Athletes come from long distances

Traveling across the country to play for a school that did not win a game the season before may not seem like an attractive option, but that has not stopped Alvin Howard from helping the Delta football turn things around this season.

"It has been a crazy adjustment coming all the way across the country and being away from my family," said Howard. "It has been kind of hard not having my family being able to see me play, but I am adjusting and I'm a grown man."

After graduating from Key West High School in Florida, Howard went to Florida Tech, a Division II school, where he redshirted as a defensive back — but it is on the offensive side of the ball that he is making his mark with the Mustangs.

"I'm just reaching for the stars. I made the bet on myself to come out here so now is the time to perform. I put in the work over the summer, I worked two jobs so I could be able to come out here and be able to live how I would like to. It's just all grind."

Coming into the season with a personal goal of scoring 10 touchdowns he leads the team with 19 receptions for 427 yards and four touchdowns while also contributing on special teams returning kickoffs and punts.

"Personally, I think that those first two games the score doesn't reflect what really took place," said Howard as they opened the season being outscored by a combined 89-13 score against Butte and San Mateo. "We really killed ourselves in both of those games.  We have come a long way."

After the 0-2 start to the season, the Mustangs won back-to-back games to snap a 14-game losing streak before recently losing 28-22 in overtime against Diablo Valley.

"Everything is better after a win but we still have to stay humble and grind away," said Howard after the loss against the Vikings. "No one likes losing. This is a tough loss that we took today but we will be back on Monday and work hard again to get another victory."

With their bye week this week the Mustangs next chance for another victory will be on Saturday Oct. 19 when they host Fresno for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Source: http://deltacollegian.net/2019/10/15/athletes-come-from-long-distances/