Season-opening loss to Saratoga is now a win; Live Oak moves to
4-3
Morgan Hill – Several weeks after the Live Oak High football team blew a 21-7 lead and lost its season-opener to Saratoga 22-21, Acorns’ head coach Rick Booth still was aggravated by even thinking about that game.
Now it’s all a distant memory – and a win.
Live Oak athletic director Mark Cummins received a letter for Saratoga High on Wednesday informing the Acorns that the Falcons had used an ineligible player during that game and would have to forfeit that win over to Live Oak.
All of a sudden, the Acorns are above .500 with a 4-3 overall record and are back in the hunt for a playoff spot. Booth said he’s hoping the news can be a bit of a momentum builder as the team prepares to host Pioneer tonight at 7.
“We told the kids today,” Booth said after Wednesday’s evening practice session. “And it was a pretty good practice.”
With three games left on the schedule, including a regular season-finale against powerhouse Oak Grove, the winners of nine of the past 10 Blossom Valley Athletic League Mount Hamilton Division crowns, Live Oak has its work cut out for it and will need at least one more win to secure the .500 record needed to be eligible for postseason play.
That playoff push starts this week against a Pioneer team that is tied with Piedmont Hills and Leigh for second place at 3-1 and is coming off a 48-12 thrashing of Branham, a team that beat Live Oak two weeks ago.
“They’re awfully good,” Booth said of the Mustangs. “Of course, every team in our league’s awfully good.”
The running game is a three-headed monster, led by senior Steven Lopes. Lopes has 629 yards and nine touchdowns on 85 carries and junior running back Shane Murray has been nearly as effective, gaining 525 yards and five touchdowns on 89 carries while also catching a team-high 16 passes for 263 yards. Junior Marquee Heffner has been the change-of-pace back, averaging better than 12 yards per carry and picking up 430 yards on the ground and scoring six touchdowns.
On the Acorns side, senior running back Kevin Abbott is set to break the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second straight season. He enters play with 970 yards and 10 touchdowns and has ran for 100 yards in every game but one this season.
He had all three touchdowns in last week’s win and, in addition to his 153 yards rushing, he caught three passes for 53 yards and a touchdown that proved to be the game-winner.
The biggest difference in last week’s win was that Live Oak played well in the fourth quarter, The Acorns outscored Independence 14-0 in the final quarter after having been outscored by 15 in the fourth quarter in two different losses this season.
“Last week we were able to play well in the fourth quarter,” Booth said. “That’s going to be important.”
Jimmy Durkin is the Morgan Hill Times sports editor. Reach him at jd*****@**********rs.com.
