It's that time of year again...

The 2018 Prep Football season is rapidly approaching, and the schedules are now officially in for the San Pedro & Mary Star Of The Sea High School football teams, as both look to improve off their 2017 campaigns

San Pedro stumbled in the final month of the season after a Marine League-opening victory over Gardena, as second-year coach Corey Miller and the Pirates would finish the season with four losses in their last five games, two of which to eventual CIF-Los Angeles City Section Open Division & CIF State Division I-A champion Narbonne of Harbor City.

San Pedro would go 5-6 overall, 2-3 in the Marine League after falling 48-14 to Narbonne in the CIF-LACS Open Division first round (quarterfinals).

The biggest change in the 2018 schedule you may ask?

The omission of Washington Prep of Los Angeles, thanks to the recent new CIF-LACS league realignment which affected the Coastal Region more than anything, shortening the Marine League to just five schools for football and for all other sports, Rancho Dominguez Prep of Carson/Long Beach replaces Washington Prep. That also gave the Pirates a sixth optional nonleague game, which ends up being a home game against Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth on October 19.

San Pedro gets both Carson and Banning at home in league, while they will travel to Narbonne and Gardena. Grant, Downey and Long Beach Cabrillo remain from the 2017 nonleague slate, while North Torrance, Sierra Canyon and Cleveland of Reseda are newcomers.

The season opener against North on August 17 is actually a renewal of the 2003, 2004, 2010 & 2011 battles the Pirates engaged in against the Saxons, in which San Pedro won 3 of the 4.

Meanwhile at Mary Star, third-year coach Jason Gelber continued to make Daniels Field the true 'Home Of The Hitters' as the Stars would once again finish 6-4 overall, but again still missed the CIF-Southern Section Division 13 playoffs due to a 1-2 Santa Fe League third place finish in a league that only has four schools and the top two teams get automatic playoff bids.

However, things are looking up for Mary Star in 2018.

For starters, the Stars now have moved to the Camino Real League, as they no longer have to deal with St. Anthony and St. Genevieve. And the more alarming news to being in the Camino Real League is the fact that even though that it's another four-school league where that same criteria as far as who gets in or not still remains: the other three schools are Bishop Montgomery of Torrance, Cantwell Sacred Heart of Montebello and St. Monica of Santa Monica.

In 2017, the Stars ended a 36-year losing streak to Bishop Montgomery on September 22 with a 28-27 road win over the Knights, while also defeating St. Monica in the former Del Rey League. The last time Mary Star faced Cantwell was in 2016, which the Stars dominated in a nonleague win at Daniels Field in San Pedro. Cantwell won the South Catholic Football League championship in 2017, a league Bishop Montgomery also competed in.

As far as the nonleague schedule goes for Mary Star for the other seven games, Verbum Dei of Los Angeles is the only holdover, while everyone else is brand new. A September 14 road game at South Torrance seems like the best of the nonleague games for the Stars, and definitely the most attractive from a South Bay area perspective.

Here are the 2018 schedules for both schools as both San Pedro and Mary Star will have even schedules as far as destinations: five home, five away.

SAN PEDRO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2018 SCHEDULE

FRIDAY 8/17 - vs. NORTH (TORRANCE)
FRIDAY 8/24 - @ Grant
FRIDAY 8/31 - @ Cabrillo (Long Beach)
FRIDAY 9/7 - vs. DOWNEY

FRIDAY 9/14 - BYE WEEK
FRIDAY 9/21 - @ Cleveland

FRIDAY 9/28 - vs. CARSON*

FRIDAY 10/5 - at Narbonne*
FRIDAY 10/12 - vs. BANNING*
FRIDAY 10/19 - vs. SIERRA CANYON
FRIDAY 10/26 - at Gardena*

Note * - Denotes Marine League Game; All Games Are At 7 pm (Home Games are in BOLD covering)

MARY STAR OF THE SEA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2018 SCHEDULE

FRIDAY 8/24 - at Whittier Christian
FRIDAY 8/31- vs. FAIRMONT PREP
FRIDAY 9/7 - vs. CENTURY

FRIDAY 9/14 - at South (Torrance)
FRIDAY 9/21- at Village Christian

FRIDAY 9/28 - vs. SIMI VALLEY

FRIDAY 10/5 - vs. VERBUM DEI

FRIDAY 10/12 - vs. BISHOP MONTGOMERY*
FRIDAY 10/19 - at St. Monica*
FRIDAY 10/26 - at Cantwell Sacred Heart*

Note * - Denotes Camino Real League Game; All Games Are At 7 pm (Home Games are at Daniels Field & in BOLD covering)*