SDSU football team looking to spring forward

By Phillip Brents

Posted March 21, 2005

San Diego State University’s football team kicked off its annual spring practices March 1. It was a time to reflect on the past fall season as well as to look ahead. The Aztecs prefer to look ahead.

With a No. 3 preseason ranking in the Mountain West Conference and the nation’s most improved defense at its disposal, the San Diego State University football team was looking to score its first winning season since 1998. After a disappointing 2-5 conference showing and 4-7 overall record, the Aztecs are still looking for it.

“We felt  going into the season that we had all the pieces. But we were missing a piece and then we didn’t get the breaks. It was disappointing,” said defensive back Freddy Dunkle, a Castle Park High alumnus.

Photo: Freddy Dunkle makes a catch in pre-game warmups.

For the record, the Aztecs finished 3-2 at home, 1-5 on the road and seventh out of eight teams in the conference standings. Overall, the 2004 season was a disappointment — if not a regression — after finishing 3-4 in conference play, 6-6 overall the previous season.

After opening the 2004 season with a promising 2-1 start with wins against Idaho State and Nevada sandwiched around a 24-21 loss at 17th-ranked Michigan (played in front of 109,432 fans), SDSU saw its season of potential vanquished by a brutal six-game losing streak.

Especially disappointing was a 21-17 loss to visiting Colorado State in a game that the Aztecs thought they had won until a controversial official’s call in the dying minutes gave the Rams the turnaround win. Many in the SDSU program felt it was a gift win — that victory had been snatched from the team in the most unkind fashion. Robbed of a possible turnaround in momentum, the Aztecs’ losing skid continued with three more defeats at the hands of New Mexico (19-9), conference champion Utah (51-28) and BYU (49-16).

The downturn began with losses against UCLA (33-10) and Wyoming (20-10). A victory against Colorado State would have evened the Aztecs’ conference record at 1-1.

SDSU, however, ended the season on a bright note with victories against Air Force (37-31) and UNLV (21-3).

Many factors contributed, including untimely injuries and a lingering starting quarterback duel between Matt Dlugolecki and Kevin O’Connell. Dlugolecki was designated as the starter at the onset of the season while O’Connell got the shot at midseason. O’Connell (an alumnus of La Costa Canyon High School) led the team to its final two wins.

In the meantime, the Aztecs will look to the future. SDSU’s spring drills will conclude with the annual Red-Black intrasquad on March 26 at 10 a.m. on campus.

The Aztecs will play 12 regular season games for the upcoming 205 season. SDSU’s 2005 home schedule includes six dates: UCLA (Sept. 3), San Jose State (Sept. 24), BYU (Oct. 1), New Mexico (Oct. 22), TCU (Oct. 29) and Wyoming (Nov. 19).

The Aztecs’ road schedule includes games at Air Force (Sept. 10), Ohio State (Sept. 17), UNLV (Oct. 8), Utah (Oct. 15), Colorado State (Nov. 12) and Hawaii (Dec. 3).

Dunkle, who earned honors as the South Bay League’s 2002 Offensive Player of the Year, has three more years to help SDSU move up the ladder. Braced by a large and talented recruiting class of area prospects, the Aztecs are expected to do just that as those recruits play a larger part in the picture in upcoming seasons.

Heading the latest recruiting class is Grossmont College defensive lineman Dallas Mauga. A former Helix standout, Mauga enters SDSU as the reigning Foothill Conference Defensive Player of the Year after making 62 tackles, 11 quarterback sacks and forcing five fumbles. An inside and outside linebacker at Helix, he played on that school’s 13-0 CIF championship team.

Grossmont College finished 10-0 in regular season play in 2004. The Griffins finished the season ranked second in the state among community college teams.

In the passing department, Dlugolecki (Santa Margarita Catholic) posted a 118.28 efficiency rating to O’Connell’s 100.95 rating. Dlugolecki competed 60.6 percent of his passes for 1,349 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions. O’Connell completed 48.7 percent of his passes for 1,328 yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. Dlugolecki, whose longest pass went for 61 yards, averaged 192.7 yards per game. O’Connell, whose longest pass went for 58 yards, averaged 147.6 yards per game.

Jeff Webb (La Quinta) led receivers with 71 catches for 863 yards and six touchdowns. Robert Ortiz (Horizon Christian) made 52 catches for 728 yards and six scores.

Josh Dean (Oakland) led the SDSU defense with three interceptions while Donnie Baker (Miami, Fla.), Heath Farwell (Corona) and Marviel Underwood (San Leandro) all recorded two pickoffs. As a team, the Aztecs made 14 interceptions (against 17 by opponents).

Antwan Applewhite (Torrance), Underwood and Blake Lobel (Diamond Bar) each had one fumble recovery, with Applewhite and Lobel both scoring touchdowns.

Kirk Morrison (Oakland) keyed the Aztec defense with 115 total tackles, including 72 solo efforts. He was followed by Matt McCoy (Tustin) with 90 tackles (66 solo), Farwell with 69 tackles (37 solo), Underwood with 58 tackles (31 solo), Dean with 58 tackles (36 solo), Lobel with 41 tackles (24 solo), Stephen Larsen (Chandler, Ariz.) with 38 tackles (27 solo) and Marcus Demps (Palmdale) with 35 tackles (30 solo).

In the special teams department, Kyle Conerly (West Hills) returned 22 punts for 195 yards, averaging 8.9 yards, with a longest return of 29 yards. He had 16 kick returns for 294 yards, averaging 18.4 yards per return, with a longest return of 27 yards. Bornes had 15 kick returns for 294 yards, with a 19.6 average per return and longest return of 40 yards.

Michael Hughes (Canyon Springs) led the Aztecs with 44 punts for an average of 38.0 yards per punt, with a longest punt of 58 yards.

Garrett Palmer (Rialto) led the team in scoring with 62 points on 26 (of 27) point-after touchdown conversions and 12 (of 21) field goals. Ortiz was second with 38 points on six touchdowns and one two-point receiving conversion while Webb and Bornes were third with 36 points on six touchdown receptions.

Utah won the Mountain West Conference title with a 7-0-0 record, followed by New Mexico (5-2-0), BYU (4-3-0), Wyoming (3-4-0), Air Force (3-4-0), Colorado State (3-4-0), San Diego State (2-5-0) and UNLV 1-6-0. Utah finished regular season play 11-0 before going on to defeat Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl.

Arrivals/Departures

Helix graduate Jason Van concluded his senior season by appearing in 11games. However, he  rushed for 16 yards on just three plays. One of the most prolific high school running backs in San Diego County history, Van joined the Aztecs in 2000. He played in 2000, 2001 and 2003 prior to this past season.

Van set a San Diego Section rushing game record with 382 yards in a game against West Hills. He gained 2,277 yards and scored 21 touchdowns his senior year with the Highlanders after rushing for 2,537 yards as a junior.

His most memorable game as an Aztec came in his debut 2000 season when he rushed 17 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns. However, he handled the ball just 17 times in both 2001 and 2003 for a total of 53 yards.

For more information on SDSU athletic programs, visit the Web site at www.goaztecs.com.