Eagles Looking to Keep Improving as They Head South to Open Football Season
Coaches saw good things and things that needed more work when the Eagle football team scrimmaged against Shasta College in Redding late last month.
It's what you expect at the start of the season for a community college team, especially one with a few key returning players and several dozen newcomers.
"A lot of learning," said new head coach Adam Groppi. "For a young team, we did well. On the bright side, a lot of guys gave a lot of good effort, and we got out of there healthy. We just need to keep moving forward and improving."
The temperature was unusually mild for that late August evening in Redding, but it doesn't look like that will be the case when the Eagles open their season Saturday afternoon at Coalinga College, in the western San Joaquin Valley near Fresno.
Groppi, a former Eagle player and assistant coach, said conditioning has been one of the focuses during training camp, along with an emphasis on players knowing their assignments, finishing plays, buying into the team aspect, and staying positive.
"I think we can have a good season," he said. "Just need everyone to do their jobs, trust and believe in it."
Most of the 17 returning sophomores are either running backs (5), linebackers (5) or defensive linemen (3).
The lone sophomore offensive lineman, Andrew Bouska of Glencoe, OR, is one of two returning Eagles who earned 1st Team All-Conference honors last year. The other is defensive back Saxon Farkas of Chico, one of team's top tacklers a year ago.
Of the 50 freshmen on the roster, Groppi said the team is deep with good young players at quarterback and wide receiver; and the offensive line, which features six players who weigh nearly or more than 300 pounds, was starting to jell.
Coaching is an area of both depth and experience for this year's team. The staff includes former Eagle head coaches Charlie Roche and Tyler Knudsen, who, along with Groppi and longtime offensive line coach Tim Frisbie, all coached the Eagles during the best extended stretch in school football history, from 2012 to 2017.
Groppi, Roche, Frisbie, Aaron Burns, Zhac Thomas, and Gavin Parker are all former Eagle players on the coaching staff, and senior analyst Chris Knudsen was an award-winning high school coach during his 32 years at Centennial in Gresham, OR.
The 2024 Eagles will be looking to improve on last year's 2-8 overall record and finishing their first season in the American Pacific 7 conference in a three-way tie for fourth place with De Anza and Yuba. Foothill (5-0, 11-0) won last year's conference championship, ahead of Redwoods (4-1, 9-2) and Los Medanos (3-2, 5-5).
This fall, Chabot of Hayward joins the Pac 7, while Foothill moves up into the National Bay 6 conference with Diablo Valley, Laney, San Francisco, San Joaquin Delta and San Mateo.
The Eagles are scheduled to play their first home game September 14 at 1 p.m. against Gavilan, then go on the road to San Jose and Yuba. They have two byes and two home games in October, the 5th against Monterey Peninsula and the 19th against Los Medanos, their conference-opener.
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS
Five of the seven returning players on offense are running backs, including the team's top two ground-gainers from last year, Demetrius McWillie of Rogue River, OR, and Marcus Ledesma of North Marion, OR. Also back at running back are Skylar Crane of Yreka, Anthony Martin-Sweet of Prosser, WA, and Genaro Reyna of Cashmere, OR.
Ledesma was at his best during the Eagles' two victories late last season, 14-10 at Yuba and 44-0 against De Anza. He had 25 carries for 71 yards with a touchdown against De Anza and 83 yards on 19 carries against Yuba.
Among the five returning linebackers, Marcus Delgado of Mount Shasta led last year's team with 45 solo tackles and was second on the team with 61 total tackles, including 7.5 tackles for loss. Noah Snyder of Eugene, OR, had 42 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss, and Tyler Martino of McMinnville, OR, had 26 tackles and 4 tackles for loss.
Also returning at linebacker are Christian Givan of Modoc in Alturas and Soren Slowikowski of Ashland, OR.
Returning defensive lineman Key'Shawn Thomas of Bremerton, WA, was one of last year's leading defenders with 30 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss. Also returning on the d-line are Brody Thomas of Caledonia, Ontario, Canada (16 tackles, 4 tackles for loss), and Julian Lehman of Corvallis, OR.
