The San Diego scene has many wonderful Organizations that provide 7 on 7 play among other things , in North County an Organization that is making some noise is High Intensity .
High Intensity was started in 2014 by John Taumoepeau and his brother Charlie , John grew up in the Bay area and played Linebacker at Oregon , he is currently the Mt. Carmel JV defensive coordinator and Varsity LB’s coach , his brother Charlie Taumoepeau played football at USD , At first High Intensity was primarily a basketball club headed by Marcus Wingfield who had the club at the top of the Southern California rankings , John and Charlie were coaching flag football at the time and decided to invite the players to join them once they did their flag football team took off and became the best in San Diego and eventually the State , as the players got older and were in High School they figured they would make a 7 on 7 team . They currently still have about 6 youth flag teams and a High School Passing team . The Organization mission statement “It Doesn’t matter if we win or lose , go out and give your best effort on every play ”. you can see why they decided on the name High Intensity .
High Intensity is considered one of the top 10 flag football clubs in the country. They have qualified teams for nationals every year since 2015. While they have never won a national championship, they have numerous tournament banners and have a great reputation on the national flag football circuit. It is at a young age were they train and develop the kids and get them ready for high school sports were many are currently excelling . They once took a very talented Flag team to The NFL Nationals and were unstoppable at the tourney , coaches still ask John how the team is doing because of how dominant they were , the team consisted of at the time of 8th and 9th graders : Carson Taumoepeau (Mt. Carmel) , Miles Wingfield (Poway) , Marquez White (Poway) , Desmond Taua (Vista) , Troy Faulkner (Mission Hills) , Willie Blanco (Olympian) and Jaylin Mocrief (Oceanside) . What John and his brother find most rewarding about their program is the family environment , John Says “ It’s really our class of 2020 and 2021 families that have spread the word about our program. What started from 10 kids in now about 100 kids with multiple teams and coaches. What my brother and find most rewarding is the community and families and how everyone rallies around each other. Covid – 19 put a lock down on our tournaments and our families are used to spending about 6 months on the road to various events having a great time. While its been tough to get athletic events going due to the pandemic High Intensity is starting to get going again with the High School season being postponed and the State allowing more athletic activities.
High Intensity’s first High School senior class included talented players Josh Butler (Poway) , DJ Owens (Poway) , Willie Blanco (Poway) , Marquez White (Mt. Carmel) , Ty Virgin (Mt. Carmel / Azusa Pacific) , Jake Ventimiglia (Mt. Carmel) , Bryan Benavente (Mt. Carmel) , Desmond Taua (Vista / USD ) , Kiki Laie (Oceanside/ Southern Utah) and Jaylin Moncrief (Oceanside) .
The Current High Intensity team was having a good year going 5-1 at the Pylon Mesquite tournament and overall 11-3 before they had to shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic , they had many more tournaments planned in Arizona and tours to Arizona State University and the University of Arizona . The current team included 3 ⭐️ Mt. Carmel QB Carson Taumoepeau, 3 ⭐️ Poway WR Vance Jefferson , Maxwell Jefferson (Poway) , Tyson Chavez (Mission Hills) , Jayden Virgin (Mt. Carmel) , Patrick Suggs (Mt. Carmel) , Amir Adams (Mt.Carmel) , Hunter Ledesma (Mt.Carmel) , Luke Sevier (Mt. Carmel) , Quinn Cortes (Poway) , Makai Herrero (Poway) , Eric Grant (Poway) , Fabian Enciso (Mission Hills) , Marcos Henry (Mission Hills) , Jayden Williams (Mission Hills) , Troy Faulkner (Mission Hills) , Christopher Dartey (Rancho Bernardo) and Matt Glogowski (Rancho Bernardo) . The team has been able to participate in some 7 on 7 games recently and QB Carson Taumoepeau and WR Vance Jefferson have been a lethal connection .
The Taumoepeau brothers have done an incredible job building a great program in High Intensity that is growing each year and serves a great purpose to the youth , they love being part of the community in San Diego , John states “I have a ton of respect for what many of the programs that have been doing it longer than we have on the 7v7 circuit. Seven60, Energy , Makasi, Fastcamp, Dream Chasers, SD Elite are all great 7v7 programs and I am always rooting for these guys when I see them compete because I know we have a tremendous amount of talent here in San Diego” it is an exciting time for these programs .
