Friday night
’s regular season opener against visiting Silver Creek will
offer the Live Oak High football team plenty of opportunity to
learn about itself.
Friday night’s regular season opener against visiting Silver Creek will offer the Live Oak High football team plenty of opportunity to learn about itself.
First, the 7:30pm game at Richert Field will show the relatively inexperienced Acorns how effective they are at getting ready to play a week earlier than many area high school squads during the so-called “Zero Week,” and will give the team its first real barometer on its progress.
And, Live Oak will also get a preview look at what next season will be like when the local high school’s sports programs move to the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Silver Creek, which finished 5-5 overall and 3-4 (5th place) in the BVAL’s Mt. Hamilton division last season, will be the Acorns’ lone opponent from their future league.
For his part, first-year Live Oak head coach Rick Booth said he knows what kind of a challenge his team faces in its opener. Booth scouted the Raiders at their scrimmage against Andrew Hill and Oak Grove last weekend.
“They’re a typical Blossom Valley A league team – they’re big and strong and fast,” Booth said. “We’ve got our hands full. We need to play a complete game with our tempo and intensity … higher than it was during (last week’s) scrimmage. We’ll have to play near perfect to beat them.”
Silver Creek head coach Eric Luescher, in his 11th year at the Raider helm, said his team will also be challenged by the early start against a quality program.
“Guys aren’t going to be as crisp, and some things like special teams won’t be as sharp because there’s not as much time to get things put in,” Luescher said.
Live Oak, which rebounded from a 24-game winless streak to finish 8-4 overall (3rd in the Tri-County Athletic League) last season and made the section playoffs, enters the season challenged by a roster full of first-time starters. Last year’s team graduated a total of 13 all-leaguers, and 10 of 11 defensive starters.
That inexperience is reflected most obviously at the quarterback position, where seniors Stephen Webb –a varsity back-up last season – and Ryan Bennett – last year’s JV starter – have battled each other to a standstill this summer. Booth said the prospective starting signal-callers have “played pretty even,” and have made it essentially impossible to choose between them heading into the first week of the regular season. Booth said Acorn offensive coordinator David Snapp will make the final call on a starter sometime this week, but added he doesn’t even know if the decision will involve one player taking all the snaps or both splitting time between them.
One thing is sure, though. Whoever the starting QB is, he’ll have a pair of talented running backs in senior Dustin Muhn and junior Kevin Abbott to rely on.
On defense, Booth said several players still vying for starting spots at cornerback and outside linebacker will continue to receive playing time.
Meanwhile, Silver Creek is in a similar situation as the Acorns, having graduated 20 seniors from last year’s squad including QB Pilar Gonzales, top rusher Clayton Brock and seven all-leaguers. Top returning players include senior RB/DB D.J. Martinez, who led the team in scoring (6 TDs) and total yards last season, senior TE/LB David Carranza, who led the team in receptions last season, senior QB Tony Barajas, who takes over for Gonzales, and linemen David Samedo, Paulo Samedo and the anchor of the Raiders’ Eagle front defense – 6-0, 290-pound DT Nick Gage.
Luescher said his program usually relies more on speed than size.
Silver Creek also has plenty of other connections with Live Oak. Though the Acorns and Raiders haven’t played each other since Luescher took over a decade ago, Silver Creek did participate in a four-team scrimmage at Live Oak last year. And, Luescher’s brother Chris played for Live Oak when the Acorns won back-to-back Central Coast Section titles under Norm Dow in the late 1980s. In addition, Live Oak’s Glen and Lloyd Webb had their first teaching jobs at Silver Creek, according to Luescher.
The Raiders last won a league title in 2002, and most recently made the CCS playoffs in 2003.
Notes: CCS Commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser said the Live Oak football program, which was placed on probation last year, has met its obligations under the terms of the probation, including a public letter of apology, a formal CCS rules review for coaching staff, and a policy for submitting letters to the editor from coaches. The football program was placed on probation by the CCS after a letter from former Acorn head coach Glen Webb, which was published in the Times, was found to be in violation of CCS rules. The program will be on probation for one year.
*Following last week’s scrimmage at Gonzales, Sobrato High’s football team will have another week of practice in preparation for its first-ever varsity regular season opener at Cupertino on Friday, Sept. 9. The game is scheduled for 7:30pm. Sobrato was originally scheduled to host Kings Academy in its opener this week, but that game was cancelled. The Bulldogs will host their first varsity home opener against Santa Clara at Live Oak’s Richert Field on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 2pm.
Early Opener
*Live Oak High vs. Silver Creek High
Friday, 7:30pm, Richert Field
*Live Oak Acorns
Last year’s overall record: 8-4 (made CCS playoffs)
Last year’s league record: 3-2 (3rd in TCAL)
*Silver Creek Raiders
Last year’s overall record: 5-5 (missed CCS playoffs)
Last year’s league record: 2-3 (5th in BVAL, Mt. Hamilton)
