Cover 3 Sports Podcast
The Cover 3 Sports Podcast is a weekly show that highlights local sports in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.
Cover 3 Sports Podcast
Blowouts, Brawls and a Preview of Prep Football (Week 3)
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In this week’s episode, Juan Reyes and John Devine will have a recap of a wild Week 2 in prep and college football.
Then they'll take a minute to chat with Salinas High football head coach Steven Zenk to see what’s going on after an 0-2 start.
And finally, the boys will cap off the show with more prep football, including an updated list of our top 10 rankings.
We’ll have all this and more on… the Cover 3 Sports Podcast.
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You are now tuned in to the Cover 3 Sports Podcast, your leader in sports coverage for the Tri County area. And now your host, Juan Reyes and John Devine. It's a hot one here today in Soledad. I believe it's like 90 plus degrees. And if there's if there's one thing I just cannot take, it's the heat. I just I I especially when I'm working, it's just not a good combination. Cool 74 in Monterey. Alright, quit rubbing it in there, John. Quit rubbing it in.
SPEAKER_02Oh it it was winds that blow like 60 miles an hour down there to cool you off.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we'll get those here in a in a couple minutes, but still, uh just you know, uh, just the heat. Just can't really can't take it. I'm I'm a big guy, so so but anyway, oh it was hot yesterday in in San Francisco. Uh we went out to the Giants game. I went out there with the family, took my wife, Alicia, and our son Elias. We met up with my brother and and and my dad, and and it wasn't it was a nice, just a nice uh all all around outing. Giants won extra innings, just good times, good times for sure.
SPEAKER_02Um I like that minor league baseball, huh?
SPEAKER_00Minor league baseball?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you like minor league baseball, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I know. It was it was yeah, I I I guess you could say that. I mean, it was still fun though. But I I I I I I I do want I I don't want to put a damper on our trip to the ballpark, but gosh dang, those prices for food and drinks, uh, that's just that's unnatural. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, even even the little liquor store down the street uh sold us a big bottle of water for ten dollars, just just outrageous. That's just ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. We had we had to stay hydrated though, right? Sure. Absolutely. In this week's episode, John and I will recap uh Wild Week, uh week two in prep and college football. Then we'll take a minute to chat with Selena's High football coach Steven Zank to see what's going on after we go and two start. And finally, we'll cap off the show with more prep football, including an updated list of our top ten rankings. We'll have all this and more on the cover three sports podcast. Oh, welcome back, everybody. Man, that was uh that that was quite an interesting weekend of football. Uh let's just maybe let's just quickly jump into the junior college rankings uh or level, I should say. Start starting with Cabrillo. Uh they they had their game rescheduled. We we confirmed with uh Seahawks interim head coach Anthony Romero. He told us uh yeah, they had to reschedule last Saturday's game against uh Feather River. Biggest concern or biggest reason was uh uh just health and injury concerns, um, which makes sense, right? I mean you you you don't want to head into into a game with several players missing on the field, and it just yeah, you just don't want to do that. You just don't want to throw them out there.
SPEAKER_02And um no, and that's gonna be a concern going forward for that program right now. You know, they don't have great numbers and and you know it's uh it's not gonna get any easier moving forward, so he's gotta find a way to keep that team healthy. And again, that's a little bit of luck when you're talking football.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure, for sure. Uh how did uh Monterey Peninsula and Hartnell fair this past week? And I I saw the Panthers got to play on on campus there for the first time ever on that uh that gorgeous field, that bright field. Yeah, yeah, but still, I mean nonetheless, I mean that again, you know, that that that had to be a a reason for celebration in itself, just being able to play on campus there for the first time.
SPEAKER_02Well, it certainly helped walking back to the locker room with a win, which the Panthers did to even their record at one-on-one. You know, they've been in two tight games now. Uh obviously the in week one, you know, the game ended at basically the one-foot line. That's how close they were to winning a game, they lost by three. And then last week they kind of had the game in control, let it slip a little bit, a couple of turnovers, and needed a couple of fourth um fourth quarter stops, which they got by their from their defense to uh, you know, defeat Chabot. And if you remember, Shabot put 80 on Cabrillo the week earlier, so for Hartnell to hold them to uh 21 points is you know uh an uh an achievement in itself and and with it gave a W.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt for sure. Big W there to, like you said, even out the the record. Uh did Monterey Peninsula play by any chance or did are they didn't know.
SPEAKER_02They did, and they and they struggled again in week two, uh fell to San Jose City, 10 to 6, missed field goal, which was considered a chip shot, missed extra point. If you do the math, that's four points and the difference in a game. But you know, that's not all that's hurting the global. The the kicking game has been a problem uh as well as the the punting. But the offense has just hasn't been able to get on track. Uh they've had six turnovers in the first two games, which has really hurt them. And again, when you're playing on a short field, which San Jose was able to do with the a couple of punts that weren't uh didn't travel the distance, we'll just say um, you know, puts a lot of pressure on that defense. I mean the defense still only gave up uh ten points, but the offense has got to find a way to finish drives.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and and special teams, I mean, yeah, that that that doesn't help either, right? And not being able to get those points on the board and you know, y you sit there and think, well, did did we overrate MPC?
