SAN JOSE — It didn’t even take a play from scrimmage for the MacDonald Condors to get a rude awakening to varsity football.
MacDonald, the two-year-old San Jose high school playing in its first-ever varsity game, was set to receive the opening kickoff at home against Santa Clara. Only the Condors never touched it.
Santa Clara recovered the short kick, and the Bruins were off to the races from there. Forty points and one running clock later, MacDonald had a 40-0 home defeat as its welcome mat to varsity competition.
“I knew we were the underdog,” said MacDonald coach Burt Codera. “We’re young, and we’re small and we’re thin, and we needed everything to go right, and it didn’t. But like I told the kids, we’re going to grow from this. We’re going to learn. We don’t really have any other option.”
MacDonald’s Ethan Bugarin (4) makes a catch against Santa Clara’s Daniel Rojina (13) in the second quarter at MacDonald High School in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, August 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Clara went up 6-0 on Joseph Ting’s 12-yard rushing touchdown after the opening kickoff recovery, then doubled the lead with Jayden Forks’ 4-yard rushing score later in the first quarter.
The Bruins tacked on a third TD via Ryan Borromeo’s 1-yard second-quarter run, going up 19-0. Ting then housed his second rushing score of the half from 11 yards out to put Santa Clara up 26-0 before the halftime break.
Santa Clara coach Nelson Gifford worked alongside Codera at Santa Clara before Codera left to start MacDonald’s program in 2022. The Condors currently have no seniors on their team and will graduate the school’s first senior class in 2026.
“I’ve been doing this 21 years now, and I’ve never done that,” Gifford said. “I’ve never had to start a program from scratch, so I can’t imagine how hard that is to come in and have to really build a program from the ninth grade up and have no senior leadership, right? And so I think coach Codera has done an amazing job with that group. They’re super talented, they’re scrappy, even with their small numbers. I thought they played as hard as they could. I think they’re going to be a really good program in the future.”
Perhaps. But the present is bleak for the Condors. Entering Friday’s action, MacDonald dressed just 22 players for varsity competition.
MacDonald’s Dominic Ortega (22) runs with the ball against Santa Clara High School in the first quarter at MacDonald High School in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, August 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The Condors lost a player when he came off the bench during a post-play skirmish on the Santa Clara sideline. Multiple MacDonald players also left the game with injuries.
“I told a lot of people I had no idea really what to expect,” Codera said. “Usually, I kind of have an idea of what to expect, but I guess it didn’t go the way I planned. We have a few guys that were in the process of getting cleared, so we should have them cleared by next week. So we should add a couple guys. And we’ll figure it out.”
The two coaches met with officials at halftime, and the second half was completed without incident. Gifford credited the familiarity between the two coaching staffs with keeping everyone’s emotions in check.
With the regularly scheduled programming back on air, the Bruins continued to dominate. Ling added his third touchdown of the game on the first play of a second half, a 45-yard rushing score. Thus commenced the running clock, and Santa Clara closed out the game with a fourth-quarter TD run by Quinn Raineri from 11 yards out.
Santa Clara’s Joseph Ting (31) runs with the ball against MacDonald High School in the first quarter at MacDonald High School in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, August 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
“It was really, really important for us to keep our composure,” Gifford said. “At the end of the day, we’re all part of Santa Clara Unified School District, right? We’re all part of the Santa Clara community. These are people that they went to middle school with, people they went to elementary school with, they played youth sports with. So it’s very personal, and that’s why it can get very chippy because of that. But it’s also the recognition that at the end of the day, we’re all brothers, we’re all part of the same family.”
In keeping with that theme, multiple Santa Clara players came over after the contest and exchanged kind words with Codera. He appreciated the sentiment, but he hopes that before long, MacDonald is the team dishing out opening-week blowouts.
“It meant a little bit more,” Codera said. “Didn’t work out the way we wanted, but it is what it is. We’ll get another chance. Tonight, I’m going to drink some whiskey and I’m not going to think about this.”
MacDonald starting quarterback Moussa Fall (12) throws under pressure against Santa Clara’s Matthew Paulino (56) in the first quarter at MacDonald High School in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, August 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Clara’s Taysean Reed (7) runs for a long gain against MacDonald High School in the second quarter at MacDonald High School in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, August 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
