Prep football fans have a lot to look forward to this year and they won’t have to wait long to whet their appetites.

When the season kicks off in two weeks, a number of attractive matchups will be on the schedule.

The most attractive may be Sept. 4 at Crenshaw High School when Southern Section power Lakewood takes on the Cougars, the City’s preseason favorite.

Lakewood, No. 5 in maxpreps.com’s preseason state poll, is led by USC quarterback commit Jesse Scroggins and heavily-recruited running back Jerry Stone. A year ago, Scroggins led the Lancers to a come-from-behind 42-34 victory over Crenshaw.

The Cougars, one of the fastest teams in California, are loaded with top-level talent such as running back DeAnthony Thomas, fullback/linebacker Hayes Pullard and receiver Geno Hall. Thomas, a junior who earned All-City honors last year, has already made two trips to the state track and field championships.

Another interesting Sept. 4 matchup is Rancho Verde of Moreno Valley at Fremont. Rancho Verde is led by former Fremont coach Pete Duffy.

Other opening-night matchups of interest are Alhambra at Roosevelt, Birmingham at Garfield, Compton at Lone Peak, Utah. Compton could be at a bit of a disadvantage since this will be the third game of the season for Lone Peak.

Killer schedule

All-City quarterback/defensive end James Boyd has moved on to USC, but that doesn’t necessarily portend a dropoff for Jordan.
Coach Elijah Asante certainly isn’t taking it easy, schedule-wise. Once again, he’s got the Bulldogs facing their usual killer preleague gauntlet of Southland powerhouses.

After hosting Locke in the Sept. 4 opener, Jordan faces Esperanza, St. Bonaventure and Mater Dei in consecutive weeks. St. Bonaventure, the defending Division III state champion, is ranked fourth in maxpreps.com’s preseason state poll.

With super talented wide receiver DeShawn Beck and linebacker Patrick Wooten returning, the Bulldogs will be going into battle with weapons of their own.

Beck, who can play just about anywhere on the field, including quarterback, caught 72 passes for 1,141 yards and 15 touchdowns, rushed for two scores, passed for three and had four interceptions on defense as a junior. He also returned kicks.

He was impressive at the University of Arizona camp in the summer and has drawn recruiting attention from the likes of Arizona, Cal, Florida, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA and Washington, among others. A 4.4 40-yard dash will do that.

Wooten earned All-City honors as a freshman after recording an amazing 150 tackles.

Good reception
Does any team anywhere have a better collection of receivers than Serra?

The Gardena-based school can start with Robert Woods, who ranks among the top players nationally regardless of position. He caught 81 passes for 1,378 yards and 19 TDs a year ago when the Cavaliers advanced to the CIF-SS Northwest Division title game (where they lost their only game of the season to Oaks Christian). Virtually every significant national college power is recruiting the two-way standout rated the No. 16 player overall nationally by rivals.com. USC, UCLA and Notre Dame are among those in the hottest pursuit.

Also catching passes is junior George Farmer and senior Paul Richardson. The latter is being heavily pursued by most of the Pac-10 schools, including UCLA and USC.

Small school star
Look for Santee’s Tevin Carter to have an outstanding season.

The versatile Carter has already committed to California and it’s no wonder Golden Bears coach Jeff Tedford likes this highly-regarded 6-foot-3, 190-pounder.

As a junior, he caught 26 passes for 819 yards and 11 TDs, rushed 13 times for 199 yards and three scores, recorded 66 solo tackles, 26 assists and had two interceptions.

If he continues production like that, the downtown-based school could make some noise in the City playoffs.

Backfield speed
Compton running back James McConico put up astounding numbers in 2008.

The track star, who has the likes of Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Washington, Nebraska and Colorado in pursuit, averaged an incredible 19.9 yards per carry during a season in which he rushed for 1,234 yards.

Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon and San Diego State are among those after McConico.