Sobrato will enter the Central Coast Section Division V playoffs on an eight-game winning streak after taking down Evergreen Valley 28-7 Friday night.
The Bulldogs concluded a sweep of the West Valley Division to improve to 8-2 overall (7-0 in league play) and earned a No. 5 seed and will travel to Hillsdale in the playoffs that will kickoff this week.
But for as much as Sobrato is flying high with the wins, the Bulldogs saw plenty they had to fix if they are to advance past the first round.
The Bulldogs had eight trips into the red zone and scored on just half of them. On the three possessions that didn’t advance inside the Cougar 20, Sobrato turned the ball over twice and was stopped on fourth down once.
After the game, coach Tony Holmes said the team needs to do a better job executing, but was confident his boys would be competitive against whomever they faced.
“You’ve got to find a way to stay focused. Everyone is undefeated next week so you’ve got to be at your best,” Holmes said. “There ain’t no coming back if you don’t take care of business. We’ve got to work. We’ve got work to do. I’m not satisfied with today’s efforts at all. I expect for us to be better, play better and come back next week and be a little more fired up than we were tonight.”
Despite the offensive woes, Sobrato still was able to move the ball and had some good performances among its top players.
Jared Jones rushed 243 yards on 22 carries with two touchdowns. He adds to his record-setting performance, bringing his year to date yardage at 1,614 yards.
Quarterback John Bell went 6 of 13 passing for 182 yards. He also had a rushing TD.
On paper, the game was not nearly as close as the score would lead.
If Sobrato converted on all eight trips to the red zone, the Bulldogs would have led 28-7 at the half and 56-7 at the end of the game.
Evergreen had 207 yards of total offense, but was held to 64 yards on the ground.
Most of the 207 yards came on two pass plays, including a 71-yard touchdown for the Cougars’ only score.
“The defense played a lot of football tonight, but they played good football,” Holmes said. “They only had the one big play, but besides that we had a couple of good stops in the red zone where they could have and should have scored. The defense played disciplined and good football.”
Sobrato had gone 95 yards on six plays—with a key pass interference penalty along the way—and capped with a Bell seven-yard touchdown to open the game.
Evergreen responded with a reverse handoff that led to Alonzo Rivera hitting Jerry Carbajal who was left all alone for an easy pitch and catch to tie the game at 7-all.
Evergreen’s only other big chunk play came in the second half when Nicolas Ingram caught a 57-yard pass that switched the field.
Sobrato’s defense held, coming up with a stop on its own 20 yardline.
Take those two plays away and Evergreen was held to 83 total yards of offense.
Meanwhile, Sobrato overcame some hiccups thanks to special teams putting the Bulldogs in excellent field position.
To kick off the second quarter, a Harrison Zhang punt return set up the Bulldogs on the Evergreen 17.
One play later, Jones went the 17 yards for a 14-7 lead.
That’s where the game stood at the half after Sobrato had two drives stall inside the Cougar 20, including one that stalled inside the 10.
To start the second half, Sobrato’s defense came out strong, forcing punts on Evergreen’s first two possessions.
Meanwhile, Sobrato’s first drive of the third quarter ended with the first of two interceptions Evergreen pulled down.
But after taking over on its own 23, Sobrato drove 77 yards on eight plays, including a 52-yard pass play from Bell to Marcos Ramirez.
That eventually set up Jones punching in the ball from 18 yards out for a 21-7 lead.
Both sides had opportunities fall short until the final 44 seconds when Sam Anaya found pay dirt from two yards out for the final 28-7 margin.
In one ugly moment in the game, an Evergreen player was ejected for throwing a punch following a Sobrato punt. It wasn’t immediately clear which Cougar had been tossed.
After the game, Holmes said an incident on Thursday involving parents coming on to the field during the Overfelt-Andrew Hill game prompted him to remind his boys if anything happens, they are to just return to the sidelines.
“I think they understand the difference between the motivational talk and the negative talk and I think we did a good job of staying away from the negative talk,” Holmes said.
Playoffs begin Friday
Sobrato will kickoff the CCS Division V playoffs at Hillsdale as the No. 5 seed.
Hillsdale finished the regular season 7-3 overall and was the second place team in the Peninsula Athletic League-Ocean Division.
The Fighting Knights are led by quarterback Jeremy Teteak who threw for 1,439 yards with 16 touchdowns against just four interceptions.
Teteak’s favorite target is Joey Sabel who had caught 31 passes for 598 yards.
Nick Hulman will carry the rock for Hillsdale, accumulating 1,635 yards with 20 touchdowns.
Where Sobrato is on an up tick—despite a disappointing game against Evergreen—Hillsdale has stumbled of late.
The Knights won their first seven games in a row before dropping their last three games, including an overtime loss to Kings Academy to close out the season.
In the first seven games, Hillsdale outscored opponents 264-66. In the last three games, the Knights were outscored 92-65.
During the win streak, no one scored above 20 points.
Sobrato will have to control the clock and protect the football if the Bulldogs hope to advance.
“Don’ think about their records and don’t get caught up in social media portion of it and just stay focused on and play the best football we can next weekend,” Holmes said.
Hillsdale has only forced 10 turnovers on the season, but the Bulldogs have turned the ball at key times this season. And the Knights’ play makers can drive up the score so missed opportunities could be lethal.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm. The winner will square off against the winner of No. 1 Gilroy and No. 8 Santa Cruz on Nov. 24.
