October 16, 2008

SPORTS

Coaches Corner

Leland drops league game to Lincoln

By Mike Carrozzo
Special to the Times

Lincoln (3-1, 2-0 in league) came to town to battle your Leland Chargers, both coming off league-opening wins. It was an important game that had solid playoff implications for us.

The Alex Factor: Seniors Alex Oberman 55 and Alex Nunes 58 chase the Lincoln QB out of the pocket. Photo by Kevin Jones

Lincoln got the opening kick-off and 16 plays and 65 yards later opened the scoring with a touchdown. This is a typical “Wing T” (the offense that both Lincoln and Leland run) drive. Three times the Chargers forced the Lions into to fourth-down plays and all three times Lincoln converted to first down.

After receiving the ensuing kick-off, Leland promptly fumbled the ball on the first offensive play from scrimmage. We knew then that this night was going to be a long battle. Although Lincoln took over possession at our 38-yard line, the defense stepped up and forced the Lions to punt. Next time we had the ball, we managed a few first downs, but once again put the ball on the ground and lost the fumble.

Down 13-0, we started a drive on our 18-yard line. RB/LB Matt Machado ripped off a fantastic 47-yard run, followed by RB Vinnie Gemette blasting 14 yards to set up a field goal attempt that unfortunately missed its mark. At halftime we were down 19-0 and had fumbled the ball a total of three times in five drives.

After halftime, we started to get things going. On Lincoln’s first drive in the second half LB Mike Santini forced a fumble that was pounced on by CB Zach Hill. On their second drive DE Alex Oberman sacked the Lincoln quarterback and forced the ball out, this time smothered by DT Mike Economy setting the Chargers up first and goal at the 8-yard line. Two plays later QB Will Boring hit Gemette for a 7-yard touchdown. By this time all four starting linebackers were injured and out of the game.

Every once in a while you have a game where everything seems to go wrong. Hopefully this happens very infrequently. Unfortunately, it happened to our Leland Chargers this week in this game. What we strive to do when this happens is find the positive success stories within the game and accentuate on them, not the negative. Fortunately we were able to find some rays of hope.

Alex Oberman strips the ball from Lincoln quarterback Nick DeMartini. Photo by Jeff La Plante

When more then a few players went down with injuries we called on the next in the rotation to step up and get the job done. We were very pleased with the performance of these players including LB Nick Armann who had five tackles, LB Shwan Zuhdi with two tackles, LB Justin Faris with one tackle, DE Jun Fowler with two tackles and DT Eiden Babaoghli with one tackle. Leading in tackles was free safety Tom Felt (13) and DT Amir Tadros (9). Other tacklers include LB Mike Santini with seven and a forced fumble, DE Alex Oberman with seven and a sack, LB/CB Evan Vuckovic with seven, nose guard Alex Nunes had seven and DT Mike Economy had six tackles and two fumble recoveries. CB Hill had three tackles and a fumble recovery.

Rushing leaders included RB Machado’s two carries for 49 yards, Vinnie Gemette with eight carries for 25 yards and Shwan Zuhdi with three carries for 14 yards. Quarterback Will Boring completed 10 passes in 19 attempts for 81 yards and a touchdown. Leading receiver Ryan Smith caught five passes for 44 yards, Santini had two catches for 18 yards and Gemette had three catches for 18 yards and the touchdown. Although the night didn’t go as we expected or hoped for, there were some surprises and some lessons. It is quite clear after five turnovers that we have things to work on.

Our frosh/soph program had another well earned victory beating the Lincoln’s team 7-0 in a mighty defensive battle. It was a great game and we are proud of the way they fought for every yard on both offense and defense.
Next up we are on the road to play the Oak Grove Eagles. In order to be competitive we will have to fix these issues and fix them quickly.

