LAKE HAVASU CITY — With just five players returning from last year’s team — and the program struggling to fill out the squad prior to the first practice — it looked down the Tigers would face a tough 2011 season.

David Bell/News-Herald. Telesis’ head football coach Chris Denney, center, looks on as quarterback Tony Hill, right, completes a pass during a light workout during Tigers football practice, Aug. 12, at the Island Ballfield.

But after just a week of practice, in a smaller conference, and another new player transferring into the school from Oklahoma, head coach Chris Denney likes his team’s chances for the coming season.

“Even in the (Charter Athletic Association) 1A Conference, I think we’re one of the smallest schools to field a team. But I think we have a legitimate chance to be one of the four teams to make the playoffs at the end of the regular season,” he said. “We have Tony Hill at quarterback and his speed is comparable to players at the larger schools. I don’t think there’s anyone in 1A that’s better.

“And running back Jordan Klingerman is just a punishing runner. He just pounds the ball head-on. I don’t know how many teams are going to want to head-to-head with him after taking that beating for the first two quarters,” he continued.

Helping bolster the team’s optimism is word that Telesis main competition — Quartzsite Scholars — will only have an eight-man roster for the eight-man CAA game.

The Tigers are young this year — with two eighth graders, three freshmen and four sophomores on the 13-man roster. And the team isn’t carrying a great deal of size — returner Joey Dewey will anchor the line at center.

“But 1A is a little different than what we’re used to,” Denney said. “Each school may have one or two good players but that’s it because they don’t have a giant roster due to their smaller size. It’s not like when we were in 2A, where all those Phoenix teams had 45-man rosters and half of the team could break a game open.”

The result, Denney said, is the hope that the Tigers play competitive in the new league. But before they do, they take on a pair of area powerhouses.

Telesis opens the season Sept. 3 at home against defending 3A state champion Kingman Academy. Then travels to Bullhead City to face the 2010 2A runner-up Mohave Accelerated Learning Center.

“Those are learning games for us,” Denney said. “We know how well-coached and powerful those programs are. We want to see what we’re doing right and what we need to fix as we go into conference.”

For more photos from Telesis football practice, click here: http://www.instantimagegallery.com/iig/c/769

Telesis Football

2011 Schedule

Home games in CAPITALS, at ASU at Lake Havasu Field except where noted. Game time is 7 p.m. except where noted.

Sept. 3 vs. KINGMAN ACADEMY

Sept. 9 at Bullhead City Mohave Accelerated learning Center

Sept. 17 vs. YUMA HARVEST PREP

Sept. 24 at Glendale Prep (6 p.m.)

Oct. 1 vs. MESA PREP

Oct. 8 vs. SCOTTSDALE NEW WAY ACADEMY

Oct. 15 at Glendale Desert Heights (1 p.m.)

Oct. 21 vs. QUARTZSITE SCHOLARS ACADEMY (Homecoming at Island Ballfield)

Oct. 27 at Superstition Imagine