‘We want kids involved in football.’ ‘Hype man’ helps motivate Buhach Colony players.

Keith Ducey arrives on the Buhach Colony High football sideline each Friday night with a large backpack. Inside he has two cameras, an Ipad and a bunch of chargers.

Buhach Colony coach Kevin Navarra calls Ducey the Thunder hype man.

Ducey, 45, patrols the BC sideline all Friday night, getting video footage, including highlights from the game, cheerleaders, the student section, administrators, opposing coaches. Ducey even interviews Thunder players during games as they come off the field.

Each week he combs through his footage and edits together a highlight video that he posts on YouTube and shares with the players and coaches on social media.

What does Ducey think of being a hype man?

“That’s cool, I can dig it,” he said. “I know (Navarra) loves it.”

Enlisting Ducey to use his videos and graphic design background is just another tool Navarra uses to reach his social-media savvy players.

“The kids look forward to Thursday and watching the highlight video,” Navarra said. “Keith does a good job of including shots of the band, administration and the cheerleaders. I hate to say it but it helps sell the game to your lower levels. We want kids involved in football.”

It’s no secret the number of high school kids playing football have dropped in recent years with safety concerns. In California, the number has dropped from 103,921 in 2011 to 91,000 last year according to data provided by the California Interscholastic Federation.

Locally we’ve seen teams that used to have a roster of over 50 players field teams with just over 30 and 40 players.

To reverse the trend coaches have had to become creative in their approach.

That’s why when you head out to most area practices you’ll hear music blaring over portable speakers as team go through drills on the field.

“Now coaches add music to practices.,” Navarra said. “We let kids be themselves. There are still some old school coaches who still do it well. To me a lot of it is like teaching. You want to do what it takes to reach the kids.”

For Navarra, that also means taking to social media.

The Thunder coach has used social media as a way to reach his players. Heading into a matchup with Edison High earlier this year, Navarra retweeted some of the offers Edison star running back Raleek Brown had received from major college programs across the country. A way to motivate his players.

Navarra will retweet different sites that posts rankings and predictions to make sure his players see it.

“In this day and age, you can fight it or you can use it to your advantage,” Navarra said.

Another thing Buhach Colony has added to their social media feeds is a poster that highlights a player and the opponent for that week. It’s another weekly project for Ducey.

“I surprised him with that,” Ducey said. “I just figured I have all these pictures. Why not try to generate some excitement for the next game. Get people excited for Friday night lights. So I put a poster together and got it out on social media with Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. You see a lot of local teams doing it. I think it’s great for the kids.”

Ducey had one son go through the Buhach Colony program and has another at the junior varsity level. He’s also coached in the Thunder youth football program.

Putting together the posters and videos are a way to give back to Navarra and the program.

“When I talked about doing with coach Navara, he just let me run with it,” Ducey said. “He knows I’m not going to let any cursing get in there. I’m not going to shed a bad light on the program. My angle for the videos is to try to capture moments you don’t usually see. So you’ll see a lot of stuff on the sidelines, inside the huddles, pregame stuff. I try not to step on anybody’s toes.”

Navarra has given Ducey full access, even letting him talk to kids on the sideline during games.

“The videos give people an insight into our program,” said senior lineman Tomas Sandoval. “For some of our guys who aren’t going to play football after high school, they get to have these memories. They can show their kids.”

Sandoval said he’s had teachers tell him they’ve watched the videos and seen him.

The videos are also a way to document what has been a special year so far with the Thunder off to a 5-0 start as they prepare to host El Capitan (1-4 overall, 0-2 Central California Conference) on Thursday night at Dave Honey Stadium.

“We get pumped up watching them,” said junior running back Anthony Berry. “It gets us hyped up for Friday night.”

Isn’t that the hype man’s job?

Football Schedule

Thursday

El Capitan at Buhach Colony

Friday

Patterson at Atwater

Golden Valley at Central Valley

Los Banos at Mountain House

Grace Davis at Pacheco

Livingston at Ripon

Waterford at Le Grand

Delhi at Waterford

Gustine at Denair

Big Valley Christian at Stone Ridge Christian

Dos Palos at Mendota

Chowchilla at Kerman