Three weeks after back-to-back season opening losses, the Anzar football team is ready to turn the page on the program’s second season, head coach Luis Espinoza said.
That next step will take place during the team’s first home game of the year at 6 p.m. Friday in San Juan Bautista. The home opener against Stuart Hall will also serve as the team’s first game in the Mission Trial 8-man season.
The Knights enter the contest with a 2-1 record after dispatching Trinity Christian 52-28 Saturday. Stuart Hall is led by a pair of runners, who avearge more than eight yards per carry.
Senior quarterback Trayvon Hicks has rushed for 604 yards and eight touchdowns on 68 carries. Through the air, Hicks has thrown for 167 yards and three touchdowns. He is complemented by junior running back Ethan Hankins, who has rushed for 279 yards on 34 carries.
“We know we have to stop him,” Espinoza said. “Once we can stop him we can make it game.”
The Hawks will have that ability thanks to a strong linebacker group led by Joseph Banuelos, who has a team-high 26 tackles. To be successful, though, Anzar will need big games from Andres Munoz, Jacob Imlay and Matt Yarborough.
“We have to do what we have to do as a team,” Espinoza said. “Work on our stuff and hopefully come out with a win. We’ve seen a lot of improvement. We went back to tackling circuits the last two week and we’ve tweaked a lot of our plays. On defense, we are swarming to the football.”
He continued: “Just pretty much, they are working hard and just trying to make sure they learn to focus on what they are doing. We want them to focus on what they have in front of them.”
Offensively, the team is still waiting for a big play, Espinoza said.
“We are still trying on offense to get that one play,” he said. “We want to get through there and make something happen.”
The Hawks will use an array of runners, including quarterback Jeremy Cedeno and Gabriel Hatcher, to push their offense.
With their first game on the horizon, Espinoza is trying to calm their noticeable nerves.
“The nerves are there and we’ve noticed it this week,” Espinoza said. “We are trying to have them work hard. We are doing a lot of different things. We are trying just to work hard.”
