East los Angeles College sophomore running back Shaquille Shelton, No. 15, looks ahead after getting by a Victor Valley College defensive player in an almost two-quarter scrimmage between both schools on August 25 at Weingart Stadium. (Photo by Tadzio Garcia)

Posted: Aug 25, 2016

A new era for Husky football to begin

MONTEREY PARK, CA — The East Los Angeles College football team opens its football season on Sept. 3 under first-year head coach Bobby Godinez. The Huskies play at the state’s No. 16-ranked Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

In preparation for the game at OCC, ELAC played Victor Valley College in a scrimmage on August 25 at Weingart Stadium. Victor Valley eked out a 10-7 final score after almost two quarters of scrimmage play.

“ELAC is much improved and played well. They have one (amazing) football coach with Godinez,” said Victor Valley Head Coach David Hoover. “He is going to turn things around at ELAC. You have no idea what you have at ELAC with this (great) coach.”

Godinez says he scheduled a big game for ELAC to open the season. “This will be a tougher game than anyone ELAC played last year, which is a good test for us,” said Godinez. “They (OCC) play physical style football, as do the other teams from their conference.”

OCC returns more than 30 players from a team that played in its first postseason bowl game in nine years last season The CCCAA banned OCC from postseason play in 2016 and 2017 for recruiting violations.

Against Victor Valley, ELAC matched the Rams in offensive yardage, approximately 200 yards each, in the shortened scrimmage.

“We had a better showing than last year against Victor Valley, who tied for our conference championship with one loss,” said ELAC sophomore kicker Vicente Luis Juan (LA Wilson High School).

Victor Valley bested ELAC 58-21 last year and 47-14 the year before that. The Rams were 19-2 during that time while ELAC was 5-17 under two different coaching staffs.

“We are a different team with our new coaches, hungry for wins with the smarts to take it one play at a time,” said Luis Juan.

ELAC transfer sophomore quarterback Jonathan Santos (South East HS), who played at LA Harbor College last year, was unofficially 11-of-15 for 145 yards.

With 00:26 seconds left in the first quarter against press man coverage, Santos connected on an 81-yard touchdown pass to freshman Kenny Allen (Fairfax HS) who ran a fade route.

“The team played hard, disciplined football, but needs to step it up more throughout the year,” said Godinez. “There were mental mistakes on defense and other little mistakes on offense that we need to clean up, but I’m excited about the direction they’re moving in.”

“This is a good group with a lot of good players. The D-Line is good. The linebackers had a good day, as did our running backs. The special teams unit has the potential to be one of the best in the state,” said Godinez.

The Huskies host their first home game on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m. against Allan Hancock College.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia