T.J. Ewing leads a group of 32 players onto the field each week, but it’s not the numbers that will overwhelm opponents.

It’s the relentless effort.

Gritty, old-school football continues to play out beautifully at Monterey Trail High School, where Ewing stands as the program’s only varsity head coach since it opened in the Elk Grove Unified School District in 2004.

The Mustangs are a run-heavy outfit — fear the veer — with a host of two-way players who also get after it on defense. Play to the whistle is one mantra.

So is this: “Quality over quantity,” Ewing said Saturday morning, contemplating his team’s emphatic 2-0 start. The barrel-chested Ewing is tough and demanding, though players grow to admire and appreciate him, as reflected by the scores of alumni that visit him on campus.

Ewing will even lift weights with players as an example of backing what he preaches. He will tell players that football is hard work but “it offers 10,000 rewards.” Or, “You’ve got to sacrifice and suffer to excel. You can’t learn, can’t get better, if things are easy.”

It wasn’t easy in Ewing’s first two seasons when the San Mateo native and one-time Bay Area coach suffered through a 1-19 start with the Mustangs. Then there was success, including trips to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I finals in 2009 and 2010. They made the playoffs four times since 2014, with big wins in recent years over name-programs Grant and Elk Grove.

Ranked No. 7 by The Bee, Monterey Trail opened this campaign with a 41-6 rout of Sheldon and then traveled to Danville on Friday to face San Ramon Valley, where it toppled one of the Bay Area’s top programs, 27-7.

Zach Larrier rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns and had a touchdown pass for the Mustangs. He represents exactly what Ewing stresses: involvement as a student and athlete. Larrier is a three-sport star, a scholar, a campus leader. And he has 14 scholarship offers, including Cal, Oregon State and Washington State.

Other key players include running back/defensive back Jehiel Budgett and receiver/defensive back Andre Crump, who wasn’t intimidated by Ewing in his first year of varsity football this season but inspired by it. Arturo Pantoja had seven tackles and two sacks for Monterey Trail.

San Ramon Valley players came away bruised and impressed with the might of the Mustangs.

“Those dudes are mean,” San Ramon Valley two-way star Tristan Sinclair told the San Francisco Chronicle. “They play physical. We knew it was going to be a bare-knuckle brawl, but they kept swinging.”

“I love our guys,” Ewing said. “Very proud of them. We’ve seen them grow up through our program, from youth ball to now. It’s very satisfying. We try to get young men involved. We value good character and multi-sport kids. Playing different sports helps kids have an awareness about them, and they’re good with change, like taking different classes. They can flow with things, hear multiple adults talking to them, leading them.

“We tell our guys, ‘Be a CEO. Run the company. Don’t just be in the company.’”

As spoken by as good of a CEO regional coach as we’ll find.

You can view the original article, by clicking HERE