Cupertino
– Sobrato High School’s first varsity football game ended in
disappointment Saturday night with a 22-0 loss to Cupertino High
School (1-0) that saw the Bulldogs play much better than the final
score indicated. Despite the lopsided score, the Bulldogs (0-1)
fought hard the entire night, only to s
ee their chances fade away because of many costly penalties.
Cupertino – Sobrato High School’s first varsity football game ended in disappointment Saturday night with a 22-0 loss to Cupertino High School (1-0) that saw the Bulldogs play much better than the final score indicated.
Despite the lopsided score, the Bulldogs (0-1) fought hard the entire night, only to see their chances fade away because of many costly penalties.
In all, Sobrato gave up half the field in penalties alone. On top of that, on an extra point attempt in the second quarter, a Bulldog penalty led to a Pioneer two-point-conversion.
The game, however, could have easily swung Sobrato’s favor.
Cupertino’s first two possessions ended in fumbles recovered by the Bulldogs. The Pioneers coughed up the ball two other times during the game, and Sobrato added an interception for a five turnover night.
“This was a well played game, we just shot ourselves in the foot,” said Bulldog head coach Jeff Patterson. “This is my fault, not theirs. On those first two possessions, the score could easily have been 14-0, but instead we don’t score any points.”
Despite the opportunities, the offense could not put together a single scoring drive.
The first two fumbles recovered by the Bulldogs, were picked up inside the Cupertino 30-yard-line. But they came within eight yards of scoring and the first of many costly penalties ended the threat.
When the Pioneers figured out how to run and keep the ball at the same time, they punched holes in Sobrato’s defense and exploited them the entire night.
Cupertino’s first touchdown came on a 2:13, 37-yard drive capped off by senior running back Winston Ventura started by a shanked Sobrato punt.
The next eight points came on a Sobrato turnover when quarterback Matt Kellott was picked inside his own 30.
Just five plays, and two minutes later, the Pioneers found the end zone on the feet of junior running back Scott Savory as he ran the final 10 yards of the 24-yard drive. Thanks to a Bulldog penalty on the extra point attempt, the Pioneers converted the two-point-play for a 15-0 lead.
Sobrato made one last ditch effort in the first half after Juvenal Rodriguez intercepted Yu’s pass with less than a minute to play. But penalties and an inability to complete the pass killed the drive and sent the team to the locker room down by 15 points.
During the second half, things went from bad to worse for the Bulldogs.
On the Pioneers’ first series of the half, they marched 61 yards in four minutes for a two-yard touchdown run by Savory.
The next series, Kellott went down with a leg injury, replaced by Chris Montoya.
Cupertino gave the Bulldogs two more free chances at a score with two fumbles, but the offense sputtered and couldn’t put a successful drive together.
But to their credit, Sobrato fought the rest of the night, hoping to at least break the shutout. However, it was not meant to be.
At the end of the game, the hard fought battles gave way to emotions of disappointment, leaving no dry eye on the team.
But the Bulldogs are confident they will avenge the loss when they face Santa Clara High School at 2pm Saturday for their home opener. Erik Woodruff shouted as much to his teammates saying they were going to score next week.
“In my opinion, we should have kept pounding the outside,” Woodruff said. “To come at them on the inside, we had heart. Our defense was made to win championships.”
Woodruff added that the team will have to work harder, but thinks they are capable and it “ain’t no thing.”
“We got a lot of work a head of us,” Woodruff said. “But a little work never hurt nobody.”
