Originally expecting $100,000, the football team and the community exceeded its goal and raised a remarkable $135,000 for the 2024 season. Coach Joseph Ortiz and his team set a new state fundraising record for the second time in 3 years with the help of student athletes, parents, and the community. Ortiz has set a new vision as well as a promising future for the football team. There have been major changes to the program over the past year including: a turf field, new lifting equipment, new jerseys, and new helmets for the players.
Ortiz explained how the money has been used for the entire team by adding, “We need that amount of money because we feed two meals a week for the varsity and freshman, and JV gets one meal, all of it goes back to them.” The money raised always makes its way back to the players one way or another, the money has mainly gone into supporting players and upgrading their experience in high school football.
Fundraising started back in late July and exceeded all expectations in just under a month. Ortiz’s first fundraiser with the program back in 2022 broke the state record, and has continued to grow since. Wide receiver, Senior Tyler Mesias shared his appreciation by stating, “I feel like Coach Ortiz is trying to do more, by having nicer things for us players so, to have these nicer things we’ve just got to fundraise more for ourselves.” To summarize, Ortiz set goals for the players and continued to motivate and encourage them to raise money for their team. This also included inspiring players to raise money in order to better their own equipment, gear, and meals.
In order to support the 65 player varsity team and 100+ player JV and Freshman teams, players were asked to raise a total of $1200 each. Junior offensive lineman Noah Camping talked about how he was able to reach his goal and collect donations, ”I raised $1300 and my Dad donated $500, so I ended up raising $800 dollars by myself.” Camping went on to share his effort by explaining how he went into his dads work and promoted donations to co-workers and staff.
Camping discussed the possible financial struggles some players might have with donations by adding, “If you really wanted to raise money you can always go door to door, go to grocery stores, and stuff like that. So, you’re not looked down upon… everyone’s supposed to raise money so if you don’t raise money it’s kind of like you don’t have an excuse not to.” Ortiz set certain expectations for the players and motivated them to work hard towards their goal.
Support continues to hold strong for the program. This season, the team is aiming to win the ring and prove their name as a threat in the 6A conference, which is the largest enrollment size in high school football. With the collected money and promising roster they are aiming for success in the 2024 season.
