Aptos, Bishop O'Dowd, Milpitas, Mitty Jamboree summary (Aptos perspective)
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I was able to read it without a subscription.
Jim Seimas, Airing It Out: Aptos hangs with Bay Area’s big boys at Milpitas’ jamboree
MILPITAS >> After witnessing less-than-inspired play during warmups Friday afternoon, Aptos High football coach Randy Blankenship kicked his players off the field. Linebacker Marcos Reyes pleaded with the veteran coach to get one more play prior to the four-team jamboree at Mipitas High, but Blankenship had seen enough.
A master motivator, Blankenship was sending a message. Over the next 2½ hours, the Mariners sent a message of their own: They could hang with the Bay Area's larger elite programs.
"I believe in you," Blankenship told his players in a post-scrimmage team meeting. "The key is you guys believe in you."
Once they did, the highlights started pouring in. And so did a few lowlights. But, hey, things aren't official until next week.
The Mariners, runner-up to Salinas in the Monterey Bay League's Gabilan Division last season, open their 2018 campaign with a road game Friday against host Templeton. When the regular season begins, they'll compete in the top division of the newly formed Pacific Coast Athletic League. Friday's jamboree was more than adequate preparation.
Boasting one of its smallest rosters in recent years - size-wise and numbers-wise - Aptos, a four-time Central Coast Section champion, was a severe underdog entering Friday's event. The round-robin jamboree featured Milpitas, the defending CIF Division 4A state champion, Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd, the 2016 5AA state champ, and San Jose's Archbishop Mitty, a two-time CCS champion and section finalist three of the past five years.
The Mariners more than held their own against higher enrollment powerhouses.
"All three scrimmages, we were really hesitant to start and then we got going and we played," Blankenship said. "There were some good things. I thought our tackling improved from last week, but we're still a long ways away. But when you play a really good back, good receivers, they're going to show all your weaknesses."
Blankenship was eluding to Bishop O'Dowd senior Austin Jones with his "great back" comment. Jones has run for 4,887 yards and 62 touchdowns in the past three seasons. The 5-foot-11, 198-pound back, who received 27 NCAA Division I offers before committing to Stanford, also has six career touchdown receptions.
Even with Aptos' undivided attention, Jones was a force. Blankenship yelled "eyes on the back" before one play. And seconds later, Jones took the handoff and was greeted in the backfield by a bevy of Mariners from his left side. He shook off the tackle attempts and cut back to his right, streaking 40 yards for a touchdown.
On the Dragons' last offensive play of the scrimmage, Jones hauled in a touchdown reception, breaking a few tackles along the way to the end zone.
Aptos' Silvano Lopez recorded an interception against the Dragons. In a game situation, Lopez might've had a 100-yard scoring pick. The interception earned a thumbs up from Blankenship.
Aptos started the jamboree on defense against Mitty and the Monarchs opened with a 12-yard completion. The Monarchs added an 11-yard run before turning the ball over on downs and restarting on offense at the Mariners' 40-yard line. On their 11th offensive play overall, the Monarchs scored on a 1-yard run. Mitty's longest gain came on a 23-yard pass.
The Mariners proved to be much more efficient on offense. Junior running back Vaughen Holland, a late-season call-up in 2017, took a pitch from his quarterback for a 31-yard gain on his team's third offensive play and three plays later, Reyes scored on a 1-yard run.
The Mariners added an 8-yard scoring reception from 6-2 receiver Shane Modena, also a standout linebacker.
Blankenship promised his players they wouldn't see a better back than what they had faced in O'Dowd's Jones. On that note, he also said they likely wouldn't face a bigger player than what they'd seen while facing Milpitas. Let's hope not. Imagine Andre The Giant in pads.
Milpitas had a number of skills players who proved hard to wrap up, but the matchup of note came in the trenches. Trevor Catesi, the Mariners' 5-11, 173-pound defensive lineman, looked up at his opponent, 6-8, 320-pound guard Justin Scrempos, like he was a giant redwood tree. Scrempos, a San Jose State commit, is essentially the same size as the San Francisco 49ers' No. 1 draft pick this year, Mike McGlinchey (6-8, 309).
Scrempos chucked Catesi like a rag doll on the first play and was called for holding. But two plays later, Catesi faked left and ducked to his right to cut past Scrempos and record a sack.
"You know what? That was fun," Catesi said. "I haven't done that in like forever. I got my (butt) kicked a couple times, but I made a couple of sacks and it was fun."
Chalk one up for the little guy – and the little guys.
Said Catesi of getting past Scrempos, "I just used my size."
Again, Aptos showed its mettle once it took over on offense. Bubba Gallardo and quarterback Hunter Matys produced scoring runs against the Trojans.
While Jones scored twice for O'Dowd, the Mariners showcased some offensive firepower of their own in the third session. Holland scored on a 10-yard run and sophomore running back Andrew Manning looked like a buoy in the ocean on his wide-open, 40-yard scoring reception.
Aptos and Mitty snuck in a few extra plays to close the jamboree. O'Dowd coach Napoleon Kaufman, a former running back for the Oakland Raiders, was speaking with his team on the field when he and his players were asked to move to the sideline.
Seconds later, Juziah Rivero was racing to the end zone for the Mariners.
"I told you, these guys are good," Kaufman said to an assistant marveling over the play. "They do this to everybody. You gotta game plan."
Seconds later, Manning recorded an interception.
"I told you!" Kaufman yelled to another assistant.
Yeah, the Mariners, the undersized team from the coast, opened some eyes. It was just a scrimmage, though. Next up, the real deal.
The Mariners are ready, Blankenship promised.
"They gotta believe in themselves," he said. "I got them in this scrimmage because we're ready to play better competition. We're in that league. We've got to play the Palmas, Salinas, Hollister, all those guys. And you can't do it playing teams that aren't as strong as you, aren't as big as you, aren't as fast as you. ... I think they figured out they can play."
Contact Jim Seimas at 831-706-3256.
Unfortunately I don't have a subscription to the Merc or related papers. The Santa Cruz paper doesn't require a subscription. I was bummed out when they started doing that.
Welcome back! How does Sutter look this year? Another championship in the horizon?
NorCal! Been watching from afar. Great input as always by you on this board. We shall see. As always Sutter will compete. Lots of Jrs on offense and numbers are down, way down. Keep up the great work
The way it works is the corporation that owns all these papers gives you so many "free views" of their news & then requires a subscription of .99 cents per month for 3 months & then regular rates apply or you can cancel. Since I use a lot of different newspapers for different high schools I subscribe to BANG [bay area news group].
Not sure if BANG owns the Santa Cruz Sentinel, but since the subscription info looks same I just tried my Mercury News login info & now can access - so yes BANG owns the Sentinel as well.
Wasn't sure. It didn't ask me to log in or subscribe. Guess I didn't use up the views.