SPEAKER_02And I'm saying, well, if you watch them scrimmage against uh City College of San Francisco, you have to say no. I mean they dominated that scrimmage offensively and defensively, and right now City College is ranked in the state in the top twelve, I believe. So uh, you know, NPC they're kind of searching for that identity right now, uh at least on the offensive side. It's not that their special teams have been bad, they've just struggled with the kicking game. And again, that is part of the special teams, but that's something that has to get straightened out real quick because if you go back to the opener against Laney where three punts traveled less than ten yards, with Laney capitalizing on two-hos and going in and scoring, that was a difference in that game as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there you go, there you go for sure. Well, uh, well, let's see. Let's uh let's dive into some high school football. Uh, tons of blowouts last weekend, some some in our favor, others not so much. Um, just to kind of give you guys a sense of of what I'm talking about, let's kind of go through some final results here. Uh, we saw Pacific Grove, they they they got crushed by Half Moon Bay 42-0. And then uh Palma was kind of nowhere to be seen against Sacred Heart Cathedral. Uh, they fall 28-7. Hollister ran through Alvarez 52-0. And then we got uh Stokel beating Aptos 35-13, but that game was like 35-0 going into halftime. And Pajaro Valley uh dismantled Evergreen Valley 53-0 of 50 burger right there, and then uh Monavista Christian uh cruising to a 37-0 win over uh Modesto Christian, and then North Salinas um getting past Soledad 46-21. Uh let's start here at the top with that Pacific Grove game. Um you mentioned it, you know, your your worst case scenario for them was whether or not they'd have uh that hangover effect uh after a big win over Carmel, and kind of seems like it did, no.
SPEAKER_02I think that was part of it, but they also, you know, coaches don't want to make excuses, but again, when you're a roster of of 26 players and you lose two or three-day injuries, which was the case, it really depletes your team. And then there was illnesses going on throughout Pacific Grove last week, and they probably, you know, I won't say probably, they didn't have a good week of practice. Despite all of that, they were only down 13 and nothing at half. But I think again, the lack of depth, which we've talked about all year, is a concern for these schools that don't have a roster above 30, I think reared its head in the second half when half home bay, who is shite might should say is ranked number 22 in the section, yeah, it's a good football team. And I think they just wore Pacific Pacific Grove down in the second half and and beat them up pretty good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, for sure. I I I mean like you said, I I didn't realize that they had uh, I guess, uh a couple of injuries there that again, you know, in those small programs, one or two of those bodies out, that's that's that's huge. Because some of those players are two-way players, and then you you pretty much got two players per you know per player out. So it's that's hard. That's tough for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then you know, and we'll get into this later, but they've got a short week now getting ready for Monovista on Thursday. So uh which Pacific Grove team will show up, I think they're kind of a little bit of kind of in the middle of what we've seen so far through two games.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha, gotcha. Well, you were at the uh Palma game here in Salinas. Uh that that was uh I I guess just kind of off of your take, I guess that was not the same squad that you kind of envisioned going into that contest.
SPEAKER_02That was of all the blots you talked about, that was the one game that surprised me the most. And I know Eli Dukes isn't playing, and that is that's a difference maker. But I he wouldn't have made that much of a difference. This game wasn't even as close as the score would indicate. I mean, Sacred Heart was up 28 to nothing at the half. And again, some of that was self-inflicted. You know, Palma had a block punt where a lot of kids stood around and watched it when the Sacred Heart kid pounced on it in the end zone. That was a quick seven. Uh, they had a couple turnovers in the first half that were critical, leading to short fields, and their defense spent a lot of time on the field. Now, again, you don't want to evaluate a team on one game. You know, we said that last week about Pacific Road after they beat Carmel. And we're gonna say that again this week about Palma. Uh Sagar Cathedral is a good team. They're a member of the WCAO. Uh they're probably a top five team in the section right now, and they look like one. And and Palma didn't. And some of that also had to do with other injuries. The offensive line was kind of a mess in terms of a couple of guys being out. It's something I've talked about all year about the strength of that team. And and you know, when you go down a guy or two, particularly a backup goes down, and now you're down to your third lineman, uh, you're you're probably gonna have some concerns, particularly against a team of that caliber.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Uh, let's see here. Uh next up, uh Hollister. Uh they took care of business against Alvarez. Uh that you know, an Alvarez team that was actually struggling there, I guess, with quarterback issues before the game.
SPEAKER_02Um, but yeah, both their quarterbacks were out. They were starting, they started a JV quarterback and and didn't have a JV game against Hollister because of a series of illnesses that ran through that program. I have to believe some of that was also varsity related. And I think at some point, I think head coach Jason Chicone, you know, started putting in reserves in the second half to see, you know, well, what we got from a depth standpoint. We're not going to win this game. We we realize that when we're whatever the score was at the half. And so a lot of guys got experience, which will probably help them in the long run, but the uh the score obviously doesn't look good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Well, I I mean I I I don't know. I I really do think though that that this Hollister Hollister team might be the real deal. Uh I and I'm not saying they're gonna win the gabelin, but they could give the those top three, Salinas, Palma, and Silkel, a run for their money once they meet up. And again, it's it's early. It's still early in the season. I mean, there's still a lot of room for improvement from all these squads, but uh I just from from these first two weeks, uh, Hollister looks pretty solid. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They are the I think they're the only team in the Gavin right now that's Monterey as well, that is still undefeated at 2-0.
