The Fresno City College Football Team finished with a 7-4 record last season and are looking to improve on that for the 2023 season.
The Rams went 4-1 in the Valley Conference, winning it, while also beating Butte College 13-10 at the Northern California Bowl.
At the head of the program, Tony Caviglia is going into his 23rd season coaching at Fresno City College and his 41st season overall.
Coach Caviglia is ready for another competitive season while building up the team’s culture and character.
“The culture here is one of competitiveness, we want to work together to make each other better, everything we do is designed to help each individual player become the best player and person they can be,” Coach Caviglia said.
Last season was one of Coach Caviglia favorite years after struggling early in the season and then gaining momentum as the season went on.
“The team kept working and kept getting better, we made the adjustments we had to and we went on a run,” Coach Caviglia said. “From where we started and ended up I really felt the team achieved a lot.”
This year’s team has a lot of returning players and the goal is to get going early.
“We are going to try to get off to a good start this year and we are going to keep getting better as we work in the conference,” Coach Caviglia said.
One challenge Coach Caviglia wants to avoid is starting slow. Last season, many athletes either left for four year colleges or to injury.
“We really struggled out of the gate in an unfortunate situation losing our quarterback and a couple of players right before the season started to four year colleges, it took us a while to get rolling,” Coach Caviglia said.
Second year wide receiver Josiah Ayon is excited and confident for a big season.
“A 7-4 record is not really Fresno City Football, I feel like we still left a lot out on the field and that kind of left a bad taste in my mouth,” Ayon said. “We have a lot of returners that also have that same bad taste in their mouth.”
Ayon says the bond that they’ve been creating has been great especially in the receiving room.
“The receivers are like brothers to me, we got the chemistry going and we got a great quarterback room,” Ayon said.
This year, many of the returning players on offense know they can be dangerous when given the chance to shine.
“I think if we do what we are supposed to do it’s going to be scary, our offense is looking good and everyone is connecting on all levels, that’s what you need in an offense,” Ayon said.
Yebrell Emerson is also going into his second year as a safety and expects to go far this season.
“I’m excited for this season. I feel like this season will be our breakout year, we have a lot of new pieces to our puzzle,” Emerson said. “The environment is a brotherhood and everybody pushes each other to be great.”
Fresno City College’s Football Team is set to kick off their 2023 season on Sept. 1 against Diablo Valley College at Viking Stadium.
