How about those Gavilan Rams?
How about those Gavilan Rams? A feisty bunch. No fear. Taking care of business and working overtime. Bragging rights in the Coast Conference North.
Who would have thought it three weeks ago after Gavilan got hammered 47-7 by Monterey Peninsula College? Why, 30 Rams and their coaches.
They always believed. Maybe us prognosticators and community members didn’t. But who cares? What matters most is what team members believe and achieve. And the Gavilan football team was a collection of individuals, no make that team members, who believed that no matter how badly they were beaten by MPC or College of the Sequoias or Modesto that they were good enough to win the Coast Conference North.
The mark of a championship team is when it can call on a collection of players to step up with the season on the line. Against Cabrillo last Saturday, take your pick among Ellis Krout with his big catches, Will Kilday with pinpoint passing, Erik Cifuentes with his clutch kicks, Matt Perkins with hard running or a defense which bent but never broke during the last three weeks.
Talk about a team that got hot at the right time.
So close and yet … San Jose State was about to pull off its biggest win in years and knock Boise State out of BCS contention when the Broncos’ Anthony Montgomery kicked a field goal with no time left.
OK, so this is one the Spartans could have had after getting the ball back in the fourth quarter with a 20-12 lead. Let’s not forget that SJSU entered this game with more wins this season than in the two previous seasons combined.
Not that Dick Tomey or his players were taking any consolation from giving Boise State all it could handle. The point is that the Spartans were in a situation last Saturday they haven’t experienced in years. The Broncos, meanwhile, have been down this road before so they knew how to win the close games.
San Jose State needs to forget last Saturday in a hurry. This week’s visit to Hawaii is a more difficult test. The Spartans are still in a situation to finish with at least eight wins, which would almost definitely net a bowl bid.
Here’s hoping they forget the heartbreak in a hurry.
Been down this road before … So you were surprised that Arizona beat California. It’s the second November in a row the Wildcats knocked off a top-10 team which was looking forward to matching up against Southern Cal.
Last year, the ‘Cats put a hurting on then-unbeaten UCLA. It was tempered somewhat when UofA lost its remaining games to leave coach Mike Stoops with a sour taste in his mouth. But the point is these ‘Cats are never to be taken lightly. The Cal Bears have the claw marks to prove it.
