Raul

“Welcome home.”

A Long Beach Poly assistant football coach offered a warm greeting to Mater Dei football coach Raul Lara on Saturday morning before the start of a summer passing tournament at Poly.

Lara, a Poly graduate who won five Southern Section championships in 13 seasons as the Jackrabbits’ head coach, was struck by some of the changes he saw, such as an all-weather sports field and bungalows on the old baseball field. The school has begun a $450-million construction project.

“I haven’t been here in a while,” Lara said. “They’re doing a lot of reconstruction. It’s pretty neat. It will be interesting when it’s completed. We didn’t have this. We had a dirt track, regular grass field. We used to have a pole by those two trash cans and we had a coach, Don Norford, that every time he yelled, ‘Hit the pole,’ everybody knew they were in trouble.”

Lara won a Southern Section Division 1 title and state championship last season in his first year at Mater Dei, and his team is a heavy favorite to repeat thanks to strong offensive and defensive lines as well as a receiving group that includes receiver Chris Henry Jr., who has commited to Ohio State, and tight end Mark Bowman, who has committed to USC.

“That group is special,” he said of his receiver group that includes Ohio State commit Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, Georgia commit Gavin Honore and senior Koen Parnell.

Still to be decided is who starts at quarterback, with Wisconsin commit Ryan Hopkins competing with Minnesota commit Furian Inferrera. Asked if he could end up playing both, Lara said it was possible.

Asked if he was still having fun, Lara said, “It’s a different kind of fun. It’s more of a CEO fun. I have an awesome staff. All I do is make sure it’s functioning. They do a fantastic job.”

Saturday’s competition featured a rarity in that three outstanding tight ends were in the spotlight — Bowman, a USC commit; Andre Nickerson of Inglewood, an Southern Methodist commit; Jaden Hernandez of Poly, a Colorado State commit. Defensive backs were pushing and shoving and the tight ends were having none of that.

Long Beach Poly tight end Jaden Hernandez makes a catch.

(Craig Weston)

Mayfair has two college-bound defensive backs in Chaz Gilbreath (UC Davis) and Miles Mitchell (Air Force). Mitchell has a 4.5 grade-point average.

Poly’s Donte Wright is a junior cornerback committed to Georgia with a big upside because he’s 6 feet 2 and still growing with track speed. The Jackrabbits made it to the final of their tournament before losing to Mater Dei.

Teams are winding down their summer seven-on-seven passing tournament schedules. Coaches are starting to pass out shoulder pads because official practice begins July 28.

If you hadn’t heard of Garcia prior to the Club World Cup, you will have now.

The young Madrid forward has led the line in the absence of Kylian Mbappe – who made his comeback from gastroentiritis against Juventus – and has taken his chance with both hands.

With three goals in four games, Garcia is Los Blancos’ top scorer at the tournament and is behind only Benfica’s Angel di Maria in the overall standings.

Aside from a one-year spell away from the Spanish capital with Mallorca in 2018-19, the 21-year-old has been part of the Madrid set-up since the age of 10.

He rose through the ranks and made his first appearance with Madrid’s B team, Castilla, in March 2022.

The Spanish forward made his first-team debut in the November of that year but was still predominantly playing with Castilla, eventually scoring his first senior goal in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals against Leganes in February 2025.

After Real’s 3-0 victory over Salzburg, in which Garcia scored his second goal at the tournament, Alonso likened his attributes to that of the legendary Raul Gonzalez.

“What he’s doing isn’t a surprise. He’s done it many times at Castilla,” he said.

“He’s the typical number nine, who knows how to wait for his opportunity, who moves well.

“He has Raul qualities in his movements. There are no decisions regarding the start of next season.”

Mikel believes Garcia has earned his chance to start, even with Mbappe’s return to fitness.

“Who needs Mbappe when you have Garcia?” Mikel told Dazn.

“I’m pushing for the young lad, he has been on fire. This is what we love to see – young players getting opportunities.”

Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, added: “In December 2024, Rahul – then manager of Real Madrid B – said Garcia should be in the first team. He was part of the youth team that won the treble in 2022/23. He was playing as a nine but also can play as a left winger.

“Real have been looking for a forward, someone who accepts his role behind Mbappe. Now they have got that nine through the ranks, Alonso has got a lot of confidence in him.

“He was the third top scorer in Real Madrid B history, arrived at Real Madrid when he was 10 and now he is a first teamer.”