GHS football participates in defensive camp at Brownell
Academy
GILROY – The Gilroy High football coaching staff and players are tired of just being a good team. So, the ante was upped over the summer with daily early morning workouts at 6 a.m., more passing and linemen competitions, and two team camps.
“That’s why we’re working so hard this summer because we want to gun for championship this year,” head coach Darren Yafai said. “We don’t want to just got 5-4-1. We don’t want to just go 7-3. We’re tired of just being good. We want to take our football program to next level.”
The Mustangs have not won a league championship in 18 seasons and their best season since then was a 7-3 campaign in which they lost in the first round of the Central Coast Section Playoffs.
That’s not enough anymore.
“We want to take that next step and win a league championship and win a few playoff games and contend for a section title,” Yafai said. “This summer we have 59 varsity players and they’ve done an outstanding job. We’ve demanded a lot of them. … The big one is they’ve had to get up and do 6 a.m. workouts. I think it’s a positive, big step and the kids have responded.”
Gilroy High started its second team camp with Monday’s 2004 Championship Defensive Camp, held at Brownell Academy, and continue today. This is the fifth year in a row the team has participated in it, but it is the first time Gilroy has done two summer team camps under Yafai’s tenure.
“I found teams that do team camps during summer, whether one or two although more teams are doing two, are more successful and prepared when the season starts,” Yafai said.
The Mustang head coach also is making up for a lost week of practice due to school not starting until a week later than usual on Aug. 30. There is a section rule that does not allow teams to practice until two weeks before the first day of school and Gilroy High has a zero-week game against Burligame on Sept. 3.
“With us having to wait until Aug. 16, we lose a full week of practice. That makes it even more important to be better prepared over the summer,” Yafai said.
The defensive camp, which has a number under the same name running throughout the state, is headed up by Dave Humphers, coach for Nevada Union High School in Grass Valley. Humphers is assisted by a camp staff of coaches, and also the coaches of the participating schools help out.
“All the coaches from all the schools help out with the drills, but also in all the team sessions and scrimmages we are coaching our own teams,” Yafai said.
The schools working out this year are: Receda High, Faith Baptist, and Freedom High from Southern California; Sierra High from Manteca; Harbor High from Santa Cruz; and Santa Clara High.
“The camp has a defensive emphasis,” Yafai said.
The entire team attends the camp, which focuses on proper tackling technique, forcing turnovers, pursuit and swarming to the football. In addition, there are 7-on-7 competitions; pursuit competitions, and full pad scrimmages.
“It’s really beneficial because it gets you extra work. It helps out with your summer programs because schools that do team camps in summer it kind of speeds up the learning curve,” Yafai said. “It gets you ahead. Plus, individually it helps out a lot. … There’s a lot good coaches that coach up these camps and teach good technique.”
The two-day camp ran from 1 to 7 p.m. on Monday and will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at Brownell Academy, so teams from out of the area must also find places to stay. One high school is staying in the Brownell gymnasium, two high schools are at hotels, two of the area schools are commuting, and one high school has its players staying with Gilroy High players.
“Originally, they were going to stay in the Gilroy High gym, but with Gilroy High totally under construction, that was not a possibility,” Yafai said. “The head coach of Freedom is a good friend of mine and a Gilroy High alumni. When he said he was coming to the camp, we said we’d find a place for them to stay.”
Freedom head coach Kevin Hartwig played football at both Gilroy High and Gavilan College, so Yafai made it work for his players. Each Gilroy High player has a couple of Freedom players staying with them, and Yafai made it so players of the same position are together.
Gilroy also extended its hospitality to all of the visiting teams with a barbecue after Monday’s session.
GHS ALL-STARS: Graduated seniors Ben Hemeon and Melvin Bryant will represent Gilroy High School one more time in Wednesday’s Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Football Game at San Jose City College. Game-time is at 7:30 p.m.
