Editorial Editorial (November 19, 2004)

Cross-town high school rivalry at its best

Congratulations to Coach Rick Sira and his Amador Valley High School football team for their outstanding 10-0 season that has made them the top team in the East Bay Athletic League. After their 21-17 defeat of cross-town rival Foothill High, the Dons are the top seeded team on the North Coast Section championship games, which start tonight, with No. 1 Amador facing No. 8 Deer Valley here in Pleasanton at 7:30 p.m. For those who couldn't squeeze in to the sold-out, standing-room-only crowd of 8,300 for last Friday's game, they missed high school football at its best. At halftime, with Foothill ahead 17-0, it looked like Amador's hopes for a perfect season were dimming. But no one in the Amador stands thought so as cheerleaders, the award-winning marching band and students and alumni cheered and shouted support throughout the halftime performances. In the locker room, Sira and his assistant coaches also rallied the squad Sira calls his greatest ever, led by quarterback Brett Zollman. Sira's rallying call: "Get back on the field and do what you've done best all season - win." Within minutes of third-quarter play, the Dons turned the game around, first scoring after picking off a pass by Foothill's quarterback Brandon Crawford, then scoring again. With just minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Amador recovered a Foothill fumble to score and put Amador over the top.

For Sira, the popular Vice Principal who has been at Amador since 1986, it marks the Dons first outright EBAL title since they went undefeated in 1996. It's also his first EBAL title since Foothill's enrollment gains moved that school into the East Bay league from the Tri-County Athletic League. Sira, who has worked as a teacher, coach and athletic director, finds the spirited cross-town competition livens up both campuses, heightening interest among all students, whether they compete in football, tennis, basketball, soccer or swimming, or in the many club and classroom activities where the two schools meet, including civics, science and more. With strong support by the high school administrators and the school district, the athletic programs also serve to keep parents as involved as their students. Sira has found that many of the parents who cheer the loudest at games are the same ones teachers find at campus open-house and teacher consultation programs that affect the academic pursuits and success of their children.

By the way, if you missed the cheering at last Friday's game between Amador and Foothill, you may have another chance. If Amador wins tonight's game against Deer Valley and No. 4 Foothill defeats No. 5 James Logan High, the Dons and Falcons would meet again on Amador's turf next Friday, Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving.

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