Prep football: Fueled by prep picks, Del Campo punches past Bella Vista
First-year Del Campo coach Matt Costa wasn’t shy about using bulletin board material heading into Friday’s against longtime rival Bella Vista.
“The fact is, every single sports writer in town had us picked to lose this year,” Costa said after his team beat Bella Vista for a 19th straight season. “So let’s be real, 31-7 says something else.”
Indeed, the Cougars’ handling of the Broncos, 31-7, proved that early-season records can be faulty when evaluating teams, particularly when not accounting for the level of the opponent. Del Campo entered Friday’s game 0-2 while Bella Vista was a sterling 2-0.
The takeaway after the two teams squared off Friday: Records didn’t mean a whole lot when the blue and golf of Del Campo lined up against Bella Vista’s red and black. Del Campo was clearly the better side despite being winless, while Bella Vista’s two victories came against Cordova and Johnson.
“I don’t know if a lot of people have looked at who we’ve played,” Costa said. “Golden Valley is undefeated. Del Oro’s undefeated. It’s not like we’ve played just your average Joe team down the street. That’s why I read that in the paper, like, ‘Man, we’re really picked to lose?’ Okay, alright.”
Indeed, Del Oro is currently the Bee’s No. 10-ranked program while Golden Valley of Merced entered Friday at 2-0 after going to the playoffs last season.
Friday was Costa’s first win as Del Campo’s head coach after taking the job over the winter. He left Pleasant Grove High School after last season for personal reasons, after he helped the program improve from a winless campaign to a playoff team. He grew up in the area around Del Campo but didn’t feel all that emotional about getting his first victory with his new program.
“I’ll be honest. I’ve been up since 4 a.m,” Costa said. “I’m exhausted. I mean, I’ll be real, I’ve been doing this for so long, I don’t get emotional any more. I mean, to me, this is about those dudes. And as long as those dudes feel good about themselves, to me. That’s what’s important.”
“Those dudes” were the Cougar football players celebrating their first victory by singing the Del Campo fight song with a lively student section that spent the night chanting after throwing a cloud of blue powder for effect after the opening kickoff.
Del Campo had two rushing touchdowns from running back Nas Jones in the first half. But Jones was ejected after the second for receiving his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for celebrating. The ejection means Jones will also be ineligible to play next week when the Cougar’s host Woodland. Costa said he plans on speaking with the Sac-Joaquin Section about appealing the ejection.
With Jones out, the versatile Jordan Wiley moved from slot receiver to running back and added a rushing touchdown of his own to give Del Campo a 22-0 lead before halftime. Bella Vista responded with a touchdown with 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter, but that would be its only points.
“Jordan Wiley is a dude,” Costa said. “And he’s kind of our Swiss army knife.”
Del Campo defensive lineman Demetri Brown was credited for a safety with a sack in the end zone, and then junior receiver/safety Xander Diaz took the following kickoff back for a touchdown.
Costa hopes his team’s first win of the season can be a spring board after the Cougars last season went 2-4 in the Capital Athletic League and lost to East Union of Manteca, 51-7, in the first round of the playoffs.
“Obviously I think we’re a pretty good football team but we’ve obviously played a pretty tough schedule,” Costa said. “The one thing we have over a lot of teams that we play is that we’re physical. That’s how we coach, that’s how I’ve always coached, I’ve always coached by teams to be physical. I feel like as long as we come out and we’re a physical football team every week, we got a puncher’s chance to beat anybody.”