SPEAKER_00There you go. There you go. Monterey Hollister still undefeated 2-0. Speaking of 2-0, uh Pajero Valley improved to 2-0 after a huge, huge win over Evergreen Valley. Uh big game from uh their quarterback, Landon Manzi. Get this 274 yards rushing and four touchdowns on just nine carries.
SPEAKER_02It's a good win for Pajero, but I'm not gonna get too excited based on the caliber of competition on the other side.
SPEAKER_00Of course. No, no, it's just I just I don't know. It's just good to see a program like Pajero Valley that's struggled over the years, even trying to get started on the right track go off on the two and oh start. I mean, congrats to to Ray Myers and the Grizzlies. I mean, dating back to last season, seven straight. So, I mean, it's again, it's it it they're they're on the right path. They're on the right path.
SPEAKER_02Well what it does, Juan, is it helps build confidence and get these kids believing that when they get into league play, hey, yeah, we're just as good as anybody else in the San Lucy division. And and that's what you want. I think as as particularly as a first-year coach, trying to uh you know piggyback off the success they had at the end of last season, you know, jump out to a good start like this. Now you've got a lot of confidence going with big play starting in two weeks.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Uh speaking of confidence, another group playing with uh with it is uh Monta Vista Christian. Uh another team off to a 2-0 start, big 37-0 shutout win. Uh, like I mentioned over Modesto Christian, big night for for junior running back Reese Walker, who looks more like a fullback out there, but uh he had 109 yards rushing and and three touchdowns, and also uh just a big night on defense as well. Uh nine tackles, one interception, one sack. I mean, just just uh one of those all-around uh good players out there for the Mustangs this year. And yeah, congrats to head coach Joe Sturtevant and uh the Mustangs looking good out there in the uh outskirts of Watsonville.
SPEAKER_02And you know, the the uh one other team I want to mention that we probably completely drew a blank, but we talked about this before we went on, is uh Monterey finding a way to beat Seaside. Nobody anticipated that game being close. And at one point, Monterey was down by 13. And that's a tribute to the success of Seaside in terms of how much head coach Avala, Al Avala, has brought that program basically from having a heartbeat to now having a pulse. But Nishon Mitchell from Monterey ran for 235 yards and two touchdowns, and more importantly, he had a pick with four seconds left to seal that win from Monterey.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice, nice way to come back there. Yeah, uh yeah, another school, like you mentioned, two and oh start uh from Monterey. And then uh finally we have North Salinas also off to a two-0 start to the season following uh a win over Soledad. Uh however, though, uh it seems like there was a a bit of a damper on that victory for them. Uh just kind of reading reports. There was a big brawl between both schools, big delay. But just kind of maybe tell us kind of just how it all went down and just kind of your thoughts on that, John.
SPEAKER_02Well, and again, you're getting it from both sides, and for the most part, uh I felt both sides told the same story, but essentially it started with two guys getting tangled up, a little extracurricular activity after the whistle, and it it happened on the solidad sidelines, and and kids are kids and they're gonna react. And unfortunately, uh, you know, a handful of them reacted in the wrong way, and you know, I think there were four ejections to Solidad and one from North Salinas. And you know, the thing is now in high school sports or high school football in general, if you throw a punch, that's a three-game suspension, and there's really no way of debating it. And it's it's on film, you can't hide from it. And uh three games, that's you know, that's a third of your season. And it it it it the unfortunate thing about this is it was a good game. In fact, the second half when both coaches got their players to calm down, it's a good football game. You know, and and solved that again for the second week in a row is is proven that they can hang with some of these Gablo Division teams. But the the discipline i i it's something that they've gotta they've gotta fix because this happened last year at the end of the season against Alvarez, and you know regardless of who was at fault between the two teams, the game was stopped with something like seven minutes to go in a game. What you worry about if you're solid at now is are we building a reputation as a group of kids that aren't under control? Because you know when that comes out like that, officials are playing paying closer attention to you. And uh, you know, Eric Rodriguez, I think, does does a great job down solid. I think he's the right guy for the job, but they've just got to show a little more discipline going forward because I do think this is a team that actually can contend in the Mission Division South if they have all their bodies.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, gotta have all the bodies for sure. And like you mentioned, keep keeping the kids uh in line, just having them just take a minute, cool off, right? Go to the sideline. And and same thing happened over at the All Saw High. Uh, I went over to that game against Watsonville, and before I got there, I heard uh a fight broke out during the JV game, and and they just completely called it off. They just said no, no more game. Uh actually got the varsity game started on time. And uh and you know, it and it's not just in our area. You know, I I've seen videos of high school coaches getting into it, you know, with each other, parents running out on the field to tackle youth players. I mean, gosh, it's just a game, folks. You know, I mean, uh don't get me wrong. I I love to see healthy rivalries. I love I even like a little trash talking, right, once in a while. It doesn't hurt, but not to the point where players and and now even the adults are are fighting. And I don't know, I just feel like uh one might even just call it just embarrassing, right? I mean, gosh, just just hold it together, guys. You know, it's just a game.
