The Live Oak and Sobrato football teams bid farewell to summer with enjoyable workouts Saturday, as the Acorns played their intrasquad Green and White Game at Richert Field, while the Bulldogs held their beachfront obstacle course and team barbecue in Monterey. A once-annual event, the Green and White Game ended in a tie, first-year Live Oak coach Mike Gemo estimated, but was more of a chance for players to battle for position on the depth chart and gain experience
The Live Oak and Sobrato football teams bid farewell to summer with enjoyable workouts Saturday, as the Acorns played their intrasquad Green and White Game at Richert Field, while the Bulldogs held their beachfront obstacle course and team barbecue in Monterey.
A once-annual event, the Green and White Game ended in a tie, first-year Live Oak coach Mike Gemo estimated, but was more of a chance for players to battle for position on the depth chart and gain experience.
“Overall it went really well,” Gemo said. “We got in some game-like situations. We got to put the guys on the field, and they did great.”
Live Oak players took it as a bonding experience.
“It was good to be able to go full speed, trying to score and having every aspect of a game,” senior running back/linebacker Matt Dariano said. “We were moving the ball for first downs. We haven’t done that at all in practice; we usually just run plays and come back to the same spot. It was good getting the feel of a game.”
Several varsity newcomers made the first string, including junior quarterback Taylor Turnipseed, who ran the offense very well, Gemo said; sophomore tailback/safety Trevor Bearden, junior wideout/cornerback Jerardo Caro and senior cornerback Hunter Sutton. Starting jobs were re-earned by veterans Derek Satterlee (offensive/defensive tackle), Nikki Weber (linebacker/tight end) and Austin Carvalho (linebacker/wideout).
The Acorns’ first-string offensive line is all but set for the Sept. 2 opener at Gilroy with (from left to right) Satterlee, Andrew Daggett, Dominic Holmes, Jonathan Molina and Tyler Geer.
Gemo will have a better understanding of the rest of his starters after Saturday’s jamboree at Oak Grove High School, where Live Oak will face two teams on its 2011 schedule — rival Sobrato and Mount Hamilton Division foe Oak Grove — on top of Yerba Buena and Leigh, beginning at 5 p.m.
Sobrato gets an early look at a league opponent as well in Leigh. The Bulldogs host the Longhorns Nov. 5 in Santa Teresa Division play.
“They’re kind of an unknown to us,” Sobrato coach Nick Borello said. “They have a new coach, and they just moved into our league … so we’ve been very curious about them because we have film of everyone else we’re going to play. We don’t know anything about them.”
Borello was more excited about the chance to scrimmage Oak Grove. The Eagles regularly competes for the Central Coast Section Open Division title.
“We open the scrimmage against them. We’re first up when they’re nice and fresh — and angry,” Borello said. “They have some very good linemen. And it’s OG; you know they’ve got talent.
“I think it would be great if we could get in there and compete with those guys. That’s going to be great for us.”
The jamboree should finalize who will start Sept. 3 in the Bulldogs’ season opener against Christopher. While most of the position battles are all but settled, competition remains heated in the secondary.
“Our safety positions and cornerback positions have heated up here since fall ball started,” Borello said. “Whoever wins is going to do a good job.”
After two years, the obstacle course and barbecue have become treasured traditions of the Sobrato program, bringing families together for a fun day in the sun.
It was also a great workout for the players, who broke up into groups and bear-crawled, backpedaled and flipped tires along sand dunes.
“It kind of helped us bond as a team and get closer,” senior wideout Steven Villarreal said. “It was good for the team, building chemistry and stuff like that.
“We were exhausted, but it was a a lot of fun.”
The turnout easily exceeded last year’s, Borello said.
“We had 130 T-shirts to give away to everybody that came, and I gave away every single one of them, and there were people who didn’t get any,” Borello said. “It was a little bigger, a little better than last year. It’s kind of been that way for everything.”
