Dougherty Valley Athlete Set to Play Football at Delaware State

When Mitchell Ward graduated from Dougherty Valley High School in June, he was set to attend College of San Mateo in the fall where he would be the football team’s kicker.

In fact, for most June and July he was practicing four days a week with San Mateo’s team.

But on Sunday, Mitch flew across the country to Delaware State University, where he will be playing football on a full-ride scholarship for the next four years. 

The huge change in Mitch’s future began in the third week of June when he received a call from DSU football recruiting coordinator Jeff Braxton.

Although most student athletes sign their letters of intent to attend a college during the early spring, Mitch wasn’t even in talks with DSU at that time.

Braxton said that due to changes in the coaching staff during spring, DSU’s recruiting process was delayed.

It was not until early June that he and the other coaches started evaluating Mitch, and it was at that point that Braxton made the call to offer Mitch a spot on the team. 

“I saw a young man that is a very good student athlete with great character, and a young man with a very explosive leg in terms of kick offs and field goals,” said Braxton. “His versatility to be able to also punt was desirable, and we were interested in his soccer background as well.”

Mitch and his family took several weeks to decide, but ultimately the scholarship and the promise of early playing time swayed him to take the offer, and he officially signed with Delaware July 29.

“It’s a big change and it’s a little scary,” said Mitch. “But it’s what I wanted to do: play football for a university and get my degree as well on a scholarship.”

Though Mitch—the first male from Dougherty Valley High School to receive a full-ride athletic scholarship—is on the verge of playing NCAA football, just a few years ago he hardly understood the game of football at all. 

In fact, to Mitch, the word football referred to the sport known in the United States as soccer.

Born and raised in England, Mitch and his family did not move to the United States until he was 14. While growing up, Mitch’s focus was mainly soccer, and he was talented enough to earn a spot on his county’s all star team. 

When he came to San Ramon just weeks before his sophomore year in high school, Mitch had no intention of even trying football, focusing instead on the varsity soccer team and track and field team.

“I had no exposure to football at that point,” he said. “My first exposure to it was watching a high school game my sophomore year.”

The summer before Mitch’s junior year, the Dougherty football coach asked Mitch to join the team as a receiver and defensive back because of his speed.

Mitch accepted the offer and began practicing, but when he broke his thumb during the preseason, any chance of being a receiver or defensive back disappeared.

The only other position that made sense with his soccer background was kicker, so Mitch gave it a try.

Immediately, the coaches realized Mitch had talent, and they called in Bob Springer, a special teams coach who had just retired after four years at Dougherty.

“The guys from Dougherty phoned me and said, ‘We really think (Mitch) has a future ahead of him,’” said Springer, who was a part of the famous undefeated 1951 University of San Francisco football team. 

After seeing Mitch kick firsthand, Springer decided to come out of retirement to develop Mitch’s talent over the next two years.

In his more than 50 years of coaching experience, Springer said he’s never known a kicker at the high school level with as much potential as Mitch.

“I told his parents a long time ago that he has the ability to get a scholarship,” he said.

When Penny Ward and her husband Tim heard that their son might have a future in football, they did not believe it at first. 

But as Mitch quickly took over the starting kicker position and then was named to the Diablo Foothill Athletic League all-league second team, it became apparent Springer was right.

But if Mitch was to fully pursue football, it meant letting go of soccer to focus on one sport.

“It was hard, but also in a way it wasn’t, because so many people around here follow football so closely that it was natural to get into it,” said Mitch.

Upon giving up soccer and track, Mitch began to seriously work towards earning a football scholarship. 

After his senior season, Mitch created a profile on the National Collegiate Scouting Association website, an organization designed for connecting colleges and high school athletes.

It was through NCSA that San Mateo and DSU, along with several other schools, found and researched Mitch.

Apart from working on his playing form, Mitch also focused on academics, an important consideration for college scouts.

“Football was great in a sense, because it made him work hard to get the grades that would enable him to get a scholarship,” said Penny Ward, Mitch’s mom.

Though he was happy with attending College of San Mateo, a school with a reputation for sending its football players to big universities after two years, Mitch is excited for the opportunity to now compete at DSU.

Delaware may be far from home, a fact especially apparent to Mitch’s mother, but Mitch said he is ready to take on collegiate level football, a sport that has no doubt replaced soccer as his passion.