Bound for section title game, Modesto Christian finds strength within low numbers

At some point, you have to start feeling sorry for the barrels.

At Modesto Christian High School, those 55-gallon cylinders just sit there on the football field and take the abuse, standing in place of the real-life players the Crusaders wish they had.

When a varsity team dresses only 18 players and has aspirations of winning a section championship, adjustments have to be made to the way the team practices. Barrels become players, and players don’t do much hitting.

“We do a lot of barrels,” said coach Mike Parsons. “That’s something I stole from Mike Glines when I went to watch Central Catholic practice before their (2007) state championship game. They weren’t hitting a lot but were using barrels.”

Barrels do have their advantages. They never complain and never come off the field, which makes them a lot like seven Crusaders players whose entire sideline presence will be during pregame and halftime in Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI title game against Capital Christian of Sacramento. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Lodi’s Grape Bowl.

Those seven – Conner Dowd, Zack Schott, Chris Brown, Caleb Blakeley, Kory Mora, Jaylon McClendon and Nick Shamp – are slated to be on the field for all plays involving offense, defense and special teams. An eighth, quarterback Luke Andrew, played most of the season at safety and leads MC in interceptions but now plays mostly offense.

“It’s nice to have that time on the sideline, but defense is my favorite,” Andrew said. “It’s hard for me to not be out there hitting people, but it’s nice to be able to focus on being out there to lead the offense, just knowing that I’m fresh. A full roster would be nice, but I wouldn’t trade our 20 guys for anybody.”

Yes, everyone admits it would be nice to have a full complement of players, which right now is difficult for a school with 190 students. If the Crusaders had 22, they could run a full live-scrimmage drill. If they had 30, they would have the luxury of one-way substitutes. Capital Christian, with a 37-player roster, has 410 students, making it the lowest-enrollment school Modesto Christian has played this year.

The 12-0 Cougars beat Modesto Christian 23-22 on Sept. 5 in the Crusaders’ season opener – scoring a touchdown with 1:32 left and converting the two-point conversion for the win. It stands as MC’s lone loss in an 11-1 campaign that included a perfect run through the Trans-Valley League.

Capital Christian coach Phil Grams knows what Parsons faces when he practices. When Grams took over the Cougars in 2011, he welcomed 24 players to spring football – 12 varsity, 12 junior varsity.

“Mike and I became quick friends in the offseason when I realized that when he took over the program he was in the same boat,” Grams said. “We went into our first season with 17 varsity players and went 5-5, so obviously Mike has done a good job with what he had. Our program is through that stage now, but I remember how tough it was to practice. And we still line up against barrels and trash cans.”

In Parsons’ return to Salida after five years at Clovis West, he inherited a small but hungry and talented group of players. His next step is to bring players into the program who can maintain that hunger, because the Crusaders can’t possibly hope to keep winning in the TVL with such low numbers.

“We have to grow the school, and that’s a fact,” Parsons said. “You can’t run a high school with these numbers, and part of my job is to talk to the youth teams about coming to school here.”

Sophomore running back/cornerback Chris Brown, who leads the team with 1,469 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns, said he does his part in school hallways to recruit classmates into the football program. One look into the gym reveals five or six students who certainly have the athletic ability and builds to play another sport.

“I do talk to guys about coming out and helping us, maybe a tall receiver,” Brown said. “That would be nice. I think some of the basketball players want to be out here.”

Even if Parsons’ players admit that a few more teammates would be a good thing, they’re quick to draw the line at having to come off the field at any point.

“It would be nice to have more numbers just in case somebody gets hurt, but Coach Parsons conditions us really well,” said fullback/linebacker Conner Dowd. “It’s not a big deal when we’re out there. We’ve always dealt with that at MC, and you get used to making adjustments on the field. At practice, we don’t have the numbers to go 11 on 11, but we make do with what we have and make the most of it. And it works.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2014 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Bound for section title game, Modesto Christian finds strength within low numbers."