coach said.
The Sharks — around 30 varsity and 20 junior varsity players — did a lot of running, tackling and hitting during the week.
The squad worked on installing an offense geared toward a ground control running game and short- to long-range passing game.
As of press time, who will lead the offense this season for the Sharks is up in the air. Shorten said quarterbacks Chase Kapler, a junior, and Braxton Pierce, a senior, are jostling for starting job under center. “Both guys are battling hard,” he said. “They are both unique. Chase is intense and a fierce competitor.
Braxton has a great throwing arm. He is intelligent.”
The season kicks off on Aug. 26 with a home game, but Malibu has a scrimmage this Friday at the high school against Channel Islands. Shorten said the game will be a good test for Malibu.
“They are big and physical,” the coach said of the team from Channel Islands.
Shorten said physicality will be key for his team during the 2016 season. Three of the Sharks’ most experienced players, like 6-foot-1 senior tackle Logan Moore, line up at linemen or linebacker positions.
Shorten said he is also counting on Moore and others such as senior lineman Jesse Nikora, junior linebacker Ben Crosby-Brodka, and senior linebacker and strong safety Trevor Simonian to provide leadership.
“Because of their experience, they are going to be the guys that carry us this year — physically and mentally this year,” Shorten said.
At the practice last Friday, the Shark players constantly encouraged and motivated each other.
One drill the whole team did with the tackling sled — which has five tackling dummies attached to it — was meant to bring that out, Shorten said.
“It’s a repetition cardio drill where five guys are driving the sled until the whistle blows,” he said. “It’s teaching kids if five guys are on the bags and the right side isn’t hitting the sled correctly, the sled starts to spin. So, you want all five guys on the sled to be pushing just as hard as each other to drive the sled straight. It builds team comradery.”
Malibu hosts the Windward Wildcats for their first game of the season. The Sharks beat the Wildcats 7-6 last year in the 2015 campaign’s first game before going on to a losing year.
Shorten said the team expects to contend for a Frontier League title.
“We really want to implement some things as far as building confidence,” he said. “We won’t expect anything less than a winning attitude. We are expecting every week to compete and be successful.”
Shorten said the Sharks are good representatives of Malibu.
“The coaching staff has been real impressed with the enthusiasm all week,” he said. “We are blessed to have a great group of kids.”