Thoughts from Salinas-Milpitas

[Streak One]

Caught the game on NFHS and had a few takeaways:

Salinas uses tempo well on offense to get the defense off balance. Passing game was erratic, but Richardson's ability to keep on zone plays and break the pocket help create some big plays.

Milpitas' offense is really limited at this point. Power running with a few shots downfield. No consistent game breakers at the skill positions. They struggled in pass protection and has snapping issues.

Matthew Scott is a legit weapon at kicker for Salinas. Had a couple of touchbacks and accurate on field goals.

Junior Josue Torres (RB/DB) was a player of note for Milpitas.

 

[FBAddict]

After looking more closely at Salinas' players of potential talent, I was struck by just how much they under-performed in their previous games. Maybe the coaching staff at Salinas is under-performing or possibly the team is not jelling yet. Either way, Salinas should have done much better IMO.

Milpitas, on the other hand, is experiencing a down season in relation to their last few years. Frankly, their currently performance is more in keeping with the last 15-20 years of performance.

Both Milpitas and Salinas are larger public schools in CCS. Both should have the C-BED pool potential to perform at a much higher level. Possibly Milpitas is a bit more challenged in this regard due to the slowly shifting student body toward an Asian demographic whom, on average, avoid sports like football.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Salinas o-line needs to improve its pass blocking. If Richardson gets any time, he can hit any receiver anywhere on the field. Richardson is mobile, but the receivers also need to get open. Richardson has high upside. Salinas lacks some team speed at skill positions (although Seaside transfer Gaskins) and they are mistake prone - penalties and turnovers. On defense they need to get better at DB although they have decent d-line and LBs. Milpitas offense was very limited as far as passing and not a good test to compare Salinas defense. Salinas still is probably the 3rd top team in the PCAL Gab and lots of room for improvement on the mistake and turnovers and line could improve.

Next week, Salinas defense is going to have to shut down Palma's balance and speed at skill positions to win and Cowboy's offense will be tested by Palma's defense which is quick and swarming. Last year Salinas won 21-7 against a very young Palma team and one of Salina's strongest in years. Salinas isn't as strong as last season and Palma seems to be much better than it was and improving. It is a rivalry game, so probably will be close. Both team's have good kickers - Palma's is a junior and seems to be on a track of more recent kickers that play D1 and a punter that has two 65+ yard punts in the last two games (Palma has two college kickers right now - one at SJSU and another at Grambling, and one Michael Carizosa that was one of the top punters in the NCAA and signed as unrestricted free agent with browns - although unsigned now I believe). I think last year's Salinas win over Palma was the first win in ~ 15 years. This year it still should be a good game. The kids on both teams know each other well as friends and competitors with the schookls in walking distance

 

[FootballJunkie101]

After looking more closely at Salinas' players of potential talent, I was struck by just how much they under-performed in their previous games. Maybe the coaching staff at Salinas is under-performing or possibly the team is not jelling yet. Either way, Salinas should have done much better IMO.

Milpitas, on the other hand, is experiencing a down season in relation to their last few years. Frankly, their currently performance is more in keeping with the last 15-20 years of performance.

Both Milpitas and Salinas are larger public schools in CCS. Both should have the C-BED pool potential to perform at a much higher level. Possibly Milpitas is a bit more challenged in this regard due to the slowly shifting student body toward an Asian demographic whom, on average, avoid sports like football.

Agree

 

[colhenrylives]

Salinas o-line needs to improve its pass blocking. If Richardson gets any time, he can hit any receiver anywhere on the field. Richardson is mobile, but the receivers also need to get open. Richardson has high upside. Salinas lacks some team speed at skill positions (although Seaside transfer Gaskins) and they are mistake prone - penalties and turnovers. On defense they need to get better at DB although they have decent d-line and LBs. Milpitas offense was very limited as far as passing and not a good test to compare Salinas defense. Salinas still is probably the 3rd top team in the PCAL Gab and lots of room for improvement on the mistake and turnovers and line could improve.

Next week, Salinas defense is going to have to shut down Palma's balance and speed at skill positions to win and Cowboy's offense will be tested by Palma's defense which is quick and swarming. Last year Salinas won 21-7 against a very young Palma team and one of Salina's strongest in years. Salinas isn't as strong as last season and Palma seems to be much better than it was and improving. It is a rivalry game, so probably will be close. Both team's have good kickers - Palma's is a junior and seems to be on a track of more recent kickers that play D1 and a punter that has two 65+ yard punts in the last two games (Palma has two college kickers right now - one at SJSU and another at Grambling, and one Michael Carizosa that was one of the top punters in the NCAA and signed as unrestricted free agent with browns - although unsigned now I believe). I think last year's Salinas win over Palma was the first win in ~ 15 years. This year it still should be a good game. The kids on both teams know each other well as friends and competitors with the schookls in walking distance

As always, a very cogent analysis from the southern reaches of CCS.

 

[Cal 14]

As happy as I was to see the Cowboys win, it was pretty clear to me that Milpitas was a mess that night. I have no idea if these problems have existed all season, but they were very evident on Friday.

As Streak pointed out, a lot of snapping issues and times where the QB mishandled the ball. Their star power has clearly graduated.

Ultimately, hard to gauge the Cowboys progress. I still think Palma and Aptos are the front-runners in league. This week’s game will be a better measuring stick.