SPEAKER_02Well adults have got to be better, number one. And I've always said this when you see a kid acting up, a lot of times all you gotta do is look in the stands and you know where it's coming from.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly, exactly. And also, uh I I I did there's something else that I did want to bring up uh before we move on to our our interview here with uh Selena's coach Steve Zank. Uh I was covering the football game between St. Francis and Greenfield this past Saturday, and Greenfield won 20 to 0. Nice, nice big win for them. Uh wait, wait, you know, good way for them to bounce back. And and kudos to to to senior running back Damian Martinez. He was he had a monster of a game, scored a pair of touchdowns, pretty much a player of the game. And uh I I did want to interview him uh after the game, and uh, you know, I don't know. I just let's just say I was basically denied access to speak with him. And I'm not sure if that's school policy or or I don't know if they just don't like letting kids talk to the media, but uh I just felt like uh I just felt it was a little unprofessional and and not only did it interfere with my job, but it stole away the spotlight from someone who worked his tail off for that moment. And it's just I don't know. I I mean uh I don't want to get too much more into it, but I just feel like it's just a shame. That's all. I and I I felt like Damien deserved this spotlight and uh just didn't have the chance to do it.
SPEAKER_02Well, you're giving it to him right now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure, for sure. Damien, here are your flowers. I will say this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I will say this. Administrators do have the right to tell you whether you can or can't be on their sidelines or or whether you can or can't talk to somebody. But I do agree with you that in a situation like this, when we're talking about sports, high school sports, which is just a game, you know, why not let the kid have a little, you know, 15 minutes of fame? Because it likely isn't gonna happen again when his career is over.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Now let's keep it rolling here with our next segment we like to call the coach's corner. Ooh, this is where I like to test my knowledge here, John. All right, here we go. So our next guest served nine years as head football coach at North Salinas High. Before that, this Palma graduate played college football at the University of Idaho. Uh-huh. Then he spent three seasons as an offensive line coach under longtime Salinas head coach Steve Goodbody before replacing him in 2017. Going into his tenth season at Salinas, he has led the program to a CCS Division I championship and six straight PCAL gabelin division crowns. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a pleasure to welcome Steve Zenk to the Cover Three Sports Podcast. Steve, how are you doing, buddy?
SPEAKER_01Doing great. Thank you guys for having me on.
SPEAKER_02Geez, Juan, where'd you find all that information? I'm impressed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. That's you know, when you do your homework and your research, I mean, you know, good things come out.
SPEAKER_02I want to add a couple things to that. Steve was not just a football player in high school, he was also a basketball player and a really good shot in disc destroyer. He was one of he was a last of a dime breed in terms of being a three-sport athlete at Palma.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Play as many sports as you can. We still encourage our kids to do that at Salinas.
SPEAKER_00Dan, that that yeah, I I had no idea. Three sport athlete, huh? And and track and field too, dang. Well, you you you did it all.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. We weren't allowed to be outside of the house unless it was for school, so we signed up for everything.
SPEAKER_00Nice. Gotta stay busy.
SPEAKER_02Hey Steve, how was the bike ride home today from practice?
SPEAKER_01Oh, it was great. It's a beautiful day here in Salinas today.
SPEAKER_02So Steve, you you and I have had this conversation maybe for the better part of eight years in terms of the schedule you have. You've been 0-2 before, and each time you were 0-2, you ended up winning the gambling division title. So I'm gonna guess there's no panic right now at practice.
SPEAKER_01No, we uh we like to have a tough schedule, uh, like to be prepared for the teams that we'll see in the playoffs, and uh there's nothing like playing a really tough team to do a great self-scout on you and expl you know, expose your flaws and let you know what you need to get better at.
SPEAKER_02Steve, do you feel like what occurred last week in the loss to Las Gattus in terms of you running off twenty one points in the fourth quarter? I look at that as momentum going into this game with Valley Christian. Do you see it that way too?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we uh kind of found our groove both sides of the ball. We got some good stops on defense and then uh kind of found our groove on offense, and obviously a couple big plays never hurt, but uh two of those three touchdowns were just your pedestrian, you know, five to eight yards of play and drive down the field and score, and you know, and then the one big play by Hoven, of course. But uh it was kind of nice just to kind of get in a rhythm on both sides of the ball. And I we've gotten a rhythm like, you know, a couple series here and there, but felt like the fourth quarter we really played the way we wanted to play the entire quarter.
SPEAKER_02So see, when I look when I uh when I look at the the first two games of the season, you know, I thought you guys played pretty well in the first half against Clovis, and obviously there's some breakdowns in the second half. But in a game against Las Gatis, you dug yourself a really deep hole down twenty-one, got within seven, uh, they made a run in the third quarter, and then you guys kind of rolled them in the fourth quarter. Um what were the differences of these two games in your opinion? Because I know you told me you corrected a lot of mistakes in the first game, but you made some new ones.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, uh some of the mistakes uh just in the kicking game on Friday night, uh that kind of got us in the hole. Um you know, just missed block and a you know, bobble snap on a couple punts, uh which, you know, the first drive was the first drive for them, but the second two is a short field. Uh and I thought our defense did a great job of answering and making them earn both of those. It wasn't like a gimme. Um, and then started to get going a little bit. You know, we adjusted uh another quarterback in uh right about the same time and started to kind of condense the playbook a little bit to get the young kid uh comfortable and kind of got back to exactly what we want to do, which is try to be 50-50 run and pass and really tried, I thought, to really execute our offense. Um I think the the mark of a great team is consistency, and we were good for one half against Clovis and then inconsistent in the second half. And I felt like this last game we were consistent in the second and fourth quarters and not in the first and third. And again, what are we preaching? Let's get better every day. Like that's kind of our program philosophy is not so much the wins and losses, they'll take care of themselves, but let's get better today and let's see what else we need to get better at tomorrow and have a plan going forward.
