The Juanita High School football team’s season came to an abrupt end last season with a first round loss in the state playoffs. Since that time the team has gone through many changes, including the hiring of long time assistant coach Lele Te’o as the new head coach.

Te’o has deep roots in the Kirkland community, starting out at Finn Hill Middle School and moving up through the football ranks with current Lake Washington head coach AJ Parnell.

Te’o knows his team better than most new head coaches and he feels confident in the team that will take the field tonight against Ingelmoor during the first game of the season.

We lost some really good players but we have a lot of players who have been playing since they were sophomores or even freshmen,” Te’o said. “We have a lot of speed and we like to play fast.”

Size does not always accompany speed and that is where Te’o says his coaching staff’s job begins.

“We are going to move them around a lot and they are going to have to work together,” Te’o said. “We can’t make a small guy play like a big guy. The coaches are doing a great job of making sure the guys are ready.”

Te’o said that his experience coaching the line last year gives him insight into how one of the most important elements of the team will work this season.

“On this team, if you can play one position on the offensive line you can play them all,” Te’o said. “We have 11 offensive lineman this year.”

That diversity will let Te’o keep his players fresh during an entire game.

One of the fastest and most athletic players on the team who will be depending on that line is starting running back Salvon Ahmed. The junior is already getting looked at by many Division I colleges – and for good reason.

“This is a kid I have known for a long time and he made a play today I could not believe,” Te’o said. “This is his third year in this system.”

Tavin Montgomery and Dexter Mills will get time under center for the Rebels this season.

“They both have really live arms,” Te’o said. “They are really smart football players.”

Montgomery is a senior who counts Ahmed as one of his best friends since the sixth grade.

I don’t think we could be closer if we were blood,” Montgomery said. “He never takes a play off. He is 100 percent all the time.”

Montgomery knows that he and Ahmed have some unfinished business on the field and likes what he sees with the direction of the program this year.

“I trust Le and our lineman,” Montgomery said. “I would go to war with any of them.”

Another weapon for the Rebels will be senior wide receiver Makiah Gilmer.

“He is a DI kid,” Te’o said. “He understands defenses.”

Gilmer said that it is all about the team being more aggressive and physical.

“We have to focus on coming together as a team and keep a good work ethic,” Gilmer said.

Senior corner Dillon Moctezuma will strike fear into opposing quarterbacks this season looking to throw the ball.

“He is really coming into his own,” Te’o said. “He plays and practices at 100 percent all the time.”

A new addition to the team is AJ Peacock, who transferred from Inglemoor High School. He has also changed position from quarterback to safety.

“He is a very gifted kid, just a ball hawk,” Te’o said.

The team will have a tough road this season with a game against division rival Bellevue and a big rivalry game against Lake Washington.

But Te’o has high hopes for the program.

If you don’t believe you are going to win the state title you shouldn’t be out here,” Te’o said.