Less than six months ago the Wilcox Chargers varsity football team proved numerous prognosticators wrong with their impressive performance in the COVID-shortened season. In the five-game campaign played this past spring, Wilcox went 4-1, their only blemish a game where they built a 19-0 lead against rival Los Gatos. The Chargers were unable to hang on by just the slimmest of margins, falling 20-19 with the Wildcats’ winning score coming late in the fourth quarter.
The new season is still over three weeks away and the Chargers are already facing some adversity. Four members of last year’s offensive line who were slated to return, ended up moving out of the area. While effectively having to play with a brand new offensive line will be tough, Wilcox has proven time and time again that they should never be doubted.
“The program that Coach Rosa runs here, it really helps us players out. We come in as a freshman, working out within the system, you get into it and learn it from day one,” said senior defensive end Aliejah Diaz. “We were young last year, but we felt mentally prepared. And so now we’re getting into our stride and hopefully be able to do some big things this season.”
“If we just keep working the way we are working right now, we can be the No. 1 team,” said senior tailback Luther Glenn. “We’re ready and excited for that first week. It’s challenging [going up against Valley Christian], but it’s good to see early how we’re gonna be able to fare against those other good schools.”
Scheduling Valley Christian early in the season has become a regular move from Chargers Head Coach Paul Rosa. The measuring-stick game has shown that Wilcox can beat anyone in the Central Coast Section. Arguably the most impressive victory during Coach Rosa’s now seven-year tenure came when Wilcox beat the Warriors 10-6 in a defensive battle opening week in 2018. All Wilcox ended up doing that season was winning a CIF State Championship game.
“When I first started, we had kind of a light schedule early on and it didn’t prepare us for the season as well as I would have liked,” remarked Coach Rosa. “Now we do it the other way and if it’s too tough, well at least we know where we’re at. You might get something equal to that down the line, but you’re not going to get anything tougher than that.”
Speaking of toughness, that’s how Rosa describes his top running back, tough as nails. A senior this year, Glenn will be relied upon heavily with the younger offensive line and a new starting quarterback this season.
“He’s one of the better backs strength wise that we’ve had, he runs the ball really strong, he’s tough to tackle,” noted Coach Rosa on Glenn. “He’s very skilled, can catch the ball out of the back field. We’re looking forward to him hopefully having a huge season. He looks ready to go, he’s been working out well, I think he’s going to have a big season.”
The Chargers hope he kicks off that big season with a bang when they open the season at home against the Warriors on Friday, August 27.
