Viewpoint Football Welcomes Impact Transfer From Alemany

Viewpoint School’s football team has welcomed a key transfer in Dakota Williams, a promising junior who was the starting running back on state-power Alemany of Mission Hills’ junior varsity team last season.

“I’m excited. Dakota is a potential impact player on both sides of the ball,” Viewpoint coach Chris Adamson said. “He’s definitely going to help us, no question.”

Williams is 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, and he helped Alemany’s JV team to a 10-0 record this past fall. Alemany’s varsity team, considered the top private-school program in the San Fernando Valley, was loaded at running back last year, so Williams was relegated to the JV but probably could have been a varsity starter at most other schools.

Williams will join returning standout running back Alex Markun, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in nine games as a sophomore last year for the 2-6-1 Patriots, to give Viewpoint a top backfield tandem.

Viewpoint was expecting other transfers from Montclair Prep, which canceled its sports program, but none of them worked out, Adamson said, citing academic issues.

“Their transcripts arrived, and their grades weren’t good enough,” Adamson said.

On Monday, Viewpoint starts two-a-day practices – known as hell week in some circles – and an intersquad scrimmage is scheduled for Aug. 20 beginning at 11 a.m.

“I’m excited because even without Williams, I thought we would make some noise this year with just the group we had,” Adamson said.

Viewpoint has yet to win a playoff game since becoming an 11-man team seven years ago. Overall, the Patriots are 13-50-1 since moving up, having never finished above .500. This is Adamson’s second year, and the coach has added top defensive coordinator John DiLuigi  -- whose resume includes stints at Alemany and Canyon, where he won two section titles and a state title before leaving in 2007 – so the Patriots feel like they’re on the brink of a turnaround.

Because of construction on campus, Viewpoint does not begin the fall semester until Sept. 12, so for the first couple of weeks of the season, the players will only have to concern themselves with football – a big positive, Adamson said.

“From a football prospective, I really like it. It’s almost like a pro schedule where you go to training camp,” Adamson said. “It’s a real advantage.”

Viewpoint has an opening scrimmage on Sept. 11 at Malibu, and the first game is Sept. 2 at Mater Dei in Chula Vista.

LOCAL PONY BASEBALL TEAM FALLS IN WORLD SERIES SEMIFINALS

Comprised of players from Calabasas, West Hills made quite an impact in PONY baseball, advancing all the way to World Series Bronco division semifinals in Monterey before losing 12-10 to Miami on Wednesday to finish the season 20-2.

It was West Hills’ first loss in four weeks, and the season ended with the 11- and 12-year-olds among the top two teams among 741 in the nation.

The players were Jake Selco, Reece Weinberg, Grant Nechak, Matt Cassin, Dylan Schlopy, Dane Reed, Jeremy Polon. Charley Kuizin-Ingelson, Andrew Pang, Andrew West, Chris Dehn and Danny Greenfield.