The Dons football team kicks off its season tomorrow night at Manchester Stadium in a non-conference game against Folsom High School, the nation’s 15th ranked team. But that doesn’t mean spectators have low expectations for the Dons this Friday, or for the whole season.

Bodie DeSilva, the face behind San Diego Preps, has ranked Cathedral first in his preseason rankings, and the San Diego Football Night Lights Magazine has Cathedral listed at third in its preseason rankings for Division I. Max Preps has also listed Cathedral as one of the “most dominant football teams in the last ten years in the Max Preps era,” with the team coming in at number two behind Oceanside. Max Preps additionally came out with a list of the “2014 San Diego Section Preseason Fab ,” giving the Dons the number one spot.

Bodie DeSilva also ranked three of our players on his “Top 25 Preseason Player Rankings,” with Clayton Dale at number 22, Ray Smith at number 8, and Casey Toohill at number . The Dons return these key players from last year’s CIF Division I title team, including Stanford linebacker commit Casey Toohill, Boston College defensive tackle commit Ray Smith, and quarterback Clayton Dale. Some are predicting the team will be stout on defense, especially up front, but it’s the offense that will need to prove themselves this season.

The football team, however, is more than ready for this Friday. The team weight trains in the mornings before school and has practice everyday after school. Coach Sean Doyle said, “We believe we will be prepared to give a great effort on Friday night to represent Cathedral Catholic High School.”

From such practices and effort, a community has risen. Coach Doyle was inspired to help foster this community by the successful football program at De La Salle High School located in Concord, California (now featured in the new movie When the Game Stands Tall). “Years ago I spoke with an assistant at De La Salle and liked what they did. Coach Sochor, the former head coach at UC Davis, was also a big influence,” he said.

But it’s the inside of these young men that really counts according to Coach Doyle. “It really is more about getting the players to understand there is something bigger than they are: to play for the guy next to you and not for your glory. That is, if you are going to do something, do it to the best of your ability. And what you put into it is what you are going to get out of it. These are more life lessons learned through the game of football,” he said.

These life lessons inspired the Dons to work hard, and this hard work has paid off. Not only will Cathedral be featured on television for this Friday’s Brothers in Arms Classic, the team also has earned a spot on Sportsnet Live when they face Oaks Christian in a non-conference game on September 6th.

Whether on the television or not, the football team looks to maintain its communal sense throughout the season. “As always our expectations are that we perform to the best of our abilities every game. If that happens, we will be successful. My hopes are that every one of these players learns something about what his expectations are in our community and learns to take that to heart and live up to it,” Coach Doyle said.

And their hearts will be what truly matters as they walk onto the field tomorrow night amongst friends and family for their first Friday Night Lights game.*

Be sure to follow @ElCidSports on Twitter for important updates on the team’s season.