2008 Woodie Awards
Owls Prep to Defend League Title
John Brooks
Issue date: 8/25/04 Section: SPORTS
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It's called football.
Citrus will be looking to Sept. 4, when the Owls play their season opener at home against nonconference opponent Victor Valley. It will be the locals first game in a quest to defend their Western State Conference co-championship.
Coach Kevin Emerson is optimistic about this year's Owls.
"We won some tough games last year and went 9-1 [in the regular season]," he said. "Looking to this year, we don't see any easy games. We'll have a target on our chest, and we have to go out and play above that."
The Owls will have plenty of reasons to be hopeful on the offensive side of the ball. Five starters from last year's team and several second-year offensive linemen are returning.
The returnees will be led by 6-4, 205-pound quarterback Steve Payne, a Division I prospect and considered to be one of the top community college quarterbacks in the state.
"Steve is a big-time player, very athletic, and reads defenses very well," Emerson said.
Payne put up some impressive numbers in 2003 as he threw for over 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns. He will be missing his leading receiver from last year's team, Chris Greenwade, but he has two big targets coming back in Milton White and Samora Goodson.
"We have good depth on offense and good chemistry between our receivers," Payne said. "I feel comfortable throwing to any of the receivers on our team."
Citrus will also have to cope with the loss of Quinton Ganther, who moved on to the University of Utah. Ganther rushed for more than 150 yards per game last year and was second in the state in rushing.
The Owls will have two returning second-year tailbacks in Roderick Fields and Marcus Nolan to help deal with the loss of Ganther. Goodson and tight end Steve Barela round out the rest of the returning starters on offense.
On the other side of the ball, the Owl defense will be returning four starters, led by strong safety Curtis Watkins and linebacker Marlon Ransom.
"Curtis can do it all. He can play cornerback, strong safety, or free safety and he returns kickoffs," Emerson said. "And Marlon is a very strong, very fast player."