(8-28-08)

California Dreamin¹

Pete Garcia
Alice Newspapers, Inc.

Long after the Scotts Valley High School Falcons leave Alice¹s Memorial Stadium, they¹ll cheer on the Coyotes from all the way in California.
That¹s because although Scotts Valley is traveling some 1,800 miles to open their season in a non-district game in South Texas, how Alice does in the rest of the season will weigh on the Falcons¹ chances of getting into the postseason in California.

In California, high school playoffs aren¹t determined solely by district or league records. Non-district games, like the one they¹re playing against Alice, are also taken into account and calculated in a points system similar to the way the BCS system credits a team for its strength of schedule.

In the simplest terms, Scotts Valley¹s rating for the playoffs in California is bumped up a point if Alice finishes the regular season with at least seven wins.

³Alice is one of three non-district games on our schedule, but in California our non-district games count towards the playoffs,² Scotts Valley coach Louie Walters said. ³If you win your league, you¹re in the playoffs automatically. Other teams can get in on a points system. If Alice goes on and wins at least seven games, we get a point, we¹re going to be rooting for Alice to win every game after ours.²
The Coyotes are hosting the Falcons on Sept. 5. It will be Alice¹s second game, but their first home game of the season.
Scotts Valley is located some 30 miles outside of San Francisco.
The school has played in Texas before. They played against Gainesville in 2005, the year Gainesville won the Class 3A state title.
The program¹s annual out-of-state trip began as a reward for the school¹s first senior class in 2002. Those seniors started high school at the Scotts Valley campus when it opened in 1999. After that, playing in an out-of-state game became a tradition of that football program.
Since then, they¹ve played in places like Hawaii and Alaska.
After searching the Internet for teams in need of a game this fall, Walters found Alice and said he picked the Coyotes because of the program¹s long and colorful tradition and because he felt it would give his team an early challenge.

³When we began looking for a team to play in Texas, we wanted a small town which had that Friday night feel, and at the same time, we wanted a quality opponent,² Walters said. ³Alice gives us both of those.²
In Alice, players, coaches and fans of the game are also anticipating the match-up.
The KIII Sports Blitz, which covers Friday night high school football, has also tagged that game as its game of the week for that weekend.
³It¹s going to be a big deal,² Alice coach Brent Davis said.
³It¹s not every day that you get a chance to play a high school team from another state. It¹s not every day that you get to represent your state against a team from another state. I think it¹s going to be one of the greatest games I¹ve ever coached in, really.²
Scotts Valley is a playoff team from a year ago. The Falcons went three rounds into their region¹s playoffs.
The Falcons have 33 seniors coming back this season, including two returning starters on defense and five on offense. Primarily a running team, the Falcons will depend heavily on running back Kyle Hardwick, who last season set a playoff record in that region by rushing for 355 yards in a single game.
³He¹s really the heart and soul of our team,² Walters said. ³He accounts for a lot of yards.²

SCOTTS VALLEY Falcons

COACH: Louie Walters [9th season]

2007 RECORD: 7-5 overall, 5-1 SCCAL [tie for first place]

LAST LEAGUE TITLE: 2007

LAST POSTSEASON APPEARANCE: 2007

TOP RETURNERS: DB Brad Hartman [Sr., 6-0, 190], RB Kyle Hardwick [Sr., 5-8, 185], OL/LB Travis Awe [Sr., 6-0, 210], WR/DB Joey Bright [Sr., 6-0, 180], OG/LB Chase Shepherd [Sr., 6-2, 225], OL/DL Mitchell Spalding [Sr., 6-4, 230], QB Blake Jurich [Jr., 6-4, 210], SS Trevin Dean [Sr., 6-0, 160], RB Blaine Bariteau [Sr., 5-10, 180], RB/LB Calib Read [Sr., 5-9, 175], TE/LB Michael Pond [Sr., 6-2, 190], TE/LB Ian Gerber [Sr., 6-2, 200].

TOP NEWCOMERS: WR/DB Ryan Estrada [Jr., 5-10, 160], WR/QB/DB Aldin Barrett [Jr., 6-0, 175], OL/DL Lewis Lahood [Jr., 6-3, 260], WR Will Becker [Sr., 5-10, 185], RB/DB Nick Mannina [Jr., 5-9, 160], RB/DB Jake Bergman [Jr., 5-10, 175].

OFFENSE: Pro-style [Coordinator Louie Walters].

DEFENSE: 5-2 [Coordinator Jeff Metter].

THE KEY QUESTION: ³How they¹ll come together as a group [on the field],² coach Louie Walters said. ³It¹s always a big question with any team. Some do, some don¹t. We¹ve done a lot of team bonding stuff. It¹s a tight group.²

CAN¹T MISS GAME: Week 1 in Alice, Texas. ³It¹s our opener and it¹s going to be exciting for our kids to play in front of that many people,² Walters said.

2008 OUTLOOK: The defending SCCAL co-champion Falcons may have graduated the MVP of the league [WR/DB Jordan Pini], but they return a preseason candidate for that honor returns in RB Kyle Harwick. The 1,000-yard rusher ‹ who rushed for the county¹s single-game mark in the playoffs ‹ is joined by QB Blake Jurich, who was a highlight-reel athlete in limited action last season as a sophomore. RB Blaine Bariteau is much improved too. The Falcons have good size up front on offense ‹ keep an eye on Travis Awe, Chase Shepherd and Mitchell Spalding ‹ and they should have a feisty defense under coordinator Jeff Metter. Whether that¹s enough to settle the grudge match with Soquel remains to be seen.

2008 SCHEDULE:

Sept. 5 @ Alice, Texas 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 13 vs. Leland 2 p.m.

Sept. 20 vs. Pajaro Valley 2 p.m.

Sept. 26 @ Wilcox 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 3 @ Santa Cruz* 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 11 @ Harbor* 2 p.m.

Oct. 18 vs. SLV* 2 p.m.

Oct. 24 vs. St. Francis* [HC] 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 31 vs. Aptos* 5 p.m.

Nov. 7 @ Soquel* 7:30 p.m.