passing

The high school football season is more than a month away, but fans seeking an early preview of teams with top quarterbacks, top receivers and top defensive backs have come to appreciate the annual Edison Battle at the Beach seven-on-seven passing tournament that is taking place on Saturday.

It’s the unofficial kickoff to teams getting serious because so many quality teams compete from 9 a.m. through the early afternoon in Huntington Beach, with food, music and lots of banter among parents. You know how much players like to rise up against players with better “star” rankings than them, and this is the tournament to see it play out.

It’s not about wins and losses — it’s about players testing themselves against great competition. This tournament has built credibility by showcasing teams competing at a high level, then shaking hands afterward.

Mission Viejo has won the last two tournaments at Edison, but the Diablos are spending the summer trying to figure out who will start at quarterback. Sophomore Brett Burnor and senior Nash McElree, a transfer from Texas, are competing. Could coach Chad Johnson really alternate quarterbacks like he did two years ago with Luke Fahey and Drai Trudeau?

“You never know,” he said.

The Trinity League is represented by St. John Bosco, Santa Margarita, Orange Lutheran, JSerra and Servite. Corona Centennial and its new quarterback, Jaden Jefferson, a transfer from L.A. Cathedral, is entered, along with San Diego’s likely No. 1 team, Cathedral Catholic, which boasts the No. 1 player in the state in USC commit Honor Fa’alave-Johnson. His appearance alone should attract plenty of Trojans fans, particularly for the 10:30 a.m. game against the likely No. 1 team in California, St. John Bosco.

Palos Verdes has four-year starter Ryan Rakowski at quarterback and standout defensive back Jalen Flowers. Rancho Cucamonga gets to show off many of its top skill-position players.

One interesting trend is that this tournament will feature some very good tight ends, a position that has become increasingly important in college football and the NFL but not so much in high school football in the era of spread offenses.

Mission Viejo’s Johnson said he has three tight ends with college offers, another rarity. He could join the Rams with his three-tight-end formation. He intends to use them against defenses that use odd-number fronts this fall. One of his most improved players is tight end Luke Karby, a Duke commit. Another is Arizona commit Max Markofski, who is 6 feet 4 and 228 pounds. Santa Margarita has tight end Luke Gazzaniga, a Kansas commit. Jaylin Smalls of Rancho Cucamonga is 6-4, 230 pounds and moving up recruiting boards.

This is the first opportunity for early clues as to how first-year coaches are doing at JSerra, Los Alamitos, Servite, Orange Lutheran, Long Beach Poly and Oaks Christian.

One of the always-interesting scenes is Edison coach Jeff Grady refusing to take the easy road when making the bracket, so he scheduled his team to open up against St. John Bosco at 9 a.m., perhaps hoping the Braves show up a little sleepy. Running back Maliq Allen has returned to the Braves after spending the spring at Inglewood.

Ocean View also is hosting a 32-team passing tournament in Huntington Beach on Saturday. San Clemente, San Juan Hills, Huntington Beach, Downey and Carson are the teams to watch.

Fearsome duo

Long Beach Poly might have the most decorated cornerback duo in JuJu Johnson, a UCLA commit, and Donte Wright, a Miami commit. Just watching them cover receivers on Saturday at Edison should be a highlight in itself. Johnson was injured last season, but few have raised their profile in the offseason more than him.

Poly is in Pool C and the duo gets to take on receivers from Capistrano Valley, San Diego Lincoln, Servite and Santa Margarita.

King/Drew fearing no one

King/Drew players participating in the Simi Valley tournament.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

This has been a fruitful summer for King/Drew of the City Section. The Golden Eagles have been driving around willing to play seven-on-seven against top Southern Section opponents, including visits to West Hills and Simi Valley.

It’s the same strategy Carson and Birmingham have taken to prepare for City Section play during the regular season. If you can compete with Southern Section teams, then you’ll do just fine against City Section opponents.

Makeo Smith, a 6-4, 265-pound sophomore lineman, figures to receive lots of attention after contributing as a freshman.

NIALL Horan spoke about the pain he’s living with after Liam Payne’s early death.

The singers met as contestants on The X Factor where they were formed into world-famous boyband One Direction alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson.

Liam passed away in October 2024 after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires and Niall managed to see his friend in Argentina shortly before his death.

“I’m glad of that, it means my last memory of him was happy,” he told The Times.

“It still feels surreal. On day one I was, like, ‘Nah, it didn’t happen.’ Our friendship was a bond that was there for ever even if we hadn’t seen each other for a while and it’s wild that one day, like the flick of a switch, he’s gone.”

Niall also said he has stayed in contact with Liam’s family.

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“All our families are in touch, they shared those experiences too,” he said.

The Irish lad also wrote a song for Liam on his new album, Dinner Party.

“I think it’s his type of song, he liked Coldplay, he loved songs like You & I by One Direction, songs that went somewhere,” Niall explained adding, “It’s funny, actually, now you say that, thinking about the stuff he liked.”