SPEAKER_02You know, one of the things I told Juan before you came on today is that to me you're one of the last coaches programs that puts an emphasis on winning a league title, not let's just get to the postseason. And I think that's part of the reason you have this schedule to prepare you for the Gavin Division.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we like to get through our preseason and you know it's uh the inside joke is that the hardest part of our schedule is over and now let's go take what we've learned, take what we've gotten better at, and continue to do those things in league. And our goal is always win a league title. It's not make the playoffs, it's not win a CCS title, it's win the gap.
SPEAKER_02So why do I gotta laugh here, but why do people like to write Salinas off every time they get off to an O and two or an O and three start when you've made 18 straight trips to the playoffs?
SPEAKER_01I have no idea. Every once in a while, some people have been along for the ride for the last 10 years, they are used to it, they understand what we're doing, and they're all in, obviously, and that's a lot of our alumni, not just players, but parents, and they get it, and they always I I run into them and they say the same thing, oh that tough preseason, that gets us ready for league, let's go, coach. And uh that part's uh that part I think you know, culturally for our program is there. Um I don't really think too much uh about what other people are thinking about our program. I always look at it as hey, we do us, they do them, and when we play each other, hopefully we have a great game.
SPEAKER_02You know, you mentioned you'll have a likely a different quarterback this week. I know Michael Andretti last week was uh was on crutches. I don't know what his status is, but Evan Mendelssohn came in and he's only a sophomore, but you brought him up for a reason. My question though is did you have to scale the playbook back a little bit?
SPEAKER_01Uh not really. Uh a little bit just to get him comfortable when he came in last week. Uh but he's a high IQ kid, both of our quarterbacks are, and they both do a really good job of doing what they're coached to do, and they both have pretty good arms, which I always love in a quarterback.
SPEAKER_02A nice problem to have to have two quarterbacks capable of running as offense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. That's the the the downside and the upside to the spread is uh you have to have a quarterback that can run it. Uh the upside is it seems like we've always got a couple of them in the wing, so uh very fortunate, I think.
SPEAKER_00Hey Steve, uh I I I just wanted to just ask real quick. I I know like okay, so the uh I know all these other schools are trying to upgrade, trying to get better facilities, all that. But you guys have the pit. I I don't know. There's just something about the pit, something about playing there. I mean, when I cover it and I'm standing on the sideline, I'm just like right there, right? I mean, there's no room to walk around. Just what what what is it though uh about just the aura or the or just the atmosphere uh of the pit and playing there? What what what what what what makes it so exciting?
SPEAKER_01Well, there's no track, so you're right on top of the action in the stands, and uh we have an incredibly loyal fan base, and we're gonna fill our side in the student section of every single game. Um and they like to come and they love their football at Sleenus High, and they definitely like to cheer and be loud, and uh, it's just an incredible environment to play in. I I know when I was the head coach at a different school in town, every time that we had an opportunity, we tried to schedule a game in the pit. Uh I never, you know, I've been to a lot of different high school stadiums, and I don't think I've ever been in a high school stadium that's just as much fun to play in as you know the pitt as plenty of time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I I remember walking on there and I'm like, where am I supposed to stand? And so I just, you know, I'm just right there with you guys, pretty much, like basically hearing everything, but it it it is a pretty, pretty neat experience. For those who haven't been, you gotta you gotta catch a game there. It's it's pretty neat. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Hey Steve, before we let you go. Yeah. Hey Steve, before we let you go, um when Juan and I come out here, can we still stand on your sidelines? Because the last couple of games we've been told not to stand on certain teams' sidelines.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, you guys are good to go for us again.
SPEAKER_02I'm making I'll I'm making light of it, but it was a little annoying. But uh I'll let Juan tell you some more stories down the road.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Steve. I appreciate that. I really, really do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Juan, one last thing uh about Steve that you forgot to mention, and I think it's mighty one of the more important things.
SPEAKER_00Uh oh. Okay.
SPEAKER_02He is the winningest coach in Salinas High School football history.
SPEAKER_00There you go. There you go. See, I I'm I tell you, man, I I I try to do my homework and everything, and then boom. John John just comes out with something else, and I'm like, uh, I almost had it. Almost had it.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_00That's what happens when you've been around for a hundred years.
SPEAKER_01Well, Coach Goodbody was, you know, he was a history teacher, and uh, and so he had researched every head coach there because you know he's big on history, and and then he knew that Shipke, the guy that because Coach Goodbody was the one before me, but the guy that Coach Goodbody passed had held the record for 85 years. Oh, wow. Yeah, so yeah, he actually he had uh the most titles. I passed him on that, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00There you go. That's awesome. That's awesome. Heck yeah, awesome. All right, Steve. Hey, thanks, thanks for coming on the uh cover three sports podcast, man. You're always welcome to uh join us anytime.
