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Concluding his address to his team after its win at Campolindo, Clayton Valley coach Nick Tisa brought his players’ voices together in unison.
“We’ve got one more game to prove it,” he said Friday night. “Because those who stay…”
The team responded: “Will be champions.”
Ten players transferred out of the Concord charter school before this season, and now the Ugly Eagles will play Acalanes for the Diablo Athletic League Foothill title this Friday.
The team has used the departures — and the dedication of those who remained — as a rallying cry all season.
“I told the guys, if you stay here, you’ll be a champion,” Tisa said. “We’ve got one more to prove it. League championship next week. That’s what’s on the line.”
Last season, in the Ugly Eagles’ first year back in the DAL since being moved as a “competitive anomaly,” they tied Acalanes with a 3-1 league record. It came down to their head-to-head meeting, a thrilling 28-27 Acalanes win.
This year, a league title will come with a sacrifice for either side: Trick-or-treating.
Neither side, it turns out, wanted to play the game on Halloween. Acalanes raised the issue and proposed playing the game Thursday. Tisa noticed the Dons were coming off a bye week, making the shorter turnaround potentially advantageous, and proposed Saturday.
They couldn’t come to an agreement, so here we are.
“I’m bummed because I’ve got two little girls who are upset about the trick-or-treating,” Tisa said. “But it’ll be fun, man. It’ll be rocking.”
— Evan Webeck
SANTA TERESA: ‘RIORDAN OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS’
Steve Papin generally won’t shy away from saying what he thinks.
So when the Santa Teresa coach described the talent level of his team, he didn’t mince words.
“It’s a luxury,” he said. “And at times, it gets bogged down because we got so many weapons that they all want the ball. So it’s a great problem to have. And the thing that’s good for us is our players love each other, so there’s no animosity. But as a coach, when we didn’t score before halftime, I’m trying to get everybody the ball instead of just scoring. I feel like the Riordan of the public schools.”
Archbishop Riordan, the top-ranked team from the Central Coast Section in the latest Bay Area News Group Top 25, is renowned for its talent level. The Crusaders are littered with Division I prospects all over the field.
Santa Teresa has its own group of star players, especially on offense. The Saints are headlined by the receiving foursome of Jaylen Malcom, AJ Rangel, Prince Collins and Sincere Smith.
Senior running back Brian Caldwell has emerged as a key piece, rushing for over 200 yards against Live Oak. Multi-year standouts Richard Arechiga and Tekiteki Pekipaki are leading the defense, and Pekipaki leads the offensive line as well.
And junior transfer quarterback Sal Guerrero has been a revelation who has made the whole operation hum for the 8-0 team.
For Papin to make such a statement indicates how high his confidence is in his team.
“It’s awesome, because you hear the defense say ‘No. 4, No. 4’ (Malcom),” Papin said. “Then there’s 3 (Collins), then there’s 11 (Rangel). And the quiet one is Brian. I mean, he’s the backbone of our team, and he doesn’t get as much credit. It’s awesome when you feel every time we get the ball, we’re gonna score.”
– Christian Babcock
SOUTH BAY: OFFICIATING SHORTAGE REMAINS AN ISSUE
Friday night lights mean something to the high school kids who play underneath them.
Does it mean less if those standards are illuminated on Thursday night instead? It’s a question many teams across the Bay Area must confront multiple times during the football season.
Wilcox and Los Gatos recently played their storied rivalry matchup on a Friday night in Santa Clara, but that wasn’t the original plan. The teams had to go above and beyond to keep their game from being played on a Thursday.
“We kind of paid for some extra refs so we didn’t have to play on Thursday,” said Wilcox coach Paul Rosa, who is also one of the school’s athletic directors. “Both schools pitched in and paid extra.”
Referee shortages at the high school level are well documented.
“It’s a tremendous challenge,” Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said after his team’s 35-21 victory over Wilcox on Oct. 17. “Our local guys have done well recruiting new guys. In this day and age, to be an official is tough. And I am guilty of it, sometimes we lose sight of the fact that they’re dads and fathers and go to work at other jobs. They come out here because they love the game, too. It’s a real tough job.”
As Rosa put it, “Who wants to come get yelled at all night, right?”
Turns out, at least one of his former players. And more may be on the way.
“I do see some younger guys out here, and everybody’s doing the best they can to try to get more officials,” Rosa said. “We promote it. I try to get some of our old players to do it. One of our old players is doing some JV games. You just got to get younger guys into it, and it hasn’t happened. The section and the coaches in the sport are trying to push it as much as they can. We have signs in our locker room. They’re slowly adding guys. It’s just going to take some time, because it’s not an easy job.”
— Christian Babcock
MENLO SCHOOL: COACH BEMOANS CHALLENGES
Even with its loss to Los Gatos on Saturday, Menlo School has had a strong season.
The Knights are 7-1 and will be in the Central Coast Section playoffs next month. But the team is struggling with getting a small roster ready for tough games each week in the Peninsula Athletic League’s top division.
Friday, Menlo visits Wilcox.
“What I want from the kids is for them to be healthy and enjoy their experience and not have to feel like they’re going through hell at the end of the season because of the way our program is built,” said Smith, whose team has 26 players on the roster but had 24 available Saturday. “I don’t want them to feel like they’re getting punished for playing good football.
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“We need more kids to play football here, and we need to help those kids so that our kids can play healthy and so they can walk to their families and hug them afterwards and feel good not just about winning or losing, but about being healthy and not being completely exhausted.”
— Christian Babcock
PEEK AHEAD TO WEEK 10
Thursday
Antioch (7-1, 3-0) at Liberty (6-2, 2-1), 7 p.m.: Under-the-radar Antioch has Liberty, Pittsburg next.
Bishop O’Dowd (5-3, 4-0) at James Logan (5-3, 3-1), 7 p.m.: WACC Foothill title on the line.
California (7-1) at De La Salle (8-0), 7:15 p.m.: Not a good bounce-back opponent for California.
Menlo-Atherton (3-5, 2-1) at Los Gatos (5-3, 3-0), 7:30 p.m.: LG closing in on PAL Bay crown.
Friday
Clayton Valley Charter (5-3, 3-0) at Acalanes (8-0, 2-0), 7 p.m.: DAL Foothill championship at stake.
Menlo School (7-1, 2-1) at Wilcox (5-3, 2-1), 7 p.m.: Winner will likely finish second in PAL Bay.
San Jose (5-3, 4-1) at Evergreen Valley (4-4, 3-2), 7 p.m.: SJ needs two wins for BVAL West Valley title.
Saturday
Archbishop Mitty (5-3, 3-2) at Archbishop Riordan (8-0, 5-0), 1:30 p.m.: Riordan’s last hurdle before Serra showdown.
