The Varsity football team went into their last game against Alta Loma with a record of 5-4, hoping to continue into the CIF playoffs after winning the league title and their Battle of the Bone game against Chino Hills High School, and successfully beat the Braves after last Friday’s game, going into the tournament to play on the upcoming Friday at home.
Players and coaches reflect on their achievements from this 2023 season and share insight on their hopes for the future. Sophomore and cornerback, Dawaun Nettingham, also known as Dee, shared his insight on the team and his game this season.
“My biggest personal accomplishment is being the lead player in interceptions this year,” Nettingham said. “I don’t think the season went exactly how I expected it to because I believe we should have won more games but we just have to get better week by week.”
All winning teams always do have room for improvement, even our Bulldogs. Players such as junior Maximus Barroso, starting quarterback, shared some words for how their team will get better for future seasons.
“Some things we’ve been doing well are improving week by week and we’re gonna continue to do that for the playoffs and hopefully make a good run,” Barroso states. Varsity head Coach Arthur James Gracia coincides with Max’s statements adding to the goals of improvement.
“The weight room is always there every year,” Gracia states. “We’re gonna keep going and do speed training so we make sure we’re bigger, faster, and stronger for next year.”
All players have personal goals for themselves. For Nettingham and Barroso, they share their own personal goals to help their team hopefully win the league title next year as well.
“For my future seasons, I am looking to get a couple offers and a couple D1 offers by senior year,” Nettingham states. “Some goals I have for next season is to again lead in interceptions and also lead in tackles. I’m aiming to lead in multiple things to become a better player overall.”
“I think a personal improvement I could make for next season is having more passing touchdowns,” Barroso shares. “Some goals I hope to achieve for next season is being all league quarterback, which is one goal I have for the next two years.”
With many accomplishments achieved this season, the varsity football team, like any other team, pushed their way through all hindrances, including injuries, to help boost their way to winning the league title, and getting ready to hopefully compete in the CIF playoffs.
“Every year we’re gonna have injuries that come up, so we’ve had a couple of those injuries that we have to work through and overcome from week to week,” Gracia states. “We were gonna lose some games, and seeing us overcome those loses and learning from them and winning the league title I think is very impressive and for that I’m very proud of the team.”
With hopes for the playoffs, Gracia also shares the importance of good teammates, saying how seniors, part of the varsity team, have stepped up helping younger teammates and standing as role models for upcoming seniors to look up to. He additionally provided insight on their team’s biggest strength this year.
“With our young quarterbacks getting better each week, our passing game started to develop, and overall we slowly started becoming a complete team,” Gracia states. “I think this season with this young group is gonna get us prepared for that but for right now we’re just trying to beat Alta Loma, and make the playoffs.”
After last Friday’s game, our Bulldogs beat the Alta Loma Braves finishing their overall record to 6-4.
Varsity football’s 2023-2024 season, with their league title win and Battle of the Bone win, allowed them to prepare themselves for the CIF playoffs, also allowing players and coaches to reflect on their accomplishments and hopes for the future. With this team, the Bulldogs hope to achieve many more of their goals in their next seasons ahead of them.