SPEAKER_01Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00For sharing me, thank you. Good luck this week. Thank you. Okay, bye. See ya. Oh man, what a uh that that was a pretty pretty nice chat with Steve and uh just kind of uh listening to what he's got to say and trying to get his uh his guys uh regrouped and getting them pumped up for that. Big big game for uh Valley Christian. I mean, it's oh and two star, but like you said, it's still early in the season and and if anyone knows how to turn things around, it's it's it's Steve.
SPEAKER_02Well, and as he pointed out or we pointed out earlier, I mean he has started 0-2 before in his in his eight years there at Salinas High, and both years they ended up winning a gallon division title. So uh I mean I uh there's no reason no reason to panic. You look at the teams they played, being Clovis and and um boss Gaddis, who went to the CCS Division I finals last year. These are two good football teams.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that's what he wants, and he told us that. And uh, you know, he I if they lost to Valley Christian, it wouldn't completely surprise me this week. And I still wouldn't panic because he has started 0-3 before and then went undefeated in the Galvan Division. So his whole objective is to get prepared for league because he's one coach that still takes pride in winning a league title and not just trying to sneak into the playoffs.
SPEAKER_00Hey folks, welcome back to the Discovery Sports Podcast. Next up, we have a handful of high school football preview before that. So let's take some time to go over the latest updates. All right, so let's start here at the bottom. At number 10, we have Stevenson nine, Pacific Row, eight, Carmel at the seventh spot. We have Monterey at sixteen city five, Hollister at the fourth spot, North Salinas, and then we have Salinas at third, Alma at number two, and cracking the top ten for the first time. We have So Hell High School. And then on the bubble, real quick, we got Alastal, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Mona Vista Christian, and Alvarez. A little mix up there.
SPEAKER_02You know what I want to say about this one real quick is we'll get people that'll sit there and say, Well, wait a minute, we beat that team. Why are they ranked ahead of us? And it's kind of like what you did in week one to me has no bearing on what happens in week three or four.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02And, you know, and these rankings are going to continue to change throughout the course of the next eight, nine weeks. And I like to tell people, who cares where you're ranked in September? You should be more concerned about where you're ranked in November.
SPEAKER_00For sure. And and like you mentioned, I mean, we probably are going to get some heads kind of kind of some eyebrows raising or whatever you want to say. But uh I I I mean, the reason I I I put Carmel back ahead of Pacific Grove is like you mentioned, I mean, week one, that's week one. Week two, I feel like Carmel is a little bit stronger, uh uh especially coming off that win. And I mean, Pacific Grove, I mean, not being able to put up points, uh that I like you said, I know they're a small program, and I know the the it caught up to them as the game went on. But uh again, these are rankings going into this week, and I I feel that Carmel can beat PG. And and I put Hollister at five just because uh I feel they might have just a just a little tiny, tiny, tiny edge over King City. And and again, I mean if those two teams met, uh it'd be a battle for sure. But I feel like Hollister might have just a slight edge. Just going off that. That that's all. But hey, uh like I said, rankings don't matter right now. We'll get back to that in November. Uh when teams start getting ready for the playoffs and all that stuff. That's that's when you guys should be worried about it. Uh all right, let's move on to our games of the week. Looks like we got uh some pretty good ones here lined up for you. Uh starting with uh Pacific Grove hosting on with the Christian. That's a Thursday night game at 7.30 p.m. And then on Friday at 7 o'clock, we got Selena at Valley Christian, and then also on Friday at 7.30 p.m. Palma will visit Elmar and then a couple of Saturday games for you, uh starting with SLV and King City, and then Stevens and uh playing Scott's Valley. Um let's start off with uh that Thursday night game. Again, starting off with Pacific Good. They kind of got that that rhythm down. Um short week for both teams, though. And we talked a bit about the breakers during our recap, but what's the word on them going into this game against uh what looks like a pretty resurged uh Mustangs group?
SPEAKER_02Well, they uh for Pacific Grove, they need to get healthy and and the hope is you know some of those kids that didn't play in the loss to Half Moon Bay will be back on Thursday. Again, it was a short week, uh, so that's one less day to prepare for Monta Vista. But I do think these are two evenly matched teams. And again, I said earlier that are we gonna see the Pacific Grove or Carmel where they not ended a little vineyard losing streak to the Padres, or are we gonna see the team that laid an egg against Half Moon Bay? And my gut feeling is we're somewhere in between. You know, the Breakers have a young quarterback and Charlie Edmonds, who looked really good in the uh Carmel shoe battle. And I think we will see a little more of him throwing the ball. Uh Northrop Kirk, you know, I think it's important for him to get his share of carries because Pacific Grove, even though that offense has changed somewhat to where it's become a little more pass-friendly, it's got to be able to run the ball and give their defense a blow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt. Uh yeah, I mean this is this is kind of around the time where we kind of start to see in in what direction programs start to go in. And and this might be one of those games where a win can be a major confidence boost moving forward, and and and and who knows in what direction the the teams will go from there.
SPEAKER_02Um I will say this too, that I think Pasciva Grove has some familiarity with Monta Vista, particularly with their offensive coordinator Maurice Vance. They spent the last few years at Stevenson, now he's at Monta Vista, and I know they're running some semblance of what he wants to do. And uh so they they have an understanding of the offense. The question is is can they stop it?
SPEAKER_00There you go. Well, we'll find out Thursday night. We'll find out. Uh let's see here. Next up we have Salinas at Valley Christian. We talked uh we talked to Steve about this matchup uh with you know one of those WCAL teams. Um is this is this a must-win for Salinas, John?
