With a whole summer left ahead of them, the Vaquero football team is already hyped up and pumped for action. Already in their third week of spring practice, the squad is preparing with intensive practices for the upcoming season.

Lead by coach John Cicuto, a veteran of over 25 years in the Vaquero football program, the team is accumulating players for a well rounded team.

Picking up 15 new players in the spring practice sessions, the team is up to nearly 40 players for the next season. “We’ve got good numbers,” said Cicuto.

New recruits like, Jonathan Houk who is currently a high school senior, are attending spring practices. The new recruits include strong players coming out of high school and players transferring from other colleges.
Among the returning players, Rickie Valenzuela, who was awarded Honorable Mention All Conference, will be returning as an offensive lineman.
For the quarterback position, the Vaqueros will have returning players Patrick Fields and Adam Freeman lead the squad.

This semester Cicuto has seen much improvement in the team’s attitude and he is also constantly working on ways to help develop a positive attitude.

“That’s where it starts,” he said. “If we continue to improve, we can have good leadership for the team and that gives us a better chance of winning.”

Cicuto explained that the team needs to work hard on the field, but also needs to show responsibility on and off the field. “Our whole thing this season is responsibility,” he said.

Hoping for success in the upcoming season, coach Cicuto is concerned about the players’ academics as well as their performance on the field. If a player has inadequate grades, they will be ineligible to play, thus hurting the team.

“Success in the classroom determines success on the field,” said coach Cicuto. “The bottom line is that no matter how good you are on the field, you’re still a student athlete.”