Every week, Sobrato football coach Albert King has demanded one thing from his team: Show improvement.
“We’re gaining momentum, the kids are feeling good about what we’re doing. I think we’re going to have some success,” King said.
After three weeks of testing what kind of team they had, the Bulldogs will now show what they have learned in their Blossom Valley Athletic League opener against a high-powered Piedmont Hills offense in San Jose. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.
“We knew what we were going to get preseason and now it’s for real,” King said. “We want to make sure we approach this (as) we have a great opportunity in front of us.”
The Pirates have pillaged teams to the tune of 151 points, including 130 points between two games. The remaining 21 came against Central Coast Section No. 1 ranked Bellarmine.
“To say we’re going to hold them out to zero that would be unrealistic. (We need) to put some realistic goals on our defense. Their strength is obviously their passing game. Some of our strength is that we can defend the pass. It should be a great challenge for the kids.”
Piedmont Hills are among four teams in the Mt. Hamilton Division that sit at 2-1.
“Our league is pretty well balanced,” King said. “If you don’t come, you don’t play, if you don’t give it everything you’ve got, you’re going to go home with a nasty scar on your rear end. We need to come and we need to learn how to be consistent.”
King said, however, that records can go out the window as teams enter league play.
“Nobody’s ahead now in league. We’re all in the same place,” King said. “Piedmond is a real good team with an explosive offense, but I think that we have a fighter’s chance.”
After seeing two of the top running backs in California – Gilroy’s Brandon Boyd is the fourth-leading rusher in the state and Live Oak’s Trevor Bearden is No. 29 with one fewer game than the stat leaders – Sobrato now must deal with an explosive quarterback.
Sobrato is coming out of a bye-week that has allowed some of the bruises to heal up, King said.
“I think the extra week helped us. I think it helped us get healthy,” King said. “We had two bruising backs back-to-back, plus Christopher. Again, the thing is, we got healthy. And the best thing is right now – or the gauntlet we have now – is we’ve gone run-run to junior of the year last in the A-division who’s now a senior with the receiving corps he had last year.”
Anthony McBride has 751 yards with 11 touchdowns against one interception.
He distributes those yards amongst two primary receivers who claim 521 yards between them.
Junior Aaron Tillak is coming off a 189-yard, three-touchdown performance against Santa Clara last week.
“I know this is odd, but we wouldn’t want it any differently. This is how we want it,” King said.
To shut down the offense, King said it’s going to come down to how well his defense can keep McBride guessing.
“We’ve got to figure out how to put pressure on the quarterback,” King said. “And we also got to figure out how to disguise some of our coverages so that hopefully the quarterback can’t get a read on what we’re up to. Hopefully the opportunity will present itself and put some pressure in there.”
