Sobrato got a gift Friday night in more ways than one.
The boys were treated to donuts after shutting out Prospect 53-0 but the biggest treat came from news out of Evergreen Valley where Hill defeated the Cougars.
That left Sobrato as the lone team in the West Valley Division to be unbeaten and with a clear path to a league title.
The Bulldogs have winless James Lick and one-win Mt. Pleasant left on the schedule with a big date against Evergreen Valley still left.
Sobrato saw big strides Friday night from its second and third stringers who stepped up to keep the shutout bid going.
“There has been a push by the seniors during practice that has helped them mature a lot,” said coach Tony Holmes. “Earlier during season, we had so much focus on the starters trying to get ourselves better. We were try to get rolling with our starters and seniors and didn’t get an opportunity to really hone in on the second and third string guys. But as the season started progressing and we started to get to rethink. We got things going in the right direction.”
Holmes said Prospect started the game with its backup quarterback and by the third quarter, the Panthers had switched to their third string QB.
The result was Holmes started to believe the shutout was possible.
Meanwhile, John Bell threw for 116 yards and three touchdowns, getting past the 1,000 yard passing mark on the first play of the game. Bell now has 1,100 yards passing for the season.
“He knew it the instant it happened,” Holmes said. “He came to sidelines and said ‘hey I got the record.’”
Runningback Jared Jones is nearing his own 1,000 yard mark, rushing for 203 yards to get him to within 13 yards of 1,000. Jones also rushed for three touchdowns.
“He wasn’t disappointed. He had a great game,” Holmes said. “He wasn’t disappointed and he wasn’t discouraged. He walked up to us and said next week going to get the milestone.”
This week, Holmes said his boys need to not get caught up with the milestones they’re chasing or the record of the team in front of them.
Lick is winless and has been blown out several times this season, including a 68-8 loss to Overfelt in September.
Lick doesn’t have many stats up for this season, but it does like to try to run the ball but will have a quarterback who can throw it around.
Holmes said the key is to stay disciplined and not allow Lick to get any kind of momentum.
“The message this week is to not underestimated our opponent. We need to stay focused on our team goals,” Holmes said.
Sobrato will kickoff at 7pm Friday in San Jose.
