The season that never was: Football shares perspective about season being canceled

VUSD cancels football season after 7 months of conditioning

By: Krissy Hetherington

Friday Night Lights will not be happening this year.

Seniors played their last football game over a year and a half ago and didn’t even know it.

Everyone was just expecting one last Homecoming, one last Cowhide, one last bus ride, one last Alma Mater with the student section.

But on March 3rd, Visalia Unified School District announced the official end of both the water polo and football season for the 2020-2021 school year.

The press release stated “The Disrict is committed to ensuring that traditional spring sports, which were canceled last year due to school closures are fully supported this year ‘After consultation with high school administrators and in the spirit of equity to all spring sports and a strong commitment to student safety, we have determined that football and water polo will not compete this spring.”

Football has been conditioning since October but was never able to take the next step to issue pads and helmets out to players.

Head Coach, Kevin Scharton added that it would’ve taken the program about 15-20 practices in full gear to prepare for the upcoming season so simply, time was running out.

There were a lot of safety concerns if the team were to have a season as well.

With such short notice to prepare for competition, there would be a much higher risk of injuries and concussions. If players were to play this year and get hurt in this short season, it could affect them going into the next school year’s football season.

“Practicing with uncertainty throughout the year was a real challenge. At the beginning, there was a lot of hope to play football but then the numbers increased I believe a lot of players lost some hope….Just the fact of ‘not knowing’ the direction this virus was taking us definitely kept us guessing and wondering if there would be a season,” says Head Coach, Kevin Scharton.

Conditioning started strong with a lot of kids just excited to hop into sports again with confidence that there would be a season no matter how long they would have to wait.

Then as numbers of cases continued to rise and the state guidelines got stricter, players started to move onto their other sports, focus on just school, or just weightlift and train on their own.

Many players are uneasy with the fact that surrounding districts such as Clovis Unified and Tulare schools have decided to recently continue their football seasons into the spring.

“It makes me want to switch districts. There are kids like me all around VUSD who were depending on the district to come through for us and allow us to play like everyone else,” adds 3-year Varsity starter and team leader, Caden Shafer, 21.

Shafer is currently trying to transfer to Dinuba High School.

“The one and only reason I’m transferring is because I deserve one last season, even if it’s just a couple of games. I owe that to myself because I’ve worked too hard to be denied a final season. I don’t expect a lot. I’m just eager to get out on the field and ball out like I always have.”

Caden Shafer, ’21

Coach Scharton says, “Although I cannot speak for other districts, I’m sure their decision was based off what was best for them. Our district had to make a tough decision and chose not to play football. Although I am disappointed, especially for our seniors, I believe many considerations were made based on safety, sport equity, facilities, travel, coaching, officials, and many other things that go into a sports program.”

Expectations for what should’ve been

Scharton entered his first year as Head Coach at Redwood last year and led the team to a 10-2 overall record and 4-1 league record. The team made it to the second round of playoffs for Division II and showed lots of promise for the 2020-2021 season.

“I was looking for a competitive 2020 football season. Our schedule would have provided a great test for the program and we were looking forward to the challenge. Our players and coaches had one year of our new system under our belt and I felt that we would have been stronger,” he added.

Some of the games that were added to the 2020 schedule included competition against Centennial, Kingsburg, Clovis West and Clovis North.

“Our program expectations for the upcoming season is plain and simple, ‘get ready.’ We have basically lost a year in the weight room and a year of playing experience. Thus, we really have to work hard to get back in shape both mentally and physically. We will do our absolute best to give our players the opportunity to experience a positive 2021 football season.

Scharton adds that the football program will be taking a few weeks off until after Spring Break to begin preparing for next year.

“I felt like our coaches and players needed some time to recharge. The 2020 season lasted for many months of not knowing and was mentally draining. Some time off will hopefully get us refocused on the 2021 season. The coaching staff will be working on a spring and summer schedule that will be ready to go sometime after spring break. A lot of planning will depend on our guidelines and facilities with so many unknowns at this time.”

Senior Perspective

Aram Babagian, was very disappointed in VUSD’s decision because he thought the numbers were finally getting better to be able to have a season.

He says, “Their decision was terrible and they are really hurting more kids than they are helping. VUSD had a choice to let us play and instead they broke our hearts. I was at a loss of words when I read the press release. They justify their decision because it’s better for the majority of students but I would like to know how, how is not playing better for the students?”

Babagian also says he was depending on this season to be able to compete one last time and earn a possible football scholarship to play in college.

He plans to go to Fresno State, work for the football team, and eventually try to walk on.

Caden Shafer, 21, says, “As someone who has circled their whole life around football, finding out about their decision hit me deep. It’s my last year at high school and everyone wants one last, good ride before its all over and I don’t get that chance.”

Dominick McCormack, ’21, was a key change maker on the field and was fortunate enough to land a scholarship to play football at Cal Poly next season based on his junior stats.

“I’m just grateful and relieved that this year wouldn’t have simply been my last year of football ever and I’m excited to have 4 more years to play at the collegiate level,” says McCormack.

He does sympathize with other players who missed out on a full season to prove their talent and skills in hopes of being recruited and gaining a scholarship.

