It’s the midway point in the high school football season and it
seems to be an appropriate time to look back at the first month and
a half of prep sports.
It’s the midway point in the high school football season and it seems to be an appropriate time to look back at the first month and a half of prep sports.
Both local teams are off to unenvious starts, with Live Oak sitting a 2-3 and Sobrato at 1-3-1. Both are also evidence of how small a gap there is between success and failure.
The Acorns opened the season in heartbreaking fashion, watching a 21-7 lead disappear in the fourth quarter against Saratoga in a 22-21 loss.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, could easily be 3-2. In their season-opener against Cupertino, which ended in a 7-7 tie, there was a second-quarter run by sophomore quarterback Alex Meldrum to reach the Pioneers’ 3-yard line. A holding penalty brought the play back, Sobrato didn’t score on the drive and a fourth-quarter Meldrum to Brandon Duggan touchdown pass was all the Bulldogs could muster.
Then you take Sobrato’s 7-6 loss on Friday to Prospect that was dogged by four turnovers and there are two wins Sobrato could argue it should have.
While these games all went against the local squads, they are evidence of what makes sports so enjoyable, especially when games go down to the wire.
Take just about every game the Live Oak field hockey team has played in. Scores of 1-0 and 2-1 seem to pop up every time the Acorns take the field.
And anyone who watched the Live Oak boys water polo team battle against Leland last week had to be impressed with the intensity and will be anxiously awaiting their rematch in the Blossom Valley Athletic League tournament.
For a school so young, Sobrato has several teams that are garnering excitement. The girls volleyball team is 6-0 in BVAL West Valley Division play and appears destined for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
The Bulldogs cross country teams are set to make a big name for themselves. The girls and boys teams are each 4-0 in league play and continue to shine in weekend invitationals and should be a forced to be reckoned with come postseason.
What’s all this mean? Stay tuned as the rest of the fall sports season unwinds and take advantage of any opportunities you have to get out and watch a local team in action (For a complete schedule of local games, see page B2).
Jimmy Durkin is the Morgan Hill Times sports editor. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 203 or jd*****@*************es.com.
