Building Champions 4 Life thru Faith, Character, Commitment, and Leadership.

Valley Christian Footballs pursuit of excellence within all areas of Viking football is motivated out of our passion for Jesus Christ and the kids he entrusts us with. We honor our Lord when we allow him to direct and empower us to be the best we can be as coaches and athletes on and off the field.

Football History

• Football started with a Frosh/Soph (JV)  only team finishing with a 6-2 record
• John Parrella was named the Varsity Head Coach

2009

• Anthony Harris was named the Junior Varsity Head Coach
• Joined the Bay Football League
• Launched both a Varsity and a JV team, the Varsity made the NCS Playoffs Semi Finalist and the JV team finished first in the Bay Football League
• All League: 4 first  all league players and 4 second team all league players.
• All League JV: We had both the Offensive (AJ Harris) and Defensive (Zach Parrella) MVP

2010

• The Varsity made the NCS playoffs and the JV finished in second in the BFL
• All League:  4 first team and 4 second team all league players and the Leagues MVP Running Back Ryan Toney
• All League JV: We had the Leagues MVP  (Vince Volpatti) now two years in a row

Valley Christian High in Dublin has almost everything a high school football program needs to succeed  financial support, fan support, high-level coaching, committed athletes. The only thing the Vikings dont have is a history.
But they will begin to take care of that next Friday night.
Valley Christian will kick off the schools first-ever varsity football game on Sept. 4 at Chabot College in Hayward, facing off against Cochrane High School of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Former Raider defensive lineman John Parrella, who ran on to the field in three Super Bowls, will lead his team onto the turf for the first time as the Vikings head coach. The game is the culmination of a ground-up effort to bring football and visibility to this small Christian school that sits on the hilltop overlooking the Tri-Valley and Highway 580.
Varsity player Adam Brissey has attended Valley Christian since he was in preschool. But he was prepared to leave.
They didn't have football, so I was going to go to Dublin High, Brissey said.
But it turned out that Brissey didnt have to go anywhere. Instead, on a warm Tuesday afternoon, he finishes another football practice on the outfield of the schools baseball field.
The anticipation for the first game is palpable on campus. Families are making their tailgate plans, elementary students at the school opened the year by running through a large paper football banner.
We are going to be able to call each other in 10 years and talk about what we started together, Brissey said. I cant wait.
None of this would have happened without Parrella, who has equal parts deep faith and big-time football experience. He is the foundation of the foundation.
Everybody needs a leader with vision and Johns that guy, said Valley Christian pastor Roger Valci. We are not here right now without him.
Parrella has used his connections to assemble a high-profile coaching staff and to solicit advice and ideas from some of the other top private-school programs in the country.
Parrellas coaching staff includes NFL Hall of Famer Rod Woodson and former Raider Josh Taves as well as more than two dozen other volunteer coaches.
Parrella and Woodsons sons are on the varsity roster. Woodson, who held a fundraiser for the school and the program that raised $85,000 prior to his Hall of Fame induction earlier this summer, is also set to coach the schools basketball team in the winter.
Theres no doubt the name recognition of the staff has made building a program more easier. Brissey and teammate Nick Rubio said the prospect of playing for Parrella and Woodson was undeniably appealing.
Theyve been to the NFL, they are showing us the right way, Rubio said. Maybe well get there someday too.
The genesis of the program came several years ago when Parrella was sitting at breakfast with the churchs former pastor following a Sunday service, talking about how unfortunate it was that he would have to send his sons to another school in order for them to play high school football.
He said Lets do it, and I said Do what? I didnt know what he was talking about, Parrella said. He said Lets start football.
Parrella was in. He said it was his vision to build a brotherhood.
Its all about God and these young men, Parrella said. The hardest part is to push them to get better each day. We love them so much, we have to push them.
He began by recruiting coaches, including Woodson, and traveled to schools such as San Joses Valley Christian, Southern Californias Oaks Christian (No. 7 in the nation in pre-season rankings) and Valor Christian in Colorado to ask them how its done.
He got equipment donated by private and corporate sponsors and arranged for the team to play its home games 12 miles away at Chabot College in Hayward.
Our team has been very blessed, Parrella said. There are a lot of people here who wanted this to happen.
The program began last year in earnest with a junior varsity team that went 6-2 in its inaugural season and brought 500 spectators to Chabot with them to watch.
We have a great following. The first game we pulled up and there were 10 RVs parked out there and we wondered whats going on and they were there for us, Parrella said. This year, Chabots already put in their plan about where all the RVs are going to park because there might be so many.
The football program has brought an enrollment increase at the school. There is a waiting list for incoming freshman for the first time.
Moran said it is part of the schools strategic plan to build a football stadium in the next few years.
This program is building more quickly than we expected, Moran said. Last year we were hoping to win one (JV) game and we went 6-2. Excellence creates influence and I think we have every right to believe we are going to have a highly competitive team here.