Bulldogs looking at tonight’s game as ‘must-win’ scenario
Morgan Hill – Sobrato High football coach Dan Brown knows how important tonight’s game against winless Yerba Buena is.
He has a squad that has shown vast improvements over last year’s team and tonight is a key step to ensure that the program is moving forward.
“It’s a game that we should win, a game that we should feel good about,” Brown said. “But on the flip side we’re looking at is as we’re not going back to where this program has been. We’re going forward.”
Brown has been impressed with what he’s seen while scouting Yerba Buena and has told his players that they can’t afford to look past the Aztec Warriors.
“We have told the kids and what we’ve witnessed is (Yerba Buena) hasn’t quit yet,” Brown said. “You can see it. They’ve definitely showed up to play.”
The Aztec Warriors (0-5, 0-2 Blossom Valley Athletic League West Valley Division) are scoreless in their past two outings, losing to Willow Glen (42-0) and Overfelt (21-0), two teams that are tied atop the league standings.
Despite the blowout loss to Willow Glen, Brown noted that the score was only 7-0 in the second quarter and said that Yerba Buena has some playmakers.
“They hustle around. I believe they don’t have the up front abilities, but there are some athletic kids,” Brown said.
The Bulldogs (1-3-1, 1-1) are hoping that last week’s heartbreaker, a 7-6 loss to Prospect, will serve as motivation to play a full 48 minutes of hard-nosed Sobrato football.
“If we take our last week’s loss and fuel our fire and do what we’re capable of doing, I think everything will take control of itself,” Brown said.
Sobrato will again look to senior running back Erik Woodruff to lead its running game. Woodruff has averaged 100.5 yards per game over his past two outings and leads the team with 293 yards rushing this season.
Sophomore quarterback Erick Levell also appears to be at full strength for the first time this season. After missing the first three games with a broken thumb, he experienced soreness in his hand the past two weeks since getting his cast removed but Brown said the pain is gone and he’s excited to see what Levell can do when the playbook opens up a bit this week.
“We’ve been somewhat conservative and we’re not going to be conservative Friday,” Brown said.
The game also figures to be an important one for the junior varsity team, as the 5-0 Bulldogs will be facing a strong Yerba Buena JV team in a game that could have league title implications.
“Yerba Buena’s probably the second best JV team in the league,” Brown said. “It’s a big ballgame. It’s a definite step for the JV team on their way to be position to win or play for the league title.”
