After the COVID-19 pandemic caused sports to be shuttered nationwide, football is finally back at Delta College. But like everything else, it has changed.
The football rosters have had some significant changes this year because of the pandemic,
which led to departures of some football players and arrivals of other football players.
“Kids who were going to be sophomores still went to school and finished up their AA’s,” said Mustangs football head coach Gary Barlow. “This year’s team is predominantly freshmen.”
The team prepared for the season online.
“We had to utilize Zoom and did meetings and asynchronous workouts,” said Barlow. “We also utilized an app called TeamBuilder, where we could assign workouts, drills, footwork, agility, lifting routines.”
The Mustangs started the season with a 27-14 loss at home to Reedley College on Sept. 4. The team matches up against Reedley again on Oct. 2 for an away game.
The Mustangs football sought redemption at Shasta, but lost a second game 42-27. The Mustangs also lost 40-19 against College of the Sequoias on Sept. 18. The 19 points for Delta College were scored all during the game’s second quarter.
Even with three losses, the team still has high hopes for the season.
Mustangs outside and middle backer, Princeton Abel has a great feeling about the season and thinks the team can progress if they unite as one.
“If we do just that one thing it will change the path of our whole season. I believe that the more locked in we are at practice, the better the outcome will be for us on weekends,” Abel said.
“We have a whole squad full of talented players and I’m so thankful for that.”
Mustang defensive tackle Adrian Figueroa said the team learns from each game after the third loss.
“The three losses this season never affected our morale, we bettered from them,” said Adrian Figueroa. “Even though we’re having a rough start this season we always stand with pride and our heads up high and most importantly we learn from our mistakes, become more intense at practice, and prepare for the next game.”