VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY SPORTS : HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK : Paraclete Gets Jump on Season in Minnesota

While other teams in the region scrimmage today, Paraclete High will open its season.

The Spirits, who have won consecutive Southern Section titles, play Minneapolis De La Salle tonight in Minnesota.

The trip will include a visit to one of the nation’s largest shopping malls and a University of Minnesota football game.

“It’ll be pretty cool,” said senior linebacker Robert Watts.

Paraclete almost had to go without Rob Fockaert, an All-Southern Section quarterback and the team’s cornerstone.

Fockaert was out of state earlier this week, visiting his gravely ill grandfather in Arizona, but rejoined the team late Tuesday, only 24 hours before the team’s departure.

What would the Spirits have done without Fockaert?

“We wouldn’t go,” Coach Steve Hagerty joked.

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Justin Waasdorp of Quartz Hill, one of the region’s top defensive linemen, has been cleared to play after sitting out almost a week because of a sprained knee.

Waasdorp, 6 feet 3 and 250 pounds, might start at tight end for the Rebels.

“We’re real happy to have him back,” first-year Coach Pat Degnan said. “Now, it’s just a matter of him catching up.”