Brentwood and Oakley Football Preview
Leaping into the new season
Football is back in East County. Fresh off another hot summer, we finally get to look forward to the cool nights under the Friday Night Lights with girls flag football taking over weeknights.
Ahead, we take a look at the local teams’ storylines entering the 2025 football season here in Brentwood and in Oakley as Freedom prepares for its second year under Stephen Rodriguez, Heritage’s new man in charge, and Liberty prepares for another playoff run in Jaxon Bell’s senior season.
Photo by Dray Naeg
‘The
culture is set’ as Freedom hopes for continued progress in 2025
JEFF WEISINGER
They say “patience is a virtue.” Entering his second season at the helm of Freedom’s football program, head coach Stephen Rodriguez has come to embody that mantra, and he and the Falcons hope their patience in his 2024 coaching debut will pay off in 2025.
“I would say that the culture is set, and it feels really good,” Rodriguez said during the team’s training camp this week. “The word for me was just ‘patience.’ A lot of people were saying, ‘Let’s get it done, let’s get it to translate to football,’ but I had to understand that patience was the most important thing.”
“It’s hard to translate to football, hard to rebuild something from the foundation up. Last season was really about laying a foundation and not creeping beyond that, and making sure it was solidified going forward. … We started to lay bricks for our house, and we’re doing very, very well.”
The key to the team’s hoped-for turnaround has been a shift in the mindset within the program. A team that was once just showing up with only shoulder pads and shorts, dressed however they wanted to or could in the previous coaching regime just two years ago, look, and operate, like a proper team.
“The kids are out here dedicated, they’re ready to work, and they’re dressed correctly,” Rodriguez said. “We did our Falcons jumping jacks right on the first try, which is amazing. But it’s been little things like that. … Last year
Senior quarterback Tah’kai Edwards runs with the ball during the team’s camp practice.
was about culture-setting for a lot of the kids. It was a shock to be accountable — getting in the weight room every day, being here every day. The returners now have confidence because they know they can follow the rules, and that’s huge.”
“(The big takeaway from last season) is just not to play around as much and take everything more seriously,” said senior quarterback Tah’Kai Edwards.
Freedom went 1-9 last year for the second-straight season, with its lone win coming in the regular-season finale — 28-21 at Deer Valley in Antioch.
While the team worked to improve their culture off of the field under the new regime
last year, the Falcons struggled on the field. They were outscored 135-33 in their first three games, then shut out over the next three by a combined 102-0. In the three games after that, they were outscored 94-28 before finally breaking through in Week 10 for that elusive win.
Freedom’s only 20-point game came in that win over the Wolverines to end the season. The Falcons lost their nine games in 2024 by an average of 30 points per game — still an improvement from the 2023 squad, which suffered an average margin of defeat by 36.3 points per game, according to MaxPreps.
Though it took over two months to get their only win of the season, that victory snapped a 14-game losing streak and
August 29, 7:00 PM vs. East Union
September 5, 7:00 PM vs. Maria Carrillo
September 12, 7:00 PM vs. Ygnacio Valley
September 19, 7:00 PM @ Orestimba
September 26, 7:00 PM @ Dublin
October 3, 7:00 PM @ Antioch*
October 17, 7:00 PM @ Heritage*
October 24, 7:00 PM vs. Liberty*
October 30, 7:00 PM vs. Pittsburg*
November 7, 7:00 PM vs. Deer Valley*
sparked the momentum Freedom hopes to carry into 2025.
“It was big,” Rodriguez said. “That was my first win as a coach, so it was amazing. But for us as a program, it created trust. If we didn’t win that game, it would’ve been tough to trust us coaches and our patience and mindset. But with that last win — and we had a good showing offensively and defensively –it really helped the program, the school, and the kids. They ended up trusting and knowing we’re on the right track.”
“The win was good,” Edwards added. “It was a good start for our team this year, and it made us think and helped us work harder to win more games in 2025.”
