Football Seasons Recap
As fall comes to an end, Dublin High’s football teams are starting to wrap up their seasons with significant wins, enhancing our school’s spirited atmosphere. Meanwhile, preparations have begun for our winter sports and excitement continues. Let’s recap on this year’s men’s football and women’s flag football seasons.
Dublin High’s Varsity football team ended the season with a result of 6-5, making a narrow escape from elimination and securing a spot in NCS Quarterfinals. The team’s playoff run was cut short after a loss against El Cerrito, ending with a score of 7-24. Although this loss might’ve hit hard as the first game, the multitude of wins was much more memorable for our community. Our Gaels gained wins against Berkeley, Heritage, Freedom, Granada, and Foothill. However, the team lost against Vanden, Windsor, Amador Valley, and a neck to neck match against Livermore, where Dublin fell short with a score of 21-22. This is the second year in a row where Dublin’s game against Livermore has proved to be a close call as Dublin also had a loss last year, the game resulting in a score of 28-27. These matches raise wonder for how the game will end next year.
Our annual rivalry game against Dougherty Valley was cancelled due to DV’s limited roster, resulting in a forfeit in Dublin’s favor. Dublin has been winning against Dougherty Valley for the past 6-7 years without fail, making the forfeit an unfulfilled victory for Dublin Gaels. Despite their season being filled with challenges, as many players were sidelined due to injuries, the team surpassed their last season’s record of 3-8. The athletes’ perseverance and determination towards making it into NCS is clear through this record and admired by the whole of Dublin High. Only in his second year as Dublin’s head coach, Coach Napoleon Kaufman has greatly impacted Dublin High’s football program with his experience playing in the NFL. Since the Dublin team is exposed to professional skill, his coaching has definitely added to this year’s success. The freshman team also ended with a successful season of 6-3; unfortunately, the JV squad faced a tougher year as they ended with a season of 1-8.
Moving onto our women’s flag football season, they ended with an overall record of 15-10. This is their third season as a distinguished team in Dublin High’s athletics. Similar to our men’s team, they’ve shown drastic improvements over the past few years. In this new season, the flag football program has enhanced their offensive playing style with Taylor Sullivan averaging 73.4 yards per game and Rayn Hazen averaging 22.0 rushing yards per game. Not only that, the team’s defense strategy has improved with Jess Verdier having 3.4 tackles a game and Lyla Salemi averaging 3.1 tackles per game. Sadly, the JV team couldn’t achieve the same offensive efficiency as Varsity, but won 2 games against Deer Valley and Dougherty Valley. As the flag football program is still developing at Dublin High, there’s hope for growth in the future and inspiration for more girls to try out.