Winning While Losing

You could say the boys on the Saddleback Valley Christian School football team have enjoyed a storybook season--a real-life version of the Bad News Bears.

There’s just one problem: With an official record of 0-6, there is no hope of a miraculous championship when the Warriors play their final game today against Riverside’s Bethel Christian School.

Finishing out the season is victory enough for this scrappy, start-up team of 14 boys who have far more spunk than skill. “They told us we were nuts; they said we were crazy, and maybe we are,” Coach Mike Henjum said.

The tiny, new private high school has faced one setback after another this season as it launched an 11-man football team--against the advice of many. With an enrollment of 95, the high school has only 42 boys--fewer than are on many varsity football rosters.

Size is a problem in every way. Barring injuries, the Warriors have at most three substitutes, and several of the players--who are mostly freshmen and sophomores--are so small that they seem lost in their uniforms. Many had never played football before and didn’t know such basics as how to block. And then there were all those rules governing play.

When sophomore Dan Martin got into a game for the first time, coaches kept it simple, instructing him to hit as hard as his 135 pounds allowed.

Teammates laughingly recalled how an opposing player went airborne when smacked from behind, and Martin’s surprise at being penalized for clipping. “No one told me that was illegal,” he said.

Mickey Bodnar, an assistant coach, said he can do little but shake his head at a season of missed passes, misdirection and misunderstood calls.

“It’s so easy to get frustrated, but when that happens I step back and look at what these kids are doing,” he said. “They’ve been really outmatched this season--so many of them are young, with no experience--but they keep coming out here.”

Henjum, in his first year as head coach, was drafted in the spring to replace a coach who quit. Then the team’s most experienced assistant coach left after a few games. The starting quarterback was dismissed for disciplinary reasons after two games.

The team lacked a blocking sled. Practice and game fields had to be borrowed from other schools, and there were days when even coaches were confused about where the next game was scheduled.

With so few players, every illness, pulled muscle and family emergency threatened to end the season. Every boy is expected to know two positions on both offense and defense. Jayson Boyd, a 140-pound sophomore, has been given the nickname “Slash”--as in running back/receiver/offensive guard/linebacker.

At a practice this week, only 10 players were on hand when Henjum instructed the offense to start running plays. Athletic Director Rod Markum’s 8-year-old son, Josh, was a stand-in wide receiver.

Perseverance is the running theme for both the team and the school. Classes are held in facilities borrowed from nearby churches. Plans include a sprawling, 67-acre campus to eventually hold about 1,800 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Record aside, the Warriors are considered campus heroes by many, symbols of a bright future for their school. “As far as the scoreboard goes, it’s been a difficult season, but you’d never know that from the spirit of the kids on campus,” Principal Kevin Rex said.

The Warriors can also count some opponents among their fans.

“You have to give those boys all the credit in the world,” said St. Genevieve School’s athletic director, Marlon Archey.

When his school played Saddleback Valley Christian early in the season and was well on its way to a 53-0 victory, he offered to take it easy. “We wanted to make sure that by no means were we humiliating the boys or their fans,” Archey said.

No thanks, the Warriors said.

By game’s end, Archey said, even he was cheering on the boys from Saddleback. “When we looked over on their sidelines and saw only two or three players who could sub in, we found ourselves praising them to keep their heads up and make a tackle,” Archey said.

The team stepped onto the field for its first game in September and the Warriors were pummeled 47-0, managing to move the ball to its opponent’s side of the field only once. Over seven games, including one junior varsity contest, the Warriors have given up an average of 37 points and been outscored 263-106.

But while they were shut out in three of their first four games, the Warriors scored 46 points against Noli Indian School, losing by only two points.

Then came a 26-0 win over Newport Beach Sage Hill, another first-year school. While the victory doesn’t count toward their varsity record--Sage Hill fields only a freshman-sophomore team--it was clearly the highlight of the Warriors’ season.

“It was like the Super Bowl,” said the team’s chaplain, Bill Frey, who is also the quarterback’s father.

As the season draws to a close, the Warriors can look at the narrowing margins of defeat and the shrinking number of points they allowed as evidence of improvement.

“I’ll tell you, it’s amazing they’ve come this far,” said David Ford, a team parent.

Deeply devoted, team members pray after every practice, after every game, giving thanks for a season that has been free of serious injuries. The night before a game, they have dinner and then Bible study.

Coach Henjum each week honored team members for outstanding play. The reward is a tiny blue sticker that is placed on a player’s helmet.

“We knew going into this that we were going to lose some games, but we never gave up,” said freshman David Pickett, 14, a defensive end and offensive tackle, showing off the 18 warriors that adorn his helmet. “That’s what these stickers say. We never shut down, no matter what. We never quit.”