No. 2 Live Oak faces No. 6 Saratoga without defined starting
quarterback Morgan Hill On Sept. 9 the Live Oak Acorns were shut
out 14-0 in their first game of the 2007-08 season against the
Saratoga Falcons and, as fate would have it, the two teams meet
again today at 3 p.m. in the semifinal round of the Medium School
Division Central Coast Section playoffs at San Jose City
College.
No. 2 Live Oak faces No. 6 Saratoga without defined starting quarterback
Morgan Hill
On Sept. 9 the Live Oak Acorns were shut out 14-0 in their first game of the 2007-08 season against the Saratoga Falcons and, as fate would have it, the two teams meet again today at 3 p.m. in the semifinal round of the Medium School Division Central Coast Section playoffs at San Jose City College.
The Acorns have branded this week “Redemption Week,” to focus on beating the Falcons, the team who handed them their only shut-out of the entire season.
While the buzz of beating cross-town rival Sobrato 22-7 last Friday has worn off, the battle wounds have not, and the Acorns head into today’s game a little banged up.
“Both teams were so fired up last Friday, they were giving their all and the intensity was high. That was probably the most intense game we’ve played all year,” Acorns head coach Jon Michael Porras said. “They were flying around a lot more than normal, and not really noticing any injuries.”
Senior safety Kyle Hennings suffered a separated shoulder in the first quarter against Sobrato, and is questionable for today’s game.
Hennings played the entire game on Friday with no noticeable signs of an injury, and his shoulder separation was not revealed until a training session on Saturday morning.
Junior quarterback Jeff Roberts, 16, suffered a broken right ankle in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game, keeping him in a cast and off the field for the remainder of the season, and senior wide receiver and back-up quarterback Tim O’Rourke sprained his right thumb, further complicating the QB situation.
“He can’t throw at all, and he couldn’t throw on Friday,” Porras said.
O’Rourke led the Acorns through the last quarter against Sobrato with the thumb injury, but made no pass attempts.
“We feel like he’s not going to be able to throw and we don’t want him to throw,” Porras said. “So we might as well use him as a valuable weapon at receiver.”
The Acorns have depth at the quarterback position as seniors Matt Cummins and Adam Perez both have started at the position as freshman and sophomores.
Perez was starting quarterback at Sobrato during the first year of the school’s football program on their freshman team as a freshman, and after transferring to Live Oak he started as quarterback on their JV team as a sophomore.
Cummins started at quarterback for Live Oak’s freshman team as a freshman.
Neither Cummins nor Perez has taken reps at quarterback in a varsity game, but both practiced at the position before the season started when the Acorns went to a football camp at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.
“It’s a good thing we’re a 90 percent running team,” Porras said. “But in all honesty I’m not really concerned about the quarterback situation. Our option is hurt without Jeff, but we’re just going do what we do well, and that is run the ball and play solid defense.”
The Acorns practiced on the new turf fields at the Morgan Hill Sports Complex on Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for playing on the artificial turf field at San Jose City College.
“We have been going short and sweet,” Porras said. “Monday was a high mental rep practice.”
On Thanksgiving the Acorns stuck to their normal Thursday routine wearing helmets and shorts as they walked through their plays.
“We just kind of go through the game plan on Thursdays, and try to get the details ingrained in our brains,” Porras said.
The Saratoga Falcons do not bring a dominating offense, but much like Live Oak, they are really efficient and they manage the clock and the ball really well, Porras said.
With an undetermined quarterback situation the Acorns will have to limit turnovers, something that plagued them at the beginning of the season, and control the ball on offense if they hope to defeat the Falcons.
