Oakland Wildcats take bite out of adversity, embraces change, reach pinnacle game

After losing 21 straight games, new coach Tee Hendrix helps get 'basketbal, academic school' once led by Damian Lillard to high water football mark since the mid-1990s

Oakland senior Noah Bandabaila on verge of kicking game-winning walk-off 42-yard field goal in 10-7 win over Oakland Tech on Nov. 16 sending the Wildcats to the Silver Bowl. / Photo: Courtesy Tee Hendrix

Oakland (Calif.) High School’s football very likely isn’t going to win Saturday’s Silver Bowl against state smal-school power McClymonds for the Oakland Section championship at Castlemont High School. 

It likely won’t be all that close. 

Doesn’t matter. 

“We’re closing the gap,” said Oakland’s vivacious coach Tee Hendrix. 

Not closing so much on the gridiron — that too — but gaining on a life's path.

Hendrix, who doesn’t so much coach as “do God’s work,” is accustomed to shedding light and hope, and turning around the football program in one of the nation’s most challenged regions. He and his staff, on a truly measly stipend that comes out to less than $2 a day, teach more than body leans, cloud coverages and combination blocks. 

“It’s getting a meal, getting rides, hitting the books, staying safe,” Hendrix said. “Real life stuff.” 

He did so at his alma mater Fremont during a six-season run, building the program from the inside out, making sure that winning was a byproduct of good habits, strong will and an authentic brotherhood. 

In 2011, Fremont went 0-9 and Hendrix led the Tigers to a 36-27 record over the next six seasons, including two eight wins years, developing such all-area players such as Tyshone Gaines, Ronald Ragland, Kenyon McTear, Jonathan Latu and Anthonio Faaeteete. 

In his second season at Oakland, Hendrix took over a program that had lost 21 straight games, known athletically at school primarily for its basketball prowess under longtime coach Orlando Watkins and star alum Damian Lillard. 

The other famed athletic Wildcats were old school like Bill Rigney, Lloyd Moseby, Ken McAlister and Lorenzo Lynch. Other famous alums come from more scholarly and creative circles like Jack London and Gertrude Stein, actors David Carradine and Marsha Hunt and musicians Boots Riley and Dawn Robinson. 

But Hendrix wants to add football names into the mix, such as 6-foot-3, 270-pound freshman lineman Marc McCoy, 6-foot senior wide receiver and safety Ymer Belvine and 6-3 do-everything player Yasser Jackson. 

EVERY FACET

He helped manage four straight wins to open 2023 en route to a 5-5 season and this year, they’re at a fairly remarkable 8-3 record, the high-water mark for the program since at least 2004. No other Wildcats' had won more than seven during that time. 

Some would call it miraculous, especially with such a young squad: two freshmen and eight sophomores on a 22-man roster. He calls this Tiger squad his “babies.” He'd love to get Oakland's football program back to the lofty days of the middle 1990s when it was known as "The High."

“We’re learning and growing,” he said. “What I like best about them is when adversity hits, this team bites down.” 

Never was that better demonstrated than last week’s 10-7 dramatic win at favored Oakland Tech when Noah Bandabalia, a lad pulled off the soccer team to play football for the first time, drilled a walk-off 42-yard field goal, setting off a massive celebration. 

Bandabalia isn’t just a kicker, but has expanded his game to other aspects. He had four tackles from his safety spot versus Tech, added a catch at wide receiver and executed a successful onside kick. 

“He never had a moment of football training before he came to us,” Hendrix said. “Ends up contributing in every facet of the biggest win in a very long time. That’s what we’re all about.” 

So was the game-winning drive, which covered 68 yards in just four plays with 33 seconds remaining and only one timeout. 

With the starting quarterback out with injury, backup Lenox Colvin led the improbable drive, moment and kick. They got key contributions from Belvine, Malachi Sanchez, Jackson, Trey Posey, Amir Lawrence and an offensive line without a single senior.  

EMBRACING URGENCY

With the season on the line and a few seconds remaining, these Wildcats bit down harder. 

“The drive is everything we’re about,” Hendrix said. “Everything we’ve talked about, focused on, embracing urgency, celebrating the opportunity, all there. Young guys growing up right in front of us. Everything that is positive and educational in high school sports reflects on this team.” 

On the drive, Hendrix said: “Our guys sucked it all up, stayed calm in the moment. They understood what matters to execute plays and manage the clock in those waning seconds. Secure the ball. Finish the catch. Get out of bounds. Navigate the adversity that comes with stress. Focus on the play that is happening. One play at a time. Play as one.” 

All beautiful stuff. Concepts Hendrix and his dedicated staff hope translate into real life. 

“Some of these young athletes had never won a high school football game until last season,” Hendrix said. “Now they were on the edge of getting to the OAL’s Super Bowl, the Silver Bowl. Kids making plays and living in that moment.” 

McClymonds hasn’t lost a game to an OAL opponent on the field in 15 years and 102 games. They’ve won 76 straight league games and 26 more in the playoffs. Almost all of them have been very one-sided. Last season they won six games against OAL opponents by a cumulative score of 307-0.  

Due to a fight in a league opener with Fremont — the score was 21-0 early in the second quarter — the Warriors had to forfeit its next game to Castlemont. They’ve won four straight since by a combined count of 195-6, the lone touchdown scored by Oakland in a 60-6 defeat on Nov. 1. 

The four-time state champion is an undisputed powerhouse and likely will win by a similar score on Saturday. 

Doesn’t matter, Hendrix said.

“Closing the gap,” Hendrix said. “Celebrate the opportunity. Play with intensity. Play with purpose. Be ready for the moment.”