Despite finishing with a 5-5 record for the second season in a row, the Los Medanos College football team isn’t viewing the season in any way a disappointment.
“Even though our record was .500, we won’t say our season was a failure,” head coach Chris Shipe said. “We just used those losses as opportunities to learn from.”
A big factor to the Mustang’s 5-5 mark on the season was their struggle to play on the road. The team was 1-4 in road games and didn’t get their sole road victory until the final game of the season where they defeated Yuba College 36-13. It was this road victory that left a mark on Shipe as he called the second half of that game “one of our best halves of football.”
The Mustangs air attack was strong all season long. In their 10 games on the season, they scored less than 20 points just once while scoring 40 or more in five different contests throughout the season. The offense was led by sophomore quarterback Brenden Bush who ended the season ranked top two in California in terms of passing yards with 3,435 and 32 touchdowns. These impressive statistics helped him achieve unanimous all-conference honors at the quarterback position.
“Brenden played really well and took advantage of his opportunity this year,” Shipe said. “I’m excited to see what’s in store for Brenden and his opportunities at the next level.”
Along with Bush, Marques Singleton was also a unanimous selection at the wide receiver position and played a big role down the stretch of the season. He led the Mustangs in receiving yards with 1,150 and 8 touchdowns.
While the passing game was strong in each of their 10 games, the rushing attack struggled with consistency all season long. They rushed for over 100 yards four times this season, topping the 200 yard mark against Merced College. However, the numbers dropped off substantially at times, in particular when the Mustangs played San Jose City College and recorded just 34 rushing yards.
“Our running game definitely struggled throughout the season,” Shipe said. “There wasn’t one specific reason but injuries definitely took a toll on us.”
Also earning all-conference honors was wide receiver Alex Bush, offensive lineman John Rigau, defensive backs Bryson Parker and William Baldwin as well as linebackers Tommy Turner and Christian Merryman.
“The all-conference players on our team were well deserved,” Shipe said. He added, “It’s great to see their hard work and dedication to our team and their performance individually pay off for them.”
With the season ending and the sophomores moving on from LMC’s football program, Shipe praised them for their leadership with the current freshman players as they “set a standard for our freshman.” He is eager to see what this year’s freshman can bring to the table over the spring and into next season as sophomores on the team.
“We have a great group of freshmen coming back,” Shipe said. “I’m already excited to get back on campus in January and start the process of preparing for 2024.”
