Train-like running back tandem is Acorns’ best in years
Football at Live Oak High School is meant for players like Cody Van Aken and Blair Zerr.
Spread option? Run and shoot? Finesse?
How about giving the ball to your 6-foot, 185-pound powerback and sending him up the middle, where the opposing team feels safest? How about doing it again and again, then handing things over to your other 6-foot, 185-pound wrecking ball and letting him have a few cracks at it?
There is nothing fancy about the Acorns’ run-first, pass-fourth veer attack. Just like there is nothing fancy in the way Van Aken and Zerr break off a long gain.
Three yards and a cloud of dust? Try 30 yards and a cloud of broken tackles.
Zerr has been likened to a “choo-choo” train by LOHS coach Jon Michael Porras, and he and “Bam” Van Aken are leading the Acorns in what could be a very special season.
Live Oak’s senior running back tandem is on pace to eclipse the combined 2,651-yard mark set by Dustin Muhn and Kevin Abbott in 2005. Van Aken and Zerr have rushed for 400 and 235 yards, respectively, in 86 attempts – a statistic that suggests two things:
Defenders know the ball is going their way, and Van Aken and Zerr can’t be stopped.
“It’s really hard to beat us when Cody and Blair are running hard,” Porras said. “They’re both extremely dedicated. They’re both extremely athletic, very fast and powerful.”
Which isn’t to say they aren’t different, even though Zerr and Van Aken look identical in uniform.
Zerr is a downhill runner whom coaches don’t encouraged to cutback or juke. He doesn’t need to.
“I want him to stay on the tracks and run over people. He’s a big strong kid,” Porras said.
Van Aken a slasher, though, he looks just as scary running loose in an opponent’s defensive backfield.
“People think Cody’s a zig-zag guy. He can really just go through guys,” senior quarterback Dominic Bejarano said. “It takes multiple guys to bring both of them down. They have the same motor.”
Mixed with an impressive season thus far by the Acorns’ young offensive line, Van Aken and Zerr’s production has opened things up for other skill players. Z-backs Jacob Montoya and Artie Valencia are rushing for 30-50 yards apiece each game on fly sweeps, which Bejarano typically fakes to before handing off inside.
“We feed off each other, definitely,” Montoya said. “Blair and Cody are just explosive, hard runners. Defenses have to watch out for them first.”
Bejarano, now in his first season of varsity football, doesn’t feel any pressure running the option or taking snaps deep in his own territory.
“If (I’m) in a jam, just turn around and hand them the ball,” Bejarano said. “The defense goes for them every time … it opens up room for me to just take off.”
Bejarano did just that two weeks ago against Sobrato, turning an option run upfield for a 6-yard score that tied the game 7-7. He later snuck for the go-ahead touchdown a few plays after Van Aken broke loose on a 40-yard run that all but clinched a 21-14 El Toro Bowl win.
A week earlier, the Acorns wore down a pesky Christopher team with bruising inside runs. Van Aken rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns, “just tying to get as many yards,” as he could. The Acorns won 21-3.
Porras said the offense hasn’t come close to meeting its potential.
“If you’re averaging 300 yards (rushing) a game, you should be averaging 30-35 points a game,” the fourth-year coach said. “Right now, we’re averaging 24. We have to score more if we want to be successful in (the Mount Hamilton Division).”
Porras and LOHS running backs coach Scott Matthews had that in mind this offseason when they moved Van Aken from tight end to the two-back spot next to Zerr. Porras said Van Aken’s “talent wasn’t being used enough.”
“I was pretty excited. I haven’t played running back in years,” said Van Aken, who also starts at linebacker. “It’s great getting the ball like every other play.”
There are no squabbles over who gets more carries.
“Definitely not,” Zerr said with a smile. “We’re both hard workers. We love playing together and helping our team. We love blocking for each other just as much.”
Live Oak’s ground attack has only begun to take shape. Zerr, the division-rushing leader among underclassmen in 2009, was limited in the first three games because of torn cartilage in his rib cage. He is “100 percent” now, but the Acorns have another reason to celebrate with the return of Julio Aguayo, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound scatback who rushed for 225 yards as a junior.
Aguayo missed the first three games for academic reasons and will make his 2010 debut when Live Oak (2-1 overall) opens league play against Santa Teresa (2-1) for homecoming at 7 p.m. today at Richert Field.
“It’s definitely good when you have five ball-carriers with a year’s worth of experience,” Matthews said. “We’re very good at the skill spots.”
The Acorns’ improved scoring over last year, when they were held to less than 20 points in their first four games, is no surprise to Zerr.
“We worked really hard this offseason,” he said. “We knew we were going to be pretty set as far as the skill positions. The offensive line has really stepped up.”
Van Aken and Zerr don’t deflect praise as much they give credit where credit is due. They understand much of their team’s success in the Mount Hamilton and beyond hinges on how well they run with the football.
They also know the Acorns’ chances of winning both a league and Central Coast Section championship in the wide-open Division III rests on no individual.
Van Aken and Zerr and ready, willing and able, however, to carry the weight.
“As long as we do our jobs, and everyone else does theirs, anything’s possible,” Zerr said.
Live Oak (2-1) vs. Santa Teresa (2-1): The Acorns needed a 22-14 win at Santa Teresa on the final week of the regular season to make the 2009 playoffs.
Today’s meeting could be just as close – and significant, according to Live Oak coach Jon Michael Porras.
“They’re similar to us,” he said. “They have some talent. You see flashes of it.”
The Saints use a gimmicky pistol-wing T offense that could pose problems.
On the injury front, Acorns junior lineman Danny Galli will likely miss the rest of the season because of torn cartilage stemming from a knee injury suffered two weeks ago against Sobrato. Sophomore Tyler Geer has taken Galli’s spot.