Almaden Quicksilver wins shootout championship

The Almaden Quicksilver U15 girls’ competitive soccer team won the U16 championship at the Vacaville United Shootout on Sept. 27-28. Most of the 12 teams competing were a year older than the Quicksilver team, yet Quicksilver emerged as the only team winning all their games over the weekend.

Quicksilver got off to a great start against Fremont FC Pumas with a 1-0 victory. It was a very close game until Jillian Marquard scored from 30 yards out on a direct free kick. The tough defensive squad of Ellen Tung, Savannah Trudeau, Tamara Qutmiera and Megan Dingley held on for the victory.

Facing 100-degree heat and a lack of substitutes, Quicksilver next squared off against Rocklin Blue Heat who recently finished in the top four in the state Association Cup. Megan Keys and Brenna Fowler’s hard work in the midfield helped create a lot of goal scoring chances. Inspired by the fast-paced play of forward Jessica Blecher, Quicksilver battled back from a two-goal deficit with an outstanding performance from forward Julia Mangin. Julia headed in a goal, converted a penalty kick and volleyed in a perfect cross from Anahita Asefi in the closing minutes to complete her hat-trick performance.

On Sunday morning, Quicksilver faced off against Davis Legacy Stars. In an odd turn of events, the referees ended the game midway through the second half after a Davis player and both coaches were ejected. Quicksilver was awarded a victory by forfeit and moved on to the championship game with the top results in the qualifying rounds.

In the championship game, the Quicksilver faced off against the U16 South San Jose Quakes, a top team in District 2 in an older age bracket. Dana Sever volleyed a cross for a goal in the first five minutes to get Quicksilver off to a great start. Playing with confidence, Quicksilver maintained possession of the ball with strong play from midfielders Jenny Politoski and Jacqueline Gill. Katelyn Parker put Quicksilver up 2-0 with a beautiful shot from the right side.

Inserted as a central defender in this final game, Samantha Engstrom was dominant in the middle of the field shutting down the Quakes. Quicksilver’s final goal came off a long kick from goalkeeper Jillian Marquard that Julia Mangin chased down and slotted into the net from the left side.

Quicksilver celebrated their 3-1 victory in the final and began preparation for next weekend’s District Cup. Quicksilver is coached by John Politoski, Joe Blecher and Bob Parker.

Goalie Amy Georgiou makes another save against Pioneer. Photos by Kevin Jones

Leland girls overpower Pioneer in water polo

While never having a home-pool advantage, the Leland girls’ varsity water polo team continues its dominance in the league.

The women Chargers defeated the Pioneer Mustangs 12-7 at Willow Glen High School on Oct. 8. They were led by Kelsey Nolan with a four-goal assault with Kylie Sarpa adding two more, accounting for half the Charger goals.

Kelsey Nolan prepares to score one of her team high 4 goals in win over Pioneer.

The match started out to what looked to be a rout of the Mustangs. As the match progressed, the Mustangs pushed back and battled to close the scoring gap to two points near the end of the match.

Leanne Kirtland defends against Pioneer.

The Chargers reasserted themselves in the closing moments with some strong defensive plays from Sarpa, Leanne Kirtland and Amy Georgiou.

The water polo teams have to play their league games away because the pool at Leland is not regulation size. This situation and a remedy is being looked at by the district, Leland Booster Club and the school administration.

The women were back in the water Wednesday at Live Oak and this weekend they participate in the Wildcat tournament at Los Gatos High School.

Frosh/soph defeat Piedmont in football

The Pioneer frosh/soph football team (4-2) defeated Piedmont (3-2) 8-6 in a hard-fought defensive struggle on Friday afternoon. The Mustang defense intercepted six passes and was led by Andrew Ayala (three interceptions), Gabe Hernandez (seven tackles) and the strong pass rush of Steven Montesano. The Mustangs converted a key two-point conversion in the fourth quarter on a pass from Curtis Tanguary to Conner Swearingen, which proved to be the margin of victory. Pioneer faces off against Leigh at the homecoming game this Friday at 4:30.

