CANYON PUMPED FOR FOOTBALL SEASON.

Byline: GERRY GITTELSON

Canyon High's football team graduates most of its skilled players in June, including school record-setters Nate Longshore (quarterback), Louis Montano (running back) and Sean Coen (receiver).

But no team will be stronger up front next season.

Several returning players are bench pressing at least 300 pounds, including lineman Ryan Bremler, who's putting up 390 - the most by a Foothill League lineman in recent memory. Fellow lineman Jake Marshall is benching 355, and blocking mate Alex Shahin is also pushing better than 300.

``We've got some really terrific grunt guys. These kids are lifting at college levels,'' coach Harry Welch said. ``Our strength coach, Scott Blade, is doing the best job of any strength coach I've ever seen. It's definitely the strongest group we've ever had.''

Canyon's team heads to Burroughs of Ridgecrest for a weight-lifting contest Saturday, and they're expected to win the annual event after placing first last year.

Who the boys will block for once the season begins remains a key issue. Several prospects will compete for the starting running back position, including Montano's younger brother, Michael, along with Josue Aguirre and Tyler Hawkins. The younger Montano rushed for more than 1,600 yards and scored 24 touchdowns in nine games as a sophomore for the junior varsity last season. Aguirre, a junior, rushed for more than 1,500 on the JV two years ago before taking a year off to improve his academics. Hawkins, a sophomore, was a varsity backup and starting linebacker last season before breaking his leg.

With three-year starter Longshore headed to Cal on a football scholarship, junior Will Brogan enters spring workouts as the No. 1 quarterback after one season as the varsity backup. But Brogan could be pushed by Austin Civita, a sophomore who had a solid JV season last year.

Most of Canyon's top receivers have graduated, and it will prove especially difficult to replace Coen, whose 108 receptions last year was among the best single-season performances in state history. Two outsiders to watch for are Dejon Negron and Daunte Davis. Negron is a fast, talented 6-foot-3 junior who showed brief promise on the JV two years ago before leaving the team. Davis, a sophomore, plans to try out for football after track season is over. He already has beaten returning senior Foothill League sprint champion Geoff Tisdale of Valencia in the 100 meters this season, which means Davis could be the region's fastest football prospect this fall.

--Cody Crim, son of Canyon's first-year baseball coach Chuck Crim, went 1 for 3 with an RBI in his first start after going without an at-bat for the first eight games of the season.

Crim, a junior outfielder, has been stuck in a numbers crunch because the outfield position - featuring returning standout Drew Peterson in center and sophomore phenom Johnny Hay in right - is the team's strength.

``I'd love to have Cody in there if for no other reason than I'm his father,'' Crim said. ``But he knows the way this game is, and that he has to wait his turn to get his opportunity.''

The elder Crim can relate. He said it took him half of his high school junior season before he broke into the lineup at Thousand Oaks. Things certainly worked out, as Crim earned all-league recognition two years in a row before accepting a Hawaii scholarship, then playing eight years in the Major Leagues including with the Angels in 1992 and 1993.

Meanwhile, another Crim to watch for is 6-year-old Jacob Crim. When not following around his father and older brother, he spends most of his time in the family's backyard batting cage.

``Jacob's a real little player,'' the father said.

--With the possible exception of former standout Jaclyn Holden (now at North Carolina), freshman Victoria Kemp is establishing herself as Saugus' most powerful softball slugger of all-time. Kemp has four home runs in 45 at-bats - including three in consecutive games this month - and she's batting .400 with a .778 slugging percentage and area-best 18 RBI. And few teams have seen better competition than Saugus, so it's not as if Kemp has padded her stats against weak opponents.