A breakdown of each team in the Tri-County Athletic League.
A breakdown of each team in the Tri-County Athletic League.
Alvarez Eagles
Second-year Everett Alvarez head coach Ralph Ward’s mission is to change the culture of the Eagles’ football program.
“It’s just letting them know that it’s time for this school and this football team to start competing at a high level and stop being used to losing,” Ward said. “Everyone says winning is infectious, so is losing. So, we are just trying to get a winning attitude in the classroom, at home, in the classroom and on the practice field.”
The turnaround is already visible in the number of players taking the field during preseason practices. Currently the eagles have 44 players on their roster, including 20 seniors.
“We ended last season with 24 active players,” Ward said.
Just seven of those were seniors.
The Eagles crawled to a difficult 1-9 overall record and 0-6 in the Tri-County Athletic League last year.
However, because much of the starting lineup was underclassmen, the Eagles are returning a wealth of experience on both sides of the ball.
“We are pretty well balanced throughout,” Ward said.
Among the list of top returning athletes is the TCAL’s reigning Sophomore of the Year, David Perez. The bruising back posted 680 yards rushing and eight touchdowns in five appearances last season, including a massive 34-carry, 353-yard performance against North Salinas.
Salinas Cowboys
The Salinas Cowboys held a 13-0 lead over San Benito in the 2009 CCS semifinals only to see that advantage disappear in the third quarter in an eventual 14-13 loss to the Haybalers.
The Cowboys were helped last season by a relentless run game. The statistics are staggering. The Cowboys, who featured five ball carriers with more than 200 yards each, totalled 3,396 yards on the turf. They threw for just 362.
Its star was one of the league’s premier backs, Alvin Jelks, who massacred opposing defenses to the tune of 1,705 yards and 20 touchdowns. With Jelks’ graduation, the Cowboys will look for the right platoon to fill the void with aspirations of continuing its powerful rushing attack.
Josh Estassi and Junior Cortez — the team’s starting quarterback — each had over 50 carries a year ago and accounted for seven scores between them. The Cowboys’ commitment to the run game will once again be its forte. Whether it’s a running back dive through the heart of the offensive line, or a pitch left or right, the Cowboys quick-strike ability will once again be the task other TCAL teams will have to to contain.
Palma Chieftains
There aren’t too many freshmen football teams that steal headlines from their varsity counterparts, but much was made last year of the rookie class at Palma High School in Salinas.
But last year was last year.
The upcoming 2010 season is when we’ll begin to see the strength of last year’s frosh class. Palma head coach Jeff Carnazzo said his Chieftains are young, with possibly five or six sophomores cracking the starting lineup.
“They’re a strong class and there was a number of positions we needed,” said Carnazzo, whose team earned the Tri-County Athletic League title last year with a 6-0 record.
One position that wasn’t available was running back, though. Palma returns stout senior Jack Baird to the backfield this year, one year after he claimed the TCALs Junior of the Year honors.
Baird recorded 1,085 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground, and on just 185 attempts, no less.
At the signal-caller position, the Chieftains could see junior Brandon Villar or senior Ryan Morrison, either of whom will be able running the ball, Carnazzo said.
“A ball-control running offense is where it starts,” the head coach added. “And with Baird, it’s a good starting point.”
Palma lost six first-team selections from last season’s 8-2-1 team, including league MVP Bruce Taylor and the TCALs Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman in Max Gibbons. But despite the losses, the Chieftains still return a handful of talent, including first-team linebacker Robert Foy and first-team defensive lineman Brandon Pulealii.
Blair Gardiner is also back for his senior season at outside linebacker as is Tanner Sherman, who will roam the defensive secondary.
North Salinas Vikings
There were very few opponents who could stop, or at least slow down, the dynamic 1-2 punch the North Salinas Vikings packed in its backfield last year.
Anchored by Michael Benabides, who went on to earn the Tri-County Athletic League’s Most Outstanding Back honors after compiling 1,392 yards and 18 touchdowns on 183 carries, and coupled with Marquis Brooks, who sprinted his way to 933 yards and eight touchdowns on 142 carries, the Vikings displayed a strong running game last season.
Everyone knew it and everyone tried to stop it.
But while both Benabides and Brooks have since graduated, the mentality of the Vikings hasn’t changed much.
