In the midst of its first winning season since 2007, the Live Oak football team’s run for an undefeated season came to a screeching halt last week against Silver Creek.
To make maters worse, the 41-14 loss came less than two weeks after the Acorns starting quarterback Taylor Turnipseed and receiver Ben Nuno were lost for the season because of an off-the-field issue.
But as the Acorns enter their biggest test of the season – a 4-1 first-place Lincoln team – in Friday’s homecoming game, the dismal past two weeks are far in the rear-view mirror.
“After last week’s loss, it was a big wake up call,” senior Jerardo Caro said before Wednesday’s practice. “We didn’t play as a team. We were not mentally there. There was a bunch of missed assignments. We just have to work on that this week and come out with a win because these game is pretty important.”
With a 2-1 record inside the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Santa Teresa Division, the Acorns have reached the must-win portion of their schedule trailing Gunderson, Silver Creek and Friday’s opponent Lincoln in the standings. Also with one more victory, the Acorns will officially clinch a winning record.
After last years one-win season, a chance for a league title is too good to pass up, head coach Mike Gemo said.
“It’s a big game for us for, league purposes and playoff purposes,” he said. “We have to win the next three out of four to have chance at being in the playoffs. As far as homecoming, we try to keep the kids focused on the game because that’s the more important thing.”
And the players echo that sentiment. Every Live Oak win this year is proof of the team’s improvement over the past 12 months.
“That means a whole lot,” Caro said. “We’ve grown. We’ve obviously put in the work this offseason. We’ve learned so much from last year. From going 0-10 (the win came via forfeit) to 5-1 this year. We’ve already made a statement, but we just can’t stop there.”
Against Lincoln, the Acorns will rely on junior Trevor Bearden on offense, while attempting to shut down the Jacob Avery-led Lincoln running game.
“We are definitely looking to control the football a little bit,” Gemo said. “We want to keep them off the football field. Their offense is a good offense. They‘ve been doing it well.”
With the dream of an undefeated season over, the Acorns are turning their attention to a league title and Central Coast Section postseason berth.
“Live Oak hasn’t started 5-0 in a long, long time,” senior Josh Acosta said. “My brother was here when they last won a CCS championship. I wanted my senior year to be comparable to his. So far it’s been pretty good. I’ve been happy with it so far. We just have to keep it going. This game is huge.”
After injuries and off-field issues hampered the team’s depth, the squad has pulled closer together, senior captain Joey Rodriguez said.
“This game really means a lot since we lost our quarterback and two of our starting receivers,” Rodriguez said. “It shows the rest of the league we can overcome these obstacles. I pretty much want to see our team just win.”
The team isn’t lacking any motivation against Lincoln.
“It’s a big motivator,” Rodriguez said. “We need to step up our game and finish up strong. We didn’t get any taste of winning last year. It’s really important.”
With so many players, including 19 seniors, who experienced last year’s losing season, the Acorns do not want one loss to change their season’s complexion. Instead, the Acorns want to use it as a building block for bigger things.
“It was hard on Saturday, but we aren’t going to let the season go by because of one loss,” senior Brandon Duran said. “I’ve been playing with these guys for a long time – since I was little boy. This means a lot because this is our last year together. We all just worked really hard and set a goal to not let what happened last year happen again. We want to go to playoffs and get as a far as we can.”
And that starts Friday against Lincoln.
