(Photo Courtesy of https://www.deanbulldogs.com/)
The long arduous wait is over now. My name is Josh Tata and I am finally an NCAA College Football Player. Waiting for an entire year due to the pandemic was not easy. I am from Phoenix, AZ and graduated from Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, AZ in May, 2020. I am a student athlete at Dean College majoring in Sport Management with a minor in Sports Broadcasting. I was able to begin my academic journey during the pandemic. However, my college football career had to wait until August 12, 2021, the first day of football training camp in Franklin. While we did have a few football practice sessions during the Spring 2021 semester, it’s not really football for us until we put on helmets and pads, something that most of us had not done in almost two years.
This was the first college football camp for many of us who were forced into this default Redshirt Freshman status due to the pandemic. While I had a lot of prior experience with high school football camps, I really wasn’t sure what to expect from an NCAA college football camp. Regardless, I couldn’t wait for camp to start. The camp was physically demanding, and even grueling, at times, with the extreme heat we experienced in New England this August. But it was an amazing experience for all of us. We bonded as a team as we learned our playbooks and executed on offense, defense, and special teams. We completed many practices, walk throughs, lifts, and meetings as a team during camp with one goal in mind. We had our eyes set on defending our conference championship that would start with winning our first matchup of the season against Fitchburg State University. We ended the training camp with a trip to Buzzards Bay for a scrimmage against Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The scrimmage matchup offered a great warm up before Fitchburg State. After the scrimmage, we busted our tails, and were locked in the entire week at practice.
The true excitement began at noon on September 4, 2021. Our football team finally set foot on Lippert Field at Longley Athletic Complex for the first time since November 23, 2019. Between the passionate and powerful words from Head Coach Stephen Tirrell, and the electric atmosphere created by the loud crowd, we were more than ready to step on that field and put our hearts and souls on the line for each other. Quarterback David Curry threw two touchdowns to Receiver Errol Breaux to put an exclamation point on the first quarter. Fitchburg State then came back in the second quarter and kicked two field goals. This left a sour taste in our mouths going into halftime. We made some adjustments defensively and offensively during halftime after seeing Fitchburg State’s first half game plan. Curry and Breaux wasted no time and connected for a 71-yard touchdown to start the third quarter. This touchdown really shifted the momentum and brought loads of energy back to the team. The defense fed off this energy and came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter. Breaux then hauled in another touchdown reception. With a commanding 28-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter, we raised 4 fingers up in the air signaling the start of the closing stretch of the game. We were ready to make a statement. Breaux then scored a rushing and receiving touchdown. Safety Kordell Scott grabbed a very impressive interception late in the game. We successfully completed the first step towards our team goal with an emphatic 42-6 win over Fitchburg State. Curry put up 454 total yards and 5 passing touchdowns in a magnificent performance. He also led the team with 82 rushing yards. Breaux was just as impressive as he put up 251 yards and 6 total touchdowns in absolutely spectacular fashion. Starting 1-0 is a great feeling. But we are not satisfied with just one victory. It is time for us to focus up and get ready for the first road game of the season on September 11, 2021 against a much tougher opponent - the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. More on that in next week’s edition of “Inside the Bulldog Huddle”.
コメント