After helping earn a hard-fought win for a spring football season across the state, Serra’s Patrick Walsh and De La Salle’s Justin Alumbaugh each proceeded to go undefeated on the field.
Afterward, each agreed a shortened season — five games for Serra, six for De La Salle — was plenty with all it entailed. Both coaches caught up with the Bay Area News Group in separate interviews following their final games Saturday.
In the conversation, blended from both interviews and edited for length and clarity, the coaches reflect on the season, the reward of watching seniors take the field for their final games and the challenges that came with playing through the COVID-19 pandemic.
BANG: With your season in the rearview mirror, can you think back to when this began and where you ended up?
Patrick Walsh: It’s been an emotional ride. It’s been stressful. It’s been full of anxiety. We tested (for COVID, every week) all the way through. Each week was just an anxiety-ridden affair, and honestly, I’m glad it finished the way it did and I’m glad we’re finished. I don’t think I can go through something like this again next year.
Justin Alumbaugh: (The whole team) showed up for 15 months, too. For the seniors to be able to get this, it’s gratifying and it made the effort worth it. But I’ll be honest, I’m cooked. There’s been so much to go on just to even coach. Monitoring the locker room. And it’s not just me. It was a task. I am glad we did it. But I’ll be honest, I’ll be happy for a little time off and we turn around pretty quick here.
BANG: What was the week-in and week-out uncertainty like?
Walsh: We tested every Wednesday, and it’s just, you never know what that’s going to lead to. You hold your breath every Thursday for six weeks. There was never a time where we could just take a deep breath and play football.
Alumbaugh: I don’t think we can do another one of these, I’ll tell you that. I spent less time coaching this year than I ever have and more time doing everything else. But that’s part of the job. I want to coach, man. I want to coach. That’s what I would love to have happen in the fall.
Walsh: I know a lot of coaches are looking forward to normalcy in the fall.
BANG: Hypothetically, would you be up for one more game? A bowl?
Alumbaugh: I’d have enough in me for another week. If this drew on for another month or something, that’d be a bit much for everybody. But I’d have it in me for another week.
Walsh: No, it’s over. It’s just, it’s too much. Five games was the perfect amount.
Alumbaugh: We made a lot of great memories and we had a great season. It wasn’t a perfect season or anything like that. But we knew it wasn’t going to be. We were rotating everybody. We had 70-something guys on the team. We wanted to create some memories and get our kids doing what they love. For that, what a success for everybody across the board, I’ve really got to say.
Walsh: At the team dinner (the night before the final game), I just could not stop crying. The only other time that happened to me in my life was my wedding day. I literally just felt overwhelmed by emotion listening to the kids talk about what this meant to them. It made it all worth it.
Alumbaugh: You know, it was funny. I was talking in our team meeting (the night before the final game). I am a little emotional about it with the seniors. I found the letter that I wrote, a special request for (quarterback) Dorian (Hale) to play varsity football as a 14-year-old. That was right before our team dinner.
BANG: Did the seniors speak at the dinner?
Alumbaugh: There was a lot of talking. There was a lot of joy. Lu (Magia Hearns) goes to Cal in a month. Dorian goes to Sac State in a month. It’s crazy. There is a lot of emotion. Those guys spoke about how happy they were to come out and play and it would have been a horrible decision not to and all of our seniors were just happy to get to play together.
Walsh: Christian Pedersen (a senior tight end, headed to play at Louisville) just kind of openly thanked me for helping get the state open, and that really hit home. All the seniors being able to get up and talk about the experience they had, just thinking about them and how potentially not having that, was heartbreaking. It was also heartbreaking knowing they only got half of a full experience.
BANG: What do you think the underclassmen take away from this experience next year?
Walsh: Well, they can never complain. That’s the foundation that this team will forever give to Serra going forward. There will be no complaining at Serra. I think that would be the lasting legacy, particularly for this underclass. Looking up to those seniors, they had every reason to quit and nobody did.
