It's down to crunch time for Tony DeLeon and the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Thunder football team. Most of the players will begin arriving on campus Saturday and Sunday with the entire team expected to be on campus by 4 p.m. Sunday.
"It is an exciting time to be on campus," said DeLeon, the school's first football coach. "We'll try and have a get-together once everyone arrives and then we'll start practicing next week."
The Thunder will practice at the Washington School track area starting on Tuesday with practices from 6:30-8:30 a.m.
"We will have early practice because we have a lot of players who are in the nursing and law enforcement fields who need to be back on campus to go to school," mentioned DeLeon. "We are also working with the high school and the soccer association because we want a healthy relationship with those people here in town."
DeLeon has picked up 45 players on this year's team with many of them local players who had strong careers on the local grid irons.
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"Practices will be open to the public and we encourage people to come out and watch," mentioned DeLeon.
On Saturday, Aug. 18, there will be a controlled scrimmage at Washington School at 12:30 p.m.
At the quarterback position, look for 2005 Esko graduate Joe Plinski along with Joe Bender, a 2007 graduate of Moose Lake-Willow River, to get playing time. Bender may also be used in the defensive secondary.
Isiah Johnson of Wrenshall and John Tondryk of AlBrook, both 2007 graduates, will fight for playing time at running back and a pair of physical receivers, Nate Sanchez and Charlie Martin of Cloquet, will provide strong targets to throw to.
"The first few days will be acclimation days without pads," explained DeLeon. "We have a bye in our first week, so that will be important because when we do open the season it is against the defending state junior college champions, Vermillion."
Local players who could be strong on defense are Torey Haluptzok of Carlton and Esko's Dominic Schmidt. Haluptzok will see time at strong safety and Schmidt at outside linebacker.
"In this league everyone has the same fears and that is who is returning and how many are showing up the first practice," suggested DeLeon. "We have a lot of unknowns for the team."
One thing DeLeon is happy with is the size of his team.
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"The game is always about the trenches and who wins those battles, and I think we will be pretty good in there," stated DeLeon. "I think we can match up and we'll have a chance to compete."
A community college program like Fond du Lac will give many people an opportunity to play sports who otherwise would not have had the chance to do so at the collegiate level. The oldest player to take the field for the Thunder will be 37-year-old Mike Phipps who played high school nine-man football at Cromwell before graduating in 1988.
"These guys are coming here to compete and we want to be a strong representative in the classroom and on the field and in the community," said DeLeon. "We feel it is important to be a classy organization and we are heading in the right direction."
The Thunder will play their first game Saturday, Sept. 1, in Ely against Vermillion. The first home game for FDLTCC will be Saturday, Sept. 8, in Cloquet. The team will play four home games with three in Cloquet and the other in Esko.
