After the 2023 football season, then sophomore Jaden Tapia told Cathedral City football coach Richard Lee that he was going to be the team’s quarterback some day. It caught Lee off guard because up to that moment Tapia was a rising talent at linebacker.
“I remember asking him, ‘Have you ever even thrown the football?’ And he was like ‘Not really,'” Lee said of Tapia. “But I told him, ‘I’m not so sure about this, but prove me wrong.’ And over the years he worked really hard at it. He can throw that ball now even if he may not have perfect mechanics. But the dedication is there.”
Cut to a year and a half later and Tapia was right. Now as a senior, Tapia will be the Lions starting quarterback as they begin the 2025 season looking to end a playoff drought.
Tapia and the rest of the Class of 2026 Lions are motivated by a playoff drought. No one on the team has made it to a postseason game and for the seniors this is their last chance.
“It was difficult transitioning in the beginning, but now I’ve gotten comfortable and I’m ready to lead the team,” Tapia said. “I think my strength is that I’m patient, reading the defense, trying to make the right decisions. I’ve got a great offensive line, so that helps. I don’t know, I think we’re all just ready to prove that we are THAT team this year.”
Coach: Richard Lee (15th season)
2024 record: 3-7 overall, 1-2 in Sun Valley League
The offense
While Jaden Tapia will be making his debut behind center, he’ll have some talented players around him, particularly the offensive line.
Returning first-team all-league player Preston Sanchez is the anchor of the line. The talented senior, who is 6-foot, 300 pounds, is a certified people mover. He’s joined by senior Tim Reategui, another big body with a lot of experience. Julian Nieves is another lineman who the coaches have confidence in.
Coach Lee has a lot of interchangeable parts in his backfield that will handle the ball, including running back Trace Vargas, who was the team’s second-leading rusher in 2024. Look for Javier Godinez to play a role at running back, too.
The defense
Godinez will play both ways, but it’s on defense where he shines the most. The athletic defensive back dropped jaws at the team’s scrimmage with three or four hard hits that had the assembled crowd hooting and hollering.
Erick Hernandez is a linebacker who you almost always find at the bottom of the pile with another tackle to his credit.
And those big guys on the Lions offensive line will also be part of the defensive line. Depth is a bit of an issue for the Lions, who will feature a lot of players playing both ways, but coach Lee likes this group.
“Our ones (first-team players) against the other team’s ones, we will match up pretty well with the teams on our schedule, but if you get injuries or get tired at the end of games that’s a concern because we just don’t have the numbers we’d like to see,” Lee said. “But we’ve got guys that can play, guys that are athletic but also intelligent football players, so we should be up for whatever challenges we face.”
Our prediction
Being strong in the trenches is a great way to win close football games, and that’s the area where the Lions are best equipped.
And that will help Tapia who has the athletic ability and the confidence to lead this team. There’s just that unknown of how he’s really going to play when the Friday night lights are on.
Offensive lineman Preston Sanchez told me that a trip to the playoffs would be very meaningful to this senior group, and he said it with an inflection that makes me believe he and his fellow seniors are going to do whatever it takes to make that happen. A top-two finish in the Sun Valley League will do the trick, and that probably means beating either Desert Hot Springs or Banning or both.
It will be interesting to see how the offense progresses from August to the start of league play. If they can stay healthy, I like their chances of extending their season.
Predicted regular season record: 5-5
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
Lions 2025 schedule
(All games start at 7 p.m.)
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Cathedral City football looks to end postseason drought behind veteran line, new QB
Reporting by Shad Powers, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
