Mater Dei Catholic grad among the best in his craft in the nation

It was a humbling start at San Diego State University for Mater Dei Catholic High School graduate Nico Siragusa, one of the San Diego Section’s top offensive linemen.

“My first year, I started one game; I played in the rest off the bench,” he said.

Siragusa’s stock has risen significantly since then with 27 consecutive starts. He won a Famous Idaho Potato Bowl championship with the Aztecs in 2013, a Poinsettia Bowl runner-up berth in 2014 and a Hawaii Bowl championship in 2015.

Last year, the Aztecs won the Mountain West championship with a 27-24 victory against Air Force at Qualcomm Stadium. He was named First Team All-Mountain West at left guard last year and has been named a presesson second team All-American this year.

The former Crusader is poised to reap even more benefits this season. He was recently named a team co-captain and is on the National College Football Awards Association’s Outland Trophy watch list as one of the nation’s top interior linemen.

“It’s awesome, it feels great,” he said of the recognition. “But at the end of the day, I’m not concerned with that. I’m worried more about the team going undefeated and all that stuff will work itself out.”

At 6 feet, 5 inches tall and 325 pounds, Siragusa is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

“I pull really well; I feel I can move people around well,” he said. “I just need to work on getting blocks.”

Playing Division I football in his hometown has been, in his words, “a blessing.”

“I’ve done everything I wanted to do if I had played anywhere else,” the SDSU lineman said. “I still can go home, go to my high school. It’s been a true dream getting to play at SDSU.”

While it’s easy to gauge the performance of a quarterback, running back or a linebacker by game statistics, how does one judge the performance of an offensive lineman?

“Rushing for more than 250 yards in a game is the goal,” Siragusa explained. “It’s not an easy job to do.”

The Aztecs rushed for a school-record 3,226 yards last year (293 yards per game) and produced a pair of 1,000-yard rushers for the first time in program history (Donnell Pumphrey and Chase Price).

What’s next for the Aztecs?

“We have high expectations,” Siragusa said. “We want to go undefeated. We have a lot of players with experience, I’m excited. We just need to focus on going 1-0 each week. If we can do that, we can go to the (conference) championship game.”

There’s already talk about next year’s NFL draft. But Siragusa is putting things in order.

“It’s something nice to hear but I’m thinking about this year (at SDSU),” he said. “I’m focusing on that. When we’ve played our last game, I’ll think about playing in the NFL.”

As for his former Mater Dei Catholic team? The Crusaders won last year’s Division V-AA state bowl championship.

“I’m proud of them,” Siragusa said. “Coming from my junior year, we went 1-9. Then my senior year we were 8-4. We’ve been improving every year. If you work hard, things will turn around. Coach Joyner (MDCHS head coach John Joyner) really deserves it. He’s been there during the bad years and now he’s enjoying the good years.”

SDSU kicks off its 2016 schedule Saturday, Sept, 3, with a 5:30 p.m. game against New Hampshire at Qualcomm Stadium.

Aztecs kick off season with 31-0 win over New Hampshire

The San Diego State University football team has strung together some impressive numbers over the past several years under head coach Rocky Long.

For instance:

The Aztecs have qualified for six consecutive post-season bowl game appearances, including last year’s 42-7 victory against Cincinnati in the Hawaii Bowl.

The Aztecs tied a program record with 11 wins last season en route to capturing the Mountain West championship.

The MW title was the second for SDSU in four years and the Aztecs have been picked as favorites to win the MW’s West Division this season.

The most important number for the Aztecs in last Saturday’s season opener (Sept. 3) against the New Hampshire Wildcats at Qualcomm Stadium was its 31-0 non-conference win. The victory was the 11th consecutive for SDSU, which ended last season with 10 consecutive wins.

“Obviously in the first game, there are things you did well and some things you didn’t do well,” Long assessed of the game played in front of an announced KGB SkyShow crowd of 46,486. “Winning is the most important thing, and we won by a substantial margin.”

Former Carlsbad High School quarterback Christian Chapman passed for 283 yards and two touchdowns – both to ex-Oceanside High School star Mikah Holder – and Donnel Pumphrey (Las Vegas) rushed for 98 net yards and scored once to stake SDSU to a 21-0 halftime lead.

John Baron (Temecula) kicked a 33-yard field goal and Rashaad Penny (Norwalk) scored on a one-yard run to boost the Aztec offense in the second half.

Holder caught four aerials for 160 yards, including an 86-yard bomb to ignite scoring in the first quarter. He later caught a 14-yard scoring pass while diving over the pylon to increase the SDSU lead to 21-0 in the second quarter.

Pumphrey carried the ball 21 times; he scored on a 20-yard run with 42 seconds left in the opening quarter to double the Aztec lead to 14-0.

