‘There’s a hunger in this group that wasn’t there a year ago.’ Tribe look to rebound.

The Chowchilla football team is synonymous with toughness.

It’s one of the defining characteristics for a program that seldom has an abundance of numbers or elite athletes, but still produces 48 minutes of bone-jarring football week in and week out.

Right along with playing for Valley Championships, it’s what’s expected from the Tribe faithful, coaches and players. When the bar is set that high, praise isn’t easily earned. So, opponents should probably take note as head coach Alex Pittz said he’s never been more pleased with a team heading into the start of the season.

“We weren’t really pleased with how things went last season, so we revamped our offseason again,” Pittz said. “We implemented a points system, kind of like what coach (Jeremy) Plaa uses at Downey, to show us who really wants to be here. They got points for things like playing other sports, community service and their grades. The group that we have really responded to it.

“We just got back from our camping trip and I’m as happy with the attitude and effort of this team as any I’ve coached. There’s a hunger in this group that wasn’t there a year ago.”

Part of that hunger derives from the sting of last year’s first-round playoff exit. Chowchilla got bumped up to the Central Section’s Division III after reaching the CIF IV-A State title game in 2015 and the Central Section Division IV title game in 2016.

The first season in DIII was a learning experience as the Tribe took some lumps. Chowchilla finished the regular season 5-5 and then fell 20-14 to Kingsburg in the opening round of the playoffs.

While being the smallest school in Division III didn’t help the Tribe’s cause, Pittz said the biggest struggle was replacing everything they lost on the offensive and defensive lines. With a now veteran group of linemen in the fold, Chowchilla is expecting a bounce-back campaign.

“Last year I think a lot of the players just expected that we were going to do something,” senior linebacker/running back Andrew Young said. “We got too cocky. The first year in Division III taught us a lot.

“This year, none of us have a championship. We’ve been focused and we’ve worked hard to show we can play in the bigger division.”

Three-year starting quarterback Cody Woolsey will lead the attack. He was Chowchilla’s top rusher a season ago and combined for over 1,300 yards of total offense and 17 touchdowns. Senior Juan Lopez will anchor an experienced offensive line and returning tight ends Cole Crawford and Luciano Manzo should keep opposing defenses honest against the Tribe ground attack.

Chowchilla doesn’t have a lot of game-changing speed this season, but sophomore Jordan Hornbeak (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) will provide plenty of power at running back and middle linebacker. He’ll be flanked by Young and Crawford, giving the Tribe a tenacious and touch line backing corps.

“I think this is a team that responds to a challenge,” Crawford said. “We know we don’t have a lot of numbers. We know that our entire schedule is bigger than us. There’s no excuses. We still expect to compete and win.

“We have to be tough. We have to outwork other teams. We have to play smart and be really well conditioned. The point system was a good idea. We could see everybody here put in the work. It brought us together and we’re ready to prove ourselves.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 9:30 AM.