Cardinals feel 3-year rebuild is set to pay off
Cardinals feel 3-year rebuild is set to pay off
Every year, no matter the sport or the level, there’s always talk about some team being in “rebuilding” mode and finding out what, or who, works for them. Usually referring to an indefinite time period, rebuilding almost becomes a negative, disinteresting label for a team’s future.
But after three years of constructing a new program from the ground up, Matt Mendonca, now in his fourth year as Lindsay High School’s head football coach, said the team’s ready to reap the rewards of a three-year long rebuilding process that has only produced back-to-back 3-2 East Sequoia League records and three winless trips to the CIF Central Section Division V playoffs.
“It’s not even close to what it has been, we’re starting to see the fruits of that labor,” Mendonca said. “We’re farther along then we’ve ever been with our schemes. It’s the strongest team I’ve ever had as far as strength totals in the weight room. This year we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. There’s no more — this is where we are. This is what we envisioned four years ago. We’re right on track to where we need to be.”
Lindsay, who went 4-7 on the overall season with a 3-2 East Sequoia League record, opens the season at home Friday against California City at 7 p.m. Last season the CIF Central Section Division VI Ravens went 1-2 in the High Desert League and finished with a 5-6 overall record.
Aiding the Cardinals in their run for possibly the strongest season under Mendonca since a 6-5 season in 2016 is the fact that Lindsay returns experienced varsity players to both sides of their line and have the depth necessary for a starting offensive and defensive line, as well as backups for a number positions across the board.
Two of their most experienced returners are last season’s firstteam defensive end, junior Israel Trujillo, and last season’s
second-team ALL-ESL left tackle, junior Jose Garcia.
“Israel Trujillo was our Most Valuable Player on defense last year,” Mendonca said. “So, he’s added 15 pounds, he’s running a heck of a lot faster. He’s stronger than he’s ever been in his life, and that’s coming off an All-league season. We’re expecting huge things out of him.”
On Garcia, Mendonca added, “He’s just transformed himself into a monster. He’s our most physical guy by far. He’s that guy that likes to mix it up. He likes to get dirty, he likes to get nasty, he likes the contact…and he’s just grown another 2 inches, he’s added 20 pounds, and he’s really strong in the weight room.”
Finding his way back to the Cardinals this season is junior quarterback Ethan Natera, who returned from Hanford West to Lindsay and won the starting position over last season’s backup quarterback, Julian Avalos, who went 28-of-56 for 547 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions through 11 games. With the Huskies (4-8, 0-6 West Yosemite League), Natera completed 162-of-264 passes for 1,921 yards and 17 touchdowns but had 15 interceptions.
Although Lindsay threw for 1,418 yards and 16 touchdowns, one of their most consistently successful areas was their run game, where graduate Ethan Duran rushed for 1,136 yards and seven touchdowns on 229 carries. This season junior running back, Daniel Trujillo, will look to pick up most of the Cardinals’ carries and make some noise as well.
“We are expecting huge things out of him,” Mendonca said. “He is just a hard worker and he has a different skill set than Ethan does so it’s going to be nice to see a little difference back there because Ethan’s been our running back for three years… but Danny Trujillo is explosive and he’s a really good football player. So we’re expecting to be able to run the ball for a lot of yards.”
One of the most seasoned returners for the Cardinals is senior Aundrey Tapia, who was a first-team defensive back and one of the team’s top receivers. Last season Tapia recorded 187 yards and four touchdowns on 13 receptions and was the team’s second leading receiver. According to Mendonca, Tapia is also one of the smartest players on the field.
“He knows our offense just as good as some of our coaches do because he’s been in it for four years,” Mendonca said. “And he’s just super smart when it comes to all the intricacies and nuances of the game… Our expectations of Aundrey are the same as they’ve been since his sophomore year. We expect production out of him and we expect him to be a leader on this field.”
Tapia said that once he’s learned something, he knows it and rarely forgets. He went on to say that while he’s going to cherish his final season, the team is expecting a lot out of themselves this year.
“We want to accomplish a lot,” Tapia said. “Our team wants to win. They want a championship, they want the bell back [from Strathmore]. They want [to win] league, they want a lot of stuff. We have a lot to redeem [and] I feel like we have the best chance to do that this year with the team we’ve got.
Last year Lindsay finished tied for second with Granite Hills (83, 3-2 ESL) and Sierra Pacific (4-7, 3-2 ESL) after losing their thirdstraight rivalry Bell Game to eventual ESL, Div. VI Valley and CIF State champions - undefeated Strathmore (16-0, 5-0 ESL). In another race to the ESL finish line, Mendonca said it’s too early to predict where the team will finish but it’s a wide-open race.
“I don’t know who’s going to win the league,” Mendonca said. “It’s going come down to a little bit of luck, it’s going to come down to a couple of plays during the games. I think our league is wide open. I think Strathmore, deservedly so, should be the favorite because of what they’ve done. I think it’s up for grabs.”