NSTC: Summer 08′ Centennial High School Football, Corona, CA

The idea of reloading a team instead of rebuilding one, may just have originated in the mind of Corona-Centennial HS Football Coach Matt Logan. During his tenure, the huskies have won 7 league titles and 4 CIF Championships in 11 years, including 2007. The West truck of the Nike SPARQ Team Challenge knew we were in for a treat as we prepared for our last California event for a few weeks.

This team is not only loaded with D-1 talent, but loaded with nice, polite, and thankful young men. It was “yes sir, no sir” all day long with these guys. At first we thought that we had to call them “sir” because this team is full of BIG, grown guys.

That being said, Centennial High School wanted to make sure that we knew that they were no punk. When asked what his expectations were for this upcoming season, junior LB Anthony Whitlow said “I expect a state championship! We went there last year with De La Salle, but we [are] coming back for that. We're gonna take it this year!” Anthony said that he wants to improve on his 40 time more than anything else. He plans on doing so by, “working out with the boys and doing speed drills with the SPARQ parachute that my mom bought for me.” Anthony came out of the workout with a SPARQ Rating of 101.76!

Most kids might be upset if they got a 101.76 and didn’t come away with the top Rating of the day. Not Anthony, and not the Centennial Huskies. This team is all about getting better and being the best team that they can be.

QB Taylor Martinez came away with a 107.67 SPARQ Rating! Taylor had the top 40 and the top shuttle with times of 4.69 and 4.16 respectively. He also had the 2nd best marks in the vert and the power ball tests! Tevaun Lewis touched the sky with a leap of 36.9 inches to top the vert. Anthony Whitlow launched a massive 41’ toss to carry the power ball. The guys were all very competitive out here today as individuals, but they were out here to help each other and cheer their teammates on. Taylor said that he “Really enjoyed the event. All the guys out here were real nice, so I had a great time.”

With all of the talent on display, it comes as no big surprise that the Centennial High School Huskies now hold down 2nd place in the nation for the Nike SPARQ Team Challenge with a team rating of 97.71! They did all of this with the nation’s number one LB and USC commit, Vontaze Burfict sidelined with an injury! This team looks poised for a run at the prestigious California State Championship next year. For a team with so many talented players and so much recent success, these guys blew us away with how hard working and humble they were. When asked what NFL QB he would most like to “blow up,” Whitlow responded by saying “Michael Vick, because I love dogs!”

We would like to thank Centennial High School for having us out here today. The coaches were great and the team was extremely talented, very respectful and appreciative. We will be back to follow up with the Southern CIF Champions sooner than later.