As a sophomore last season, Eduardo Cuevas of L.A. Franklin passed for 2,190 yards and 22 TDs in 11 games. At right, another sophomore state stat star from the L.A. City Section last season was DB Nazarus Williams of Carson. He had eight interceptions and 66 tackles. Photos: EastSideMedia.TV & Hudl.com.
As L.A. City section programs look to continue to build continuity and grow participation numbers as the state puts the pandemic behind it. City Section programs have an abundance of talent at the skill positions and plenty of top players who put up big statistical outputs a years ago back, but the talent in the trenches still has a ways to go to come close to the city’s heyday when it was constantly producing state ranked teams. Section open title favorite Birmingham of Lake Balboa lands five players on this year’s preseason L.A. City Section club, followed by Reseda Cleveland, L.A. Franklin and L.A. Garfield with three each.
Note: These preseason all-section or all-area teams are done in the same 30-player format as the annual Cal-Hi Sports All-State Football Teams. They are based on a combination of what the players did last spring and college recruiting. Transfers may not be included if not reported yet, haven’t played for a new school yet, or info on a transfer from previous school isn’t available. Not every all-section team will have writeups of every player. Some will have an intro, then lists.
STATEWIDE LINEUP OF PRESEASON
ALL-SETION/REGION TEAMS:
San Diego Section | CIFSS Inland Empire | CIF Central Section | CIFSS SGV Valley | CIF NCS East Bay | CIF NCS Redwood Empire | CIF Sac-Joaquin Section | CIF Central Coast Section | CIFSS Long Beach/South Bay | CIFSS San Fernando Valley/Ventura | CIF Northern Section | CIF/SS Orange County
We hope you consider a Gold Club membership on CalHiSports.com to view all the preseason all section teams. All regular season State TOP 50 rankings also will be Gold Club posts. You can sign up today to get all of our Gold Club content for just $3.99 for one month. A three-month sub, which by the way will carry you through almost all of the upcoming season, is just $9.99. For details, CLICK HERE.
The 2022 season was a return to a normal school year schedule for football programs in the L.A. City Section. Sixteen teams from the proud section didn’t play at all in the spring 2020 season (not including those that managed to play once sanctioned game) and those that did had a short break before the 2021 season. While the teams got a full off-season in 2022, one program continued its dominance over all the others.
Birmingham won the section’s open division title game going away, 49-13, over L.A. Garfield and became the first San Fernando Valley program from the L.A. City Section to win three consecutive titles in the highest division. There were no playoffs during the spring 2020 season and if there was, perhaps the Patriots would be entering 2023 seeking a fifth consecutive section title. (The section record is six in a row by Banning of Wilmington between 1976-1981.)
