Freshman Sensation: Ethan Mendonca

Freshman football player Ethan Mendonca ‘29, had a stellar season, from starting off on the bench on varsity to becoming a superstar on JV. With impressive interceptions, touchdowns, and big plays, the young player showed he can play both ways.

By: Fabian Anguiano

Coming into football as a freshman can be pretty scary; it is a whole other level of play.

Mendonca says his expectations for himself coming into football as a freshman was “to do pretty good, I didn’t really know what team I was gonna be playing for, JV, varsity, or freshman, I was just expecting to kind of just go in there and get some playing time.”

Mendonca has been able to master his technique by, “working a lot on my pedaling and my footwork. If you get the technique right, you’re gonna be able to make a lot of plays.” 

He says, “I need to be able to tackle better, I need to be able to hit harder.”

Mendonca was brought back up to varsity for playoffs, he says his reaction to that was, “pretty excited at first, I was happy. I was kind of expecting to go back up because I was there before, but I was also relieved that I got brought back up.”

Although Mendonca did not see any playing time against San Luis Obispo, he did learn from his teammates, “All the DB’s played good, I think as a defense we had five interceptions,” said Mendonca.

Mendonca’s experience witnessing the loss against Bakersfield was heartbreaking, he says, “It was a bad experience, losing is never fun, next year we’re not gonna lose.”

He says his goal for himself next year is to “be able to start and make plays.”

JV football head coach Jacob Huerta shared how he thinks Mendonca performed his freshman season while on JV.

“To me, he had an outstanding year. I didn’t really know; I never really watched him play, didn’t really know how he was on varsity. Just by talking with the defensive coordinator (Coach Clements).”

Being on varsity off the bat as a freshman is impressive, but it doesn’t necessarily mean playing time is included.

“They really liked him, but they wanted him to get playing time, and he really wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time with them during the season. So when he came back down to us, immediately, you can see he knew what he was doing, he’s the son of a coach, so that helps,” said Huerta.

Mendonca shone once he went down to JV, “He made a lot of very good plays for us, in big games, I think that’s the key, against Golden West,” said Huerta. “He ran a kickoff back that was probably for the league title, because they are one of the best teams in our league, and so it was a close game and for him to do that was huge to get us started.”

Mendonca showed up when it mattered most. Huerta says, “Against Whitney, their JV team was very competitive, and he got a pick-six to put us on the board first, and at halftime, it was close, it was only seven-zero. And it was because of his interception for a touchdown. He probably only had seven or eight interceptions the whole year, and he only played six or seven games.”

Mendonca’s hard work did not go unnoticed, “He was our defensive MVP, so that’s saying a lot, as well as not only me, but the rest of the defensive coaches, what we think about him,” said Huerta. “So, I’d say he did very well at the JV level.”

On the things Ethan can improve on, Coach Huerta says, “Oh, just like anybody else, he needs to get bigger, faster, stronger. That just comes over time, putting in work and stuff like that, but I can see him as a sophomore being a big contributor on varsity next year, because now he understands the system.”

“He knows what they expect of him, and the coaches know what he can do,” said Huerta. “Again, it’s just him putting work in the off-season, getting bigger, faster, stronger. Man, he has a lot of potential.”

Mendonca can play both ways, Huerta says, “Not only on defense, of course, but also on offense too. He scored a couple of touchdowns on offense this year for us as a receiver, and, like I said on special teams, he’s a player that can affect the game at all three levels.”

Coach Huerta had more to say about this promising three-way juggernaut, saying, “He’s a really good young man, in terms of really respectful to the coaches to the other players, and I think some of the players are starting to see.”

“There’s an old saying ‘game recognizes game’ and to think some of those players are thinking ‘oh I don’t know about this guy’ or whatever,” said Huerta. “But then you see it in practice, him making plays in practice, him making interceptions and tackles.” 

Hardwork in during practice is crucial, Huerta says “You see it get carried over to the game, and I think that’s what won a lot of people over, especially his teammates.”

“I think again they say ‘wow that guy is good’, and I’m just glad that he’s a ranger and I’m looking forward to seeing him in the future. I think the sky’s the limit for him and he’s only going to get better and better every year,” said Huerta.

JV defensive coordinator Rick Garcia’s says “when he was brought down from varsity, I kind of thought that obviously they took him up for a particular reason, athleticism wise and his vision. But when I first got to see him, he was like an all around athlete. He was able to have good vision, he was not afraid to tackle. He was a good listener, he listened to his coaches.”

Coach Garcia pointed out Mendonca’s strengths, a weakness he had was, “ celebrating on the field from the start of the season to the end.”

 Ethan did not only evolve as a player, he evolved as a person.

“He evolved himself as a leader type and somebody that you can count on, somebody that you can depend on,” said Garcia. “I know there was a couple of times that he played hurt, he played with the vision, he doesn’t want to lose, and for a coach to see those things, it’s tremendously gifted to us, to a kid like that.”

Mendonca would get elevated back up to varsity once again for playoffs, Coach Garcia thinks what led to this was, “His ability to get the opportunity to play, obviously, varsity had some good players up top as well and not being able to play, I think would have made some small adjustments for him.”

Getting sent back down to JV isn’t always a bad thing, Garcia says, “I think the opportunity that the coaches up top sent him down to play, gave him that opportunity and that ability to play on the field, and he did tremendous. I believe he’s able to compete now with some of those kids up top, or replace the new kids that are leaving as seniors and him coming in as a sophomore.”

“Be careful. He has a good vision. You know, I think he’s going to be a big role model for varsity next year. He got the speed, he got the ability, he got the gift of a DB to play multiple positions,” said Garcia.

Garcia says, “I think as long as he stays healthy and he’s really focused in the gym, I think he’s going to be somebody to not reckon with.”

Mendonca was part of an elite JV defense. “I think our DBS were eight to 10 interceptions this year, and it was a big, big factor for us to see that. That nobody can throw deep on us, nobody can get that, and our coverage was really good this year,” said Garcia.

“Our schedule showed 10-0, and that’s hard to come by,” said Garcia. “But with the team effort and Redwood being who Redwood is, I’m glad I got to see him play, and I’m glad I got to coach him.”

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