Farkas, one of two returning defensive backs, was third on last year's team with 36 solo tackles and 44 total tackles. He also had 2 pass break-ups and a blocked kick.
The other returning DB, Lance Stewart of Mount Shasta, has been competing in training camp with Genaro Reyna for this year's place kicker and punter roles.
Lucas Cousens of Bellingham, WA, is a returning wide receiver.
FRESHMEN SHOWING POTENTIAL
Groppi said the competition during training camp has been good between four freshmen quarterbacks who have shown potential: Andreus Smith from Lebanon, OR, Kyle Dixon from Del Norte High School in Crescent City, Lamar Cuellar from Klamath Union High School in Klamath Falls, and Brayden Schiefer from Columbia River High School in Vancouver, WA.
The head coach pointed to other freshmen who have been pre-season standouts:
*Running back Bryson McFall from Pleasant Valley High School in Chico;
*Defensive lineman Zaveon Jones of Mt. Lake Terrace, WA;
*Receiver David Wacenske, 6-3, 215, of Kennewick, WA;
*Linebackers Cody Clarke and Cody Huntsinger, who played together at Battle Ground High School in southwestern Washington;
*Offensive linemen Nathaniel Barker from Del Norte High School in Crescent City, Brody Martin from Puyallup, WA, Ruben Saucedo from Astoria, OR, and Howie Thorne from Pasco, WA;Parker Ziebert, Scio, OR; Zaidan Fejeran, 5-11, 320, Lakewood, WA
*Defensive end Caleb Canfield from Crater High School in Central Point, OR, and defensive linemen Dalton Hickey from Everson, WA, and Isaiah Naeve from Vernonia, OR.
COACHING STAFF
Adam Groppi grew up in Weed and has been an Eagle every which way, beginning as a fan whose mother, Kelly, worked at the college. He was a star player on Weed High School championship teams and was inducted into the WHS Athletic Hall of Fame as both an individual and a member of those teams. He played for the Eagles in 2004-05 and at Southern Oregon University in 2006, then returned to coach Eagle running backs from 2013-17 and in 2019 and 2021. During two seasons as head coach at WHS, his Cougar teams hosted playoff games for the first time in 20 years.
Groppi returned to the Eagles as an assistant this past spring and was named head coach when Tyler Knudsen decided to leave the position.
Athletic director Charlie Roche was the head coach, Knudsen was defensive coordinator, and Tim Frisbie was offensive line coach when the Eagles made the postseason five times in six years from 2012 to 2017, including the NCFC Regional State Championship playoffs in 2017.
This year, Groppi and Roche are coaching the offense, and Roche is coaching running backs.
Tyler Knudsen, with 15 years of experience coaching community college football, is again coaching the Eagle defense and defensive line after four years as head coach.
Frisbie, an all-conference lineman for the Eagles who returned as an assistant coach in 1993, is again coaching the offensive line after taking last year off from that position.
Aaron Burns, who played for the Eagles in 2015-17 and was an NAIA Academic All-American while playing at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, is coaching fullbacks and tight ends after coaching the offensive line last year.
Former Eagle Zhac Thomas, who was Groppi's teammate at both COS and Weed High School and an assistant coach under Groppi at WHS, is coaching defensive backs.
Former Eagle Gavin Parker is coaching linebackers; Martin Morris is coaching safeties and doing film work; and Chris Knudsen is a senior analyst.
