IN CHARGE—Newbury Park junior Jake Geringer said he feels much more comfortable in his second season behind center. There’s no place like home for the Newbury Park High varsity football team.

On Friday night, the Panthers open their highly anticipated season by playing host to Camarillo in a nonleague rivalry game.

This weekend’s contest is the first of five consecutive home tilts for Newbury Park, which won’t hit the road until it plays at Royal on Oct. 16.

Featuring an offense loaded with star power—senior running back Cameron Roberson made a verbal commitment to Notre Dame after visiting the campus last weekend, and senior wideout/linebacker Phillip Muscarella is being recruited as both a soccer and football player—expectations are skyhigh at NPHS.

Junior quarterback Jake Geringer, who threw for 1,498 yards and 11 touchdowns a year ago, is back in the mix and said he feels much more comfortable running the offense now than he did as a sophomore.

“It’s definitely night and day,” Geringer said.

“I’m a lot more excited because I probably have the best receivers in the Marmonte League. And the line has been looking pretty good, too.”

With the 6foot1, 215pound Roberson toting the ball and Muscarella catching it, opposing defenses will be hardpressed to slow NPHS down.

“We’re ready to show teams that we can pound the ball and that we can pass it as well,” Roberson said. “I think we’re going to have a very balanced attack this year.”

In 2008, Roberson rushed for 1,452 yards and scored 21 total touchdowns. Because he’s an outstanding student, Roberson had his choice of multiple bigname universities before narrowing his search down to Northwestern and Notre Dame.

By choosing Notre Dame, Roberson becomes the third area standout to join the Fighting Irish in four years. Santa Clara running back Cierre Wood and Oaks Christian quarterback Jimmy Clausen are both on the team’s roster.

“It really came down to the (Notre Dame) campus and all the facilities there,” Roberson said.

Muscarella, listed at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds of pure muscle, caught a team-leading 50 passes for 730 yards and eight scores in ’08.

A three-year varsity player, Muscarella has made a position switch from free safety to linebacker. Still, because of his immense skill-set, Muscarella may be most valuable to the Panthers as a wide receiver, where his breakaway speed makes him a threat to find pay dirt at any time.

“I like to score touchdowns, and I like to lay a hit if I can,” Muscarella said. “I can’t really pick one over the other.”

Setting a positive tone for the year is priority No. 1 this week, Muscarella added.

“The goal, obviously, is to win as many games as you can,” he said. “You want to have a perfect regular season. You want to go 10-0, and you can’t go undefeated without winning the first one. That’s the type of mentality we have to come out with.”

In facing Camarillo, the Panther defense will be tested against Scorpion senior quarterback Jeff Mathews, a big, physical signalcaller with a rocket arm.

The task will be tough, as NPHS is expected to be without senior linebacker Drake Exstrom as well as senior center/nose tackle Tommy Diefenthaler, both of whom are impact playmakers nursing injuries.