A step of faith

Central football unveils Fall varsity schedule

Coming off winning it's 2nd consecutive IVL title and 3rd straight Bell Game, the Central Spartans were looking forward to the challenge of replacing outgoing star seniors Deniro Osuna, Angel Nava-Esparza, Michael Sullivan and Jonathan Medina.

But, the unexpected advent of the Coronavirus put an end to the open position battles the Spartans were looking forward to seeing unfold in spring ball.

All the returning underclassmen (like every other student athlete on the planet) has had to settle on individual training programs and the hope that sometime soon the social distancing mandates would lift and team practices as well as the upcoming season would eventually become a reality.

Through all the uncertainty, Spartans 3rd year head coach Rookie Peña knew his program and the Central Union High School community desperately needed some kind of lift.

This past weekend, he made an announcement he hoped would help.

Peña announced to his team and the public a full 10-game schedule for the coming Fall season and it didn't take long for him to get the feedback he needed to confirm the decision.

"This has been a very big boost for our players. I made the announcement on Saturday with the new schedule change. Our players are very excited. You've had a couple of people make some comments on social media just saying; 'Hey, I didn't know there was going to be a football season.' A couple of people also commented and said 'We're always going to go ahead and plan the best moving forward.'"

Peña does emphasize that this schedule will not be "a walk in the park" for a program looking to replace a line-up heavily relying on senior leadership and talent from last year.

If the season does play out and start on time, Central would open up against Mt. Carmel (last year's 1st round playoff opponent), they would pay a visit to Yuma area power Gila Ridge, and then they would play a tough 4-game homestand against the likes of division 1 power Lincoln and a re-match against El Paso-based Del Valle.

But, with the excited of the released schedule Peña still isn't 100 percent that the games will all be played; pending a longer Summer delay or potentially another round of a Coronavirus outbreak. Still, he and many in Spartan nation are putting their faith that better days will come sooner rather than later.

"Whatever happens, happens in the future. So, for right now, let's just plan for it to be normal then we'll adapt from there."