San Ramon Valley, Monte Vista, and Freedom met Friday at Monte Vista for a three-team scrimmage. They split the field in half and ran one team’s offense against another team’s defense for periods of 15 minutes. This scrimmage was a way for the three teams to see where they were and what they need to improve on.
There were many areas that each team could improve upon -- as for Monte Vista it had some good moments and some bad. Penalties and dropped passes plagued the Mustangs and they were not getting to the quarterback as much as their coach wanted. There were also many positives for Monte Vista to take away from this scrimmage -- it had a solid running game working along with keen precision and accuracy from quarterback Nikita Zamora.
“I thought our offensive line did a really nice job. Our running backs need to have better vision and we dropped some balls but, hopefully, we got that out of the way tonight,” coach Craig Bergman said.
San Ramon Valley used the scrimmage to get ready for its opening game against Buhach Colony next week. The Wolves looked at a lot of their reserves and they also worked with their starting offense and defense. At first their defense appeared a bit lackluster, however they kicked it into gear and eventually made some big stops against the run and pass.
“I think you saw tonight, we’re going to defend the run. We’ve got some kids who can play and we’re excited for the challenge ahead of us,” coach Mark Kessler said.
San Ramon Valley's offense really impressed with some big running and passing plays. The play-action pass was a key factor in its success as well. Senior quarterback Matt Winaker hit wide receiver Christian Fuca with a deep, play-action touchdown pass; and Nick Bernhardt also had a nice play-action touchdown pass to tight end Joe Simonich. On defense, linebacker Mitchell Allan and Dru Samia combined with others to make many stops in the opponents' backfield.
Freedom came into the scrimmage with most fan yearning to see standout running back Joe Mixon. With sophomores and juniors mainly on the line for Falcons, their offense got off to a very poor start. As the line adapted, Mixon shredded the defenses, scoring multiple touchdowns.
“I pulled myself together, talked to my offensive line, and they opened up some big holes for me, which allowed me to break off some big runs," Mixon said. "As for some goals for this season, I want to rush for 3,000 yards and 50 touchdowns; for our team I want us to go 10-0 and very deep into the playoffs."
Despite some inexperience, Freedom’s passing game was decent. But Freedom's offensive line and defense struggled. Throughout the scrimmage, the Falcons defense was getting shredded on the ground by the Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley's running backs. The defensive line was getting pushed back and they were getting exploited by Monte Vista’s short passing game.
“We need to put ourselves in situations where we know what we can do. We kept it very simple tonight and stayed with the script, trying out our plays to see what was working and what was not," said coach Kevin Hartwig. "As for our line, they are a young group of sophomores and juniors, it was their first time seeing live bullets and once they got accustomed to what it was like they started to perform."
San Ramon Valley and Monte Vista will be competing for a East Bay Athletic League title this year, and the road there will not be easy. They will have to get past one another and tough division opponents in Cal, Foothill, and Amador Valley. As for Freedom, it faces a very challenging opening to their 2013 campaign including games against Amador Valley, Foothill, and Granite Bay in its run for a Bay View Athletic League title.
It will be exciting to see how these three teams fare this year, especially San Ramon Valley going head to head against Monte Vista.
