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I love the golf saying drive for show, putt for dough. This year I liken that to the East Bay Athletic League football season.
The non-league campaign, while it certainly has a bearing on the overall season, it is more show. When the league season begins, it’s time for the money to be on the line.
For the teams at Amador Valley and Foothill, it’s exactly that when Mountain and Valley divisional play gets underway this week.
Amador Valley enters the higher-ranked Mountain Division at 2-4 in non-league action after fighting the injury bug and a brutally tough preseason schedule.
The Dons started 0-4 but won their last two games, beating Valley Division teams Foothill (49-25) and Dublin (17-14).
The Dons are finally starting to get healthy, or at the least, healthier.
“We’re still really banged up, but we are getting better,” Amador coach Danny Jones said. “This a new beginning for us – our goals are all still in front of us.”
The goals, which are the same every year, were achieved last year and include beating Foothill and making the North Coast Section playoffs.
They have the win over the Falcons, but the road gets very tough now as they need a .500 record. And at 2-4, they need to win two games out of three – San Ramon Valley, Monte Vista and California.
Amador starts the grind with San Ramon Valley this week.
“It’s a new beginning,” Jones said. “Everything is right in front of us and no one is coming to save us. We can’t look back at this point.”
Thus far, the biggest return from injury has been all-world talent and Idaho State commit Anthony Harrington. In addition, the play of running back Vincent Maiorana has been crucial.
With little depth at running bank, Maiorana has been huge, running for 350 yards and six touchdowns in the win over Foothill.
“He’s been very good, playing really well,” Jones said of Maiorana. “Foothill couldn’t stop him, so we just kept giving him the ball.”
Foothill as usual is facing overall number issues – but unlike the past few years, injuries are not compounding the problem.
“We are healthier than ever at this point,” said coach Greg Haubner, who also noted the return of star running back Dylan Souza this week. “This is the best we have been in three to four years; we are seriously starting to find our identity.”
Haubner had praise for quarterbacks Gavin Brown and Andrew Nelson.
“I’ve never rotated quarterbacks before,” Haubner said. “But when I’ve got two guys playing well, why not use both of them?”
The big dog thus far for the Falcons has been 6-foot-3 receiver Max Shuga.
“I’ve never been a fan of throwing jump balls, but with Max you have to,” Haubner said.
The Falcons (4-2) have three Valley games, needing at least one win to qualify for NCS. Dublin, Livermore and Granada all look balanced with Foothill, leaving the EBAL at “on any given day”.
“Anyone could win (the Valley),” Haubner said. “We could win all three games or could lose all three games.”
Foothill girls’ volleyball
The Falcons took another pair of games this past weekend to keep pace atop the EBAL.
To start the week, the Falcons recovered from a decisive first-set loss to beat San Ramon Valley 14-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 15-8. Highlights came from Paige Nelson (23 kills, 16 digs, 3 aces), Olivia So (17 digs, 3 aces), Emily Evans (6 kills, .550 percentage, 2 blocks) and Ilayda Caglar (first match of the season coming off an injury, 9 kills).
The Falcons closed the week with a 25-14, 25-17, 25-14 win over Dublin. Highlights were from Brooke Stedman (19 assists, 9 digs, 7 service points), Nelson (10 kills, 10 digs), Sahej Toor (3 blocks, 2 kills) and Tanvi Powar (7 digs, 7 service points).
Amador girls’ water polo
The Dons topped California 12-5 behind a balanced scoring attack.
Susan Swyers had four goals, with Addi Drain adding three and Zahra Alami netting a pair. Abigail Jones, Anusha Shelatker and Rachel Thalman scored one each.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
