FOOTBALL SPORT SHORTS, 2015

For a preview to the Eagles football season and a look at their scores so far, check out the Fall sport box scores, 2015, for dates, scores, and all fall sports as well as profiles in the Athletics section of The Feather Online.

Also, please be sure to check out the Eagles’ schedule for the upcoming season at Max Preps. FC is currently 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the Central Sierra League as of Aug. 31. FC’s next game will be on Sept. 4, as the Eagles play Coast Union in Cambria.

FOOTBALL SPORTS SHORTS, 2015
Rough Start for the Eagles, Aug. 28

Throughout the San Joaquin Valley football teams met for the first game of the year. Edison hosted the Buchanan Bears, Clovis West played the Merced Bears, and Fresno Christian faced the Orcutt Spartans, Aug. 28. The game started at 7 p.m., with families, alumni, and students filling up the stands and field alike.

The game was commenced with a solo of the national anthem by freshman Macie Thompson, with this out of the way, a word of prayer was spoken, and the game began. The kickoff was the first of many to come, and hopefully, ending in a different manner. Within the first few minutes, spectators began to understand the type of game to come. FC fans came out to see an incredible game, yet they were to be disappointed.

The Eagles struggled immediately out of the gate. Miss thrown passes, receivers dropping the balls, and corners not covering their players closely enough. Along with these mistakes, the Eagles struggled as their list of injuries started to rack up. Within the first few plays, junior Julian Castro was down, and later it was discovered he obtained a broken ankle, Tyler Villines was hit hard on a kick return, not returning back for the rest of the game, and lastly Slater Wade tore his calf. These injuries along with seniors Christopher Kollenkark, Bailey Brogan, and Caleb Goodale out due to injuries lead to a struggling team.

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By the time half time arrived, the Eagles were down by 28 and had yet to points on the scoreboard for themselves. After a show by the FC cheerleaders, the team came back on to the field, and within the first couple of minutes, the Eagles scored. The tables had hopefully shifted, yet this was not to be, and the Eagles defense and offense couldn’t pull themselves back together. The downhill battle continued on, and by the end, the Eagles lost their first game, 55-6.

Head Coach Mick Fuller was disheartened by the game, however he knows the team has plenty of work to do.

“It was a frustrating and humbling experience,” Fuller said. “We didn’t play with consistency on either side of the ball. We made some very good plays but we then followed those up with mistakes and bad plays. It is a challenge to rearrange personnel to replace first string players who are out with injuries. It will be good for the team in the long term for the players lower on the depth chart to get playing time and experience. However, in the near term, they must learn quickly and some are not quite ready to contribute effectively in game situations against veteran opponents. As a team we are learning to reconcile our expectations for the season with the realities and obstacles in our path and adapt to the circumstances we face.”

Daniel Ayers thought he played well, however the team needs to work on their positioning.

“Personally I thought I did pretty well in the game,” Ayers said. I played my best, working as hard as I could, but we all need to work on stuff. We need to get our positioning better than what it was on Friday, if we had, everything would have went a lot more smoothly. Hopefully for the upcoming games we can heal up, and bring the majority of our first string back onto the starting lineup.”

Sophomore Tyler Villines is hopeful for the future games and for the team to work out the many kinks in their team.

“At the beginning of the game when I first saw how aggressive they were I was rather timid,” Villines said. “However when it came for the punt return, I was ready yet when I looked down to see where I would run all I saw were white jersey’s. As a team we just need to work on our communication so these things don’t happen and work on memorizing our plays. Hopefully without a lot more communication and memorization we can take the win next week.”

The special thing about FC is the sense of community. One can see this from their seat in the stands. Off to the side of the football field, children play soccer, and football, enjoying the time together in a friendly environment. Alumni visit and talk with old friends catching up on old times. Despite what happens on the field, families, alumni, and students alike will enjoy their time at the Friday night Football games.

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The Eagles next game will be at Coast Union on Sept. 4, along with the game, the Beach Trip will accompany this game. For those who wish to sign up, check out the article, Beach Promo for more information.

For more sports, check out the article, Football promo 2015.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @J0sh_Carter and via email: [email protected].