King’s Academy racks up 241 rushing yards and beat Sobrato
Morgan Hill – The Sobrato High football team looked at Saturday’s game against The King’s Academy as a chance to get a fresh start to its season.
With league play beginning this Saturday against San Jose, it was hoping to even its record at 1-1-1.
But thanks to an impressive running game, in which nine different backs combined to gain 241 yards, the Knights made sure that wouldn’t happen and improved their record to 3-0 in the process with a 36-14 win Saturday night at Live Oak.
“We really, really felt that we could beat these guys,” Sobrato Coach Dan Brown said. “We felt like if we could get to 1-1-1, it’s like starting the season all over again.”
King’s scored a momentum changing touchdown late in the second quarter to take a 20-7 lead into halftime and never looked back to drop the Bulldogs to 0-2-1 on the year.
Sobrato, which answered a pair of Knights’ first quarter touchdowns by marching 65 yards in 15 plays before running back Anthony Zizzo picked up a 1-yard touchdown run, had an opportunity to tie the game late in the first half.
Bulldogs’ defensive back Ramon Watkins intercepted a pass by King’s quarterback Sammy Sussman and returned it 20 yards to the Knights’ 27-yard line.
But on the next play, Sobrato handed the ball right back to King’s on a fumble and Sussman eventually finished off that drive by connecting with Jacob Bliss for one of his three touchdown passes on the night.
“They key was that series, because it would’ve went (into halftime) tied. And it didn’t, and they ended up getting (a touchdown),” Brown said. “I think it would’ve been a dogfight in the second half.”
As it was , Sobrato found itself trailing by two touchdowns entering the third quarter. The Bulldogs continued to move the ball well – the running game picked up 181 yards on 45 carries – but the half’s opening drive ended with a missed field goal.
The Knights took advantage and Sussman again found Bliss, this time for a 45-yard catch and run, and they put the game out of reach at 26-7.
Sobrato still found a way to respond, riding the back of Zizzo on another 15-play drive. Zizzo gained 38 yards of the 80 yards on on the drive and scored his second touchdown of the day early in the fourth quarter with a two-yard run.
Once again, King’s responded. Steven Lim (14 carries, 142 yards) broke free on a 49-yard touchdown run and Colin Foshay added a 42-yard field goal to put the game away.
Zizzo proved to be the biggest bright spot for the Bulldogs. The aggresive running sophomore gained a team season-high 94 yards on 21 carries and a pair of receptions gave him 110 yards of total offense.
“I think we’ve got great confidence,” Zizzo said of the running game. “Our blocking was awesome. We had little mistakes here and there, but we were moving the ball.”
