Even a disappointing 54-13 loss to top seed Oak Grove in the
first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs couldn
’t erase it. Even a few hung heads, long faces and tears
couldn’t overshadow it. Fact is, this year’s Live Oak High football
team returned the program to respectability, lifting the school
from the doldrums of a 24-game winless streak into the hard-earned
rewards of postseason play. And, the A
corns did it all in a single season.
Even a disappointing 54-13 loss to top seed Oak Grove in the first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs couldn’t erase it. Even a few hung heads, long faces and tears couldn’t overshadow it.
Fact is, this year’s Live Oak High football team returned the program to respectability, lifting the school from the doldrums of a 24-game winless streak into the hard-earned rewards of postseason play. And, the Acorns did it all in a single season.
Perhaps that’s why LO coach Glen Webb was so circumspect after the game.
“All good things must come to an end,” Webb said. “I’m just so proud of what the kids accomplished this season.”
And, maybe that’s why LO senior Doug Porras couldn’t be too down after Friday’s game, despite his obvious disappointment.
“I didn’t expect anything like (making the CCS playoffs),” Porras said. “I would have taken (a) .500 (record), but to do what we did was awesome.”
LO’s struggles before this season are well-documented. After years at the top of the area football world, LO plunged into the depths of futility, stringing together three straight losing seasons and going two and a half seasons without a win. LO hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2000.
But this year was different, and the team showed it from the start, winning all five of its non-league contests, including victories over highly regarded Seaside and Monterey.
Led by seniors like Porras, Andrew Cummins, AJ Avellar, Justin Frost, David Iseman, Jared Koblis, Michael Marquez, Sam Martinez, John Pedersen, Calvin Ressler, Shawn Standridge, Dustin Vertin, and Cody Welch, and a talented group of underclassmen, to boot, the Acorns began to turn heads.
LO also won its first two Tri-County Athletic League games, including a rout of North Salinas and a stirring comeback win over Salinas at the notorious pit.
Then came the toughest three-game stretch for any team in Northern California not playing in the West Catholic Athletic League – Palma, Hollister-San Benito and Gilroy.
LO fell to the Chieftains and the Haybalers, then found itself in a must-win against the neighboring rival Mustangs. Despite its earlier success, the Acorns had to have a victory at Gilroy, which had beaten LO four straight times, to clinch a postseason berth.
And, the Acorns came through with one of the biggest wins in school history to earn its CCS playoff spot, and third place in the TCAL behind league co-champs Hollister-SB and Palma.
So one could hardly fault LO, which finished 8-3 overall this season – its only losses to teams ranked in the top 10 in CCS, for being less than completely devastated by Friday night’s loss.
The Acorns had been through so much tougher times, had developed such a resilience, and then reached such heights this season, that nothing could knock them off their perch.
They had returned their school to football prominence once again and nothing could take that away.
