Coach Earl Schrader says team is one of the best in its history
By Dennis Kaiser
The 2012 Avalon Lancers Football team will go down in the annals of Catalina as one of the best.
With an end of the season record of 10 wins and one loss in their last game, the team and its coaches have a lot to be proud of.
These talented young athletes may come from our small Island, yet throughout the season they showed many other football teams on the mainland what the Avalon Lancers can do on a football field.
Coach Earl Schrader says team is one of the best in its history
By Dennis Kaiser
The 2012 Avalon Lancers Football team will go down in the annals of Catalina as one of the best.
With an end of the season record of 10 wins and one loss in their last game, the team and its coaches have a lot to be proud of.
These talented young athletes may come from our small Island, yet throughout the season they showed many other football teams on the mainland what the Avalon Lancers can do on a football field.
Perhaps no one is more proud than head coach Earl Schrader, who explained that they are high on the list of the great Lancer teams that he has coached over the years.
“They are not our winningest team ever, but they are up there,” Schrader said this week after the team played its final game. Unfortunately, that game was the team’s only loss of the year, but it was enough to end their hopes of CIF championship glory.
Last Friday, the Avalon Lancers football team succumbed to the Thacher Toads with a score of 28-8, advancing the Toads in the playoffs, but ending the season for the Lancers.
Still there is much to be said for how this year’s Lancers team remained undefeated until the very end of its season.
“We’ve had a couple of other teams in the past that went 11 and 1,”Schrader said. “but this year’s team was very good.”
The reason? Experience.
Schrader explained that this year’s Lancers Football team had a high number of seniors on the team.
“Most of them were seniors,” Schrader said. “At least three or four had been starters for all four of their high school years.”
Despite that, Schrader said he was not overly confident at the beginning of the season. “As a coach, I’m always nervous,” he said. “I was really concerned about four of our pre-season games this year.”
However, Schrader’s boys showed they had the right stuff.
Now, following this winning season and as they plan and prepare for their future, some of the team players will also pursue the next step of playing football in college. Avalon football players have to adapt their game when they move into the college circuit. This is due to the fact that Avalon’s league plays an eight man football game, while others play 11 team members.
“I think some of the players who have a good chance at continuing in college include Jose Cervantes, Juan Pablo Bravo and Juan Carlos Murillo,” Schrader said.
Schrader is already looking ahead to next year’s season and realizes that although he may not have as many seniors playing on the team next year as he did in this successful season, he can already recognize some very strong prospects coming up through the ranks. It is because of that insight that he expects they can produce another very good team of athletes for the 2013 season.
Schrader started coaching Lancers football upon it’s inception in 2004. He was the head coach for 5 seasons before stepping down from the head coach position for two years. He returned as head coach in 2011when he was asked to step back into the position, and has remained in that role ever since.
He said he intends to continue to be involved in coaching Avalon football “as long as they will have me.”
Schrader was a football player himself in his younger days, and while he obviously enjoys the glory of a winning season, he said his greatest reward is “without question, watching these guys grow and turn into men.”
Schrader said that he was very pleased with the 2012 season – not only because of his team of talented athletes, but also because of the level of involvement from our community.
“I was really happy with all of the community support this year and the support we felt from the cheerleaders and everyone involved with the program,” he said.
And with his eyes already set on the promise of another good season next year, Schrader can now relax for a while and enjoy the memories from this incredible 2012 season.
