Website and photography by Stu Jossey

 DAILY BULLETIN    THS SPORTS   ACTIVITIES   2011 SCHEDULE   PHOTOS    VIDEO

On Wednesday, February 8, at 7:45 a.m. in the boys sub gym there will be a football meeting for everyone planning to play football next fall.  .

If you have questions, please see Coach Shrout in the P.E. office.

In the fall of 2012, the Tracy High Bulldogs will call West High home for all their football games while the new stadium is built at Tracy High.  A total of 5 games will be played at West in 2012.

From June 24-27 the Tracy High football program will conduct their annual football camp at St. Mary's College of Moraga.  This will be a bus to/from and overnight stay camp.  More details on cost and agenda will come in early 2012.  As Coach Shrout has said at all the banquets, please schedule your family vacations for July and AVOID the month of June as the football schedule is heavy in June and August.

Coach Shrout has released the 2012 schedule.  5 home games will be played at West in 2012 + the Crosstown Classic where West will be considered the home team. 

The Tracy High stadium will begin demolition and construction shortly after July 4, 2012 and be on a 12-14 month construction schedule.  Hopefully the Bulldogs will be able to run onto their new field at the start of their 2013 season. 

As soon as all plans are finalized and approved, I'll have drawings of the new stadium posted here.

Varsity and sophomore schedule below.   Freshman will follow a similar schedule with games on Thursday night normally at 6:00 p.m.  A more firm schedule for freshman will post later.

Playoffs:

Round 1 Friday, Nov 9 Time/Location - TBA

Round 2 Friday, November 16 - Time/Location TBA

Round 3 Friday, November 23 - Time/Location TBA

Finals - Friday or Saturday November 30/Dec 1 - Sacramento State

When Kevin Speer finished his football career with the Bulldogs in the fall of 2009 with the 11-1 team, he headed to Delta College where he was an outstanding lineman.  Now that he has concluded his two years of playing for the Mustangs, Kevin has announced he has just signed his letter of intent with Dixie State in St. George Utah where he will receive a full ride scholarship.

Congratulations Kevin!

A very large turnout came to pay tribute to the players of the 2011 Tracy High varsity football team. 

Defensive Player of the Year:  Tyler Cox

Offensive Player of the Year:  Cody Daniel

Varsity Coaches Award:  Michael Figuerido

Tracy Kiwanis Most Inspirational Player:  Nate Shelton

Richie Silva Most Valuable Lineman:  Pablo Ceja

John Rita Most Improved Player:  Emiliano Aguirre

Tommy Greenhow Award:  Josh Bongiovanni

Coach Shrout also had a significant correction to make.  Back in mid November when the Peter B. Kyne and Weeks Award winners were announced, it was originally calculated that Josh Bongiovanni had the highest GPA.  Coach Shrout said that was an error and the highest GPA and new Weeks Award recipent for 2011 is Bobby Hillard (4.37 GPA).

Tonight at the awards banquet I presented the best pictures that Wayne Thallander and I thought we took of a varsity player this year.  It just so happened that the photos selected were that of the offensive and defensive player of the year who had just been announced right before I handed the photos out.

In the photo below taken by Wayne Thallander at the West game, Cody Daniel is giving a stiff arm to a West defender.

Captains:  MIchael Brown, Nate Jones, Jason Nelson, Josh Clark, Anthony Karjalainen, Robby Ramirez, Brandon Russell.

Most Valuable Backs:  Robby Ramirez and Michael Brown

Best Lineman:  Anthony Karjalainen, Jordan Pombo

Most Inspirational:  Josh Clark & Nate Jones

MVP:  Nate Jones & Jason Nelson

The Sophomore coaching staff served up their team and individual awards on Monday night. 

Receiving MVP was Damon Stroup

Most Valuable Back:  Chaz Briggs

Most Valuable Linemen:  William Stinbrink and Gregory Trevino

Congratulations to Cody Daniel who was named the SJAA League Offensive Player of the Year.  The MVP of the league went to junior running back Justin Davis of Lincoln High.

Other Tracy 1st team players were Pablo Ceja, Alex Warner (Lineman), Nate Shelton (Linebacker/Ends), and Tyler Cox (as a defensive back).

Honorable mentions were Luke Hanna, Emilano Aguirre, Clayton Feggett, Austin Westfall, Davon Powell, Bruce Russell, and Josh Bongiovanni.

