TRITON REPORT

BY ZACH CAVANAGH, SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

For in-game updates, news and more for all the San Clemente High School sports programs, follow us on Twitter @SouthOCSports and on Instagram @South_OC_Sports

Friday Night Lights and Triton Tri-Tip sandwiches return on Friday, Aug. 18, as the San Clemente football team opens its season against visiting Chaparral of Temecula.

This is the first-ever meeting between the two schools, with the Tritons adding the Pumas to their schedule after dropping the annual Battle for the Base against Oceanside. Chaparral should provide a stiffer competition for San Clemente with specific challenges to see what the Tritons have working for them.

The focus will be on the San Clemente defense, particularly its pass rush, as quarterback Dash Beierly leads Chaparral. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior cur- rently holds 14 NCAA Division 1 offers, including USC, Washington, Arizona State, San Diego State and Michigan. Beierly split time at QB last season with the now-graduated dual-threat of Caron Tyler, but he still completed nearly 60% of his passes for 1,855 yards and 15 touchdowns.

There is a lot of strength for San Clemente up front with seniors Connor Bachhuber, Ben Baker and Owen Bolliger.

This could be a spotlight for that group, particularly the Stanford-committed Bachhuber on the end, to knock Beierly off-balance. It’s also a chance for new four-star junior safety Matai Tagoa’i to defend the air and impress his new teammates and city, as his transfer from Faith Lutheran of Las Vegas was officially cleared on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

If the Triton defense does its job up front, it will provide ample opportunity for San Clemente’s offense to see if everything truly has clicked into place with full-time starting quarterback Dylan Mills and quarterback-turned-tight-end Broderick Redden.

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Football grabs the spotlight, but it’s the San Clemente girls volleyball team that hit play on the 2023-24 high school sports calendar with its varsity opener on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

In a matchup between two CIF-SS watch-list squads, the Tritons opened strong but had to battle back in the fourth set before falling at home to Beckman in five sets. San Clemente took the opening set, 25-18, and Beckman stormed ahead in the second and third sets, 25-15 and 25-9. The Tritons outlasted the Patriots in the fourth set, 25-23, but Beckman claimed the ultimate edge in the fifth-set tiebreaker, 15-13.

San Clemente stays busy in this opening week of action, as the Tritons travel to another CIF-SS watch-list team in Mater Dei on Thursday, Aug. 17. San Clemente will then play in the Tesoro Tournament on Friday, Saturday and Monday, Aug. 18, 19 and 22.

The Tritons then play at Laguna Beach on Tuesday, Aug. 22, and return home for Lakewood on Thursday, Aug. 24.

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