New head football coach Esquibel says Shadow Hills will be ready when season starts

High school football coaches are preparing for a schedule that has yet to be determined. CIF said it will make a decision on the 2020-2021 sports schedules by July 20.

For now, local coaches have resorted to virtual practices and meetings. Virtual football is not ideal, especially for a new coach like Shadow Hills' Alex Esquibel to install his system, but he said it's not a problem.

"For us to say that we're behind or because I'm a new coach it's going to be hard for me to install something… some of the kids already know what's happening. Some of the key kids on the team already know what's happening, and so, like I said, it's going to be pretty simple. It wasn't going to be this simple, but when this happened we went back and started to figure out, as coaches, what we could do to put something in very fast in a short period of time, and what we've come up with is what we're going to use this year," Esquibel said.

While he can't wait to be out on the field with his team, Esquibel said health and academics are the priority.

"Here's been my message to the kids this whole time... let's prepare for life. This is real. This is not a fake thing, this is real so let's prepare for life," he said. "If we're going to put a sport before life than I think we've missed the boat on what we're doing, and if we're going to put athletics before academics than we're in trouble."

Esquibel said that when the season does start, he is excited to face former Shadow Hills head football coach Ron Shipley's Rajahs. Shipley is now the Athletic Director at crosstown rival Indio High School.