Observations from the cheap seats.
Observations from the cheap seats.
Kudos to Rick Booth
The Live Oak football coach played Riverboat Gambler with 5:41 left in the game and the Acorns came away with a two-point conversion and a 15-14 win over Pioneer last Friday night.
I don’t know Booth. But I do know that Live Oak was competing against an opponent considered better.
Obviously, Booth didn’t feel that way.
You have to think his confidence rubbed off on his kids. If the coach believes in us, let’s show him he is correct.
If the two-point conversion failed, so what. A tie would have only meant one less loss, that is if the conversion kick was successful. And the CCS playoffs would have been out of reach of the Acorns.
How to handle
Homecoming 101
San Benito aced the test. Haybalers’ coach Chris Cameron was smart enough to keep reminding his team about what Alisal did one week earlier to Gilroy.
Not to worry, coach. This is a typical San Benito team in every sense. No. 1, the ‘Balers are always prepared.
They don’t lose sight of the task at hand. And they feed off an enthusiastic community.
A winning proposition. There’s no question why San Benito enjoys success on the gridiron and in other athletic arenas. You can’t beat good kids, good coaching and good community support.
“They flat outwork every opponent,” said GHS coach Rich Hammond, a former ‘Baler player. “Coach Cameron gets so much out of his kids always.”
Making something out of nothing
The Oakland Raiders had no business beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. When an NFL team doesn’t even gain 100 yards of total offense, it shouldn’t even be in a game.
But the Raiders took a page out of the book that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had used a week earlier when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles in spite of being outgained almost 3-to-1 in total offense.
Make enough big plays on defense and you can win most games. So maybe Ben Roethlisberger shouldn’t have played for the Steelers, the defending Super Bowl champs who don’t even look like a playoff team at this point. Give Oakland credit for playing opportunistic football.
Playing possum,
Panthers’ style
Sometimes you wonder how a professional team can just quit playing when things go badly, especially at home.
How else to describe what the Carolina Panthers did Sunday? They scored 14 points in the first quarter and then relied on their defense to keep them ahead. Once the Cowboys went in front, they even stopped playing defense and simply went quietly into the Carolina night.
These are professionals who are paid to perform. They didn’t perform in the fourth quarter Sunday.
Contact Marc David at (408) 842-1694 or at [email protected].
