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It's that time again. The pads get dusted off, the helmets get a new coat of paint, and the battles between high schools begin.
The war will be fought across many battlefields this coming fall—battlefields that are 100 yards long with a post on either end. Football has returned to the high schools of the Bay Area, and the players at Archbishop Mitty have their work cut out for them this season with seven of the 10 teams on their schedule having made the playoffs last season.
What's more, every team in the West Catholic Athletic League has a legitimate shot at the title. No one team has separated itself from the pack at this point and only time will tell who shall come away with the championship, but the Monarchs will do their best to take it home for themselves.
The Monarchs will be headed up by veteran coach Dave Brown, who brings a great deal of a experience to this squad.
Brown has been a football coach at Mitty for 33 years and this will mark his 23rd year as head coach with a record just over .500. In the past 12 years, the Monarchs have gone to postseason play 10 times under Brown's direction. In those 10 visits Mitty was able to come away with two Central Coast Section championships, one WCAL championship, three second-place CCS finishes and an impressive 15-9 record in the playoffs.
Brown was honored in 1999 by KICU Channel 36 and the National Football League as the South Bay Charlie Wedemeyer Coach of the Year.
Of course, there is much more to the team than the coach. Mitty has a number of returning seniors this year. Among them on the offensive side of the ball are all-league quarterback Brian Dressman (6-foot, 170), running back Nick Gancayco (5-foot-7, 156) and wide receiver Jeff Ackerman (6-foot-3, 172).
Defensively, the Monarchs have even more returning seniors—last year's WCAL Junior of the Year Joe Ciesinski (6-foot, 183), along with Patrick Malley (5-foot-11, 168) and Bryon Wolf (6-foot-3, 186) in the secondary; all-leaguer Matt Guild (5-foot-8, 165) returns to his linebacker position with teammates Noel Jimenez (5-foot-11, 188) and Raymond McMorris (5-foot-11, 184); and returning across the defensive line will be all-leaguers Kyle Hansen (6-foot-2, 225) and Richard Ricketts (6-foot-3, 230), with Malcolm Odoh (6-foot, 243) helping out.
Unfortunately for Mitty, the entire starting offensive line graduated last year, but "the off-season program was very productive and the Monarchs look to be in great shape to start the season," said Brown.
Sarath Sujatha-Bhaskar (5-foot-9, 195) will be heading up the quarterback protection on the offensive line along with Hansen. Both were back-ups last year.
Mitty has a roster of 53 players with 22 seniors, 30 juniors and only one sophomore.
The seniors on the offensive side are: Ackerman at wide receiver, Ciesinski is a running back, Jeff Denzel (6-foot-2, 200) on the offensive line, Dressman quarterbacking, Gancayco running the ball, Hansen on the line, Patrick Hopkins (6-foot-1, 175) as a wide receiver, Billy Robowski (6-foot-1, 185) at the tight end position, Steven Shearer (5-foot-9, 155) chasing passes, Bhaskar heading up the line, Stephen Tolan (6-foot-2, 210) also on the o-line, Brandon Vedder (5-foot-11, 231) at tight end and Joe Welch (6-foot-1, 175) as a wide receiver.
The defense will have 14 seniors to choose from, with only five of them going both ways. Those seniors are: Davis Chang (5-foot-8, 170) roaming the field at linebacker, Ciesinski will be one of the two-way players as a defensive back, Guild will also go both ways as a defensive lineman, Noel Jimenez (5-foot-11, 188) will be in as a linebacker, McMorris will be a defensive back, Odoh finds himself fighting on the d-line, Robowski goes both ways as a linebacker, Patrick Romero (5-foot-11, 148) will lay some hat as a defensive back, Daniel Ruiz (6-foot-1, 205) will stand strong as a defensive end, Joe Scaletta (5-foot-11, 192) stands tall in the middle as a linebacker, Jason Triggas (6-foot-1, 286) will be a force on the line, and Vedder will be on both sides as a lineman.
Mitty has once again loaded its schedule with some serious competition. Among the teams they are scheduled to play is the famous De La Salle powerhouse from the north.
Mitty 2004
Football Schedule
Sept. 3, at Salinas, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 10, Las Lomas at Foothill, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 17, Menlo Atherton at Foothill, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 25, at De La Salle, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 2, Serra, 1 p.m. *
Oct. 9, Valley Christian, 2 p.m. *
Oct. 15, at St. Francis, 7:30 p.m. *
Oct. 22, Bellarmine, 7 p.m. *
Nov. 6, at St. Ignatius, 11 a.m. *
Nov. 13, at Riordan, 1 p.m. *
* Denotes West Catholic Athletic League game
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