High school football: Juan Diego Soaring Eagle 2009 preview

Last year, Juan Diego experienced one of the greatest moments in any level of sports. The Soaring Eagle held up the state championship trophy after an undefeated season. Although you can never replace such a magical year, it's history. The motivation to escape the shadow of the previous team, and to bring more hardware to the Catholic school in Draper, is undeniable.

"Well I think comin' off of last year, kids are working really hard. I think we should be very competitive this year again," said Juan Diego head coach John Colosimo. "We've got some big shoes to fill, so we're lookin' for some kids to step up. I feel good about our team."

The entire team has been gym rats in the weight room throughout the summer, waking up before the morning rooster call to improve their strength, agility and precision on the football field. One stood out above the rest.

A three-year starter at wide receiver, Keegan Anderson, son of Utah State head coach Gary Anderson, elected to stay for his senior year to help Juan Diego win another title.

"He's gonna stay, so that's good for us. He's a big kid – about 6-2, 190," said Colosimo. "He has great hands, goes after the ball. We expect great things this year out of him offensively."

The Eagles are more than qualified to win another championship. They are loaded with talent and, above most, they have experience – something that can't be taught on a whiteboard.

The worry heading into the season, could be the offensive line – the only position that suffered from graduation. Therefore, Juan Diego will need to rely on strong defense to win early, which won't be too difficult with six returning starters.

"Even though we have some good skilled kids, (the) offensive line has to be able to come together, for those kids to be able to perform," Colosimo said. "We're inexperience (on the line). We'll start four new kids. We've got good kids, it's whether they can jell."

The realignment of the region can be seen one of two ways by Juan Diego fans.

First, it can be said that the Eagles drew the short end of the stick and were placed in an extremely difficult league, making the road to the region championship that much harder.

Second, the tougher region might be beneficial to success in the postseason — strictly due to the constant tests of will power to win against stronger competition.