SPEAKER_02No, not at all.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02I mean, sure you don't want to go into league play 0-3 and have to face Phil Kill to open the season. But uh, you know, again, as I've mentioned before, this is what Zink wants to do. He wants to schedule a preseason in his words that's not only going to test his players, but expose them so they understand their weaknesses so they can correct them by the time they get to league play. You know, uh being a team that Salinas is in terms of the amount of depth they have, you know, the physical pounding they take against, you know, facing a Clovis or a Valley Christian doesn't affect them as much as say a team like Monterey who only has 32 or 33 players. And because he's got you know, he's got a roster of 70 plus kids and and 50 of them can play. You know, it's a deep team. But uh the the thing is with with Salinas is Zink told me we're getting better every week. We're getting better every practice. And as long as he sees that going forward, he can live with the losses right now. Um, again, his objective is going after a league title, and that's still two weeks away.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. All right. Well, moving on to our next matchup here. Uh, we have uh Palma at Hillmar. Again, is this a must-win for the Chieftains?
SPEAKER_02It's not a must-win, but if they lose the game, you start to wonder if changes have to be made at certain positions. Uh, they've struggled, you know, obviously against uh Sacred Heart Cathedral, and and a lot of teams probably are going to this year. Uh Dukes could play. Uh my guess is that he'll sit out one more week so he's ready for league play because again, Palma's the defending gambling division champions, and a league title does mean something to them as well. But uh this, I don't think Hillmore's the caliber of Sacred Heart Cathedral, but they are a good football team, so this will be a good test for Palma in terms of how they bounce back. Uh, you know, how's their health on the offensive line? Because I do believe they've got some running backs back there that can play and would start for a lot of other teams. Now, there's no Eli Dukes in that backfield, but they're still talent enough to get the job done. Uh, they've just got to be a little more efficient with their offense. They've got to cut down on the turnovers and eliminate a lot of the metal mistakes.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha, gotcha. Well, I I feel like a parrot kind of repeating myself here, but yeah, I I mean Jeff's, I'm pretty sure he's one of those guys that he knows what he's doing by scheduling these tough opponents, getting them ready for that uh that grueling uh league, gabelin league play. And um, yeah, I again, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I will I will say this. What concerns me right now, and again, we're only two weeks into the season, but whoever wins the Gabblin division is automatically moving into the open division for the playoffs.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And again, eight weeks is a long time away to see where we are. But two weeks into the season, I don't know if we have a program in this area that's capable of competing in the open division right now just because of how good these programs like Sacred Heart, Sarah, and St. Francis, etc., are and uh again, a lot can change in the next few months, and it probably will.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But as of today, I mean, I don't know if an A-League team should automatically be thrown into the open division. I mean, and again, it's all being based by a computer right now, so that's another hiccup in this format.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt. That that looks that's gonna be rough for any any uh well for the goblin division winner getting tossed into the uh Lions Den.
SPEAKER_02Look what happened Yeah, look what happened to Silkel in their opener against so uh Los Gas. They were blank 24-0. We saw what Sagar Cathedral did to Palma last week. Um you know, Salinas to their credit, you know, they were they were down by 27 to Los Gattis and going into the fourth quarter and had a valid comeback by scoring the game's last 21 points and actually had a chance, had they recovered the onside kick, to maybe win the game. Um obviously that didn't happen, but I mean you can look at that two ways is one that maybe Salas Gatus took the gas off the pedal when they built that big lead in the fourth quarter, or Salinas is building momentum going forward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, who knows, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll we'll find out uh again, we'll find out uh come come this weekend uh for both Salinas and for Palma, right? To see what uh what they got going against those tough, tough teams. Um let's see here. All right, so we got uh got a couple of games played for Saturday as well. Uh starting with San Lorenzo Valley hosting Kane City. That's a 12.30 p.m. start, one of those afternoon games. Uh two straight losses though for the Cougars who who are coming off that defeat against Mountain View. Um again, like a pair. It's still early. It's still early in the season. And and I know um for head coach Dave Grant, uh no no need to push the panic button though. Um but they they are in need of picking up that first win. That way things can start rolling for them and you know, getting that win column, again, building building momentum, building confidence for the team moving forward. And and they're going, but they're going up against a pretty tough King City team, and and and I know that they're coming off a big, big win themselves over Gonzalez and that battle for the megaphone. Um but any concern for them uh after a big win like that, you know, any any type of hangover effect?
SPEAKER_02Not a hangover effect. I was more concerned about them playing in a Saturday afternoon in the heat in Felton. And then King City head coach Mac of Villanoiva reminded me, we practice in the heat every day down in King City. Uh whereas you know, right now it's in the nineties. Yeah, yeah. So That's not gonna be a factor. Uh I think for SLV, there might be a I don't want to say desperation, but you know, this is an important game for them, and it's a game where they're gonna engage themselves. These are the reigning champions from both the mission south and the mission north. And you know, for King City, they're riding now an 11-game winning streak, regular season winning streak. Obviously, it dates back to last year. That's the longest term winning streak in the PCAL overall. Um I I worry a little bit about King City just because of the first two opponents they play. They've both been San Jose division opponents, and we've talked about this all year that the San Jose division is a lot stronger than it has been in the past. But it's not the mission division. So this is King City, in my opinion,'s first real test of the year in terms of facing a a higher caliber program, and it's a crossover game. Yeah, so it doesn't mean anything, but it does mean something in terms of okay, the or or I wouldn't call it a midterm, but uh maybe a pop quiz.
