Savanna selects Fred Emmerson as its football coach

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Savanna has hired former Taft coach Fred Emmerson as its football coach, Rebels principal Mike Pooley confirmed Thursday.

Emmerson replaces Carl Agnew, who resigned after one season to take an assistant coaching position at Chapman University.

Emmerson was dismissed at Taft in January after the team finished 3-8 in his first season. Emmerson said the school administration told him it wanted to move in a “different direction.”

Taft lost to Eagle Rock 55-42 in the first round of the Division III playoffs in the L.A. City Section.

Taft played in the West Valley League that featured Open Division champion Birmingham and Open Division qualifier Granada Hills among others.

Before arriving at Taft, Emmerson served as an assistant at Kennedy in the Granada Hills and Saugus.

Last season, Savanna finished 2-8 overall, including 2-3 in the Orange League.

The Rebels will play this fall in the new Zeta League, which also includes Saddleback, Godinez, Magnolia and Century.

Emmerson, who will be a walk-on coach, plans to implement an up-tempo, Air Raid offense.

“I call it Power Raid because we run the ball, too,” he said. “It’s been amazing so far (at Savanna). Got the numbers up to 56 student-athletes in June alone.”

Please send football news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram