Read the story written by Shannon Mia Belt from the Stockton Record Below:The Mountain House football team hopes to use the end of last season, when the team won five its last six games, as a springboard into the 2022 season.
The Mustangs needed those five games to finish at 5-5 after opening the season with a four-game losing streak, including a 14-12 lost to West. It was West's only win of the season.
“When we lost to West, we were like what we are doing,” junior linebacker Cedrick Major Jr said. “They made us look silly and that’s what made us want to turn up and turn things around.”
Third-year head coach Jabari Carr and his coaching staff are looking to continue building his year in an E.P.I.C. way.
E.P.I.C. stands for empowering, personalizing, innovating, and collaborating, and it is the way staff works with players in a growing program.
Results were seen with the Mustangs' defense.
Last season, three Mustangs were among the league leaders in tackles, sacks, and interceptions. Major, who was the leaders in tackles, is just one of many defensive weapons on the team, along with seniors Roy Gardner and Orlando Syph-Timmons.
What makes the Mustangs' defense standout is not their size but their knowledge of the game and play awareness.
“As far as players, we don’t just want players, we want students — students of the game, students in the classroom and on the field,” Carr said.
Defensive coordinator Lonnie Walker is building the defense on discipline, but he also allows his students of the game to help mold the defensive plays they will run.
“With them I let them run the plays because I give them a guideline like if y’all see this do this, and I do that just to see what they like doing,” he said. “ What it does is it helps them learn the defense themselves.”
Gardner has a high football IQ on both sides of the ball. The 5-foot 10-inch 163-pound safety, defensive back and running back, last season led the team in total touchdowns and had the fifth most total tackles.
He is “a generational guy that you might not come by every four years," Walker said. Gardner will serve as a team captain.
“I just want our team and this program to do something it's never done like make it section champions and to state,” Gardner said. “I just want to leave a legacy for people behind me so they can follow in my footsteps.”
The Mustangs open up the season at home against Florin at 7 p.m. Friday.