Fryer looks ahead, finds an early football top 10

Next week, we take a look back at the 2007-08 high school sports year. First, a look forward to the 2008-09 high school sports year:

An early personal football preseason top 10: 1. Orange Lutheran; 2. Los Alamitos; 3. Mission Viejo; 4. Mater Dei; 5. Servite; 6. Edison; 7. Esperanza; 8. Tesoro; 9. Newport Harbor; 10. San Clemente. Two others attracting attention: Santa Margarita and Tustin.

Orange Lutheran has a lot to replace. Who doesn't? But with Kyle Dravis and Xavier Edwards at running back, Kapono Asuega on the defensive line and Jeremiah Permasa at linebacker, and strong lower-level teams, the Lancers should be in fine shape.

Los Alamitos could be an offensive powerhouse, led by quarterback Clark Evans. Look for him to run the ball a lot, too, this fall. He has an excellent group of receivers, including Paul Richardson who was All-Sunset League first team last season as a sophomore.

Mission Viejo will bring back quarterback Allan Bridgford, defensive back/receiver Alex Mascarenas and plenty of other fine players. Look for the Diablos to return to elite status in '08.

Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley last season looked like the best county quarterback of the past 18 years, and he was just a junior. People wonder who his receivers will be in 2008, but they wondered about that in 2007, too.

Servite's Bijon Samoodi could be the best two-way player, as defensive back and receiver/running back, in the county this fall. The Friars might have some work to do at quarterback and offensive line, but their lower-level teams have been strong so the talent is there.

Edison also has to find a quarterback. But, like so many top programs, their lower levels produce. Also like most of the county's top programs, Edison rarely experiences turnover on the coaching staff, and coaching continuity is crucial (head coaches sometimes have challenges getting school administration to understand this).

Esperanza has running back Jared Moore returning. Graduation took away some outstanding linemen. Of course, Esperanza always develops outstanding linemen, so look for that to continue in '08.

Tesoro might not go 5-0 in the South Coast League in '08 like it did in '07. With quarterback Robbie Picazo, all-league receiver Preston King and '07 second-leading team rusher Adam Albitar returning, the Titans will be in good shape.

Newport Harbor will bring back linebacker Cecil Whiteside, who lines up in a variety of places on offense. They throw the ball a lot in that Sunset League, so it's good for the Sailors that they will have two all-league defensive backs, Michael Helfrich and Danny Miller.

San Clemente's returnees include All-South Coast running back Ryan De Leon. The Tritons have key positions to replace, too, and they play in what looks like an improved South Coast League in '08.

Tustin could have one of its better teams in a few years, and that double-wing offense gives opponents nightmares. Santa Margarita would be the best team in several county leagues, so if the Eagles are around .500 that does not mean they are inferior a lower-division team that is undefeated. That is very difficult to understand for some segments of the readership that watch only one lower-division team's games all year.

• A very-early personal preseason boys basketball top 10: 1. Mater Dei; 2. Santa Margarita; 3. JSerra; 4. Ocean View; 5. El Toro; 6. Edison; 7. Los Alamitos; 8. Capistrano Valley; 9. Tesoro; 10. Mission Viejo.

• The impact that the elimination of the association rule, which had restricted how much school coaches could work with their student-athletes outside of the season of sport, will be examined next school year. Many coaches disagree the following will happen, but the feeling here is that there will be a movement led by parents and some veteran coaches and athletic administrators during the 2008-09 school year to bring back the association rule.

• There will be another attempt to place the CIF-Southern Section's private and public schools in separate playoff divisions. The Century League proposal to do that this past school year suffered from poor foresight (neglecting to seek expert opinion on potential legal challenges to such a split), poor timing (the proposal was made during the playoff-groupings process) and poor fact-finding (a CIF-SS study showed that private schools are not winning a disproportionate number of section championships). Whoever comes up with the next proposal also has to dance around the fact that a county public school, Corona del Mar, led CIF-SS in athletic transfers and in CIF-SS championships won during the 2007-08 school year.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com