Full league list here.

I had a very special opportunity to photograph the 49ers last Sunday.  Learned a lot about photographing at the pro game level and working around the limited areas where you can shoot on an NFL field.  I'll share a few more over the next couple of days.

Full gallery of photos here.

Cody Daniel led all Bulldogs with 766 rushing yards on 116 carries.  Bruce Russell also picked up an impressive 614 yards on 97 carries.

Davon Powell led all receivers with 17 catches for 322 yards.  Tyler Cox had 226 yards and Aguirre had 208.

Daniel passed for 694 yards on the season completing 53% of his passes.  Daniel had 5 touchdown throws and Luke Hanna had 2.

Leading the bulldogs in tackles this year was Austin Westfall with 51.  Mitchell Charlesworth had 44 and Cox had 43.

Cox was the leader on kickoff returns with 739 yards averaging 23 yards a return.

The scoring leaders on the team were Daniel with 14 rushing touchdowns, Davon Powell with 6 runs and 3 receptions, Cox with 2 rushing, 3 receptions, and a kickoff return, and Hanna with 6 rushing touchdowns.

Kevin Leonardo made 22 of 29 kicks on the year.

The 84th Peter B. Kyne Award was presented to senior Tyler Cox this afternoon in a luncheon hosted by the service organizations of Tracy. Don Yerian announced Cox as the winner and cited that the award acknowledges not only on-the-field performance but also a leader on the field, in school, and in the community. Cox was selected by a committee led by Yerian, Wayne Schneider and other service organization leaders. 

Coach Matt Shrout congratulated Cox after he received his award and stated that while he didn't have a vote, he felt like the committee made a good choice in Cox.

Shrout also announced that the varsity awards night would be Tuesday December 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the Tracy High cafeteria. The offensive and defensive players of the year along with other awards and the season in review movie will be presented that evening.

Josh Bongiovanni was also awarded with the Weeks Cup at today's luncheon for highest academic performance on the team for the last quarter.

Four minute video summary below:

As I start creating the movies for the varsity and freshman teams I have to dig through all the material that was shot in 10 weeks of football.  I thought this might be of interest.......

Total photos for 10 weeks of football  - >8,400 (includes photos by Stu Jossey and Wayne Thallander).

Field video shot - > My wife filmed 900 video clips shot at ground level encompassing close to 1.25 hours of actual play action.  This was just primarily home games only.

Computer file space used  - 150 Gigabytes

Equipment used:  Canon EOS 1D MK III, Canon EOS 5D MK II, Sony HD Handycam HDR-CX520, Dell PC.

I've placed in one location all the photos and videos from each game of the 2011 season.  You can order photographs in one of two ways:

1. Through the photo library website that the photos appear on (requries a credit card to purchase), OR
2. You can e-mail me the file name and size of print you want, and I'll get it professionally processed and hand deliver to you here in town (cash or check).  It is a few cents less this way as there is no shipping cost or middle man.

Remember that my photo prices are significantly less than the corporate photographers who are interested in profiting from your purchase.   Any revenue generated on my pictures goes right back into paying for the websites and multimedia gear to cover Tracy High sports.  When you buy one of Wayne Thallander pictures (on my website), the proceeds go right back into helping with the school journalism program. 

I can also do cropping and other special adjustments on any picture.  I also do montages as gifts. I can be reached at stujossey@tracyhighbaseball.com OR 209-609-1456.

The varsity photos have uploaded here.

The sophomore photos are here

A video from Friday night is HERE

Pictures of the Week to be released shortly. 

Then it is on to producing the year-end movies and selecting the Picture of the Year.

There was a wide range of emotions on the field and in the bleachers this evening at Wayne Schneider Stadium. Seniors were playing their last game of high school football and several coaches who had once battled as a Bulldog were re-living their memories one last time in the intimate confines of the stadium. 

Sheila Soares the cheer coach was choked up several times throughout the evening as she had cheered on the field back in her high school days. 

Coach Selna watched pre-game drills with a broader focus as he took in more than just the player execution in front of him.  He had led many a successful drive on the field during his days as Bulldog quarterback in the 1980s.

Coach Boyd reflected on the tradition of Bulldog football playing in the stadium and hoped that his players had absorbed the experience and would pass it on to others. 

