Calvin Bryant is the busiest man in Compton right now.
The longtime football coach is now in his 13 season running the Compton High program, and is also serving as the school’s athletic director. That means in the last three weeks he’s been responsible for starting the Compton football program back up and getting ready to play a Moore League schedule, as well as juggling testing requirements, scheduling and other logistics for the rest of the school’s sports programs.
Making things even more complicated, Compton High is currently scheduled for demolition and the school’s teachers and students will be at Roosevelt Middle School–which necessitated moving all of the Compton High gear and sports equipment from campus to campus.
“It’s like a rollercoaster trying to to refurbish everything and make sure things are running right, but I’m still excited, man,” said Bryant.
There’s plenty of reason to be excited at Compton, despite the challenges of moving campuses and competing during a pandemic. The team went 6-5 last year to claim its first winning record and its first spot in the playoffs since 2008. That improvement is what led Bryant to opt into this year’s football season, although some other programs (like Cabrillo in the Moore League) have chosen to sit it out.
“The kids have had some success and you see that it means a lot to them,” he said. “So it’s our job to try to put it together for them.”
What Bryant and his assistants have put together is a pretty good team--Compton isn’t big on numbers, but they are big where it counts.
“We’re quality over quantity this year but we do have some size up front,” said Bryant.
Aiverson Iosua, Mathuw Fa’afia (6’4”, 380 pounds), and Jonah Laulusa (6’3” 295 pounds) will be among the standouts up front. Quarterback Allen Monroe will help guide the Compton double-wing offense, which Bryant has been relying on to create misdirection for years.
“We don’t really have time to put in anything else even if I wanted to, they all know the offense,” said Bryant.
Louis Williams will lead the way running the way out of the backfield.
Defensively, Tyler Huffman and Lorenzo Williams will be among the standouts. Bryant is excited to see how his team can develop and blossom in the short season, but also admitted he’s wary of the speed with which teams were asked to start back up.
“We aren’t going to get any nonleague games to let kids show us what they can do,” said Bryant. “It’s right into it right away. So I don’t know--we’ll see. But I’m excited for the kids and I think we can use this Spring season to really build for the future.”
SCHEDULE
3/19 @ Wilson
3/27 @ Millikan, 12 p.m.
4/1 @ Poly
4/9 @ Lakewood
4/16 @ Jordan
