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When Acalanes got the ball back leading by multiple scores late Friday night against Campolindo, the Dons tried and tried to score again.
They weren’t trying to run up the score on their rivals.
They had a particular number to reach. A special number.
“We were going for 51,” coach Joel Isaac said. “Fifty one for 51.”
Ultimately, the Dons weren’t able to break through. The Cougars stuffed them on back-to-back tries at the goal line as time expired for a 45-28 final.
But the number 51 permeated the grandstands, the sidelines and the spirit of Acalanes’ team. The Dons have dedicated this season to Amin Noroozi, their former teammate who wore No. 51 and died in a tragic accident at Stinson Beach this past spring.
“We know that he would love to be in this game; he was the hardest worker on our team,” junior Finley Rivera said. “We know he’s watching us and we just wanted to do it for him. Play our hearts out for him. Whenever I was getting tired or wanted to take a play off, I knew that 51 was watching.”
The student section sported blue T-shirts with No. 51 and Noroozi’s first name, with the first letter stylized into Acalanes’ logo. On the sideline, his framed jersey offered an unforgettable reminder of his absence. And in victory, Isaac presented Noroozi’s helmet to the rest of the team.
Noroozi, a three-sport athlete, would have been a senior lineman who, according to Isaac, “had a big game in this (matchup) last year.” In April, he died after hitting his head diving into the waves off the coast of the popular Marin County locale.
Paralyzed from the waist down before succumbing to his injuries, Noroozi spent four days at John Muir Health Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where Isaac organized the entire football team to visit him before he entered emergency surgery.
“I found out when he was getting airlifted to the hospital,” Isaac said. “We all showed up and were there for hours.”
“It was truly horrible. It was devastating for our team,” Rivera said. “He was a friend, a brother, a teammate. It was terrible. But he’s our why. He’s our motivation.”
The tragedy provided a challenge the coach never could have expected only entering his first season in charge, but he welcomed the chance to help his players navigate the situation.
“That’s what I signed up for,” Isaac said. “I’m here to raise good men; football happens to be a subject that I teach. We keep looking to give the life lessons and navigate them through this because, at some point, I won’t be with them everyday, so that they can go out in the world and handle the adversity they’ll find in life.”
Administrators at the high school arranged resources for the student body, and Isaac gave the team some time off. When they reconvened, he had a message for them.
“We got into a team meeting and we were like, ‘What are we going to do this for? Why are we doing this?’” Rivera said. “We all agreed that we’re doing it for Amin.”
Noroozi’s family filed a lawsuit last month in Contra Costa County Superior Court against the Walnut Creek hospital, arguing that the life-threatening complications that led to Amin’s death “should have been anticipated and treated according to medical protocols.”
— Evan Webeck
LOS GATOS: COACH SPEAKS ABOUT COMPUTER PROJECTION
Los Gatos coach Mark Krail acknowledges that he’s a fan of HSRatings.com, the website formerly known as CalPreps.
Krail has indicated in the past that he enjoys surfing the popular high school football site to glean information and check in on a matchup or two from time to time.
But that doesn’t mean he endorses everything the site puts out. Case in point, the HSRatings computer projected that Los Gatos would beat Wilcox 44-10 and gave the Wildcats a 98% chance to win.
Krail didn’t agree.
“We knew this was going to be a dogfight,” he said after Los Gatos’ 35-21 victory over Wilcox on Friday night. “That stupid computer thought otherwise, but we all knew that it wasn’t going to be that way. There’s no way. There’s too much pride on that side, and it’s such a great rivalry that we’re happy to get out of here with a win.”
— Christian Babcock
WILCOX: COACH TALKS ENROLLMENT CHALLENGES
Wilcox is one of the few programs in the Bay Area that usually doesn’t have to worry too much about numbers.
So it was notable when longtime coach Paul Rosa pointed out that overall enrollment in the Santa Clara Unified School District has declined, even with the addition of MacDonald High in 2022.