Coach Martin thought of his playing days in the late 1980s and all the excitement that filled the stadium. 

Coach Wayne Schneider reflected on all the changes to the stadium throughout the years and the memorable playoff games that had been fought on the grass field.  "When we played at home or away there would always be a full house said Schneider.  You had to arrive early in the Sophomore game just to get a seat to watch the varsity game a few hours later."

Coach Shrout looked forward to the playing surface that would be installed and all the extra practices he would be able to do on the field in the future.

The play on the field may be over, but there is still plenty of activity on this website for several weeks to come.  I'll have the standard game recaps, photos, and video coming throughout the weekend.  I'll have the pictures of the week on Sunday.  Then I'll shift my focus to preparing the freshman and varsity highlight movies for the end of the year banquets (Coach Steve Hall will do his own highlight reel for the sophomore banquet).

In December during the banquets, Wayne Thallander and I will announce our "Picture of the Year."

I'll be covering each banquet providing you photos of the player awards and then I'll also attend the varsity luncheon in December when the Peter B. Kyne Award winner is announced. 

So check back often as I'll continue to keep the site updated with information. 

I'll also be covering other winter Bulldog sports at www.tracyhighsports.com and then in January I'll start full coverage of my www.tracyhighbaseball.com site.

A nice article written by Sam Matthews appears in todays edition of the Tracy Press here.  Below is the timeline they presented:

1921 - Football begins at Tracy High

1925— Football returns to Tracy High School.

1927— Citizen volunteers build fence around football field, which is named Peter B. Kyne Field for San Francisco author. Bleachers erected.

1936— Lights installed atop eight wooden utility poles to begin night games. Track constructed around field. (photos available on this website).

1948— Wooden bleachers from U.S. Navy Fleet City reconstructed on home side of field.

1979— Home-side bleachers found to be fire and structural hazards, ruled unsafe for use. Temporary bleachers used.

1980— Save Our Stadium (SOS) citizens’ group leads project, by raising funds and completing construction, to build new home-side metal bleachers and install new lights. Contributed and district funds finance project.

1993— Press box on east side reconstructed a year after arson fire destroys citizen-built press box.

1997— New natural turf is installed on a field leveled and prepared by citizen volunteers, who raised funds for project.

2008— Stadium is named Wayne Schneider Stadium to honor longtime coach of championship teams.

2011 — Final football game is played Nov. 4 on field. Demolition scheduled to begin in July.

2012 - Tracy to play home games at neutral sites

2013 - Field grand opening for Fall 2013 season

In 2008 I was starting my first year covering Tracy High Football and I had the privlege of watching Preston Mattos in his senior year disect opposing defenses as quarterback of the Bulldogs.  Preston received high praise from offensive coordinator Chuck Selna and won numerous awards in his Bulldog football career.  After a two year absence to attend Butte College, Preston is back in town assisting Coach Fishburn and the freshman staff.  On Friday night I spent a few minutes with Preston asking him how he likes his new role.

"I love football and enjoy the coaches, and I've always been close with Coach Fishburn and I wanted to give back to the program and these coaches," said Preston.

"In my assistant coach role, I'm on top of the press box and I tell the sidelines what I see during the game and offer suggestions to the coaches.  I also help out with the quarterbacks in practice and during the games."

The most rewarding thing for Preston has been coming in to such a positive environment and being surrounded by such a good group of kids.

"I would have to say the biggest challenge has been taking this group of very talented and high performing kids and keeping them focused," said Mattos.

The offense is similar to what Preston ran from 05-08 so that has allowed him to instantly contribute.

"I miss playing a little bit, but I'm enjoying the transition into the coaching side of things."

Preston is finising up school locally and hopes to be a paramedic and fireman in the future.

The senior girls outnumbered the junior girls by 2 to 1, but the juniors had a solid game plan and a little more team speed to out manuever the seniors in the 2011 Powder Puff game played in front of a large crowd on Thursday night at Wayne Schneider Stadium.

If you're a sophomore in the Class of 2014, you better start practicing now, because when the juniors play next year as seniors, they are going to give you one heck of a game.

Wayne Thallander and his staff of students have released the first 2011/12 edition of Scholar & Athlete.  You can view several articles about life at Tracy High including a nicely written piece on the new conversion to the new football stadium in 2013.  View the edition here.

The Facebook page of the newspaper is here.