High School Sports Schedule, Oct. 17 - 23

Leland
Friday—Football vs. Piedmont Hills at Piedmont Hills; JV at 4:30; Varsity at 7 p.m.
Friday—Field hockey vs. Saratoga at Leland at 2:45 p.m.
Friday—Second round S/D division play 3:15 p.m.

Tuesday—Girls volleyball vs. Sobrato at Sobrato; JV at 5 and Varsity at 6 p.m.
Tuesday—Girl’s tennis vs. Santa Teresa at Leland at 3:15 p.m.
Tuesday—Boys water polo vs. Willow Glen at Willow Glen JV at 3 and Varsity at 4 p.m.
Tuesday—Girls water polo vs. Independence at Independence, Varsity at 4 p.m.

Thursday—Girl’s tennis vs. Silver Creek at Silver Creek at 3:15 p.m.
Thursday—Girls volleyball vs. Evergreen at Leland at 3JV at 5 and Varsity at 6 p.m.
Thursday—Cross country vs. Evergreen, Willow Glen, Andrew Hill and Sobrato at Montgomery Hill at 3:30 p.m.

Pioneer
Friday—Football vs. Leigh at Pioneer; JV at 4:30 p.m. and Varsity at 7 p.m.

Monday—Cross country vs. Live Oak, Overfelt and Westmont at Montgomery Hill at 3:30 p.m.
Monday—Girl’s tennis division playoffs if necessary

Tuesday—Boys water polo vs. Santa Teresa at Live Oak, JV at 3 and Varsity at 4 p.m.
Tuesday—Girls volleyball vs. Andrew Hill at Pioneer; JV at 5 and Varsity at 6 p.m.
Tuesday—Girl’s water polo vs. Santa Teresa at Live Oak; JV at 5, Varsity at 6

Wednesday-Friday—BVAL girls’ tennis team play
Wednesday—Girls volleyball vs. Yerba Buena at Pioneer with JV at 5 and Varsity at 6 p.m.

Thursday—Girls tennis seeding meeting

For more information about Leland and Pioneer sports events, go to:

Pioneer athletics: www.phsathletics.com
Leland Athletics: www.lelandathletics.com
Blossom Valley Athletics League: www.bval.org

Sports Briefs

Girls’ Volleyball Tryouts
Jumpstart Volleyball Club tryouts are scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008, at Buchser Middle School located at 1111 Bellomy St.,Santa Clara. 

Tryout times:
12 yrs & under - 10 a.m. to 12 noon;
13 to 14 yrs - 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
15 thru 18 yrs -  6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Tryout fee is $30. For more information, visit www.jumpstartvolleyball.com or call 408-378-8590.

Holy Spirit School & Church Golf Tournament on October 23
Enjoy some beautiful fall outdoor time with friends and colleagues for a round of golf, dinner, awards and auction. Green fees are $195 per golfer which includes cart, range balls, tee prize, lunch, drinks on the course and dinner. All will be held at the fabulous Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San Jose.

The event will begin at 1pm with a shotgun start. Cocktails, dinner, awards and auction follow immediately after golf at 6pm. If you don’t play golf, please feel free to join your friends and family for the evening events. Dinner will be $40 per person for non-golfers. Remember all proceeds will go to support Holy Spirit School & Church. You can register on line at www.holyspiritchurch.org. The deadline to register is Oct. 17.

South Valley Lacrosse Club needs players, Coaches and Referees
Registration is now open for the Spring 2009 Season! Space is limited due to our high rate of player return so act now! We are looking for players ages 7 - 15.

Our season runs from Jan. 12 - May 29. Practices are in the Cambrian area and games are on Saturdays or Sundays.

Coaches: If you have lacrosse experience we could use your help. Referees: Our league is very low on referees so if you would like to become a ref, let me know. (It’s great pay - $40 per game at minimum.) Questions? E-mail Joy Bender at joy@joybender.com. To register or for more information about our club: www.svlax.com.

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