Cardinal Football Finds a Home

SCCS football played its inaugural season in 1998. But it wasn't until 2003 that the program finally found a home.

For each of the program's first five seasons, summers and falls were spent in large part begging for a place to practice. City parks, public schools, homes with exceptionally large yards. It didn't matter. The team would drag its players and equipment wherever there was room.

Unfortunately, in the football-saturated valley of Santa Clarita, practice space was hard to come by. In a city that routinely produced Southern California section champions in the 11-man divisions, SCCS sat low on the totem pole.

And so when the 2003 summer practice season began -- not on the cramped slopes of Canyon Country Park or in some gopher-ridden patch of dirt and crabgrass -- but in a dedicated, secluded acreage of grass -- SCCS's coaches and players has good reason for the spring in their collective step.

The land belonged to Steve Borden, better known to professional wrestling fans as Sting. Borden's oldest son, Garrett,  was an 8th grader at SCCS and would join the team in 2004.

It didn't matter that the field sat 10 miles north on Highway 14 in Agua Dulce. What did matter was that the team had a place to park its blocking sleds and practice pads. It had a field on which it could simulate game situations. It had a place to call home.

The dedicated facilities, along with the team's playoff push in 2002, generated a lot of enthusiasm.

"We have 34 guys on the field this year," Moss said during a preseason practice session. "Last year we had 21. Twelve freshman came out for the team."

The surge in the roster meant more depth, which meant more players to pit against each other in practice. But it would be up to coach Moss, offensive coordinator John Stone, and defensive coordinator John Sanna to cash it in for wins.

"We want to win the big game this year," Moss said. "Last year we won the games we were supposed to win, but we didn't win the battles. We want to turn that around this season."