As the season begins to progress and the photo album reaches over 4,000 game photos on the year, I've gotten several questions on the phone and in e-mails about how to acquire photos.  Here is a quick recap:

1) All the photos taken by Wayne Thallander and myself are uploaded to www.stujosseyphotography.com within a few days after each game.  I set an extremely low retail price to buy the photos as I'm not out to make a living on photography.  I want to share the pictures with the players, families and friends, but at the same time I don't want to give them away.  $2.75 for a 4X6 picture helps to subsidze the photo and video sharing websites and my audio/visual equipment. 

2) You can purchase the photos via:

• a) the photo website (smugmug) and enter a credit card which is handled by Bay Photo (a national retailer who has serviced over a hundred satisfied customers for me here in Tracy).  They will process and ship your photos directly to your home address  OR
• b) you can e-mail me the file name (such as "img_xxx" or "STUxxx" or "WLTxxx") and the size you want and I'll handle it locally for even a cheaper price than the web when we deal in cash or check.

3) Players, you are always welcome to use my photos on your facebook sites.  Let me know if I can be of assistance in editing the photos for you. 

4) Special photo requests are always welcome.  Remember I do a lot of montages for gifts and I can do specialized videos.

Remember - all photo proceeds go to better coverage of Tracy High Sports or if you buy one of Wayne's photos it goes right back into helping with the school newspaper.

Feel free to contact me at 209-609-1456 or stujossey@tracyhighbaseball.com

I've turned the switch on to unveil several chapters of the Tracy High Historical Football Project.  You will find the pages under THS History section of this web page.  Your comments regarding content, grammar, factual accuracy, additions, etc are encouraged.  It is a living document!

Thank you eteamz!  On Friday January 2, 2009 ETEAMZ the website company that this site runs on with over 2.5 million team web pages worldwide, named tracyhighfootball.com as their eteamz.com Spotlight Site.

We appreciate this worldwide acknowledgement from eteamz and will place it on our trophy case along with our earlier trophy for our sister site www.tracyhighbaseball.com

While I have a whole page on this site dedicated to answering frequently asked photo questions, I thought I would highlight one basic question that comes up frequently and is often misunderstood.  If you see a picture you like in one of my web galleries on "Smug Mug," and you would like a print, you can order directly from that site.  This is a professional retail photo service that I pay for which accepts credit cards and your order is printed through Bay Photo Lab which has been in business since 1976 offering high quality photo finishing.  The pictures are mailed directly to you in a couple of days (not bad for less than $3).  I don't handle or see your financial transaction, I'm only alerted that an order has been placed.

If you don't want to use a credit card, can't seem to get the shopping cart to work, or have any type of special request, you can always e-mail me with the file name and size of the picture you want.  I'll develop it locally  at a quality printing service and deliver it to you (check or cash accepted) usually within a week.

Remember the small proceed of approx $1.50 per picture goes towards keeping the site up and running or is contributed to the Tracy High School newspaper when ordering a picture taken by Mr. Thallander of THS.

These prices are significantly less than the professional photographers in town or Max Preps.

Players, remember I can always provide you with small images for free that I scale to fit on your Myspace or Facebook sites.   Enjoy!

Here are the contacts for the football program:

Varsity Head Coach - Matt Shrout - mshrout@tusd.net

Sophomore Head Coach - Greg Smith - gsmith@tusd.net

Freshman Head Coach - Jay Fishburn jfishburn@tusd.net

Questions about this website, photos, video, advertising, etc can be directed to me stujossey@tracyhighfootball.com

There was a time just a few decades ago where being a Bulldog meant everything to the youth of Tracy.  Tracy High was the one and only school in town and the Bulldog football program was the prime attraction in the community.  "The town used to shutdown on Friday nights and pack the stands whether we were at home or on the road," said legendary Tracy High Coach Wayne Schneider.

As I've begun to closely follow and document the Bulldog football program over the past several years I've acquired an appreciation for the rich history of the program and the pride that the Tracy alumni have for their program.  I'm in the process of integrating numerous historical pieces to provide a detailed look at Tracy High Football from the 1920s to present. 

To start with, here is a short documentary done in 1987 by Bay Area news station KRON on Tracy High.  It is titled "The Boys of Autumn"    I've made a digital copy of it, placed it on You Tube, and created several DVDs.