With the 2012 varsity football season set to begin in less than two weeks, the newly formed Western Alameda County (WAC) Foothill League will be looking at an arguably deeper and more talented league than what the former Hayward Area Athletic League (HAAL) had to offer.

The WAC formed two leagues – the Foothill League along with the Shoreline League. The consensus among coaches in the Foothill League is that their league is the toughest out of the two, with three league champions joining it from last season.

The league features former HAAL teams in Hayward High, San Leandro High, Castro Valley High School and 2011 HAAL champion Bishop O’ Dowd of Oakland.

Along with the HAAL schools, Encinal of Alameda and Berkeley High School are both part of the newly formed league.

With games just around the corner, Bishop O’ Dowd is considered to be one of the favorites to win the inaugural league championship.

Coming off of a 9-3 season, with a 7-0 record in league, the Dragons and head coach Hardy Nickerson will look to their returning senior quarterback, Dominic Miroglio, as well as their senior wide receiver tandem of Dominic Gomes and Kevin King to continue to pace their offense that averaged 40 points per game last season.

Miroglio threw for over 2,000 yards last season and also added 34 touchdowns for the Dragons and will be looked upon heavily by Nickerson to run an offense that only has five players returning.

Miroglio’s main target on the outside will be Gomes, who was second on the team last season with 35 receptions and first on the team in receiving yards with 1150. He averaged an astonishing 32 yards per catch last season and is the big play threat on offense.

The Dragon defense, according to Nickerson, is behind the offense at the moment as they look to replace seven starters from last season’s defense and will be doing so with one of the toughest schedules in the area.

“We put together our schedule and every time I look at it I start scratching my head,” Nickerson said. “We don’t have a week off,” Nickerson explained.

Outside of league games, the Dragons will be facing McClymonds of Oakland, Las Lomas of Walnut Creek and Sacred Heart of San Francisco.

Most notably missing will be Nickerson’s son, Hardy Nickerson Jr., who will be an incoming freshman at Cal and led the team with 153 total tackles last season at the linebacker position.

Leading the defense this year will be the 33rd ranked cornerback in the country, according to Scout, a high school recruiting website, Kevin King, who is currently holding scholarship offers from the likes of Cal and West Virginia.

The Encinal Jets are coming off an 11-2 season where they played in the North Coast Section (NCS) Division III semi-finals, losing to runner-up Marin Catholic.

The Jets finished their league championship season with a 7-0 record in league play and were on an unbelievable 28 game winning streak in the Bay Shore League where their closest league game was a 55-22 drubbing of Kennedy High School of Richmond.

The Jets, according to their website, have a record over the past four years that is only inferior in winning percentage to national powerhouse De La Salle among Bay Area teams.

“We expect to go out there and win,” said coach Jose Tenorio.

The Jets will be returning 10 starters from last season’s team and will be looking for different players to fill in roles, due to graduation.

Tenorio will be looking towards his defense to lead the way this season after watching his offense dominate teams last season.

With a small program, Tenorio will look for many of his top players to play both sides of the ball, such as Aaron Ve’e who plays offensive and defensive tackle.

Running back will be manned by Corey Sails and Tyrell Carrigan, who will look to do their best to imitate former running backs Jon Trodder and Nahim Paschal, who rushed for a combined 2,000 yards last season.

While Encinal is considered one of the league favorites, Tenorio may not guarantee a league title but he claims, “I definitely expect to go out there and have more wins than losses without a doubt.”

Berkeley High School is the third league champion debuting in the WAC Foothill League this season. The Yellowjackets finished last season 6-4 with an Alameda Contra Costa League championship, which was obtained due to their 6-0 record in league play last season.

Berkeley will be looking to replace over 1700 rushing yards from last season. They will be playing without their top three rushers from last season in Devyne Adams, Rudolpho James and Sir-Devonta Stewart.

The Hayward High Farmers and second-year head coach, Justin Redemer, will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2011 campaign in Redemer’s first season.

“The biggest difference between this year and last year was I got hired June last year,” Redemer explained referring to his coaching career at Hayward. “In two and a half months I had to install a new offense and defense.”

The Farmers finished last year with a 3-7 record overall and a 2-5 record in HAAL play.

“I think our leader is going to be Thompson Pulu, he’s going to have to be our leader,” said Redemer. “He’s got to make the right decisions and he’s got to be someone the other guys can look at and trust.” He plans for Pulu and an improved defense to compensate for the loss of offensive lineman Alex Fifita, who will be suiting up for Fresno State this fall.

Early matchups against Ygnacio Valley and Livermore will be a good litmus test for the Farmers to determine if they will step up this season or plod their way to another disappointing record.

“Some people would say with the exception of us the other five teams certainly belong and that’s what we’re fighting for is to prove we certainly belong,” Redemer said, believing the league opener against Berkeley will show whether or not the hard work his team has put in the last 12 months is evident.

HAAL holdover Castro Valley began last season 0-4 before going on a late season run and ending their season with a 6-5 record and a first round playoff berth.

The Trojans open up league play this season with San Leandro, Bishop O’Dowd and Encinal.

If the Trojans can go 1-2 or even 2-1 during that stretch, then the 2012 season will begin to look very promising for them.

San Leandro High School will be looking to take their winning ways of the HAAL over to the WAC Foothill division.

The Pirates are three seasons removed from their last league championship and finished last season 5-2 in league with losses to league champion O’Dowd and runner-up Tennyson High School.

San Leandro will look to replace over 1500 rushing yards from last season due to the graduation of Taylor Leota, David Vilingia and Kendall Prater.

Anthony Fotu will anchor the defensive line as he looks to add on to the eight sacks he acquired last season.

The Pirates are well respected throughout the league as Nickerson believes they will be one of the toughest teams his team will face this season.

All in all, coaches such as Tenorio, Nickerson and Redemer are looking forward to the new league and are awaiting the challenges ahead.

“It’s going to be a grind, it’s going to be a grind, that’s the beauty of it,” Redemer said. “There aren’t going to be any games this year where we aren’t going to be in a dog fight.”