For the past 10 days, members of the Cordova High School football team has been battling each other in various drills in practices.

But tomorrow, Saturday, the Lancers will see different faces.

Cordova will host Capital Christian in a controlled scrimmage at Lancer Stadium at 9 a.m. Cordova head coach Darren Nill and his assistant coaches will have an opportunity to evaluate their players on offense and defense.

Last season, Cordova went 4-6 overall and 1-4 in the Sierra Valley Conference. But this season, the Lancers are looking to earn a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berth.

The Lancers’ spread offense will be directed by sophomore quarterback Xavier Johnson, taking over for three-year starter Unique Perez, who set many school passing records during his career as a Lancer. Perez graduated last spring. Johnson’s back-up will be senior Justin Martin, who will also see time as one of the Lancers’ wide receivers.

“I think the difference is Xavier can see the read game better than Justin,” said Nill of his two signal callers. “I still think both are going to get a lot of playing time. Just because we’re giving the reps to Xavier that Justin is done. His (Martin) main job is to push Xavier, who can’t let up now just because he’s getting the No. 1 reps going into the first scrimmage. I think Justin is constantly improving every day.”

The two quarterbacks will have many weapons to throw the ball. One of them is wide receiver Angel Garcia, who accounted for a good portion of the Lancers’ touchdowns last season. Another wide out is Alvin Banks, one of four sophomores on the squad. He made the all-tourney team for Cordova, which won the 7-on-7 Rosemont passing tournament two months ago.

More wide outs for the Lancers are senior Elijah Morgera and junior Tyreke Tate. And those are just to name a few wide receivers for Cordova.

“We’re just going to wear people out,” Nill said. “We can sub continuously at receiver. We’re going to break some people in the second half (of games.)”

On the ground, running back Deante McCullough is expected to carry the ball quite often for the Lancers.

“He has a fifth gear that burst and we haven’t seen at the school in years,” said Nill of McCullough, who rushed 16 times for 110 yards and one touchdown as a junior last year.

Other Lancer running backs are Terrell Johnson and Kenny Haney, both seniors. Nill refers to Haney more of a power back who could be opening holes for the running game.

“Kenny will run you over,” said Nill of Haney. “He’s not looking for a hole; he’s looking to put you on your back.”

Another running back for the Lancers is junior Kelechi Njoku.

On the offensive line, Cordova will use a tight end in Isaiah Wimberly, a senior who is an even 6-foot and 180 pounds.

“Fifteen percent of the time, we’ll be in a tight end position,” said Nill of using Wimberly in certain situations.

Guiding the line also include left tackle Zariahn Zimmer, who stands 6’2 and 290 pounds; left guard Fidel Romero; center in sophomore Austin McCoy; right guard Joseph Salcedo, a junior who started as a sophomore last year, but broke his leg in the Lancers’ first game last season; and right tackle Michael Gonzalez (6’1, 190), who, along with Zimmer, started last year.

A preview on the Lancers’ defense will be in next Friday’s issue.

After Saturday’s scrimmage, Cordova begin preparations for its home and season opener against Rio Americano one week from today, Friday, Aug. 26th.