He also described the “light and shade” of his grief over Liam’s death.

“When I think of Liam’s passing, there is sadness, but it also makes me laugh and smirk because of the memories we had. I’ll go to places and think of something stupid in a hotel or something random that makes me laugh,” Niall said.

“We always had good fun in Australia because we were able to get out and go to the beach. Liam wasn’t too bad at surfing. I can barely swim.”

On a lighter note, Niall also opened up on the possibility of an One Direction reunion.

“God knows. I mean look at Harry there, look at Louis, the boys are flying, so God knows, but everyone still asks about it, it’s exciting.”

In another visible sign of the damage inflicted by Iran during the now-paused war, a KC-135 Stratotanker was spotted over the weekend at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom peppered with temporary shrapnel damage repairs. The aircraft is at least the second to transit through the installation with damage from the war.

The photographs, from aviation photographer Andrew McKelvey, show the KC-135 heavily speckled with shrapnel damage to the tail, its vertical stabilizer as well as its flaps. It is also missing its refueling boom entirely.

It is unclear where this jet was struck. There were five tankers reportedly damaged in the Iranian long-range strike on Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) in Saudi Arabia on March 14. However, data from FlightRadar24 shows that the jet was taking off and arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv Israel on the day before and after the attack on PSAB. In addition, that data shows it was still flying missions after that incident, which seems highly unlikely. The KC-135 could have been hit somewhere else or the data is wrong. We just don’t know at the moment.

“It’s still here and parked on the visitors ramps on the north side of the base,” McKelvey told us Monday morning EDT.

This jet, tail number 63-8028, belongs to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Wing. It arrived at Mildenhall from Ben Gurion on Saturday, according to data from FlightRadar24. 

As we have reported in the past, dozens of U.S. Air Force refueling aircraft now deployed to Ben Gurion Airport are expected to stay in Israel at least until the end of this year, Israel’s N12 News reported on X.

“The presence of the aircraft—not the U.S. military—is causing significant operational difficulties at Ben Gurion Airport, as they are parked almost everywhere possible at the port,” the outlet added.

As noted earlier, this is at least the second KC-135 that has visited Mildenhall sporting shrapnel damage and temporary repairs. Last month, McKelvey shared images with us of a KC-135 from the Ohio Air National Guard’s (OANG) 121st Air Refueling Wing covered from nose to tail with these repairs. However, additional ones could have transited to Mildenhall or other installations in Europe before flying to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma for far more comprehensive repair work. Tinker is home to the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, which performs programmed depot maintenance and modifications on KC-46, KC-135, B-1B, B-52, E-3 and Navy E-6 aircraft.

As we explained in our story about the OANG jet: “While all tankers are precious assets, at least to a degree, due to the high demand on the fleet and its cumulative age, in this case there may be at least one positive side effect from the damage. Executing a battle damage repair plan in the field to get a KC-135 back in the air is a good real-life exercise, one that could prove vital if a future conflict in the Pacific were to erupt. Lessons will certainly be learned on many levels from Operation Epic Fury. And some of these lessons came the hard way even though they really shouldn’t have.”

The pock-marked tankers are among more than 40 aircraft damaged or destroyed during Epic Fury. In addition to those hit by shrapnel, two tankers were involved in a mid-air collision in March over Iraq that killed all six crew members aboard one of the jets.

About two weeks after that incident, a KC-135 was pulled from the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona and sent to Tinker.

“At the request of the KC- 135 System Program Office, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group regenerated KC-135R, tail number 58-011, to support operational requirements,” an Air Force spokesperson told us last month. “The aircraft departed on April 2, 2026, enroute to the Oklahoma Air Logistics Complex at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.”

The Air Force declined to specify what those operational requirements were.

You can get an idea of the extent of U.S. aircraft losses from our recent graphic linked here.

However, these aircraft losses are just part of the damage from Iranian missile and drone attacks.

“Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East since the war began, hitting hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment,” The Washington Post reported earlier this month. “The amount of destruction is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported.”

We have reached out to the wing and U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT) for more information about the damaged tankers and will update this story with any pertinent details provided.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Year 3 in charge of St. John Bosco High’s offense is about to begin for quarterback Koa Malau’ulu, who will be a junior this fall.

St. John Bosco is hosting an eight-team seven-on-seven passing tournament on Saturday starting at 9:30 a.m. It’s one of three big passing tournaments this weekend, with Dana Hills and Long Beach Millikan also hosting tournaments.

Malau’ulu won’t have All-American receiver Madden Williams (now at Texas A&M), but class of 2028 receiver DJ Tubbs showed last year he’s ready to take on a leading role. Corona Centennial is also competing, which will mark the debut of Cathedral transfer Jaden Jefferson at quarterback.

Dana Hills has a 16-team tournament that includes Oxnard Pacifica, Laguna Beach and Crean Lutheran. Each of those schools returns big-time quarterbacks. Pool-play games begin at 8 a.m.

Games at Long Beach Millikan begin at 9 a.m.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.