Prep football: Mission Prep leans on senior linemen who anchor both sides of the ball
After the postgame handshakes from Friday’s game with Linfield Christian were over, the Mission Prep football team gathered around head coach Chad Henry.
As the team settled in to listen to Henry’s words, quarterback Bryce Fledderman slipped out of the circle to grab a game ball from a bag on the sideline. As the speech concluded, the ball was handed to the four seniors who anchor the offensive and defensive lines for the Royals.
Eamon Mazelin, Cole Morley, Matthew Abbate and Robert Crandall held the ball aloft as they celebrated the win, just Mission Prep’s second of the season and one week removed from having to cancel its game against Sierra Canyon because of a lack of healthy players.
“We told the four seniors up front, ‘This game is on you. You guys are going to control our fate whether we are going to win this game or not. If we win, you get the game ball, if we lose you get all the blame.’ ” Henry said. “So they took it personal.”
The seniors helped Mission Prep open a 28-0 first-quarter lead on the way to a 49-21 win.
Mission Prep (2-3) came into Friday’s game with a different mindset than they began the season with. They looked to pound the ball inside, loading up with two tight ends or two running backs in the backfield. Running back Brayden Corona had 30 carries for 192 yards and three touchdowns, helped in part by the swaths of space that the offensive line opened up. Joseph Miller also had a touchdown on the ground.
“We knew this game was going to depend on us,” said Crandall, who has received a scholarship offer from the University of San Diego. “We knew we would have to put the team on our backs. We wanted to come out hard and disciplined. We know our rules, and we had to go out and execute.”
The Royals’ offensive line — a group dubbed “Big Blue” back in June who wear matching shirts inscribed with the words “Never satisfied , never stop, no mercy” — were also key in the passing game, giving Fledderman time to throw. The senior quarterback was 11 of 18 for 222 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked five times, but most of those came as coverage sacks when no one was open.
The same seniors were a force on the other side of the ball — where they go by the nickname “D-Train” — finishing with two sacks while limiting the talented running back tandem of Simeon Burns and John Henry to 149 yards on 23 carries.
For the Royals to repeat their success of last season, the dominance on both sides of the ball will have to become commonplace. Most teams have different players that play the defensive and offensive lines, but with a team of just 34 players — 11 of whom are seniors — the Royals have little choice.
Henry said that he hopes by next week’s Northern League opener against Santa Maria that the Royals will be nearing full health. Even if they aren’t, they know they can lean on their seniors.
This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Prep football: Mission Prep leans on senior linemen who anchor both sides of the ball."