A premature El Toro Bowl IV is possible but highly unlikely
Friday marks the end of the second business week in November, and the Sobrato and Live Oak football teams are still relevant; still fighting for the chance to keep playing.
In light of last season, fans may never take this moment for granted again.
A year ago, they were counting down the days until basketball season started. Friday they will bundle up and cram into the Richert Field bleachers to cheer for the Bulldogs, the winningest of their kind, as they try to curry a playoff bid against Lick. Saturday they will drive to Santa Teresa High, where the Acorns, too, can cement a Central Coast Section berth and, thus, cap one of their biggest in-season turnarounds in program history.
Both are winnable games for the local teams, but their 2009 campaigns are still in danger of coming to a close this weekend, so let’s savor the feeling.
Morgan Hill prep football produced six wins in 2008. The Acorns (4-6), a year removed from reaching the CCS Medium School Division title game, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Sobrato won two games.
The Bulldogs are going for victory No. 8 Friday. They beat Live Oak in Week 2 and have had their foot on the gas ever since, even after their heart-breaking loss to Mount Pleasant. They have surrendered one garbage touchdown in their last three games. They look like a ‘B’-league team playing in a ‘C’ league.
Who was concerned for the Acorns after they started 0-4? Certainly not the players. They have ridden their defense to three big wins over Mount Hamilton Division opponents and can match last year’s win total Saturday. Scratch that, Live Oak can earn the opportunity to surpass last year’s win total Saturday.
It’s beginning to look a lot like 2007.
The elephant in the room is El Toro Bowl IV; more importantly, how soon it takes place. Could Live Oak and Sobrato meet in the playoffs, as they did two years ago? It’s possible however highly unlikely.
The Acorns and Bulldogs squared off for the first time in 2007 after Live Oak finished fourth in the Mount Hamilton and Sobrato won the West Valley outright. Should they both win this weekend, Live Oak will finish fourth again and Sobrato will either place second or tie for first — pending Mount Pleasant has a biblical collapse against Overfelt.
Live Oak and Sobrato may be seeded similarly to how they were in 2007 but in different brackets altogether. Central Coast Section football expanded to five divisions at the end of last season, and both schools’ enrollments have fluctuated. The Bulldogs appear headed for divisions II or III, whereas Live Oak could go as low as Division IV. It all rests in the hands of CCS officials and divine intervention.
If they both wind up in Division III, watch out.
Both sides, especially Live Oak, are excited about the possibility of playing a second time this year, but neither can look that far ahead. Why do you think I put off mentioning El Toro Bowl IV until the end of this column?
Suddenly, there is even more to look forward to this weekend. The climactic end of the regular season could just be the start of something bullishly bigger.
