Six years after their last meeting, former league rivals No. 7 Live Oak and No. 2 Monterey square off in a first-round Division III playoff at 7 p.m. Friday at MPC
Most of what they know about their school’s traditional rivalries, Live Oak High football players learned from stories passed down by their parents and coaches. The Acorns play Sobrato in the El Toro Bowl every season and in 2009 began scheduling their nonleague openers against Gilroy.
But Monterey, Live Oak’s second oldest rival behind the Mustangs? Current seniors had just started middle school the last time these green and gold former Monterey Bay League foes suited up to face each other.
It was Oct. 8, 2004, and Live Oak whipped the Toreadores 34-18 behind a spectacular performance by running back Dustin Muhn.
“The announcer kept calling him ‘Moon,'” LOHS running backs coach Scott Matthews recalled Wednesday. “After the game, I said, ‘Let’s get out of here before they realize who he is.'”
Six years and many Muhns later, seventh-seeded Live Oak (5-5 overall) plays No. 2 Monterey (9-1) in a Central Coast Section Division III first-round playoff at 7 p.m. Friday in Monterey Peninsula College Community Stadium.
The Acorns don’t need a history lesson to understand this game is big. It is their first chance to play a school of similar size since last year’s 28-24 playoff loss to top seed Terra Nova, and they walked across hot coals in the Mount Hamilton Division to earn it.
“We needed five teams to lose last week in order for us to get into the playoffs, and it happened,” Live Oak coach Jon Michael Porras said. “We were the very last team to get in.
“I felt like they deserved a shot, maybe not based on how we played lately but just on the potential of this team.”
The Acorns showed flashes of that during the regular season. They nearly overcame a 15-point deficit to beat Gilroy. They could easily have upset Santa Teresa. They pounded Christopher, Pioneer, Hill and Leigh, held off Sobrato and weathered losses to four league opponents seeded fourth or higher in the top three playoff divisions.
“It’s been frustrating at times when you know that this team is so skilled, and we don’t play to our potential,” Live Oak outside linebacker Austin Carvalho said. “But it’s exciting to see it when we do. We know we have a good team. We just have to make it happen.”
In terms of enrollment, the Acorns face someone their own size Friday, but the MBL champion Toreadores – ranked 17th in the section – play big. They run the same smash-mouth veer offense with a true powerback in John Wyatt-Williams, who has 1,801 rushing yards – a county record – and 24 touchdowns this season.
“He can carry them. He runs hard,” Live Oak receiver Jacob Montoya said. “If we get 11 hats to the ball, we got him.
“They’re big, too, on defense, but I think we can run on them.”
Porras said Wyatt-Williams is the best running back his team has seen this season. Coming from a Mount Hamilton coach, that says a lot.
“He’s an absolute stud,” Porras said. “It’s going to be a great challenge for us. The guys are pretty fired up for it.”
Live Oak counters with its one-two combination of senior running backs Cody Van Aken (737 yards) and Blair Zerr (527), plus option quarterback Dominic Bejarano, who has run for seven touchdowns this season.
Live Oak’s offense and defense have adjusted for a rushing battle that will come down to which team blocks better up front. Play-action passes will be at a premium; rain is in the forecast.
“We just have to be assignment sound and make tackles,” Carvalho said. “Linebackers have to come up and shut down their running backs on dives and power plays. Their offense is just like ours – everything’s going up the gut.”
Against a B league champ, a welcome break from the Mount Hamilton at least on paper, the Acorns practiced with the same underdog mentality this week, knowing a win could lead to big things in the wide open Division III tournament.
“We’ve had a great week of practice, maybe the best we’ve had all year. There’s a playoff mentality,” Live Oak wideout/backup quarterback David Pelz said. “Monterey’s not so much a relief; they’re a big team with a lot of talent. For us, we have to look at it as another game, another step toward the ultimate goal. We need to be ready to play.”
