Time is against the NorCal champs, as they wait for SoCal to
wrap its season
Thanks to its 33-19 crushing of the Norcal Lawmen in last
Saturday night’s Northern California championship game in Concord,
the Central Coast Barnstormers amateur football team earned the
right to host this year’s state title game at Gilroy High.
The question is will that game ever take place?
Time is against the NorCal champs, as they wait for SoCal to wrap its season
Thanks to its 33-19 crushing of the Norcal Lawmen in last Saturday night’s Northern California championship game in Concord, the Central Coast Barnstormers amateur football team earned the right to host this year’s state title game at Gilroy High.
The question is will that game ever take place?
“We’re really excited to be hosting the state title game. But if it doesn’t happen soon we’re not sure that it will,” said Barnstormers Quarterback and General Manager Bryan Smith. “We’re going to meet as a staff and organization to get a feeling of whether or not we can accomplish this. One option is not to play at all.”
The problem is that the amateur football team is just that – a team of local amateur players that take time from their work schedules and family commitments to play football for fun.
Many members of the team also have commitments to coach high school football, which will be firing up in the next few weeks.
“I myself coach football at Andrew Hill High,” Barnstormers coach Jeff Borges said. “It all depends on things. I’d say if we can play in the next two weeks, it’s a possibility. After that, I don’t know.
These guys all have jobs and families. We started back in January and have already played 12 games. That’s a long season, and a lot of wives probably need a vacation from it by now.”
Even without the outside commitments the biggest hurdle of all is that the Southern California champion has yet to be determined.
“They are still in week seven or eight down there and have three weeks to go before the playoffs start,” said Smith.
Smith also pointed out that even if the game takes place the Southern California team would go into the playoffs on a roll while the Barnstormers could be rusty from the stoppage.
“We’d definitely try and get a random game in there between the state game just to keep us sharp.”
Interestingly, the Barnstormers could still represent the Far West Football Association in the national championship tournament even without playing in the state championship based on the team’s overall strength and past success.
“Whatever happens, this is the farthest we’ve ever gone,” said smith, who has been the team’s only quarterback in its seven-year history. “Even though we lost some big games in other years, we think this is how it all was supposed to go. After losing three or four title games in the past that experience really showed in the game against the Lawmen. We had one turnover and they had five or six. Other years, it would have been the opposite.”
Against the Lawmen, the Barnstormers found themselves trailing 7-0 at halftime before the tide turned in the second half.
“Watching the game, I knew we were a lot better and told the guys at halftime that we should be up 14-0 by now, and could 30 on the board against them,” Borges said. “Then we caught fire in the third and got them (Lawmen) out of their safe mode. After that they were forced to take chances and started making a lot of mistakes.”
The Barnstormers tied the game at 7-7 in the third quarter when Tommy “The Truck” Jimenez ran one across the goal line. That touchdown was followed by an interception by Jon Connely that he ran the other way to the 1-yard line. From there, Smith punched it in to make the score 14-7.
Running back Derrick “D-Train” Morrison scored the next one to make it a 21-7 contest. The game then turned into a blowout when Lance Goularte blocked a Lawmen punt and ran it in for the score to make it a 27-7 contest and put the game out of reach.
Whether they enter the national tournament or not, or compete for a state title or not, the Barnstormers’ 2006 campaign was the most successful in the team’s history – a history that now includes two division titles (2003, 2006), one league championship, one Northern California championship and a seven-year overall record of 50-26 in its time capsule.
The big question mark next year is can they keep the momentum going and will Smith, who is now 30, return as the team’s quarterback for another season?
“This would be a really nice way to go out, if there is a way to go out,” said Smith, who along with the team’s center Joe Rodriguez and special teams player Gus Hernandez are the only players that have been with the Barnstormers since its inception. “My wife has been through four seasons of this. It’s been football pretty much 24-7. She’s been very supportive in all this but it’s difficult. And now I’m noticing since I turned 30 that I’m still sore after games (Saturday) on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
In addition to being the team’s QB and GM, Smith also teaches sixth, seventh and eighth-graders at Sacred Heart Middle School in Hollister. He is also the quarterbacks’ coach at Gavilan College.
This season Smith threw for 1,473 yards and had 18 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He had a 62 percent completion rate.
With Smith still committed for the rest of this season, whenever it happens to officially end, and a deep roster backing him up, Borges hopes that 2006 isn’t over just yet.
“This team could go all the way (national championship),” he said. “I’ve been coaching football for 26 years and when you look at what they have done this year it’s really special. They play so well together. I’ve only coached two undefeated teams. I think they’d like to have the chance to compete for the state title, win, lose or draw. I think if it ends right now, there will always be questions.”
