More than eight months removed from the end of last season, additional motivation
isn’t necessary for the Mingus Union High School football team. As a locked-in Marauders squad practiced in the blistering June heat, a mix of the new and the old graced the field.
Gone were many of the familiar faces surrounding Mingus football for the past few years, as they’re replacing starters at most skill positions. But despite the fresh roster, the same old need to protect Mingus football tradition remains.
The Marauders are coming off a 2-8 season in 2021. But while numbers don’t lie, they also don’t tell the full story. Head coach Dave Moncibaez didn’t earn that title until August 20 — two weeks before the first regular-season game. Previous head coach Doug Provenzano resigned in mid-August just days after he was placed on administrative leave by the school district.
“It’s definitely something new that we like,” senior linebacker Ethan Jones said. “Having a set coach in finally — we definitely had a bunch of coaching problems — but we have a good coaching staff now and we’re excited for the season for sure.”
The rapid change in coaching would cause detriment to any team, and the Marauders had more problems to deal with. A summer inspection of the football field at Mingus deemed the playing surface unsafe. As a result, the Marauders gave up two home games and were forced to play their first five contests on the road.
After the turbulent 2021 season, which saw heartbreaking losses and competitive on-field play, the Marauders are ready to put it all behind them. The 2022 squad features what Moncibaez calls a young squad “loaded with sophomores and juniors.” The second-year head coach entering his first full offseason gets to put his fingerprints all over the future of Mingus football, putting the ship on course for the young players.
But anyone that has spent time in a football locker room can second the fact that a coaching staff can only do so much when it comes to leading the younger players. Most of the molding comes from within, and the experienced players in that room are well aware of that fact.
“I feel more needed as a leader,” senior wide receiver and outside linebacker Ian Contreras said. “These kids need an example to be set.”
There’s perhaps no greater example being set than that from senior Brasen Durkalec.
Next man up
Just a couple of plays into the Oct. 1 game at Bradshaw Mountain, Durkalec, playing linebacker, went for a tackle and had his ankle rolled up by another player. He was diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury — when bones in the middle of the foot rotate out of place. Durkalec described it as “super painful,” and the subsequent surgery and recovery kept him out of the remainder of the football schedule, and the entire basketball season.
He recovered in time for track and field season, and he came back stronger than ever. Durkalec placed third in the long jump at the Division Three State Track and Field Championships in May, and ninth in the javelin throw.
His recovery was smooth. But once the football team regrouped for summer practices, a new challenge presented itself for Durkalec.
“I thought I was going to play linebacker my whole career,” he said. “Everybody was talking about how we don’t have a quarterback.”
The top of the Mingus to-do list for 2022 was obvious: Find a new quarterback. Three-year starter Zach Harrison graduated last month and there wasn’t much experience at the position on the Mingus roster.
At the start of practices, Durkalec volunteered. He’s a versatile three-sport athlete, but QB is different. He hadn’t played the position since his eighth-grade year. But as the saying goes: Next man up.
“I have the brains, I have the smarts, I have the athleticism,” Durkalec said. “I can run if I want to, I can pass if I want to. I can do a whole lot of stuff.”
It’s difficult to scout a team and a player from non-contact practices before the pads are worn, but if anything is clear from early Mingus summer workouts it’s that Durkalec has a cannon for an arm. He can hit players in stride on deep routes and he can use his legs to get out of sticky situations.
But what Mingus needs right now — more than a flashy arm — is a leader. Durkalec’s rise from a severe foot injury, to trying a new position in his last year of high-school football doesn’t go unnoticed by his teammates, and right now, that’s what’s important.
“This is the perfect fit for taking over for someone that was QB for three years,” Contreras said.
