Lindsay football to return healthy
Good things can happen when the starting lineup is healthy.
Editors Note: Lindsay is hopeful to improve on last season. This is the fourth of five football previews.
Good things can happen when the starting lineup is healthy.
The Lindsay High School varsity football team will return to action this week with a road game against Exeter, and this could be a vision into how last season could have been.
The Cardinals started five different quarterbacks last season. Senior Thomas Flores started the first game last season against Exeter, but he didn’t finish the game after breaking his collarbone. He wants to now make up for lost time.
“I want to try to beat Exeter,” he said. “I just want to come back this year. I’m healthy and I’m ready.”
Considering how much turnover there was at quarterback, it was commendable that the Cardinals even made the postseason after going 4-7 overall. Though Lindsay was hammered by Caruthers in the first round of the CIF Central Section Division V first round of the postseason, the Cardinals still made it to that point.
Flores will be playing behind an offensive line that returns six players from last year, and the line is quite large. It includes senior tackle Pedro Avila, a kid who has attracted Division I interest from schools such as UC Davis and Utah State.
“That’s something every kid wants, you know?” he said. “Every kid growing up, playing football, that’s the dream right there.”
Avila also plays middle linebacker, and is certainly built for the role. He’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 250 lbs. Since he began playing football in the eighth grade, Avila said he hasn’t taken a day off. If he’s not on the football field, he’s in the weight room. He is joined by other large bodies on the line, such as senior guard Antonio Campos, who put on 25 pounds over the offseason, and 6-foot-3 transfer Mario Medina.
“I feel protected,” Flores said. “They have my back and I somehow have theirs.”
Other important pieces returning are senior utilityman Sal Rivera, who seemed to play everywhere last season, and running back Ethan Duran. All-east Sequoia League safety Albert Vasquez will also return. Sophomore wide receiver Andre Tapia will have a role this year as well.
Last season’s midseason sparkplug, Jeru Starks, will not return this season, though. Neither will RJ Rueda or Jason Hernandez.
This will be head coach Matt Mendonca’s second season with the program, and he said things are much different than last year because the kids already know who he is and what he expects from this program.
“Now that we’ve established the program expectations,” he said, “it’s been a lot better and easier to get going.”
Lindsay will begin its season with Exeter on
Friday at 7 p.m. ESL action begins with a home game against Woodlake on Oct. 21. The Cardinals will face arch rival Strathmore in Strathmore on Nov. 4 at 7:15 p.m.
The Cardinals are expecting big things for themselves this season,
if they stay healthy.
We’re expecting a successful season,” Mendonca said. “Anything less than a playoff win or two is going to be a failure for us.”
“I want to come back this year and rub it in their faces,” Flores said. “Get that Valley ring.”