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How Leigh continues to win
The Leigh Longhorns have won nine games in a row dating to their undefeated season last spring. To hear longtime head coach Kyle Padia tell it, the success is no accident.
Two years ago, Padia hired a strength and conditioning coach with the money that the football team raises. With the roster numbers down at the San Jose school, Padia figured the path to sustained success would be getting his guys in better physical shape.
Enter Anthony Thomas, the man in charge of making sure Leigh’s players are lean, fit and strong.
With Thomas at the helm, the players have been able to withstand the challenges of playing both offense and defense without wilting or tapping out.
PREP FOOTBALL WEEK 5 COVERAGE
In the team’s latest triumph, 48-21 over Westmont on Thursday, Leigh had eight players fill multiple positions, including the running back who scored four touchdowns and intercepted a pass, Sam Betz.
“It has made a big difference,” Padia said after the victory, his team’s fourth in a row to start this season. “We lift five days a week. We lift the day before a game. We lift the day after a game. We work hard all the time, but we’ve got eight dudes going both ways. When you don’t have a big roster, you can’t get tired. You can’t come out.
“Our guys believe in it. They believe in what our strength and conditioning program does, and they work really hard every single day so that we can play like this.”
Padia said Thomas doesn’t coach football for the Longhorns.
“He just works strength and conditioning, but every single day these guys have bought into it and it shows,” Padia said.
For much of the first half Thursday, Leigh and Westmont traded touchdowns.
But after the score was tied 14-14, the Longhorns pulled away in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division opener for both teams, outscoring their previously undefeated host 34-7 the rest of the way.
Betz finished with 152 yards and the four TDs in 19 carries. He also completed a key 45-yard pass on a halfback option in the first half, kicked six PATs, and had the interception.
“We came out here knowing that they were going to come hard and really punch us in the gut, which they did at the start,” Betz said. “But once we got the offense going, we kept rolling it over and kept that force going. We ended up with the win.”
Betz gave huge props to the offensive line for the performance Thursday and the coaches, including Thomas, for the nine-game winning streak.
“Our coaching staff is incredible,” Betz said.
Bellarmine-Serra: Let the hype begin
Bellarmine has passed every test to come its way in its surprising start to the season. The Bells outlasted Menlo-Atherton in the season opener. They won big on the road over a solid San Leandro team. They won a physical grinder against powerful Central Catholic-Modesto. Friday, as a heavy favorite, they took care of business against Archbishop Riordan, winning a game that ended with a running clock.
But the biggest test to date will be Saturday afternoon at Serra, where many good teams have been swallowed whole by the Padres.
Serra is ranked No. 1 in the Bay Area News Group poll. The Padres began the season No. 2 and took over the top spot two weeks ago when St. Francis stunned the previous No. 1, De La Salle.
The San Mateo power is 3-0. The Padres have not lost since falling to Corona del Mar in a state championship game in 2019, their eight-game winning streak highlighted by a 49-7 victory at home over St. Francis in April.
Serra has many of its playmakers back from the spring, including QB Dominique Lampkin and explosive athlete Hassan Mahasin. For them, the Bellarmine game is their first measuring-stick matchup of the fall season. Their highly anticipated opener at Pittsburg in August was canceled because of poor air quality. Since then, the Padres have had no problem rolling through Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay and Archbishop Mitty, outscoring them 126-21.
Bellarmine should provide a larger challenge Saturday.
But how large?
Bells coach Jalal Beauchman said Friday night that he wanted his players to enjoy the victory over Riordan, which marked the first time in six years that Bellarmine has opened a season with four consecutive victories. But, the coach added, “We have to understand that we have to be near perfect, not only on game day, come Saturday, but really throughout the week. Day after day, we have to prepare perfectly if we want to have an impressive performance and give ourselves an opportunity to grab a victory from Serra.”
Jurrion Dickey’s clutch TD
Time was running out for Valley Christian against Sacred Heart Cathedral at Kezar Stadium. With less than two minutes to play Friday night, the Warriors trailed by two points against an opponent they had beaten 12 consecutive times. They needed 11 yards on third down from their own 33 to move the chains.
Well, they did a little better than that.
Jurrion Dickey caught a pass from Jakson Berman 21 yards down the field, then showed why he has 15 Power 5 offers and is rated a four-star prospect by 247Sports.
With the ball in his hands near the right sideline, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior juked one defender to break free at the SHC 45.
Twenty yards later, he spun loose from another defender who had him wrapped up, the force of Dickey’s strength sending that defender tumbling to the ground.
Then he juked another defender to break free again.
Then he powered his way across the goal line while being wrapped up by yet another defender.
Dickey didn’t hit the turf until he reached the end zone.
“We played a great game against VC,” SHC coach Barry McLaughlin wrote in a text. “They hit Dickey late for the win.”
Game winning touchdown!!! @berman_jakson pic.twitter.com/iwNvOkoR1o — Jurrion Dickey (@JurrionDickey) September 25, 2021
A day later, Dickey tweeted the highlight with three words and three exclamation points:
“Game winning touchdown!!!” he wrote.
Final score: Valley Christian 27, SHC 21.
Medical scare for coach behind El Cerrito defense
El Cerrito’s defense has been its calling card since Jacob Rincon stepped on campus five years ago, but the Gauchos have taken it to another level the past two seasons.
Alex Marchan, the team’s defensive coordinator, has been there on the sideline the whole time. His unit hasn’t allowed more than 14 points in a game since 2019.
On Friday at Monte Vista, the animated assistant coach was patrolling the sideline, barking instructions to his players around midfield when he collapsed. The Mustangs had driven into El Cerrito territory with 6:56 left to play in the third quarter.
The game was paused for about 15 minutes while he received medical attention before giving a wave to the crowd as he was lifted into an ambulance on a stretcher.
Marchan suffered a heart attack over the summer, Rincon said, but was adamant that he’d return to the sideline. Rincon did not return a text message Saturday inquiring about the coach’s condition.
“His energy, his intensity and his game plan — it means a lot,” Rincon said after his team’s 14-0 loss Friday night.
The Gauchos are allowing 8.0 points per game this season, though it has resulted in only three wins in five tries this fall. Monte Vista scored its first touchdown of the night, the eventual game-winner, shortly after play resumed following the medical emergency.
El Cerrito is bigger and more talented in the trenches this fall to pair with its staunch secondary play. On Friday, the Gauchos reached Monte Vista’s quarterback in the backfield a half a dozen times.
“Guys are disciplined and know what they’re doing,” Rincon said. “They all trust in one another. The other biggest thing is communication.”
Peek ahead
St. Frances Academy-Baltimore (2-1) at De La Salle (3-1), Friday, 7 p.m.: National power travels across the country for a matchup that will be shown on ESPN2.
Bellarmine (4-0) at Serra (3-0), Saturday, 2:30 p.m.: Before Serra gets to Nov. 6 showdown against St. Francis, it must power through surprising Bellarmine.
Pittsburg (2-1) at McClymonds (2-1), Friday, 7 p.m.: Mack’s third huge test in a row. Oakland power beat Marin Catholic two weeks ago and lost in overtime Friday at Menlo-Atherton.
San Ramon Valley (3-1) at Foothill (4-1), Friday, 7 p.m.: Foothill seeks its second consecutive win against a team from the EBAL’s top division.
California (4-0) at Dublin (4-1), Friday, 7 p.m.: Dublin will try to keep the momentum going after a rout of Liberty on Friday.
Live Oak (3-1) at Leland (3-1), Friday, 7 p.m.: This game has championship implications in the BVAL’s Mt. Hamilton Division.