Beyond wins and losses: How the Florin Panthers defined a winless football season

The scoreboard at Mark Macres Memorial Stadium sounded off for the last time for Florin High School on Friday night, the end of a frustrating 2023 campaign that included no wins on the field and one by forfeit.

Valley beat Florin 36-28 in a Greater Sacramento League showdown, the Vikings celebrating their second victory and embracing the Highway 99 rivalry sign that goes to the winner of a series that dates to 1989. The Vikings rejoiced in a similarly difficult season, and the Panthers held their heads high, an undermanned team that gave it their all.

Both teams played their best game. The back-and-forth outing ended with Valley junior quarterback Carmine Bermudez scoring with 15 seconds left. The Highway 99 Bowl between the Elk Grove Unified programs has been, historically, one of the rare bright spots for the Panthers, who have won 13 of their last 19 meetings with the Vikings (2-8).

Florin’s only “win” this season was actually a forfeit. Armijo of Fairfield had to give up its Aug. 25 victory against Florin after playing an ineligible player. Florin finished the season 1-9.

Victories on the field have been hard to come by for the Panthers. The last time Florin football had multiple wins in a season was 2017 when the Panthers went 4-6. Still, the team remained tightly bonded through a season of big losses. For some who don’t win often, it’s difficult to remain united. But the Florin football team did, a credit to longtime coach Dan Davis.

“We just have this kind of indomitable spirit,” Florin senior Marcus Walker said “We play every play. We’re always there. We always show up. Even at practice, we always show up. We do what we do, when we need to do it. And for me personally, it’s because I know that my brothers need me. I know that they can’t do this without me. So I have to be there every play, and I have to put my all into every play, no matter what the score might look like, no matter what people might say about us.”

The losses didn’t define this team, players said. Their bond does.

“That’s our biggest thing — we’re family. We’re out here taking care of each other with one goal. Our goal simply is to put a team out there that we all can be proud of,” Davis said. “Yeah, we want the ‘W.’ Every coach wants a ‘W.’ Every player wants a ‘W’ at the end of the day. We have to have real expectations, and that’s what life’s all about. These kids work hard.”

Although they were down about the season finale loss, Florin players reminded themselves of what really matters to them while breaking the huddle.

“Panthers, on 3, Family on 6,” the team shouted. “1, 2, 3 — Panthers. 4, 5, 6 — Family.”

Senior quarterback Chase Xiong said that chant is how they ended every game and practice.

They shout it so loud, their echoes ring throughout the stadium. Florin junior Guile Cha said the break is “tradition.”

Teaching an inexperienced group of kids

Xiong is one of eight seniors on an otherwise young team. There are three juniors and the rest are underclassmen.

The school no longer has a junior varsity team because they do not have enough participants to field a team, according to Florin athletic director Bill Kapp.

Everybody who tries out and is grade-eligible plays varsity.

“You have 28 kids out there,” Kapp said. “To do it safely, you can’t have 12 kids on JV and 14 kids on varsity. Plus the positions, too, right? You might have only four linemen and too many skill guys and not enough lineman-type guys. It’s a pretty complicated puzzle.”

To make things even more complicated, there’s no youth football feeding into the school teaching players to block and tackle. Davis said there have been discussions of bringing back the program, but nothing is official. What Florin gets are players still learning how to play. Only two Florin seniors competed all four years. Two have played three seasons. The rest have played for two years or fewer.

Struggles with retaining players

Another factor that has stalled progress is student-athlete eligibility.

Some players don’t have the grades to play, including some of the top athletes on campus. Some struggle to remain eligible for the entire season. Students who aren’t meeting the required 2.0 GPA are automatically cut.

This season, Florin lost six players due to grades.

“It is pretty hard for us,” said sophomore Tyson Vang, who boasts a 3.0 GPA. “We have everything in order but then when it comes to grades, people are gone. It gets really hard because we have to fill in those shoes, and sometimes we might not have enough players, or maybe all of us are tired.”

Walker admitted that it’s tough seeing his “brothers” in the hallways on campus and no longer on the field.

“It just sucks seeing that happen to them,” Walker said. “I think that all athletes should really pay more attention to their grades because eligibility, I feel like, is the number one killer for brotherhood and potential college athletes.”

Moving in the right direction

Despite the challenges, Davis remains at Florin, he said, because the kids want to be coached.

“These kids on campus, their teachers talk about how good they are,” Davis said. “How they say ‘yes, ma’am’ or ‘yes, sir.’ They have good grades and they don’t talk back.”

“These are our leaders of the future, they’re going to be future CEOs, business owners and government officials,” Davis said. “I guarantee you they are going to be hard workers. They’re going to be the guys that are going to be from vocational schools all the way up to master’s and doctor’s degrees, and they’re going to have instilled accountability.”

Lead campus supervisor Pierre Johnson, a Cordova High School football star in the early 1980s, has spent 14 years at Florin. He said he has witnessed a lot of difficult football seasons at Florin. No matter what, he said, they continue to fight. Florin has produced one playoff team and two winning records since it opened in 1989.

Better times are ahead, he said.

“You can lose at Florin,” Johnson said. “As long as you don’t forfeit.”

Davis said that there are “positive things out of every game” and that he is excited about the future.

He assured Florin will get there, but the down-to-earth coach was honest: “It takes time.”