{"id":13052,"date":"2026-04-30T23:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/college-bound-football-players-celebrated-at-annual-vcfca-luncheon-ventura-county-star\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T23:00:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:00:01","slug":"college-bound-football-players-celebrated-at-annual-vcfca-luncheon-ventura-county-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/college-bound-football-players-celebrated-at-annual-vcfca-luncheon-ventura-county-star\/","title":{"rendered":"College-bound football players celebrated at annual VCFCA luncheon – Ventura County Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deville Warner was a part-time starter who came into his own as a senior linebacker at Pacifica High.
\u201cHe had one of the best years as a linebacker statistically that I\u2019ve ever coached,\u201d said Pacifica head coach Mike Moon.
Gavin Gray overcame the broken leg which cost him much of his junior year at Agoura High.
\u201cHe\u2019s leaving Agoura as one of the most decorated passers in our school\u2019s history,\u201d Agoura head coach Dustin Croick said.
Both proved this spring that the college football recruiting process is never over under its over for local stars.
Due to their unique situations, Warner and Gray committed to Eastern Washington University and Washington State University in February and signed Division 1 scholarship offers in April.
\u201cAlthough it never happens late, he had faith,\u201d said Moon. \u201cI had faith.\u201d
They were two of more than 25 local seniors celebrated on Wednesday, April 29, at the Ventura County Football Coaches Association\u2019s annual signing day luncheon at the Palm Garden Hotel in Newbury Park.
\u201cWhen you have this dream, you have to be delusional about it,\u201d said St. Bonaventure head coach Troy Hill. \u201cBecause there\u2019s going to be guys out there who don\u2019t see the vision that you see.\u201d
The Class of 2026 was a bumper crop of local football talent, headline by four Division I quarterbacks: Gray, Newbury Park\u2019s Brady Smigiel (Michigan), Ventura quarterback Derek Garcia (Nevada-Las Vegas), and Thousand Oaks\u2019 Jackson Taylor (Boise State).
Other Division I signees included St. Bonaventure defensive end Matt Perez (Nevada-Reno); Simi Valley defensive tackle Isak Simpson (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo); Ventura linebacker Tristan Phillips (Oregon); St. Bonaventure defensive end Walter Moore (New Mexico); Newbury Park receiver Vincent Carner (Nevada-Las Vegas); Newbury Park receiver Devin Olmande (San Jose State); Thousand Oaks tight end Hayden Vercher (Arizona State); and Ventura defensive lineman Jordan Butcher (University of San Diego).
\u201cYou guys compete your tail off,\u201d said Camarillo head coach Nate Anderson. \u201cYou have all represented this county really well.\u201d
Agoura tight end Albert Bellingrath and Ventura receiver Jack Cunningham will be teammates at Western Colorado, a top NCAA Division II program.
Foes during the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 semifinals, Bellingrath and Cunningham spoke between plays about being future teammates.
\u201cI\u2019m super excited to work with him,\u201d Bellingrath said. \u201cGo Mountaineers.\u201d
Pacifica safety Julian Hernandez, who played four varsity seasons for the Tritons, is headed to Division II Western New Mexico.
\u201cHe\u2019s been such a big contributor to our team,\u201d said Moon. \u201cHe had a very successful career for us.\u201d
Among the locals who will stay home to play NCAA Division III football in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference are Camarillo running back Shane Feller (Pomona-Pitzer); St. Bonaventure center Ayden Klionsky (Claremont-Mudd Scripps); Ventura defensive lineman Dylan Klinzing (Cal Lutheran University); Fillmore running back Jasiah Patterson (CLU); Camarillo defensive lineman Jacob Ruiz (CLU); and Newbury Park tackle Tyler Seefeldt (CLU).
Ruiz, a four-year wrestler, did not let his limited playing time as a junior keep him from reaching his goal.
\u201cIt did not defeat him,\u201d said Anderson. \u201cHe did not get outworked.\u201d
Fillmore head coach Charlie Weis labeled Patterson, who amassed more than 200 hours of service for the Fillmore community, as \u201crelentlessly positive.\u201d
Newbury Park celebrated 10 players who are continuing their careers at various college levels, including Smigiel, Carner, Olmande, Seefeldt, lineman Blake Gibson (Coe), kicker Drew Adamson (Simpson), safety Jayce Ward (Ripon), safety Colt Ward (Ripon), cornerback Brandon Curry (Benedictine), and receiver Matthew Curry (Benedictine).
\u201cAs we know in this climate in college football, it\u2019s very hard to get a Division I scholarship,\u201d Newbury Park head coach Joe Smigiel. \u201cHow it works now with the transfer portal, sometimes you have to take a step backyard to take a step forward.
\u201cIt\u2019s hard. It really is. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it.\u201d
Ward will continue playing, despite missing his entire senior year with an injury suffered just before Week Zero in August. \u00a0
\u201cHe stayed with it, didn\u2019t miss a practice and cheered his teammates on,\u201d said Joe Smigiel. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the kids to overcome that adversity, because bigger things happen later on in life. How you attack them and deal with them is going to shape your life.\u201d
The 16 college-bound seniors in attendance had a chance to take the stage and address the room, working on their budding public speaking skills.
Gratitude towards family, coaches and teammates was a reoccurring theme.
A highlight of the afternoon was Joe Smigiel introducing his son Brady, who was in town after completing his first semester at the University of Michigan.
As Brady stood beside him, Joe warned the crowd that he \u201cwas going to brag a little bit.\u201d
After leading Newbury Park to the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 championship as a junior, when he was crowned Cal Hi Sports\u2019s Mr. Football, Brady Smigiel\u2019s senior season was cut short by a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 3.
\u201cWe went through some incredible times,\u201d said Joe Smigiel. \u201cJust a lot of fun. It really was.\u201d
He still graduated in December as the all-time passer in Ventura County history. \u00a0
\u201cI think that was so special, having a different challenge every year, having different relationships every year,\u201d Brady Smigiel said.
Joe Curley covers football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter\/X, Instagram\/Threads, Facebook, Bluesky and TikTok.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Deville Warner was a part-time starter who came into his own as a senior linebacker at Pacifica High.\u201cHe had one of the best years as a linebacker statistically that I\u2019ve ever coached,\u201d said Pacifica head coach Mike Moon.Gavin Gray overcame the broken leg which cost him much of his junior year at Agoura High.\u201cHe\u2019s leaving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}