The Lakewood Lancers are finally starting the 2021 football season today and they’ll do it at 3 p.m. at Peninsula High. First-year head coach Justin Utupo said this first game under the sun is going to tell him a lot about his new team.
“It’s going to be warm but I think our kids are up for the challenge,” Utupo said. “We’ve been practicing in the middle of the day so our team is used to practicing in the heat. We’re going to find out early on what kind of team we are. I’m interested to see how the players compete when things aren’t going our way.”
Peninsula (0-1) is a lover division team that lost to Dominguez last week. The Panthers went 1-4 in the spring season, and they’re two seasons removed from a nine-win campaign that saw them reach the CIF-SS Division 11 championship game that they lost to Western.
“They’re a tough team who runs the ball pretty well and they have a quarterback who has a strong arm,” Utupo said. “If we get caught sleeping in the secondary he could hurt us.”
Lakewood is still waiting for its new athletic facility to be completed, and will be playing on the new turf field at Peninsula today.
