Central Coast kicks off 2008 campaign, hosts Trojans at GHS
While last season’s state title game against the Foothill Firehawks left a sour taste to what was an otherwise successful season for the Central Coast Barnstormers, the semi-pro football team has since returned this season with a renewed energy.
After claiming the NCAFF and the NorCal Championship for the last two years, the Barnstormers will look to make it a three-peat this year, and they’ll kick it all off on Saturday when they host last year’s NCAFF Northern Division Champion Stockton Trojans at Gilroy High.
Led at the helm by new head coach Greg Garcia, who will also take over the offensive coordinator duties, the ‘Stormers will be anchored by its stifling, top-ranked defense, which forced five turnovers and routed the Sacramento Wolverines 23-3 in last year’s NorCal Championship.
“Our team is aggressive defensively,” Garcia said. “First we attack the ball; we swarm to the ball. We have a lot of leaders on the team.”
With coordinator Jeff Parsley making the calls, defensive leaders include Willie Gamboa, Issac Hernandez, Moses Aguilar and Lance Goularte, who, along with Central Coast quarterback Rhett Van De Mark, competed for Team USA football in Mesquite, Nev., at the end of last season.
The Barnstormers battled the Manteca Thundercats and the Twin City Cougars of Yuba City at last weekend’s jamboree, and according to Goularte, neither team scored on the ‘Stormers.
“Both of the teams that we played,” Goularte said, “neither of them scored on us, while we kind of scored at will.”
This Saturday, though, Central Coast will more or less have their hands full with Stockton, which could arguably be the Barnstormers’ best competition of the season.
The Trojans, of the NCAFF North, claimed their division last year with an undefeated record, and Goularte said they’ll bring plenty of depth to GHS Saturday.
“They’re the toughest team that we’ll play on our schedule,” Goularte said.
The Barnstormers were able to witness Stockton at the jamboree, and what they saw was a high-powered offense that used plenty of shotgun formations, from split backs to no backs to five-wide receiver sets.
“They were passing more at the jamboree than they have in the past,” Garcia said.
Central Coast will look to counter with its attack, which Garcia said will be running a multi-front offense, similar to the offenses of former GHS coach Darren Yafia and current GHS football coach Rich Hammond.
“Take advantage of what’s given to you,” Garcia said. “We can line up in anything and do what we want to do.”
Led by Van De Mark, as well as Rigoberto Munoz, Jose Rodriguez, Joffre Longoria and running back Derrick Morrison, Central Coast will look to fire up last year’s NCAFF-leading offense against Stockton, whose offense was second only to the Barnstormers last season in points scored.
“After what we’ve done to the last three teams in preseason,” Goularte said, “our confidence has built back up again.”
Central Coast vs. Stockton
– The Central Coast Barnstormers will kick off their 2008 season on Saturday, March 22, at the Garcia-Elder Sports Complex at Gilroy High School at 7 p.m.
– IBF Featherweight Champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero will be an honorary Barnstormer and will conduct the coin flip.
