Prep Football Preview: Vincent Memorial

The Scots enter the 2021 fall season relying on underclassmen to hold down significant roles

CALEXICO, Calif. ( KYMA, KECY-TV ) - The Vincent Memorial football team hasn't had a losing season since the 2012-13 season when they finished the year 3-5. Since that time, the Scots have posted three 10 win seasons, in 2017 they lost in the CIF Division V semi-finals. In 2017 they fell at home to Galileo in the state 6A championship game and in 2019, finished the season 10-2. A perennial power in the Desert League and across the Imperial Valley.

Head Coach David Wong now enters his seventh season as head coach. He's been with the program for the last decade. Last spring's COVID shorted season presented some challenges the program, like many others, had a hard time getting a handle on.

"Last spring’s 3-3 record really didn’t reflect our abilities, our skill or our players," Head coach David Wong said. "It was a short season, I only had 29 players, we didn’t prepare well enough for that."

The Scots enter the fall very young as they said goodbye to 14 graduating seniors in the spring. This season they will be very young with only have seniors on the team.

"We’re very young," Wong said. "I’ll tell you the truth, we’re counting on the juniors to do their jobs with a supporting cast of sophomores and a couple freshman."

On offense, the Scots will be led by returning quarterback and senior Diego Elorduy. Wong also mentions skill players Andre Rodriguez and Jesus Alonso-Hurtado that he's looking to as difference makers. He also points out freshman linebacker #53 Manuel Montano who's impressed so far.

"He’s going to be a starter as a freshman," Wong said. "He’s actually about 6’1, 190 pounds and he’s going to play linebacker. he’s going to be very good eventually, he’s going to get better, he’s doing well now."

As far as the rest of the talent on the roster is concerned, it's still a work in progress.  

"I’m going to say everyone is pretty even," Wong said. "There’s not one better than the other ones and we don’t count on one guy unless that’s the quarterback throwing an interception."

Wong knows with a fresh new batch of inexperienced talent that success will take a little time.

"I always start the season by seeing how we do in the first 2-3 games," Wong said. "Right now it’s pretty unpredictable because we have a very young group and we’re still trying to figure out who can play." 

The inexperienced showed in the Scots season opener last week on the road versus San Diego. The Scots were whalloped by the Cavers 55-8.

"I think it’s going to be similar to last spring," Wong said. "We’ll play some of the spread, run it up the middle but it depends on our personnel. We do have a running back, we lost our two from last year who were seniors, we lost all our wide receivers from last year as well. So we have to figure it out in this first game to figure out where we are talent wise."

With a wait and see approach, Wong will see how his young group responds to the opening ugly loss when they return to the Imperial Valley this Friday night for their home opener at Eagle Field against Southwest.

"It was a real short spring," Wong said. "A short summer and we’re doing our best to get back to what was normal back in 2019."