McCormack says, “I 100% know how they feel, worried, stressed, lost almost. It sucks not having a plan and now with us not being able to play this season, it’s even worse. These kids aren’t going to get scholarships anytime soon without coaches seeing them play. It does suck but it’s not the end of the world if an athlete is dedicated to get a scholarship they will find a way. A lot of kids are thinking about transferring to a school that will play which I think is one of the best ideas. Or there is always the Juco route and you can for sure get picked up out of a junior college if you have the talent and work ethic.”

He adds that he wasn’t shocked by VUSD’s decision because “CIF kept pushing our season’s start date back each month so I was convinced we just weren’t going to have a season this year.”

McCormack made the decision to move on from football and started training and conditioning for the upcoming track season at the beginning of February.

“I was tired of doing the same thing every single day at football practice and I didn’t feel like I was getting any better or learning anything new so I decided to go out to track,” he adds.

Julius Martinez, ’21, was another senior looking forward to more playing time on Varsity this year and closing out his four years in the Redwood football program.

“Conditioning for football was actually really fun getting back with the guys and having little competitions between each other here and there. Having that last year under those Friday night lights, sprinting out the tunnel, and just playing for my brothers is definitely a bummer. Moments I can never get back. VUSD’s decision was not what any of the football guys were expecting and it set a fire in a lot of players knowing it was going to be a good season. Especially when VUSD is the only area around that isn’t competing,” says Martinez.

He adds that he also gave up on football after Winter Break when Baseball started conditioning because it’s his main sport and it was time to move on and focus on the season that had a better chance at competing this year.

He along with the rest of the team were expecting to win the League Championship, be able to face off against Hanford one last time, go undefeated, keeping the Cowhide home, and going deep into playoffs, all the way to the Valley title game.

Christian Roldan, 21, has been a three sport athlete all through high school and had to make the decision to solely focus on track. He was a receiver and played a huge role in Redwood’s success last season.

He said, “I’ve had a gut feeling for some time that football was just not going to happen this year. I made the switch two weeks into football at the early stages. I had planned on coming back if there was a season but it just did not seem likely.”

“It’s been incredibly hard. I’ve always loved having the opportunity to play three Varsity sports and having that ripped away this year sucks more than I thought. I wish I could be playing soccer or still competing under those Friday Night Lights. However, you have to roll with what you have and right now that’s track.”

Christian Roldan, ’21

“I really feel really sad for our seniors. Not only did they not have a football season, but more importantly, they missed out on being in school. The seniors were unable to be around friends, teachers, and all the experiences that go on at campus. The dances, games, assemblies, lunch, and all the things in which memories are made,” adds Scharton.

Juniors perspective

Although it hit the seniors hard knowing they won’t have their final season, many juniors were upset because they were depending on this year to get noticed by college scouts.

Marcus Correia, ’22, was moved up to Varsity as a freshman and in his sophomore year he was a part of the WYL All-league First Team and named Defensive MVP for Redwood.

“To be honest, I saw this decision coming. CIF kept pushing the season start date back and I just didn’t see any hope in returning. But the decision has been made and there’s nothing we can do to change that just to focus on next year’s season,” says Correia.

Correia has big shoes to fill as a senior next season and without that junior year to transition, he says “It’s gonna be different definitely. I feel like I’m going to just move a little different coming in as a senior now. I know the defense well now compared to just learning a whole new one my sophomore year. I just can’t wait to see what senior year has in store.”

As for the college search, a few schools such as San Diego State, Nevada Wolfpack, and Cal Berkley have shown interest in him based on his first two years of high school football experience but he’s still limited from taking that final step.

“Hopefully some good camps start opening back up soon and I can hit all of those over the summer. It’s a very important summer. I have some connections with a couple schools now that are interested in me. But it’s a waiting game. They definitely want to see me play in person before anything is figured out. I feel like this season was going to be a good one, we were young but knew what we were doing. Everyone is coachable and smart and  I know the coaching staff loves to see that from us.”

Kolby Howard, ’22, was a key contributor on the JV team last year and was looking forward to filling the starting tight end position after San Jose State commit, Sam Olson, ’20, graduated last year.

“My initial reaction was very disappointed. We were given false hope this whole year by them postponing and postponing. It is also very disappointing watching just about every other school and county play football while we are not,” says Howard.

Having to transition from a sophomore on JV to a senior on Varsity without a full year to prepare will affect the players and program but also force them to work harder to make up for the lost time.

Howard says, “I have played on other Varsity teams for other sports so I understand the competition. Luckily, we have a couple of people that have played Varsity before so they can be leaders. We are in the same position as many other teams so I’m hopefully not missing out on too much experience.”

Ashton Ibarra, 22, was a receiver who was finally making ground in his sophomore season on Varsity.

He says, “I was shocked because I was counting on my junior season to really get my name out there and gain more exposure for college. Not having that junior season will just encourage me and the team to work harder next year. ”

He plans to make up for the lost time by sending film to colleges, recording his workouts, and going to many camps like Correa. He also plans to get players together from other schools and have little 7 v 7 games on weekends.

Although deeply saddened by the recent news, players have decided to take action by either transferring to give themselves one last chance, moved onto their next sport to finish out the year strong, or simply hang up their hat and accept things for what they are.

This year has taught players and coaches how to adjust and adapt constantly and those lessons will follow students long after graduation.