The Dixie State College football team is taking on Humboldt State University, the No. 11 pick in the American Football Coaches Association weekly poll, for its second home game of the season.
HSU is expected to be the defending conference champions this year after taking the championship last year.
“It’s going to be a big game for our program,” head coach Scott Brumfield said. “So we have to take care of business beforehand going into that game.”
Brumfield said it is a well-balanced and coached team. He said HSU has great athletes, which makes an excellent program.
“They are all around a good team in all aspects of the game,” Brumfield said.
He said offensively and defensively they come together to make a great team.
The Red Storm are starting right by capitalizing on their advantage of talent on its field. Dixie has more confidence on the field since the big win against Western Oregon University on Sept. 8.
Brumfield said they are trying to continue the momentum from that game.
DSC gets the chance to compete against Humboldt twice every season.
“They won the conference last year, and that’s what we’re aiming for,” Brumfield said. “So we’ll see how we stack up against them.”
Brumfield said Dixie State will be successful in facing HSU by continuing to work hard, knowing the game plan, and playing with emotion.
Junior receiver Andre Aron, an art major from Inglewood, Calif.,said the DSC football team is uniting.
“I think the team is coming together pretty well,” Aron said. “I think we had a strong camp. We need to work on mental mistakes, like getting everything ready (and) just being there on time and ready to play the whole game. I think we have all the athleticism we need to win.”
Aron said all he can hope for this season are more wins and more fans. But DSC has to be on top of its game in order for that to happen.
“We have to come out and give it everything that [we’ve] got,” Aron said. “Every play, win or lose, no matter who you play against, just give it your all.”
Senior wide receiver Zack Fox, an accounting major from Spanish Fork, said DSC is competing nicely, but there are a lot of things it has to clean up.
“Offensively we have to execute a little bit better,” Fox said. “I think our mentality is different. In this team we are united. We know we can play with anybody, and we can win. We believe in each other and, when it comes down to it, we work hard and [those are] our best attributes.”
The DSC football game will be the only home game this week throughout all of Dixie athletics.
Dixie plays on Sept. 22 at Hansen Stadium.
