It’s guaranteed to be a memorable year for the LBCC football program.
The Vikings will open the season on August 29 against Riverside, with a 4pm game at Veterans Memorial Stadium. That may sound like a normal occurrence for the Vikings, and on their official schedule it doesn’t look much different than the way many seasons have started over the last century.
But the game will carry some extra weight for LBCC fans and the larger Long Beach sports community, because it will be the last game ever played at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Long Beach’s cathedral of football will be demolished a few days later, making way for a new state-of-the-art Vets in 2029.
“It’s helped us with this team because we’re getting the players to see the history,” said Vikings coach Marques Cooper. “A lot of times this generation doesn’t know about the history, they just throw on jerseys. So this has given us a time to let the guys know the history, and they’re interested in it. We’re letting them know the name on their jersey actually means something, bringing alumni back–it gives them pride and it makes them want to play harder.”
Longtime Vikings assistant coach Neo Aoga was the quarterback of the school’s last national championship team back in 1994, and has been one of the alums speaking to the team about history, Cooper said.
After their opener, the Vikings will play their remaining four home games this year at St. Anthony’s Clark Field, which is just up the street. The team will continue to practice and train at LBCC, where they’ll use one of the newly-upgraded turf soccer fields as a practice field. The Vikings had looked at a number of options before settling on Clark Field, which Cooper said he was pleased with as a temporary home for his team the next few seasons.
“It’s good logistically because it’s just up the street, it’s easy to move back and forth,” he said.
As for the team on the field, the Vikings were a young squad last year that may have overachieved a little with a 3-7 record.
What Cooper and his team pulled off that season was bigger than wins and losses–a late cycle coaching change from Brett Peabody to Cooper and swirling rumors that the program might be shut down temporarily severely impacted the team’s ability to recruit and prepare for the season. Asked what the biggest difference was going into this year, Cooper laughed.
“Just having a chance to recruit in the offseason helped,” he said. “We had a young team last year, having them go through spring ball, a whole year to improve. We’re a totally different team and they’re totally different players than they were when they first got here.”
As for the team on the field, there are going to be plenty of familiar faces for the Vikings with so much talent back. Defensive lineman Knockia Wynter was an all-state player for the Vikings last year and the 6-3 270-pound Tennessee native is back leading the way this year; he’ll be joined by edge rusher Chinedu Onyeagoro, a King Drew alum who bounced back from the University of North Carolina.
Linebacker Levar Talley is another returner who’s a real leader on defense and was a terror last year as an aggressive, physical player. A Santa Margarita alum who bounced back from Nevada, Talley agreed with his coach that the last year at Vets is making this season mean a little more to the Vikings.
“All the people that came before us held a standard, and we’re trying to abide by that standard every single day,” he said. “That’s high intensity, high passion–they were dogs, so we got to come in and be dogs, too.”
The Vikings will also feature DB Catron Hargrove again this year after an all-conference season last year.
Offensively, the Vikings have no shortage of talent with a few different guys battling it out under center right now and plenty of skill players as well. Out of the backfield they have a pair of standouts in Lynnden Hodge, who grew a ton over last season, and Bosco alum Khalil Warren, who had to sit last year but is looking like a leader in 2026.
One thing is clear talking to the Vikings: they love their coach.
“I think he’s not even just a coach,” said Hodge. “He’s really like family to us. He sets the expectations and then we try to go and meet them.”
His backfield-mate Warren agreed.
“He has a genuine bond with all of us, I’d do anything for him,” he said. “If he tells me to run through a brick wall, I’m running through it.”
Cooper isn’t asking anyone to run through a brick wall–just to play hard and deal with construction displacing his team. But he likes the attitude of his Vikings and is excited to see how the season gets going.
“Last year gave them a lot of confidence,” he said. “I think we’ve rolled that into a great Spring and now a great Fall camp–they’re hungry.”
2026 LBCC Football Schedule
8/29 — vs. Riverside, 4pm (Last Game for Veterans Memorial Stadium)
9/5 — at Mt. San Jacinto, 6pm
9/12 — at Southwestern, 2pm
9/19 — vs. Santa Barbara, 4pm (Clark Field)
9/26 — at Hancock, 1pm
10/3 — BYE
10/10 — vs. Citrus, 4pm (Clark Field)
10/17 — at Santa Ana, 1pm
10/24 — vs. Mt. SAC, 4pm (Clark Field)
10/31 — at Ventura, 6pm
11/7 — vs. Moorpark, 4pm (Clark Field)
11/14-12/12 CCCAA State Playoffs