“It’s North Salinas,” head coach Steve Zenk said. “We always have running backs.”
Looking to follow in the footsteps this year will be senior returners Ryan Uto and Marcos Mendoza, each of whom played on both sides of the ball last year — running back and defensive back.
The Vikings will be lacking returning offensive starters, however. In fact, Zenk said the only returner to an offense that compiled 247 points last year will be quarterback Curt Ceralde, who threw for 752 yards on 58 of 115 passing last season, including seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
“He’s stepped it up on offense,” said Zenk, who expects the team to pass more this season, with junior Angel Estrada the team’s top wideout. “We should be entertaining.”
North Salinas will look to reclaim its 2008 magic when it went 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the TCAL, earning a piece of the league crown in the process. Last year didn’t fare as well for the Vikings, though, who compiled a 2-4 TCAL mark and fell short of the postseason.
“We lost four games in the fourth quarter last year,” Zenk said.
This year won’t start off any easier for the Vikings, however. The team will open with Jefferson, Pioneer and defending Division I champion Milpitas before kicking off TCAL play with consecutive league games against Gilroy, Palma and San Benito.
Zenk said he’s not worried of the early-season schedule, though.
“It’s not like there are any easy games in our league,” he said. “They’re all tough.”
Gilroy Mustangs
Expectations swirling around the Gilroy High School football team soared prior to the 2009-10 season.
After two straight Tri-County Athletic League championships and deep runs into the Central Coast Section playoffs, it came as no surprise.
But after an unexpected 1-3 start, and a lack of team cohesion, the expectations morphed into the reality that the season wasn’t going to blossom with the fruits of a third league title.
That chapter has ended and the book closed on the saga that was 2009.
This offseason has been gut-check time for the boys in blue. Head coach Greg Garcia has stressed the ingredients to a turnaround season — a message of dedication, work ethic unlike season’s past, and a desire and want to perform at a level unadulterated by distractions.
The new attitude has swept over the 2010-11 Mustangs. Their demeanor and posture — shoulders back, chest out, bursting with energy — is evident.
The Mustangs’ goals, aside from the typical expectations of a return to the top of the TCAL standings and Central Coast Section, are shaped differently.
The Mustangs were able to showcase their new-found passion at a four-team (Independence, San Benito and Live Oak) scrimmage last Friday at Live Oak.
Junior Niko Fortino will step in at the quarterback position, the third different starting quarterback for GHS in as many years.
Fortino possess the arm strength and quick release necessary to perform in the Mustangs’ no-huddle, quick-strike offense.
After a shaky start against Independence in the first scrimmage of the evening Friday, Fortino found his groove and displayed his poise in the pocket.
“I’m starting to get a feel for the offense,” said Fortino, who was the starting signal caller last season for the junior varsity squad. “I’ve had to work on my reads and knowing defenses. I have quick receivers, so that helps a lot.”
Fortino is surrounded by a wealth of speed on the offensive side of the ball.
Beginning with Christian Salazar and Romeo Travis out of the backfield, who each broke off big runs of 20-plus yards Friday, and Julius Travis and Jourdan Soares on the outside, among others, the Mustangs will no doubt utilize their quickness to execute the spread offense.
In all, the Mustangs have 22 seniors on a depth chart of 37 players. It’s the right mix of experience and youth.
With the implementation of the 3-5-3 defense for the first time since the 2007 season, the Mustangs again will emphasize team speed, as well as aggressive ball pursuit to shore up an area where they struggled a year ago – stopping the run.
Gilroy begins the 2010 trek on the road against a familiar opponent in Live Oak in Morgan Hill. The Mustangs defeated the Acorns 36-13 in the 2009 season opener.
The Mustangs will stay on the road for a Week 2 matchup with Saratoga before making their home debut against Leland on Sept. 17, the final non-league affair before opening TCAL play against North Salinas on Oct. 2.
Alisal Trojans
The Trojans finished sixth in the seven-team TCAL last season. However, two of their four losses in league were by 14 points or less and they also tied Gilroy — three games that could’ve gone the Trojans way.
Junior quarterback Michael Barron, who was named the TCAL’s co-Sophomore of the Year in 2009, returns to anchor the offense, poised to not let those close games slip away. Barron is very effective running the ball as well.
Andres Rubalcaba, a first-team selection last season, returns as a stout figure on the defensive line.
