Compared with last year, the Sobrato football team’s 2006 season
was nearly a complete turnaround.
Morgan Hill – Compared with last year, the Sobrato football team’s 2006 season was nearly a complete turnaround.

In their inaugural varsity season the Bulldogs went 2-8, losing six straight by 50 points or more.

This year, the Bulldogs started its first senior players with a new coaching staff. The result was a 4-5-1 season with only one 50-point loss.

Coach Dan Brown said a major obstacle was the experience level among his players.

“There was a lack of experience at the varsity level,” Brown said, “A lack of football experience and knowledge of game fundamentals, that kind of thing. We had to get these kids up to par to compete, which we did. We believed we could win every game.”

For Brown, it was a matter of convincing the players to keep the intensity going throughout the game rather than just part of it.

“We had to make sure that we had a kind of mindset that we will play to the end of the fourth quarter,” Brown said.

Overall, Brown said he was pleased with what the team accomplished this season.

“It was good,” Brown said. “I had laid a foundation at the end of last school year while I was still off campus trying to do things from afar. Some of the seniors bought into what we were preaching, and that was a good thing.”

Although Brown had seniors, a first for Sobrato, there was still a strong contingent of underclassmen on his starting roster, which allowed other teams a certain advantage.

“We have six sophomores who are what 15 (years old) and we are going against older seniors,” Brown said. “Looking at growth and development of their age and maturity, the atmosphere got better.”

Brown added that since the school is so young, it still needs time to develop a program that will be able to be a yearly threat.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Brown said.

Brown said once the team is established, it would not have had to deal with some of the injury hardships it endured through the season.

“The injuries wasn’t that bad, but for us being new school and the lack of depth (hurt),” Brown said. “I just wish we had more depth at the beginning of the year – we would have been much more competitive.”

Brown added that if the depth was there, the practices would have been much better and when players went down because of injuries, there would be solid replacements.

“We’re rotating sophomores in and (then) we had a lack experience out on the field,” Brown said. “Depth is a big thing if you are going to be successful on both offense and defense.”

Brown said, looking back on this season, he wished that sophomore quarterback Erick Levell could have started more games.

“I really wish we had Erick Levell the whole year, things might have been different,” Brown said. “We would probably not win the league title, but we could have had chance to win seven.”

Looking ahead to next season, Brown said he was encouraged looking at the frosh/soph team, which won the league title.

Brown said he is already making a depth chart for next year based on the talent he expects coming up from the squad.

Brown is also looking to the leadership from juniors Steven Gutierrez, Victor Gillespie and Jojo Anaya, along with sophomore Anthony Zizzo.

He added that he will miss the leadership from Juvenal Rodriguez.

“He played above his head,” Brown said. “He is not a real talented (and) athletic kid, but he gives heart and sole on the field.”

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