The San Pedro High football team had a decent run in 2015, finishing 8-4 overall, going 3-2 in the Marine League which was good for a three-way tie for second place, and reached the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 quarterfinals, where it fell to eventual City & State D1 champion Narbonne of Harbor City.

Little did anyone know until January 2016, it would be the final year of its most successful coach in its 109-year history.

Mike Walsh retired in early January after 25 years, an astonishing record of 227-74-2, five CIF-LACS championships and ten Marine League titles, no other coach in Pirate football history had produced that many wins, or a CIF title for that matter before Walsh became the head coach in 1991.

Even so, Walsh's presence is still around as the offensive coordinator, as the 2016 season ushers in the dawning of a new era that may have the same slogan as a famous beverage... 'It's Miller Time'.

That's right, longtime defensive coordinator, and a Walsh disciple of 22 years, Corey Miller is the new head man in charge, and the 2016 Pirates have adapted fast to the new transition as they plan to make this season a memorable one. 

“We are all in as a team,” senior offensive lineman Nicolas Ford says. “Our minds are mentally prepared and our bodies even more prepared thanks to the works of Corey and his staff being all business.”

San Pedro must work their way through a challenging nonleague slate, starting with a home game this coming Friday against Downey, who defeated the Pirates, 13-2 in last year's opener. The road doesn't get any easier afterwards with a home game against Redondo Union (September 9), and three road trips to Roosevelt of Los Angeles (September 2), Lawndale (September 23) and South East of South Gate (September 30).

The Marine League schedule is split down the middle, with the third game in the middle of it all being the most attractive, and the ultimate tiebreaker in the 80th Battle Of The Harbor when they face Harbor neighbor Banning of Wilmington on a Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 22 at 1 pm. The two rivals are deadlocked at 38-38-3 after last year's 10-9 Banning win ended a seven-year losing streak to the Pilots.

Six days after that, the Pirates then travel to Narbonne who once again boasts an extremely squad and easily one of California's best teams.

San Pedro does returns two All-City players in senior TE/DL Nick Zabatta and senior wide receiver Raymond Geha, a pair of All-City second team and All-Marine League first team selections. Geha caught 18 passes for 248 yards and seven touchdowns, establishing himself as the town's most dangerous deep ball threat, while Zabatta had 65 tackles and an interception he returned for a touchdown.

Ford is Miller's top college prospect, as the All-Marine League 6'6'', 270-pounder has nine college offers.

Others alongside Ford and Zabatta on the offensive line includes juniors Timothy Macias and David Carlton, along with fellow seniors Damian Lopez, Kyle Branch and Manuel Andrade.

San Pedro now will have senior Austin Jackson to take the starting quarterback job after mainstay Jacob Miller (no relation to Corey) graduated after being the three-year starter. Jackson was able to get his feet wet early last season in the absence of Miller and his early injury with a pair of starts against Roosevelt and Redondo, finishing on 10-of-20 passing for 175 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Jackson has a bevy of targets besides Geha, as All-Marine League senior WR/DB Mikey Hernandez Jr. (18 catches, 128 yards, 2 TD), and three more senior returners in Isaiah Bumgarner, Brandon Johnson and Chinedu Ofoegbu also return for the Pirates. 

The bread-and-butter running game will remain the focal point, and San Pedro has two returners in All-Marine League first team junior Kai Kaneshiro (143 carries, 894 yards, 13 TDs) and All-Marine League second team junior Sean Davenport (51 carries, 262 yards, 2 Tds) are expected to share the burden. Kaneshiro builded up steam in the Marine League with memorable performances, a four-touchdown game against Gardena, and a 227-yard rushing night in a victory at Carson.

Defensively the Pirates will be the usual hard-hitting, opportunistic bunch that they've always been over the years.

All-Marine League senior outside linebacker Sohl Gafa returns as the team's top tackler (89), and will pace a young but talented linebacker corps that also features Davenport, Kaneshiro, and junior Seth Nelson, who paced the 2015 Marine League champion junior varsity team from that position with five interceptions. Zabatta, working his way back into the fold from injury, will anchor the defensive line.

Once the Marine League begins on October 7, the Pirates will get a welcomed addition with junior QB/LB Matt Marquez, a transfer from nearby Mary Star.

Probably the most experienced part of the defense is the secondary, paced by Hernandez Jr.'s three interceptions from last season at cornerback. Senior Luis Padilla, who joined the team late last season, looks to establish himself as the other corner, while Johnson (25 tackles, INT, 3 PD) and All-Marine League junior Corey Fausto (39 tackles, INT, PD, fumble recovery) return as the starting safeties. 

Senior Tanner Carcamo returns as the sole starting kicker after splitting time last year with the graduated Ricardo Parra who handled most of the kicking duties. 

Corey Miller inherits a bunch of talent coming in from the 2015 JV team that went 8-1 and undefeated in the Marine League at 5-0, and some of the best from that group includes Nelson, Macias, sophomore FB/LB Mikey Castaneda, junior RB/LB Junior Gafa (Sohl's brother), junior WR/DB DaVean Randall, junior WR/DB Joshua Bejarano, junior OL/DL Joshua Amador and junior FB/K Ramiro Lopez.

Going into their 109th season of prep football (including rugby), San Pedro has posted a record of 546-384-38 overall under 22 different coaches.