From Frosh to Leaders, Seth Evans and Lance Mitchell Guide the Mariners Into Their 59th Season

By Ronnie Amey, Arts & Entertainment Editor and Tyler Senner, Sports Editor

Did you know the Moreau football program is as old as the school itself? Founded in 1965, the team begins its 59th season, coming off its first Division VII – AA state championship in the 2024 season. Editors Ronnie Amey and Tyler Senner met up with senior captains Seth Evans (RB/DB) and Lance Mitchell (TE/DL/LS) to ask the two players how they have developed in the football program from freshman to senior year. 

Both athletes noted a significant growth in team culture since their freshman year. “I feel like we have way more chemistry with the coaching since they started freshman year; like us, it’s not only a football team, it’s more of a family now,” Mitchell stated. 

Apart from the team’s culture, Evans also touched upon the team’s chemistry. “In previous years, it was more of people trying to do their own thing individually, but now we’re all trying to get together as a team.” 

After winning a California state championship title, a lot is expected out of the Mariners this upcoming season. Before the team can train physically, we have to make sure the team keeps up-to-date on school and personal life.

“School’s always first because you’re a student athlete, not an athlete student, so you gotta focus on your grades first because if you don’t have the grades, you can’t play the sport you love,” Mitchell commented. 

As challenging as keeping up individually is, a team captain also has to help lead the team in the right direction, along with learning more about themselves.

“Really, it’s trying to keep everybody together… There’s a level of integrity that comes with it, and there’s also, you have to know yourself as a person to further go on,” Evans added. 

As team captains, it is essential to establish common goals to lead a team successfully. Though family members and fans focus on predictions for the upcoming season, the athletes aren’t focusing on predictions but rather their goals and the steps they need to take, physically and mentally, to achieve them. 

“’I’m not really focusing on predictions. I’m focusing on what we should and can do to further grow our team.” Mitchell said, which Evans followed up with a similar statement: “I haven’t really thought about predictions either. As a team, we’ve been taking it day by day.”

Aside from general questions asked to gauge an idea of the team captains’ mindset as the 2025 football season continues, they also responded to more individual and personal questions to get to know senior captains Seth Evans and Lance Mitchell on a deeper level.

On July 17th, 2025, Mitchell officially announced his verbal commitment to San Jose State University to continue his academic and athletic career. Outside of football, with an early found love of building, Mitchell hopes to pursue a career in civil engineering. On the field, he dreams of making it to the NFL and providing for his family. As Mitchell’s recruiting journey has come to an end, we dove deeper into how being committed to San José State impacted his confidence going into the 2025 season. 

“I’d say it’s way different from last year. Now [that] I’m committed, I feel like that weight, it’s like, taken off… I still have to perform my best, but it’s way different… You feel more comfort, especially cause the coach is texting you, checking on you, they treat you like their own. So it’s very comforting… It’s just a great feeling to have.”. 

Many young football players dream of being committed to a Division 1 school. Mitchell spoke about what advice he would give younger teammates who aspire to play college football. “First off, it’s not easy at all. You just have to work,… especially when it comes to the game day, you just have to show out.”

Though Evans isn’t currently committed to a school for football, he has drawn out a path in life he would like to pursue: “Make it to the big leagues in the NFL. Hopefully, I can go to the Olympics in hurdling. But other than that, you know, as far as majors wise, communications, media, and kinesiology. Hopefully, physical therapy.” 

While he plans on hopefully pursuing these goals later in life, he also wants to give back to the community and the ones who have helped him reach this point in athletics.

“I know the ultimate goal for me is just to retire my parents, take care of my family, and everybody who’s been taking care of me since I was little, running around the park, being a little hardhead to everybody, you know. People who have stuck with me ever since then, my job is to make sure they’re set for life.” 

As these players find themselves in their final year of high school, they want to be able to leave behind a legacy, especially being a team captain of a state champion team. Seth wants his legacy to be that of “a hard worker, you know. Coming from the Oakland Unified School District was definitely a major change in my life … So, I’ll definitely say now, it’s been a rough couple of years, but I know finally in the end, I’m going to be where I want to be.” Similar to Seth’s response, Lance wants to be known as “a hard worker that never took anything for granted.”

Though the program is a very old tradition at Moreau Catholic, it is continuously growing as new generations add to the legacy that is the Moreau Catholic football program, one game at a time.