Big plays and strong aerial game too much for Live Oak in BVAL
opener
Morgan Hill – The start of the Mt. Hamilton Division play didn’t go the way the Live Oak High football team had hoped.
A couple of big plays allowed on defense, an inconsistent offense and three turnovers paved the way for Piedmont Hills to earn a 24-6 win over the host Acorns on Friday.
“They’re a good football team,” Live Oak coach Rick Booth said of the Pirates. “(Piedmont Hills coach) Matt (Kiesle) does a good job with those kids. They have an exciting offense to watch.”
The big-play threat of the Pirates’ (2-2, 1-0 BVAL) offense was displayed on their first play from scrimmage when quarterback Danny Cruz connected with Alex McCarthy for a 60-yard touchdown and Piedmont Hills quickly held a 7-0 lead.
The Acorns (2-2, 0-1) responded. Facing a fourth-and-2 from the Pirates’ 38-yard line, Live Oak elected to go for it and Steven Rodriguez picked up the first down to keep the drive going.
Seven plays later, quarterback Timothy O’Rourke kept the ball on a play action bootleg and ran it in from five yards out for the touchdown. The extra point was blocked, so Piedmont Hills maintained a one-point lead.
The score stayed the same until late in the second quarter. The Pirates drove down to the Live Oak 22 and were facing a fourth down situation. Cruz, who completed 12-of-23 passing for 242 yards and three touchdowns, looked to throw the ball but his pass near the goal line was incomplete. But a defensive holding call on the Acorns kept Piedmont Hills’ drive alive and Cruz hooked up with McCarthy for his second touchdown on the day to make it 14-6 with less than a minute to go in the half. McCarthy finished the night with five catches for 127 yards.
The Pirates showed their quick strike ability again to start the second half. Three plays in, Cruz connected with Joe Follen for a 35-yard reception for a score and Piedmont Hills pushed the lead to 21-3.
After being forced to punt, Live Oak looked to gain some momentum when junior defensive back Kyle Hennings intercepted a Cruz pass at the Acorns’ 38. But a fumbled snap on the first play of Live Oak’s ensuing drive gave the ball back to the Pirates.
Another Piedmont Hills turnover provided a small sign of life for the Acorns when the Pirates fumbled on a punt return and Live Oak recovered. But the Acorns again coughed the ball back up, this time on the third play of the drive, and they never managed a threat again.
Live Oak finished with only 147 yards of total offense and just eight yards in the passing game.
Despite being under constant pressure in the backfield, Abbott gutted through a 26-carry, 96-yard effort.
“They blitzed a lot,” Abbott said. “We were trying to run the ball up the middle. We didn’t pick up a lot of blocks. We’ll be working on that in practice.”
It was a frustrating night for offensive coordinator Glen Webb, who never saw his unit get rolling the way it had the previous three weeks.
“(Piedmont Hills) beat us in the trenches,” Webb said. “It’s hard to get anything going when they’re in the backfield.”
Junior Timothy O’Rourke made his first start and quarterback and experience some jitters and inconsistency.
“O’Rourke put in a lot of work and was dealing with those first varsity start butterflies,” Webb said. “And at times he did things really well and at times, there were some breakdowns.”
Senior Chris Nicholls, who started the first three games, had a brief appearance at quarterback but left the game and was eventually taken to the hospital for X-rays after being hit on his hand while in the throwing motion.
Junior Varsity
Behind a strong second half performance, Live Oak’s junior varsity team moved to 2-1-1 on the season with a 35-22 win over Piedmont Hills.
Billy Van Aiken scored three touchdowns for the second week in a row – all of these coming in the second half – and also recovered a short kickoff that was mishandled by Piedmont Hills.
Quarterback Jeff Roberts added a 19-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter and also threw a touchdown pass to Jeff Blean in the first half, as the Acorns went into intermission tied 8-8 before the offense exploded in the final two quarters.
