Lucca Giurlani is an Arizona State Cronkite School of Journalism Student assigned to cover Mountain View, Mesa High School for AZpreps365.com.

The Mountain View football program this season looks to improve on an 8-3 record for coach Joe Germaine. Unfortunately for the Toros, their last game of last season was a 40-35 loss to Mountain Ridge in the first round of the 6A division’s state playoff tournament.

Although the Toros are off to a 1-2 start this season, Germaine insists that he and the team's hopes are high for the rest of the season.

“We've been really pleased with the effort our players are playing with,'' he said. "I think we play the game hard. I think the intent we have when we go out there is good and I think that's what we're trying to measure."

While their record may not show it, the effort and competitiveness that took them to the 6A state tournament last season is all there. The Toros have a point differential of eight this season, so naturally Germaine deflected the idea that this start should prompt any change in game plan or scheme.

 “I think it's just being more consistent with that, with our play is the key,'' he said. "We have spurts of doing really good things and then, man, we just do bad things sometimes, so I don't think we need wholesale changes. We just need to be more consistent in what we're doing."

While there are no plans for midseason change, there are a few significant differences between this year's team and the impressive Toros squad from last year.

First, quarterback Jack Germaine, son of coach Germaine, is back for his junior season. This bodes well for the Toros, as Jack had an impressive sophomore season. He finished with a QB rating of 151.2 and threw for 2,341 yards and 22 touchdowns with a completion percentage of almost 69.

Entering the season, the only issue for Jack was that two of last season's top three  targets graduated, including star wideout Mathew Clark. He received the Mountain View Football Player of The Year Award, finishing with 1,099 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.

When asked how the Toros offense can fill this void, Jack Germaine was quick to support Clark’s replacements while praising his work from last season.

 “He (Clark) was a great player for us last year, but, I mean, I think we have just as good players, if not better than last year. We have a lot of young guys out there playing for us but they're doing their job,” the quarterback said.

On defense, the Toros lost star pass rusher Malaki Ta’ase to graduation as well, but linebacker Jackson Bogle said the team reamins in good shape.

“So far we’ve all been flying to the ball, that's what we've been preaching about for the past couple weeks," Bogle said. "If we get all 11 guys to the ball, it doesn't matter if you're missing a tackle, we can still get there and we can beat every team we go up against.”

Bogle also praised Malaki's younger brother, Tevita Ta’ase, who plays defensive tackle.

“Tevita is a sophomore and he's an absolute dog,'' he said.

Although the Toros have lost veteran players, they are loaded with young talent and could be primed for another successful season.