2008 Woodie Awards
Football team has high hopes for season
Darren Rous
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Sports
While the rest of De Anza College's student body was enjoying its final days of summer, the football team was lifting weights, running sprints and perfecting plays in preparation for the season.
Last year the Dons football team finished the season with a five hundred winning percentage and the best record a De Anza football team has had since 1990. The Cinderella season ended abruptly in a overtime loss to Gavilan in the last game of the season and their dreams of playing in a bowl game were shattered.
Coming off of last year's heroic turnaround, De Anza's football team had high hopes for the upcoming season both on the field and off. Coach Dan Atencio has made it clear to his athletes that he expects his team to not only qualify for a bowl game this season, but to also carry a GPA above 3.0.
As De Anza's football team prepared to play Yuba last week, their season entered an early snag. Going into the fifth game of the season, the team featured a 1-3 record, but their record did not reflect their talent. In the first game of the season the Dons lost to the College of Sequoias. After the second game against American River College, the Dons found themselves winless in two tries. The Dons summer of hard work finally paid off in week 3 when they defeated the College of Marin. In the home opener, the football team found themselves with several opportunities to come out victorious against College of the Redwoods, but turnovers and failing to execute in the redzone found them on the short end of a 44-10 score.
"We like to set our schedule up to play the best teams of the area," said Head Coach Atencio. He said that by playing the highest quality of teams available, the team will be better prepared when conference rolls around.
In college football, a bowl game is the equivalent to a one game playoff where the schools play for pride and prestige. The coast conference is made up five teams, and the winner gets an automatic bid in a bowl game, making the season's success highly dependent the coast conference games. The first of the four games is going to be De Anza's homecoming game on Oct. 13 against San Jose City College. With so few conference games to play, perfection is mandatory, but perfection on the field doesn't always transfer off the field.
To help the athletes, Counselor Matt Trosper and Atencio have set up a "Writing in the End Zone" program taught by English instructor Anthony Delaney that focuses on helping student athletes with writing techniques. All football players are required to be in class, arrive on time, sit in the front two rows of class, and attend the class for its entire length. By setting these high standards, Atencio hopes to set the men up with life skills after football.
"I always have coaches from big colleges calling asking for a list of my sophomores who can take their game to the next level," said Atencio.
Before players can think about where they plan to transfer and play in the upcoming years, they will have to finish this season, which will consist of six more games, including the most important four of the season.
Last year the Dons football team finished the season with a five hundred winning percentage and the best record a De Anza football team has had since 1990. The Cinderella season ended abruptly in a overtime loss to Gavilan in the last game of the season and their dreams of playing in a bowl game were shattered.
Coming off of last year's heroic turnaround, De Anza's football team had high hopes for the upcoming season both on the field and off. Coach Dan Atencio has made it clear to his athletes that he expects his team to not only qualify for a bowl game this season, but to also carry a GPA above 3.0.
As De Anza's football team prepared to play Yuba last week, their season entered an early snag. Going into the fifth game of the season, the team featured a 1-3 record, but their record did not reflect their talent. In the first game of the season the Dons lost to the College of Sequoias. After the second game against American River College, the Dons found themselves winless in two tries. The Dons summer of hard work finally paid off in week 3 when they defeated the College of Marin. In the home opener, the football team found themselves with several opportunities to come out victorious against College of the Redwoods, but turnovers and failing to execute in the redzone found them on the short end of a 44-10 score.
"We like to set our schedule up to play the best teams of the area," said Head Coach Atencio. He said that by playing the highest quality of teams available, the team will be better prepared when conference rolls around.
In college football, a bowl game is the equivalent to a one game playoff where the schools play for pride and prestige. The coast conference is made up five teams, and the winner gets an automatic bid in a bowl game, making the season's success highly dependent the coast conference games. The first of the four games is going to be De Anza's homecoming game on Oct. 13 against San Jose City College. With so few conference games to play, perfection is mandatory, but perfection on the field doesn't always transfer off the field.
To help the athletes, Counselor Matt Trosper and Atencio have set up a "Writing in the End Zone" program taught by English instructor Anthony Delaney that focuses on helping student athletes with writing techniques. All football players are required to be in class, arrive on time, sit in the front two rows of class, and attend the class for its entire length. By setting these high standards, Atencio hopes to set the men up with life skills after football.
"I always have coaches from big colleges calling asking for a list of my sophomores who can take their game to the next level," said Atencio.
Before players can think about where they plan to transfer and play in the upcoming years, they will have to finish this season, which will consist of six more games, including the most important four of the season.
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