It wasn
’t an easy start for the Sobrato High football team at the
Competitive Edge Football Camp at the Morgan Hill Soccer Complex
earlier this week. According to Bulldogs head coach Jeff Patterson,
the first-year varsity football players took a few lumps against
established programs such as defending Ce
ntral Coast Section Division I champion Oak Grove at the
three-day camp. But the Bulldogs also got some valuable experience,
and by the end of camp were able to hold their own against the
top-notch competition, Patterson said.
It wasn’t an easy start for the Sobrato High football team at the Competitive Edge Football Camp at the Morgan Hill Soccer Complex earlier this week.
According to Bulldogs head coach Jeff Patterson, the first-year varsity football players took a few lumps against established programs such as defending Central Coast Section Division I champion Oak Grove at the three-day camp.
But the Bulldogs also got some valuable experience, and by the end of camp were able to hold their own against the top-notch competition, Patterson said.
“On the first day, we were getting drilled and we couldn’t do anything on offense,” the second-year Sobrato coach said. “We scrimmaged against Oak Grove and they got like 20 yards on every play. But on the last day, we went up against them again and we were able to hold them better. We even tackled them for a loss on the first play. It was a big improvement from where we started out.
“There were some really good teams and I think we learned a lot.”
Organized by Menlo College’s Mike Arrozzo and Mark Kaanapu, the former Live Oak High head football coach, the camp included about a dozen area high school football programs, including Sobrato and Gilroy.
Other schools who participated included Oak Grove, Pioneer, Piedmont Hills, Lincoln, Santa Teresa, San Rafael, Exeter and a few others.
Patterson noted that the camp, which cost about $145 per player and was paid by the players themselves, provided a rare early-summer opportunity to practice and scrimmage in full pads. That is ordinarily restricted to after fall practice starts, Patterson pointed out.
Patterson said the camp was good preparation for the Bulldogs’ scrimmage against Gonzales on July 21 at 5:30pm at Sobrato.
Meanwhile, Live Oak High’s football program chose not to attend the camp because of the cost.
According to first-year Acorns head coach Rick Booth, the LO football program is focused on trying to raise money for a regular-season non-league game at Truckee this fall.
LO plays at Truckee on Saturday, Oct. 1.
