‘It’s going to be electric’: S.F. teams ready to take field
Balboa football player Antonio Artola called it “horrible,” and “depressing.”
He tried not to dwell on being part of the only section and league in California to not play high school football in the 202021 school year — but at times, he felt weak.
“I tried to stay strong,” said the 6-foot, 190-pound senior receiver and defensive back, “but it was tough. Other neighboring schools and kids were playing. It wasn’t fair, but there was nothing we could do about it. It was out of our control. I’d give in and lay down. Play video games.”
Eventually, Artola got outside. Soaked in the air and envisioned a day back on the field, with his teammates, preparing for an upcoming game — like he has done for the past two weeks.
The Buccaneers play their first game since 2019 on Sept. 4 at home against Skyline-Oakland. Four other Academic Athletic Association teams begin the season Friday and Saturday.
Idle time for San Francisco Section football is over after roughly a 21-month absence because of the pandemic and restrictions issued by the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Unified School District.
No California Interscholastic Federation section played football last fall; all but the SFS had partial spring seasons.
“There hasn’t been a day that has gone by since the (2019) Turkey Day Game I haven’t dreamed about getting on the field and playing against another team,” Artola said. “It’s going to be electric.”
Fourth-year Balboa coach Fred Velasquez sees the excitement of his players, but warns cohesion, conditioning and even participation is going to take extra time. With 37 varsity players, Balboa is the highwater mark for AAA schools. The season lost, however, set back the program and the league.
“The kids are definitely excited,” Velasquez said, “but put yourself in their shoes: They were locked up for more than a year. They couldn’t play. They couldn’t come on campus. A lot of kids put on a lot of weight. Some up to 30 pounds. While we’re all fired up to have this season, from top to bottom, it’s gonna take some extra work.”
Five of the leagu’s seven coaches — Velasquez, Phil Ferrigno (Lincoln, 18 seasons), Andy Chan (Lowell, 17), Duane Breaux (Burton, 8) and Tobias Whitley (Mission, 4) — are no strangers to the extra work needed to succeed in the AAA. New to the AAA are Nick Naudain (Galileo) and Mike Gatmen (Washington).
Ferrigno, who led the Mustangs to State Bowl championships in 2018 and 2019, is fighting eligibility issues to ramp up his numbers, though he was pleased with the team’s showing at last week’s scrimmage with Terra Linda-San Rafael and Richmond. “We played with great intensity, but we have a lot of technical work ahead of us,” said Ferrigno, who has 16 eligible players heading into Friday’s opener at Jefferson-Daly City. “We need to stay healthy.”
Whitley’s squad is healthy at 27 strong. He coached Sacred Heart Cathedral’s defensive backs last spring while waiting for football to come back to Mission. “Our guys are really anxious and excited,” he said. “Most came back out of shape, but they have been working hard to get back in it. … I’m not sure our guys took a step back as much as it made them want to be better when it was time for them to play again.”
Naudain, an All-AAA linebacker for Galileo in 1997, returned to his alma mater in 2020 after leading Redwood-Larkspur to three straight juniorvarsity league titles. He felt prepared to turn around the Lions from an 0-10 season in 2019, but the pandemic put his plans on hold. Numbers from spring workouts have increased from six to 48 in the program.
“We had a bunch of seniors who were hungry but didn’t get their shot to be great,” Naudain said. “The juniors from that team now really realize that this is their shot. They’re even hungrier.”
AAA openers: Friday — Lincoln at Jefferson and Galileo at Santa Clara, 7 p.m.; Mission at Oakland Tech, 7:30 p.m. Saturday — Washington at San Lorenzo Valley-Felton, 2 p.m.; Sept. 4 — Lowell at WilliamsSan Anselmo and Skyline at Balboa, 2 p.m.; Sept 10 — Burton at Monta Vista-Cupertino, 6 p.m.
Key players: Balboa — Artola, OL Santiago Alvarez, RB-LB Donatae’ Allen-Wilson, RB-SS Ben Norori, WR-CB Nick Wong; Galileo — WR Erwin Bissay, OL Omar Dardon, WR Ja’Quae Fells; Lincoln — FB-LB Kennan Grant, TE-LB Dan O’Connell, OL-DL Timo Tua, OLB-ATH Ricky Underwood; Lowell — LB Nikolai Hungate, QB Reese Miller; Mission — WR-LB Isiah Burns, RB-LB Ayinde Hamilton, RB-LB Lonell Howard, QB Kenneth Sanford, RB-DB Charles Webb.