SPEAKER_00There you go. There you go. For sure. Yeah, uh this this is gonna be a a a big test for for cook for the cougars for slv to see if if they can bounce back. And and um, you know, though there is something about them hosting games in Felton, like you said, in that hot weather, the heat. Uh King City might be used to it uh in terms of practicing in it, practicing in it. But when it comes game time, it's I think it's a whole different uh whole different level, right? I mean, you you don't have you don't have as much time to relax and and kind of think things over. It's it's a game, right? I mean it's yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, King City is getting an extra day to prepare for actually an extra two days to prepare for this because they played on Thursday. Their first two games have been on Thursday nights. So they are probably welcoming a Saturday game just to try to get back more into a uh of a rhythm in terms of you know, at some point they'll be playing Friday night games again. Uh San Lorenzo Valley is gonna have to find a way to stop Carson Tidwell, as you know, the school's all-time leading rusher, single season rusher, etc. He has every record down in King City. Uh he played sparingly against Gonzalez because he was battling a virus, but even still he had a 37-yard touchdown run in that game. And we didn't bring this up earlier, but you know, we talked about the lack of numbers, and I know we're getting off King City right now, but Gonzalez finished that game with 19 players. In fact, the game was called with seven minutes left because head coach Edry Merritt says, I can't afford to lose another kid. The good news for Gonzalez is they do have a bye this week before they go into league play. But um, you know, they were pretty battered and bruised by a uh King City team that's is physical.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha. Well, let's see here. Finally, um, what do we got here? Oh, we have Stevenson against Scotts Valley. Uh this will take place at Harbor High School in a rare Saturday evening game. Um Scotts Valley again without that home stadium. Um trying to do the best that they can this this season in terms of travel and all that stuff. And yeah, and then the Falcons are are coming off uh a tough one-point loss to Santa Cruz after after having a 26-7 lead there in the third quarter. I I'm just interested to see how they respond after something like that. Uh, I mean that's that's just that's a tough one. That's a tough one to swallow.
SPEAKER_02Well, think think of this, Juan. Every not only is every game a road game for Scotts Valley, but every practice is a road practice because they practice at Harbor High, I believe, in the evening. And uh, you know, they don't have a facility whatsoever there at Scotts Valley and they and they won't have one this year. It'll be nice when it's done, but this is two years in a row, particularly for these seniors now that have not had a place to call home.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I know they do practice at Harbor, though I have seen them practice there at their own campus. Um, they got like this little turf kind of uh over a grass. Yeah, it's like yeah, it's kind of seems like it looks like one of those uh like the indoor soccer kind of like stadium type things. Yeah, and they they practice on there, it's turf, but uh not nothing too like physical, and you know, because I mean that's again that's turf, right? I mean that's uh that's scary. But um yeah, I I like you said, no home they they don't they haven't had a home for two years, and that that's just tough, man. That's that's gotta be difficult for them.
SPEAKER_02Uh but no, but no one's gonna feel sorry for you when it comes game time. And you know, Stevenson's coming off a big win over Livingston. Uh quarterback Lincoln Flymel came out and counted for four touchdowns, through for 286 yards, had a great stiff arm of a opponent where he got an extra 16 yards off of it. So they've got a lot of confidence right now. You know, they looked at that Leland game, you know, made some corrections, uh, got some players back uh that weren't ready for that game because of the late start that the board of students normally get at Stevenson. Again, I don't know which Stevenson team is which. I'd probably lean towards the one that beat Livingston versus the one we saw that you know didn't look good against the Leland. But Scott's valley would be another test for them, and it was a good game when they played last year.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, again, no no no need to panic though for for head coach Louie Walters at Scotts Valley. Uh it it was just one of those games that I don't know, uh maybe uh momentum just was just too big for uh for Santa Cruz at that moment. And again, you know, you just kind of let one slip away. Uh it's it's still early too early.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, it goes back to what we talked about earlier. The San Jose division is no longer it's a C league, but the teams that are in there, when you look at Santa Cruz, the defending champions, Greenfield with the size they have on their offensive and defensive lines, and just the overall improvement of Seaside and Pajero Valley, this is a competitive league now, and one of those teams will be in the mission division next year.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep, yep. This is this is like the audition for them, right? Let's see to see who who can make it up to the to to uh to get uh promoted and then uh and then we'll find how it gets relegated. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, even talking to Rancho San Juan head coach Andrew Zerardi after his loss to North County. Hey, listen, we're not battling for points, we're battling for a playoff spot because as everybody knows, there's a new postseason for C League and D League teams, but there's only four of those types of leagues in the CCS. So it's basically two rounds of playoffs, and that's it. Yeah, you can't move on beyond that. So points to them don't really matter. The only thing that matters is winning that league cut.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh, it looks like that's our show for today. Join us again next week for another fun-filled episode. And please make sure to subscribe to the Cover 3 Sports Podcast on Apple and Spotify. And also make sure to follow us on Instagram so you can check out our latest top 10 rankings, photos, videos, all that good stuff. Thank you again for listening, and uh, we'll catch you on the flip side.