To view a video and a slideshow, visit www.thepress.net/multimedia
Photo by Jeff Weisinger
Heritage seeks ‘winning mentality’
JEFF WEISINGER
Nick Wisely waited and worked for nearly 20 years for this opportunity.
Now, in 2025, when Heritage football travels to Union City to take on the James Logan Colts for the opening game of the 2025 season on Aug. 29, Wisely will be on the sideline for the first time as a head varsity football coach.
But for now, Wisely is just happy to be on the sidelines at Patriots training camp.
“Camp’s great,” Wisely said. “We have had great attendance throughout the summer, and these kids want to win.
“What’s great about these kids is that, from the get-go, they’ve bought in. They see we’re doing something new and they’re ready to learn (our system).
“I know what we bring (as a coaching group), and we have a lot of coaches who are ready and eager to make their mark. Some of them have been head coaches prior, so they’re ready to get back at it. What we bring for these kids is just helping them grow not just as football players, but as people.”
Wisely takes over for Dave Fogelstrom, who led the team for the last five seasons and stepped down in December following the 2024 playoff run, due to health reasons after guiding the Patriots to North Coast Section semifinal games in the last two seasons.
Wisely was named the fourth head coach in the program’s young history in
February, following Jeff Haagenson, Don Sanders, and Fogelstrom.
“It’s just a huge blessing,” Wisely said. “I’m just happy to have that opportunity. I’ve been a head coach (at other schools) for golf, softball, but those programs are a lot smaller. When you get a program like this, where you get 3,000-4,000 people at a game and things like that, it’s just a different atmosphere.”
“I put in for a few jobs in the past and (now) just hearing them say ‘Hey, you’re our guy,’ is just a great feeling.”
Being a new head coach comes with some new responsibilities as well. While Wisely’s been an assistant elsewhere, in other sports as well, there’s still some adjusting.
“One thing you don’t realize as a
August 29, 7:00 PM @ James Logan
September 5, 7:00 PM vs. Granada
Senior quarterback Justin Arraiz throws during the team’s 7-on-7 session as his coaches watch in the background.
head coach is all of the offseason, offfield stuff that you have to do,” Wisely said. “You love coaching the game, love doing all (the on-field stuff) but you do so much other stuff – fundraising, paperwork, knowing which way to do things. With my background, doing all of that (before) has really prepared me for this, but I’m still learning the new ways of the district.”
On the field, Wisely takes over a younger Patriots roster entering 2025, after the team graduated 24 seniors last year. He has just four starters returning for their senior season, notably running backs Ilias Muhammed and Christian Adanandus, kicker Aidan James, and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo-bound tight end/ defensive end Julian Njelita.
Despite having a younger, and
September 12, 7:00 PM vs. Dublin
September 19, 7:00 PM @ Campolindo
September 26, 7:00 PM vs. Livermore
October 10, 7:00 PM @ Pittsburg*
October 17, 7:00 PM vs. Freedom*
October 24, 7:00 PM vs. Antioch*
October 30, 7:00 PM @ Deer Valley*
November 7, 7:00 PM @ Liberty*
relatively inexperienced roster that were either varsity backups a year ago or coming up from the junior varsity ranks, Wisely makes it clear that the expectations for the program are the same as they were before.
“We want to continue to push,” he said. “We want the kids to have that mentality, that winning mentality, and to continue to get better.”
“(Last year’s playoff run) is definitely motivation. We’re building with a great foundation. This junior class is really pushing those seniors.”
To view a video and a slideshow, visit www.thepress.net/multimedia
Photo by Jeff Weisinger
Photos
Liberty football ‘a more complete team’ in 2025
JEFF WEISINGER
There’s a noticeable difference in the air in Brentwood at Liberty’s football camp this season.
There has been a lot of shakeup in the roster following a 2024 campaign that graduated 20 seniors – most notably quarterback Sage Robertson, wide receivers and defensive backs Chris Joe and JJ Miranda Jr., linebacker Zaire Calhoun, and offensive tackle Michael Klisiewicz, and not only returned to the playoffs, but hosted it through rain or shine.