SDSU led 24-0 following Baron’s third quarter field goal.

Former Lincoln High School standout Eric Judge caught five passes for 54 yards to highlight contribution by San Diego County homegrown talent.

SDSU out-gained New Hampshire 461-141 in total yards. The Aztecs recorded four sacks and one interception on defense; the hosts forced 12 punts in the game.

SDSU recorded 11 first downs via the pass while holding the Wildcats to three passing first downs. The Aztecs averaged 4.1 yards per rushing play as opposed to 2.3 yards per rush for New Hampshire.

SDSU out-gained the New England visitors 170-71 in the rushing game and 291-70 in the passing game.

The Aztecs will have to remain on top of their game, if not raise it a notch, when they engage their next opponent – the Cal Bears – Saturday, Sept. 10, at Qualcomm Stadium. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m.

The Bears defeated SDSU, 35-7, in Berkeley last season and kicked off this season with a 51-31 non-conference win over Hawaii in a game played Aug. 26 in Sydney, Australia.

The Bears’ football program has been bullish on the field with 24 former players on opening day NFL rosters.

“There are some things that we have to improve dramatically,” Long addressed the media in the post-game press conference. “We didn’t run the ball as well as I hoped we would. We’ve got to clean up the holding penalties, because I thought the holding penalties broke a lot of momentum in the second half. If we don’t get those holding penalties, we might have scored 50 (points).

“So, obviously, we’ve got to get better at all of those kind of things and we’re playing a much better opponent next week, so we’ve got to get better quick … If you want talent level, they’ve probably got a lot better talent than we’ve got. So, we better play pretty good to have a chance to win.”

Watch lists

Sixteen different SDSU players received MW preseason accolades. Six players have been tabbed on National College Football Awards Association watch lists: center Arthur Flores (Rimington Trophy for most outstanding center in FBS play), cornerback Damontae Kazee (Chuck Bednarik Award for collegiate defensive player of the year), linebacker Calvin Munson (Bednarik Award), Penny (Paul Hornung Award for most versatile player in college football), Pumphrey (Maxwell Award as top college player) and senior left guard Nico Siragusa (Outland Trophy for top collegiate interior lineman).

Pumphrey, a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, returns as the nation’s active leading rusher with 4,272 career yards. He rushed for 1,653 and 17 touchdowns last season while also catching 28 passes for a team-leading 416 yards and three additional scores. He was only one of four players in all of the FBS to lead his team in both rushing and receiving yards.

Kazee had eight interceptions in 2015, which was tied for second most in the nation.

Penny returned 24 kicks for 804 yards and three touchdowns last season.

Munson led SDSU last season in tackles (98), tackles for losses (15), sacks (9.5) and fumble recoveries (two, tied). He also returned two interceptions for touchdowns.

Siragusa, a graduate of Mater Dei Catholic High School in Chula Vista, was a member of an offensive line that last season posted a school-record 3,226 rushing yards and a pair of 1,000-yard rushers (Pumphrey and Chase Price).

Senior team captains this season include defensive lineman Alex Barrett (Mesa, Ariz.), Kazee (San Bernardino), Munson (St. Charles, Mo.), Pumphrey and Siragusa.

Locals only

Seventeen players with San Diego County ties were on Saturday’s season opening game roster, including former Helix High School lineman Forrest Hanlon, a freshman defensive lineman (6-2, 240), and Valhalla grad Ryan Krum, a senior offensive lineman (6-4, 320).

Krum is listed third on the depth chart at right guard.

Joining Hanlon, Krum, Siragusa, Chapman, Holder and Judge as homegrown products on this year’s SDSU team are cornerbacks Derek Babiash (Poway) and Derek Binkley (Ramona); defensive linemen Thomas Brown (St. Augustine) and Fred Meliwonfu (Lincoln); offensive linemen Daniel Brunskill (Valley Center), Kwayde Miller (Ramona) and Zach Thomas (Carlsbad); linebacker Troy Cassidy (Carlsbad); safeties Brandon Fitzpatrick (Ramona) and Trey Lomax (Mira Mesa); and fullback Alex Valenzuela (Otay Ranch).

What’s trending

SDSU returns 15 starters (seven offensive, seven defensive and one on special teams) to this year’s roster.

Last season, SDSU was the only team in the nation to have its league’s offensive player of the year (Pumphrey), defensive player of the year (Damontae Kazee) and special teams player of the year (Penny). All three players return this season and received preseason honors in those same categories.

