YUBA CITY, CA (MPG) - The 2023 River Valley Falcons football program is ready to make a statement with a new culture as they are hungry to get onto the field under a new regime of coaching.

Alex Gomes-Coelho is the new head coach atop the River Valley program. Gomes-Coelho spent his previous six seasons coaching Johnson High School in Sacramento. Gomes-Coelho went 30-24 in his time at Johnson including three consecutive playoff appearances from the 2019-2022 season.

Gomes-Coelho also was the first coach at Johnson in the MaxPreps era (started in 2004) to post a winning record in the school’s history. Gomes-Coelho told the Dispatch prior to applying, he met Falcons athletic director Phil McCaulley and principal Lee McPeak a couple times, sat through a few classes at the campus and met some of the players through watching lift sessions.

“It felt like a great school to bring my kids too and it felt like home,” Gomes-Coelho said. Gomes-Coelho was familiar with the situation that led to the cancelling of the 2022 River Valley football season.

With athletes transferring to other programs in the area, Gomes-Coelho told his athletes he wants them to compete to the best of their ability.

A few of the current Falcons on the roster expressed the positive changes and culture that Gomes-Coelho has brought to the program so far compared to years past where there was plenty of misdirection.

2024 running back/linebacker Alex Sanchez told the Dispatch that Gomes-Coelho has brought the team closer to one another and changed the attitudes of the athletes towards a lot of different things.

“He (Gomes-Coelho) has incorporated more team activities with us whether it’s been team dinners or team lifts and all of us being together,” Sanchez said.

Gomes-Coelho expressed that bringing the River Valley program together as one and building the family culture so far has been good because they are a smaller group and haven’t gone through any “turbulence” yet.

Although Gomes-Coelho is going to have a smaller squad number’s wise, most players will be playing both sides of the ball.

As one of the senior leaders on the Falcons, Sanchez told the Dispatch they are going to be pushing one another on the field to get better and do the right calls on the field.

2025 running back/linebacker Adrian Walters said to the Dispatch that Gomes-Coelho is a man of his word.

“He shows us how to do something and he does it with us,” Walters said. He added the example of Gomes-Coelho doing lifts with teammates and conditioning with the team is part of the ways he keeps his word to the team.

Walters expressed he is going to be a leader by example of showing the younger River Valley athletes of giving it his all through everything he does on and off the field.

2024 tackle Daniel Borrayo told the Dispatch verbatim the exact words of change that Gomes-Coelho has brought to the program in his short time around of keeping his word that Walters spoke of.

“The way he gets involved with us and has the mentality of if he can do it, we can do it,” Borrayo said. Borrayo added another way Gomes-Coelho is going to keep the team accountable is by showing up with their best effort on a daily basis.

“If we’re not here giving our best effort, we will not see game time,” Borrayo said.

Gomes-Coelho said his offensive scheme is going to vary as he isn’t a one system kind of coach. Gomes-Coelho added that it can be an offense that throws for 3500 yards on the season or throws for less than 300 yards. He said he will base the offense around the type of skill sets that he sees throughout the roster.

Defensively, Games-Coelho is aware every team is going to make plays throughout a game and has spoken to his team about the difference between an ok team to a bad team.

“It’s usually how you respond to adversity; it goes to our mentality of being a dawg,” Gomes-Coelho said.

He added that the “DAWG” mentality is a term his offensive line coach Nate Livingston uses with the example of getting punched in the mouth (beat on a play). Gomes-Coelho expressed to get over it and the next play, you would punch back but not go outside of what you’re being asked to do.

The Falcons schedule this season is a tough one as eight of their 10 opponents made it to the post season last year.

River Valley is on the road the first two weeks of the season at Pioneer (Woodland) on August 18 and River City (West Sacramento) on August 25.

The Falcons host two of their four home games during the season as they welcome Chico on September 1 and future Foothill Valley League foe, Nevada Union on September 8.

River Valley will leave the Capital Valley Conference following the 2023-2024 sports season as it concludes next May and join the FVL from the 2024-2028 sports seasons.

The Falcons play four of their six CVC games on the road as they will just host Woodcreek on September 29 and Roseville on October 13 in league play.

On Friday, October 27, all eyes will be on Yuba City High School football stadium as fans from both schools swarm it for the battle of the Mayor’s Cup returns. River Valley hasn’t raised the Mayor’s Cup since the 2015 season and the Falcons want it back as noted earlier as some former players have transferred to Yuba City.