THESE GUYS MAY BE WINLESS, BUT THEY’RE NOT HEARTLESS : El Cajon Is Optimistic, Even at 0-8

You might suspect members of the winless El Cajon Valley High School football team would want to hand in their helmets and begin thinking about next year. Instead, Coach Gene Watkins and his crew are talking about winning their conference this season.

In football? In 1985?

Wait a second. Maybe this is the wrong school on Madison Avenue. Granite Hills is just down the block, and the Eagles are 8-0.

But no, the sign outside the school says this is the home of the Braves. The players are wearing El Cajon jerseys.

This must be the home of San Diego County’s only winless high school football team in 2-A or 3-A.

The Braves are 0-8 and 0-1 in the 2-A Grossmont league, scoring only 24 points all season and suffering five shutouts. Among the more painful losses were 48-0 to Mount Miguel, 40-12 to Hilltop, 24-0 to El Capitan and 42-0 to Granite Hills.

This is a team which is down to 26 players, including nine who play offense and defense.

The varsity and junior varsity teams practice together, and it’s difficult to tell which players are on which team. The varsity front line averages 150 pounds. Only one player on the team weighs more than 200 pounds. Sarmit Abasso weighs 145 pounds and is an outside linebacker. The tallest player on the team is 6-feet 1-inch.

Tailback Frank Daugherty, the Braves’ leading rusher who gained 203 yards against Hilltop, has missed the last four games with a pinched nerve in his back. He is questionable for tonight’s key 2-A Grossmont League game against Valhalla (3-5) at Valley Stadium at 7:30.

Key game?

“I don’t think we’re out of it,” Watkins said. “If we can upset Valhalla. And Valhalla knocks off El Capitan.”

It would also help if the Braves can suddenly find an offense and a way to avoid burning out in the final quarter against teams with considerably more depth. After all, they trailed only 14-0 at halftime against Granite Hills last week.

If you want optimism and heart and spirit, you’ve come to the right place.

“I think the coach is more expectant than disappointed,” Daugherty said. “We have been improving, and I know the guys are getting pumped up for Valhalla.”

Before the season, the nine-team 3-A Grossmont League split into a five-team 3-A division and four-team 2-A division. El Cajon Valley, Valhalla, El Capitan (3-4) and Grossmont (1-6) are in 2-A.

In early September, Watkins said: “I like the switch of the leagues. It’s breathed a little life into our program. We can go away from the big guys and compete. Our program is on the upswing. I’m real optimistic.”

Eight losses later, Watkins has only revised his estimation slightly.

“The beauty about the change in leagues is that it gives us a second season,” he said. “We sold that to our kids.

“Sure, it’s an uphill battle at this point. The kids are not stupid. They know what they’re up against. They get down, but they don’t quit. Most are from broken homes and they’re survivors. They love to play the game, win or lose.”

Said senior linebacker and offensive guard Mike Hayford: “It’s been a tough year, but we’re never going to give up. Football means too much to the seniors. You don’t give up something you love. You just keep trying to make it better.

“The points say we lost, but when the other team gets off the field, they know they’ve been in a battle. We have a lot of respect in the league.”

Helix Coach Jim Arnaiz was impressed although his team defeated the Braves, 24-0, this season.

“They have street-tough kids who match up pretty well physically,” Arnaiz said. “Their biggest problem is depth in terms of quality players.”

Watkins said he has eight or nine athletes who form the nucleus of his team.

“It’s a dive when you get by our first nine players,” Watkins said. “And we don’t have speed. You don’t beat speed with slow.”

And as the Braves have learned, you don’t beat talent with heart.

“El Cajon is known for being in last place,” said sophomore junior varsity cheerleader Robin Harris.

Despite that reputation, the Braves draw supportive crowds for their home games at Valley Stadium.

“We expect the football team to lose,” said Kim Baker, senior head varsity cheerleader. “Even though we lose, I really enjoy the games. Our student body likes to yell and cheer. Everybody is having a good time.”

That applies to the students who still look forward to Friday night games. There are a lot of others who have given up on the team.

“Not a whole lot of the kids here are involved in athletics or football,” said Meri Frontz, a junior. “I think it would be a lot different if the football team was winning. In some ways, the football team is an embarrassment.”

In Watkins’ three seasons as head coach, the Braves have gone 0-10 (actually 1-9 with a forfeit victory) in 1983, 2-8 in 1984 and 0-8 this season.

No wonder it’s difficult for El Cajon students to believe that their school produced a Grossmont League championship football team during their lifetimes.

In 1974, quarterback Mark Malone (now with the Pittsburgh Steelers) led the Braves to that title. The following year, the Braves finished second.

There have been a lot of lean years since.

“Nobody in the district wanted this job when I got it,” said Watkins, who had worked as an assistant coach at Crawford. “I didn’t even know what I was getting into. My first year was a real sad situation. I knew coming in that our goal was to be competitive in three to five years.”

Watkins’ first task was to hire assistant coaches to help him with the varsity and junior varsity teams. Now, he has five paid assistants and two volunteers. Watkins is the only full-time staff member coaching football at El Cajon, and he is one of the few coaches in the county to coach both the varsity and junior varsity.

“It burns me at both ends,” Watkins said. “After the junior varsity game ends, I have a two-hour break to get mentally prepared for the varsity game.”

This year’s junior varsity is 3-4-1, which includes a 7-7 tie with rival El Capitan. Watkins is pleased as much by the junior varsity’s manpower as its record. There are 47 players on the junior varsity, and Watkins says they are “a good nucleus of athletes.”

The problem is getting more good athletes to come out for the football team.

“If you’re in the physical education department, you can do a lot of recruiting,” Watkins said. “I’m a graphics teacher in the industrial arts building. I only see 125 kids a day. I do as much recruiting as I can do in my classroom.”

It’s additionally difficult to recruit players at a school where many students have to work to support their families. El Cajon Valley is also located in an area where families are often moving. Many students do not stay at the school for more than a couple of years.

“I don’t use that as a crutch,” Watkins said. “Hey, I got excited when they built new apartments around here.”

That brings up another problem. If prospective football players have a choice of going to either El Cajon or Granite Hills, there is not much choice.

“I don’t have much to recruit with,” Watkins said. “What do I have to sell them on? That I’m a great guy?”

Many of the players at Granite Hills and El Cajon played Pop Warner football together. Now, some play for the third-ranked team in the county and others are members of a winless team.

“We’re rivals,” Daugherty said, “and I’ll admit I feel jealousy. They have everything rolling their way. There are people playing both ways here. There, they can concentrate on one position. And Granite Hills has more money to do things with. Money is very tight around here. Here you have to scrap to get what you can.”

Many high school football coaches require players to earn their letters by accumulating a certain amount of playing time. Just being on the team and giving their all in practice every day is not enough to merit a letter.

On Watkins’ team, substitutes have and will continue to receive letters. Winning two games on the field in almost three seasons forces a coach to put the game in perspective.

“My hope is that they’ll come away from here feeling that if you start something, you don’t quit,” Watkins said. “Don’t get me wrong. I would like to be 11-0 and someday I will. But I feel good when I see kids go on and become good human beings.”

That feeling has permeated his team.

“We’ve become family,” Daugherty said. “Everybody is out to win, but I don’t think that’s the main thing. In the end, we can all come out saying we played the best game we could. Our team is always missing something, but we haven’t lost the spirit in four years.”