When the Anzar High football team takes the field to play host Fresno Christian on Friday, Hawks coach Luis Espinoza will be a bundle of nerves.
There’s a good reason why—Anzar is 0-3 in season-openers since the school launched a football program four years ago.
“That’s why I’m a little nervous,” said Espinoza, whose team went 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the 8-man Mission Trail League standings last season. “For one reason or another, we haven’t been able to win our first game.”
Perhaps the fourth time will be the charm. Anzar has shown tremendous progress since the program’s inception, and the 2014 campaign should be its best yet. If the Hawks have their way, they’ll be pounding teams into submission behind a stout offensive line and running backs Angel Jimenez and Izaac Ornelas.
“Our veer (offense) has been two years in the making,” Espinoza said. “Our offensive line is looking good and so is our defensive line.”
Izaiah Ornelas, a senior left guard/defensive tackle and Izaac’s twin brother, said competing in a couple of camps over the summer helped him get stronger.
“We had some linemen competitions for strength and conditioning, where we pushed a sled or rolled a huge barrel through sand, stuff like that,” he said. “This year I was focused on getting faster, and I think I’ve done that.”
Even though this will be Anzar’s season-opener, it will be the third game for Fresno Christian, which opened up the season with a 36-8 loss to Orcutt Academy before rebounding with a 40-26 win over Coast Union-Cambria last week.
The Hawks are making the two-hour drive to Fresno because their original opponent, El Sobrante, couldn’t field a team this year. Turned out El Sobrante was also slated to play Fresno Christian, which called Espinoza to schedule a two-game set (Fresno Christian plays at Anzar next season).
On and off the field, Anzar has been resourceful. Like many schools with small enrollments, Anzar doesn’t have access to a school bus that can take the entire team to road games.
So whenever the team travels to away games, it rents a charter bus because it doesn’t cost that much more than a school bus. Anzar holds fundraisers throughout the year—including a fireworks show and two barbeques—to pay for its transportation and the portable lights for its home games.
Speaking of which, the Hawks, who played only one 7 p.m. home game a year ago, are starting all five home games this season at 7.
“We wanted to make it possible to get as many fans out here as possible,” Espinoza said. “Hopefully we can give our fans a great show.”