“Our enrollment is down,” Rosa said. “We added a new school when we probably shouldn’t have, because now we’re lower than when we added it total in the district. When schools are smaller, it’s hard to get football teams. You need numbers for football.”
Rosa noted that Los Gatos has an enrollment around 2,000, while Wilcox trails behind at around 1,500.
“That’s a big difference, right?” he said. “And you can see, they have three levels that are full. Not a lot of schools are built like that. So when you have smaller schools, it’s tough to get football teams in small schools. Even MacDonald, it’s gonna be tough after a couple years, because they’re sitting at like 900 or 1,000. It’s tough to field two teams.”
That difference is paying dividends on the field for the Cats. Rosa said their offense might be the best he’s seen in his 11 years at Wilcox.
— Christian Babcock
CALIFORNIA: HOW FILM SESSIONS HAVE HELPED QB
If senior quarterback Arjun Banerjee throws a pass, there’s a good chance that it’s finding a set of hands.
Banerjee has completed nearly three-fourths of all passing attempts as he’s led California to a perfect 7-0 record, landing 66 of his 89 throws (74.2%) on the season.
On Friday night, Banerjee completed 12-of-14 passes for 274 yards with a 52-yard touchdown as California defeated San Ramon Valley for the first time since 2018, winning 33-14.
For head coach Danny Calcagno, Banerjee’s ascension has largely been a product of his willingness to relentlessly study his opponents.
“He has put in so much time on film,” Calcagno said. “He’s sending me clips of what they’re doing on defense. He knows the defense and what they’re doing more than I do. When you’ve got a quarterback that’s invested like that, it’s going to show up on Friday night.”
“When the film came out (for San Ramon Valley), I dove deep into it,” Banerjee said. “Monday, Tuesday, I watched film all day: during school, during class. I watched a ton of film and I got to know their tendencies and what they do.”
– Justice delos Santos
MORE CALIFORNIA: DUPIN’S IMPACT GOES BEYOND KICKING
Senior Henry Dupin’s parents had some reservations about him doing more than kicking.
As a freshman, Dupin broke his right ankle. As a sophomore, he broke his left ankle. Following two ankle injuries in two seasons, Dupin was limited exclusively to kicking. Ahead of his senior year, Dupin yearned to broaden his scope.
“I’ve loved football my whole life more than anything,” Dupin said. “They said, ‘This year, you can play a little receiver along with kicker.’ Then, I started getting worked into the defense, worked in a little more offense. I had to do some convincing for some defense, for sure. First game, they’re like, ‘Just a little defense.’ Then I played the whole game.”
Dupin’s all-around impact was felt in California’s decisive 33-14 victory against San Ramon Valley on Friday. In addition to knocking down two field goals (34, 37 yards) and recording several touchbacks on kickoffs, Dupin forced and recovered a fumble on defense.
“He really clutched up for us, and he does this time and time again,” Banerjee said. “He’s a crazy athlete. He plays all over the field. He plays kicker, he plays rover, he plays linebacker, he does punt returns. He’s a crazy athlete. He’s super athletic.”
– Justice delos Santos
PEEK AHEAD TO WEEK 9
Thursday
Live Oak (6-1) at Branham (5-2), 7:15 p.m.: Both teams won last week after opening league play with losses.
Santa Teresa (7-0) at Christopher (4-3), 7:15 p.m.: Santa Teresa has scored 290 points while allowing 52.
Friday
Bishop O’Dowd (4-3) at Moreau Catholic (3-5), 7 p.m.: Possible trap game for O’Dowd with James Logan up next.
Clayton Valley Charter (4-3) at Campolindo (6-1), 7 p.m.: CVC has hardly broken a sweat in first two league games.
Serra (4-3) vs. Archbishop Mitty (5-2) at Foothill College, 7 p.m.: Serra can’t afford to look past this one.
California (7-0) at Monte Vista (4-3), 7:15 p.m.: California has shown no signs of a let down.
Saturday
Los Gatos (4-3) at Menlo School (7-0), 2 p.m.: Winner of this one will probably win PAL Bay title.