THE 2024 EAGLE FOOTBALL ROSTER
50 freshmen, 17 sophomores
Quarterbacks (4)
Freshmen (4)
Andreus Smith, 5-9, 201, Lebanon, OR; Brayden Schiefer, 5-11, 170, Vancouver, WA; Kyle Dixon, 5-11, 155, Crescent City; Lamar Cuellar, 5-11, 197, Klamath Falls, OR
Running Backs (6)
Sophomores (5)
Demetrius McWillie, 5-9, 190, Rogue River, OR; Skyler Crane, 5-10, 233, Yreka; Reyna Genaro, 5-10, 187, Cashmere, OR; Marcus Ledesma, 5-11, 170, North Marion, OR; Anthony Martin-Sweet, 5-11, 221, Prosser, WA
Freshmen (1)
Bryson McFall, 5-7, 186, Chico;
Wide Receivers (11)
Sophomore (1)
Lucas Cousens, 5-9, 168, Bellingham, WA
Freshmen (10)
David Wacenske, 6-3, 215, Kennewick, WA; Alex Kalams, 6-2, 165, Eugene, OR; Lawrence Grimes, 5-10, 175, Saint Petersburg, FL; Isaac Real, 5-10, 140, Myrtle Creek, OR; Luke Bowser, 5-10, 136, Olympia, WA; Seth Arnett, 6-1, 172, Vancouver, WA; Derek Bond, 5-10, 187, Scappoose, OR; Michael Cox, 5-11, 180, Orland, FL; Jake Westerman, 5-9, 183, Gold Beach, OR; Kadon Friesen, 6-3, 155, Chugiak, AK
Tight Ends (2)
Freshmen (2)
Joey Pena, 6-1, 215, Vancouver, WA; Zeb Martin, 6-3, 206, Radford, VA
Linebackers (13)
Sophomores (5)
Marcus Delgado, 5-11, 210, Mount Shasta; Tyler Martino, 6-0, 201, McMinnville, OR; Christian Givan, 5-11, 221, Modoc; Soren Slowikowski, 6-2, 175, Ashland, OR; Noah Snyder, 5-11, 203, Eugene, OR
Freshmen (8)
Troy Brister, 5-11, 208, Lacey, WA; Truit McCaughey, 6-0, 217, Nikiski, AK; Cody Clarke, 5-10, 208, Battle Ground, WA; Lucien Regis, 5-10, 176, Weed; Evan Michaelson, 5-11, 226, Melba, ID; Cody Huntsinger, 5-9, 215, Battle Ground, WA; Chase Campbell, 6-0, 204, La Pine, OR; Talon Hernandez, 6-3, 196, Ashland, OR
Defensive Backs (13)
Sophomores (2)
Lance Stewart, 6-0, 185, Mount Shasta; Saxon Farkas, 5-11, 183, Chico
Freshmen (11)
Aidan Nelson, 6-1, 173, North Bend, OR; Brayden Bigsby, 5-11, 150, Banks, OR; Justin Neils, 5-11, 177, Dayton, NV; Juan Serna, 5-11, 152, Bakersfield; Noah Shrader, 5-8, 160, Ashland; Wesley Santiago, 5-6, 147, Waimea, HI; Nathan Shrader, 5-10, 185, Ashland; Kameron Apilado, 5-9, 158, Waimea, HI; Chopper Kincade, 5-6, 135, Etna; Aidan Kranjcec, 6-1, 172, Dayton, NV; Andrew Robinson, 5-8, 176, Phillip, AU
Defensive Line (10)
Sophomores (3)
Key'Shawn Thomas, 6-2, 203, Bremerton, WA; Julian Lehman, 6-2, 224, Corvallis, OR; Brody Thomas, 6-4, 256, Caledonia, ON
Freshmen (7)
Aahmonni-Anthony Young, 5-9, 228, Redmond, WA; Isaiah Naeve, 6-7, 272, Vernonia, OR; Malino Tumbaga, 6-0, 251, Vancouver, WA; Carter Gion, 6-3, 252, Pullman, WA; Dalton Hickey, 6-3, 231, Everson, WA; Caleb Canfield, 6-2, 226, Central Point, OR; Zaveon Jones, 6-1, 275, Mt. Lake Terrace, WA
Offensive Line (7)
Sophomore (1)
Andrew Bouska, 6-1, 301, Glencoe, OR
Freshmen (6)
Howie Thorne, 6-1, 308, Pasco, WA; Parker Ziebert, 6-3, 257, Scio, OR; Ruben Saucedo, 6-0, 291, Astoria, OR; Brody Martin, 6-3, 302, Puyallup, WA; Zaidan Fejeran, 5-11, 320, Lakewood, WA; Nathaniel Barker, 6-3, 285, Crescent City