San Marino High School head football coach Justin Mesa told Rotarians meeting via Zoom that he remains hopeful that the Titans will get to play their varsity football season, which is slated to begin in January.
In a typical year, San Marino High School’s varsity football coach is invited to be the keynote speaker at a meeting of the local Rotary Club shortly before the beginning of an upcoming season — in other words, in early August.
However, 2020 is anything but typical, so Justin Mesa instead was asked to speak on Thursday, Dec. 3.
Which still was shortly before the upcoming season, if in fact the season ever gets underway, what with fresh stay-at-home orders and the San Marino Unified School District’s facilities already closed for the most part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But if you tuned in anticipating further dread, you came to the wrong place, as the eternally optimistic Mesa had ex-players searching the garage for that old helmet and former cheerleaders looking for those long-discarded pompoms.
“In a situation that has brought constant disappointment to our team members, nobody has handled it better than Coach Mesa,” said Greg Cribbs, president of the Titan Football Booster Club, who introduced Mesa at the meeting held via Zoom.
Mesa was hired in May 2019 after the retirement of Mike Hobbie, one of the most successful coaches in the history of the school. In Mesa’s first year, the Titans went 4-6, winning the last three games in a row and ending the regular season with a shutout victory over the Temple City Rams. As second-place finishers in the Rio Hondo League, the Titans qualified for the playoffs.
Mesa was slated to lead the Titans into the new season in early January, a start that has recently been placed in doubt.
“We recently heard from the [California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of high school sports] that they will not hear back from the Department of [Public] Health until Jan. 1,” Mesa said. “This makes it unlikely that our first couple of games will take place. It’s going to be very difficult to get to Jan. 8 and Jan. 15. CIF bylaws say that there has to be 14 days of practice before your first competition, so it is looking like the first two games are not very likely. We are in the waiting game.”
The CIF announced in July an updated schedule for the 2020-21 school year that includes all of the usual sports but employs a two-season format. Football, which has always been played in the fall, is in what is now known as Season 1, which called for some sports to begin later this month. But with the recent news, they are in jeopardy, too.
The CIF last week also canceled all regional and state championship games in an effort to allow more time for regular-season contests.
“We can place a lot of blame and say that this should have been done, or that should have been done, but I prefer not to go that route,” said Mesa. “That has been our mindset and that has been our mindset since late April.”
Which is precisely when SMHS, following a short breather after the initial rush of activity caused by the pandemic, began to reimagine its calendar. The Titan football team has been consistent in holding virtual training sessions, and even provided a kettle bell and set of resistance bands for each player to compensate for the lack of access to a full weight room. Mesa then divided the program’s 49 players into seven mini-teams of seven each and held weekly competitions.
“I thought it was really fun,” said Mesa. “It included things aside from football skills and weightlifting. We even had a talent show and used a point system.”
In early November, SMHS allowed its athletic teams to hold outdoor, socially distanced practices in cohorts of 12.
“We are continuing the development of a culture and core values that allow our kids to continue through the process without giving up,” Mesa said. “We are doing as well as we can possibly be doing. That is where we are.”
Mesa told the audience that he had recently checked in with his 18 seniors in an effort to gauge their mindset.
“I was really pleased to hear they are going to take it one day at a time and are hopeful we are going to get a season,” Mesa reported. “And when we do, we are going to be as ready as we possibly can.”
Mesa then cited Nick Derrick, Glover Talt, 2019 most valuable player Nick Singhal, Andy Sutherland, Niko Mavridis, Billy Daves and Andrew Hornberger for their exceptional efforts during the lockdown.
Mesa mentioned the schedule, which was originally designed to include contests against Crescenta Valley, El Monte, Laguna Hills and Fillmore as well as the usual Rio Hondo League foes.
“The wins will take care of themselves if the process is right,” Mesa said. “I thought we were going to have a phenomenal chance to be competitive.”
In concluding, Cribbs and Mesa made a pitch for funding, explaining that traditional vehicles used to raise money have dried up due to the pandemic.
“I know that Rotary’s lost one of the biggest events, the car show, so we are all in the same boat,” Mesa said. “But if there are any opportunities to help with funding, it would definitely be welcome.”
