This preview is the second in a series of articles highlighting the local 11-man high school football teams ahead of the 2025 season, which begins with Week Zero on Friday, Aug. 22.
The Dos Pueblos Chargers snapped a 5-year playoff drought a season ago, going 3-2 in their inaugural season in the Tri-County League and winning their first round game in the CIF-SS Div. 12 playoffs.
While the successful late-season surge brought some momentum into the program, Dos Pueblos will have to find success with new faces and an updated playbook to make it back-to-back years with a playoff appearance.
“I think last year’s success started the year before,” Dos Pueblos head coach AJ Pateras said. “The last four games of the year before that, we had a really good senior class that was invested in just playing… I think the last few years we’ve been seeing this build, and it starts everywhere else.
“It starts in the classroom, it starts in the weight room. It starts with just how these guys are hanging out. They’re more connected. I think it’s been just a build and I think the last two, two offseasons really have been part of that.”
Running back Kaleb Williams and quarterback Simon Alexander were critical in the team’s success last season, but the Chargers will have to replace their production after they graduated in the spring. As a result of this change in personnel, Pateras has gone back to the drawing board for his 2025 offense.
“This offseason, we did a deep dive into our offense,” Pateras said. “We studied the last few years, about three or four years of production and areas that were alarming, areas of concern, areas of strength, and then we did research.
“Our offense is going to be a mixture of some systems that we’ve linked to… So we won’t be lining up in one formation and statically be there. We might be in something and then move into something else, utilizing one play call, but it’s gonna look 100 different ways.”
Senior Drew Schultz (5-11, 180 lbs.) will step into the starting quarterback position to begin the season, while sophomore Grady Felix (6-2, 195 lbs.) could see opportunities throughout the season as well. The offensive scheme is built around the duo’s dual-threat abilities, according to Pateras.
“This year we have to play to the strengths of Drew,” Pateras said. “[Schultz and Felix] have taken command. We anticipate both will play at some point this year, but we’re going to tailor our offense to having an athletic person back there, not a true typical quarterback.
“We’re looking at two guys that are dual-threat guys that can extend a play, that can run the ball… as they develop as passers through the season, we’ll see that passing game extend.”
Schultz will be surrounded by plenty of athletes, including pass catchers and seniors Micah Barnhart (5-11, 180 lbs.) and Iyad Ahmad-Reda (6-3, 230 lbs.) to begin the season. Senior wideouts Ivan Velez (5-10, 170 lbs.) and Brady Walbridge (6-2, 180 lbs.) are recovering from ACL injuries and will rejoin the team at some point in the season.
“When we get those two guys back with Ivan and Brady, then you’ll start to see the full complement of what we can do with this offense,” Pateras said. “So we’re really excited about what we’re doing.
“We’re going to be young in some key spots, but there’s enough older guys around everybody where our practices are better and everything we’re doing is better, so we’re really excited about all that.”
Meanwhile, senior Andrew Cook (5-9, 170 lbs.) will spearhead the rushing attack and senior Callen Lee (5-10, 170 lbs.) will play a big role in this dynamic offense, which will also feature a strong offensive line unit.
“I feel like our offense is really confident with our new options,” Walbridge said. “We’re running and just trying to keep up with the same pace that we took last year after half of the season… I feel like once we have some momentum, we’ll really be there.”
Up front, Dos Pueblos will be battle-tested with much of last year’s offensive line returning. The senior pairing of Eder Soriano (5-9, 230 lbs.) and Damian Martinez (5-10, 225 lbs.) will serve as the leaders in the trenches.
“All of [the offensive line] pretty much return, so we’re bringing back both lines of scrimmage,” Pateras said. “Not only are we bringing some of these key guys in production on the outside, but it’s those guys up front that we’re really excited about.”
The defensive line unit will be just as experienced on the inside, and senior Nicky Schares (6-1, 220 lbs.), senior Kaarlo Malik-Anderson (6-1, 230 lbs.) and Ahmad-Reda will look to wreak havoc on opposing offenses off the edge.
“My confidence has gone up tremendously,” Malik-Anderson said. “Last year, I really started to make plays, and I was able to prove to myself ‘You can compete with these guys, you can make big plays, you can be that person on the field that wins games.”
In the secondary, the running back duo of Cook and Lee will also play safety for Dos Pueblos. Meanwhile, sophomore Holden Bray (5-11, 180 lbs.) and junior Max Hernandez (5-10, 190 lbs.) will be in the middle of the field, leading the linebacker corps.
The combination of talent on both sides of the ball should have the Chargers ready to compete in the Tri-County League once again, a competitive league that featured four of its five teams in the playoffs.
“When you look from top to bottom, I don’t think everybody was far off,” Pateras said of the league competition. “I thought all games were fairly competitive… For us, it gave us a chance to grow. It gave us a chance to find some success.
“My mindset has always been that our job is to get better as the season goes. So if we’re playing better at the end of the year, if we’re getting younger players developed, then it shows that we’re doing what we need to do.”
While the mindset is to improve as the season goes, it is clear that the expectations for the program have grown following a strong league season and a CIF playoff victory last season.
“I think [last year] led to a lot of confidence,” Barnhart said. “ I think the confidence just throughout this team definitely has been up there, and that’s the standard every year now. We should make the playoffs every single year now.”
Dos Pueblos Football Schedule
- Friday, August 22 vs. Santa Ynez
- Friday, August 29 vs. Royal
- Friday, September 5 vs. Santa Barbara High
- Friday, September 12 vs. Del Sol
- Friday, September 19 @ Ventura
- Friday, October 3 vs. Hueneme*
- Friday, October 10 vs. Agoura*
- Friday, October 17 @ Santa Paula*
- Friday, October 24 @ Fillmore*
- Thursday, October 30 @ San Marcos*
* – Tri-County League game
All games are scheduled for 7 p.m.