As of Aug. 26, 11 Aztec alumni were on the rosters of NFL teams: long snapper Aaron Brewer with the Chicago Bears, wide receiver Brice Butler and tight end Gavin Escobar with the Dallas Cowboys, running back Ronnie Hillman with the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, running back Chase Price with the Indianapolis Colts, offensive lineman Pearce Slater with the Jacksonville Jaguars, safety Nat Berhe and cornerback Leon McFadden with the New York Giants, offensive lineman Darrell Greene with the Philadelphia Eagles and linebacker Eric Pinkins and offensive lineman Terry Poole with the Seattle Seahawks.

MW teams carry a composite 8-4 record into this weekend’s slate of games. UNLV, Nevada, SDSU, New Mexico, Utah State, Air Force, Boise State and Wyoming all kicked off the 2016 season with victories while Fresno State, San Jose State, Hawaii and Colorado State are searching for their first wins of the new pigskin campaign.

The MW has tie-ins to six bowl games this season: New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 17 on ESPN), Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 17 on ABC-TV), Poinsettia Bowl (Dec. 21 on ESPN), Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 22 on ESPN), Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24 on ESPN) and Arizona Bowl (Dec. 30).

This year’s MW championship game is scheduled Dec. 3 at the site of the higher-seeded team.

This was the 13th consecutive year the Aztecs have hosted the KGB SkyShow.

— Phillip Brents

Aztecs Quotable
Nico Siragusa (senior left guard)

Siragusa was present at the post-game press conference following Saturday’s victory against New Hampshire. He answered the following questions:

On the team maintaining its focus heading into Saturday’s game:

“This group of guys is really focused on (the concept of) `one week at a time.’ We know we can’t look forward to Cal, we can’t look forward to Northern Illinois, we can’t look forward to anything. But to accomplish our goal, we have go undefeated every week, which is, win one game at a time. And this group of guys really understands (how) not to look forward to anything.”

On the team’s experience heading into Saturday’s game:

“We have a bunch of seniors who know how to approach a game week and know how to approach a week-one game.  The best thing that we can do is mentor the guys who are coming in to start for the first week and let them know that we understand that they’re going to have some first-game jitters and not to worry about it. We have faith in them. We know they’re good players and can start for us.  That’s where the (senior) leadership comes in.”

On the legacy of recent Aztec offensive linemen:

“Learning from (past) seniors like Bryce Quigley, Terry Poole, Pearce Slater and Darrell Greene, for the offensive line group, those are pretty big shoes to fill. But they helped the whole offensive line mature to where we are now. I have to give them credit for the past. They’re one of the main reasons why we are here. Six years ago when they went to their first bowl game if those seniors did not start the winning tradition, then we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about going undefeated. So it’s not just last year’s seniors, but also the ones from 2010 and 2011.”

College Scoreboard
Thursday, Sept. 1
Utah State 45, Weber State 6
New Mexico 48, South Dakota 21
UNLV 63, Jackson State 13

Friday, Sept. 2
Nevada 30, Cal Poly 27
Colorado 44, Colorado State 7

Saturday, Sept. 3
SDSU 31, New Hampshire 0
Michigan 63, Hawaii 3
Boise State 45, Louisiana 10
Air Force 37, Abilene Christian 21
Nebraska 43, Fresno State 10
Wyoming 40, Northern Illinois 34

Fleet Week Classic set for promotional kick off

The San Diego State University football will honor members of the military and first responders in collaboration with Fleet Week San Diego during the Aztecs’ game on Saturday, Sept. 10, against California.

The Fleet Week Football Classic is set for a 7:30 p.m. kick off. Military personnel, retirees and family members are eligible for discounted tickets available from the Navy MWR and Marine Corps MCCS ticket outlets.

Local first responders will also be recognized at the game.

High school bands in the San Diego area will be celebrated at the game ss well. About 1,600 high school band members will join the Aztec Marching Band on the field at halftime.

Additionally, the first 2,000 SDSU students inside Gate J will receive free Aztec sunglasses.

Tickets are still available for the game against the Golden Bears. The Aztec Athletic ticket office, located at Qualcomm Stadium Window E, is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Individual tickets start at $25 and may also be purchased online at GoAztecs.com or over the phone at (619) 283-7378.

Current San Diego State students can obtain one free ticket with a valid SDSU Student RED ID (card must be swipe valid) located in the designated student sreas of Qualcomm Stadium. Tickets can be retrieved at the Viejas Arena box office Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Students can also pick up their ticket on game day at Qualcomm Stadium windows B, F and H.

Football season tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging onto GoAztecs.com, calling 619-283-7378, or visiting the Aztec ticket office at Qualcomm Stadium Window E. Fans who purchase season tickets will receive a free Donnel Pumphrey bobblehead for each season ticket purchased. The bobblehead may be picked up before the California game at the marketing tent in Aztec Village (Qualcomm Parking Lot C1 / D1) from 5 to 7 p.m.