However, despite losing 20 seniors, fourth-year head coach Mike Cable suggests that the 2025 Lions could be his most experienced team yet.
“We have a lot of young talent and a lot of returners,” Cable said. “It just seems like we’re a more complete team. …We’ve been blessed to have some players that have been on varsity now, this is their third season. …There’s a lot of returners and a lot of these players have developed to the point where each individual player is a stud in their own right.”
Liberty’s goal of a North Coast Section
compared to 2023, Liberty clinched the postseason berth, let alone the top seed and home-field advantage in the Division 2 bracket following last year’s changes to the NCS playoffs as a whole.
“Each season is unique,” Cable said.
August 29, 7:30 PM @ Frontier (Bakersfield)
September 5, 7:00 PM vs. Los Gatos
September 12, 7:00 PM @ Tracy
Senior Jaxon Bell runs a route during the team’s summer camp practice.
changed the rules, and (last year) we got our chance to compete. Our loss against O’Dowd, give credit to O’Dowd for coming here in the rain and taking care of business. But that loss hurt.”
“That definitely put a chip on our shoulder,” senior running back and Eastern Washington-bound Jaxon Bell said. “We just need to work more. We were kind of goofing off the week before, I remember, and that was kind of triggering. As long as we keep our heads down and work, we’ll be good.”
Bell enters the season having started every game since he was called up to the varsity lineup as a sophomore in 2023. He will start his 23rd consecutive game when the team kicks off their season at CIF Division 3-AA State champion Frontier in Bakersfield on Aug. 29.
Bell has been the workhorse for the Lions since his No. 2 jersey stepped foot onto the turf at Liberty two years ago. Last year, specifically, even with a scheme that looked to be dedicated more toward the passing game, the offense went as far as Bell did. He amassed 1,805 rushing yards, leading the Bay Valley Athletic League in rushing for a second-straight year, with 14 touchdowns in the 12 games played including the playoffs, and ran for over 100 yards in every game except the team’s
September 19, 7:15 PM vs. Amador Valley (Pleasanton)
September 26, 7:00 PM @ Clayton Valley Charter
October 10, 7:00 PM @ Deer Valley*
October 17, 7:00 PM vs. Pittsburg*
October 24, 7:00 PM @ Freedom*
October 30, 7:00 PM vs. Antioch*
November 7, 7:00 PM vs. Heritage*
*BVAL games LIBERTY FOOTBALL 2025 SCHEDULE
Week 2 loss at Los Gatos. He also caught 28 balls for 474 yards with six scores.
“He’s a very special player, there’s no surprise there,” Cable said. “He’s a very crucial part of what we do.”
Defensively, David Calkins Jr.’s experience highlights what has been built to be a seasoned defensive unit in 2025.
“We’re excited for him,” Cable said. “He had a ton of sacks last season. He’s just a special player, he has a motor that nobody else I’ve ever seen on the football field has. He’s a fantastic wrestler and he carries over that mindset and that competitive attitude with him. It’s just contagious when he does well.”
Calkins has missed the beginning of summer camp as he’s been in Athens, Greece with Team USA in the GrecoRoman World Wrestling championships.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Cable said. “He’s a guy that, when he gets here, he handles his business. He’s ready to work, he’s in better shape than any of us, and he’s just able to jump right in right where he left off.”
Despite this being Liberty’s most experienced team in Cable’s tenure, he made sure not to call this an NCS-or-bust season. “I haven’t really looked at it like that,” he said. “I do expect us to be very successful. But at the same time, football is football. We’re not going to look forward and expect if it’s going to be NCS or bust.
“We’re going to take it day by day and Week 1 is a perfect opportunity.”
To view a video and a slideshow, visit www.thepress.net/multimedia
Photo by Jeff Weisinger