High School Varsity Football Touchdown Preview: Strawberry Crest High School, 2025

The Chargers have won their first five games in two of the last three seasons. They started 5-0 last season, before losing four out of their next five and coming up one game short of the playoffs. Strawberry Crest is off to another quick start in 2025, winning their first two games while dominating their opponents along the way. 

Crest beat East Bay 26-6 in their opener and routed Middleton 34-14 in the second week. They are projected to go 5-0 again this season before the competition gets considerably more difficult. The Chargers have a great chance of making the playoffs for the first time under Head Coach Phillip Prior in his seventh season at the helm.

Senior quarterback Sevin Bagnato started the last two games of the season in 2024 and has earned the starting job. Prior said that Bagnato will manage the offense and take care of the ball. He was five-of-eight in the passing game against East Bay. The team has a run-heavy offensive system.

Zion Weems, Adam Eskew and Tre Feliciano are young and talented backs who will all carry the rock in this power running game. Senior tight end Jake Ogden is a big target and will garner attention from opposing defenses. Senior defensive lineman and three-year starter Steven Diaz, junior linebacker Brice Robinson and senior linebacker Zayveon Springfield will all bring experience to the defense.

Prior thinks that the experience the team brings back will pay dividends. He said that every group has returning players except for the wide receiver position. Most everybody else has had extensive playing time and reps. The team returns nine starters on offense and seven on defense. He said that they have to protect the ball better than they did last year. He would like his defense to put more pressure on the opposing quarterback and force more turnovers. They forced six turnovers and had four sacks against East Bay. Prior preaches to his players to “do your job with great effort, attitude and technique.”

The program has improved considerably under his leadership, and the next progression would be making the playoffs. They will need to win at least one more game than last year to do that. They play in a very tough district with Newsome, Sumner and Plant City.

Prior said that his players have Blake circled on their calendar because they felt like they let that game get away last year, which could have been the difference in them not making the playoffs. 

“It doesn’t matter what your ability level is, it doesn’t matter how fast you are, how strong you are, you can control your effort and approach,” said Prior. “That is what we preach in our program over all things, is to control the things that you can control, your assignment, your effort, your attitude and your technique.”

Schedule:

8/22 vs. East Bay

10/31 @ Bloomingdale