De La Salle grad Marlon Blanton had insurrection on his hands in 1998 when he took over the St. Patrick-St. Vincent football program.
Blanton, now the coach at Jesuit-Carmichael, was a former De La Salle star running back (1989-'90) who tried to instill the mindset and work ethic of the DLS program in Vallejo, but he met resistance.
"It was brutal," said Blanton, whose team will meet De La Salle at 8 p.m. Friday at Cal in the season opener for both teams. "We had a revolt. I had 16-18 players quit the program or transfer out by the following year. But at De La Salle as a coach you also learn to be a problem solver, and I just had to solve how to communicate my message so that it would work."
Blanton did. His St. Patrick-St. Vincent teams, after going 1-19 in his first two seasons, made the section playoffs seven times in the next 14 years and won three Bay Shore Athletic League title. He was named league Coach of the Year in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
"It's difficult if you're from outside of De La Salle to understand (the process)," Blanton said. "I was asking players to step outside their comfort zone. At De La Salle you're constantly asked to do that and not everyone is receptive."
Blanton asked players the simple question of why they wanted to play. He did not necessarily get the replies he expected at first.
"You'd expect them to say 'because I want to win,'" Blanton said. "But I was getting 'because my dad wants me to play' and things like that."
Blanton went about instilling the Bob Ladouceur-influenced philosophy of "the more you give the more you get out" of something (Blanton's words).
Eventually the Bruins got it. Said former St. Patrick-St. Vincent quarterback Danny Souza to the Vallejo Times-Herald upon Blanton's departure from the Bruins in 2012: "He is one of the best people I've ever met. He pretty much would grab a group of guys and make you want to be a part of something. It didn't matter if you were a great athlete."
At Jesuit, Blanton has better athletes than he did at St. Patrick-St. Vincent, and more of them. Last season the Marauders, traditionally strong, went 9-4 overall and fell to powerhouse Folsom 42-35 in the North Coast Section semifinals. This is Season 2 of the Blanton regime at the Carmichael school and it begins in the most difficult way imaginable -- against powerhouse De La Salle on Friday night in the glare of the media spotlight and big-time backdrop of Cal.
The game was supposed to be played at Levi's Stadium until the turf problems forced the Wilcox vs. Manteca and Jesuit vs. De La Salle games to be moved.
"We're excited," Blanton said. "It doesn't matter if we play at our place or their place or a city park. "It's a football game and it will be exciting. We're a little young and inexperienced in places, but we'll find out how good we are in a hurry."
MORE ON SHOWDOWN: Ticket for Friday's De La Salle vs. Jesuit game are general admission. They are $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors and will be available the day of the game at the ticket booths on both sides of the stadium.
Tickets may also be purchased online at https://prepmo.com/games/475/ and at the De La Salle bookstore during business hours. Also, De La Salle season passes will be accepted. Gates on the west side of the stadium (Gate 2 through Gate 6) will open at 7 p.m.
FULL LIFE: Last Thursday night new Menlo basketball coach Keith Larsen and I attended the memorial service of St. Ignatius grad (Class of 1974) Phil Monaghan. Keith and I were classmates of Phil's at St. Robert's School in San Bruno.
Monaghan, 58, had taken his own life a week earlier and I was not expecting the most uplifting of services. I was wrong.
The Monaghan family -- there were six boys and three girls counting Phil -- handled the tragedy with such thoughtfulness, transparency and humor that I walked away from the church feeling good, if still saddened. It was amazing to hear about a boyhood friend of mine who had accomplished so much from being one of nine kids to becoming a scholar at S.I., a civil engineer for the city of Burlingame, a family man, an avid motorcyclist, scuba diver and so on.
The yarns rolled out by the Monaghan boys about Phil "borrowing" his older brother's Harley Davidson to ride to St. Ignatus where he immediately became the envy or everyone, to him buying a house before the age of 20, to his various adventurous activities were quite amazing and entertaining. The tales went on for hours, both at the church and the traditional Irish wake afterward.
In the end a crushing depression got Phil. He fought it as long as he could. Experiencing depression or feeling suicidal? Please call 1-800-273-8255.
ALL FOR ONE: In following Social Media and twitter one of the admirable aspects of the Mitty athletic program is the way coaches of different sports root for each other and congratulate one another on successes. It's not like that at every school where sometimes petty jealousies and resentment get in the way.
Sounds like some of that Three Musketeers' "All for One" attitude exists at Valley Christian too, based on this recent Social Media posting by new Warrior football assistant William Gittens:
"Today at the end of practice the Valley Christian girls water polo team was waiting to pray for our football team, so we joined together at the west end of the field and circled to pray for all of the sports on campus that they would honor God and perform in the classroom on the field and in their personal lives. I thought this was an awesome gesture for building a healthy community. Go Warriors!"
Nice.
RE-LOADING: Terra Nova opened the 2013 football season 10-0 before falling to Valley Christian in the CCS Open Division opener in Pacifica.
Now longtime Tigers' coach Bill Gray is retired and offensive coordinator Tim Adams has taken over. The Tigers return only two of 22 starters but there's still talent on the coast-side.
Anthony Gordon threw for 3,406 yards last season and he's back. Adams will have Gordon running the Tigers' familiar spread offense. He has good receivers everywhere in Eric Viana, Jordan Genato and Joey Pledger. And Adams said senior running back Gerald Colvin, who did not play last season, is at least as good as last year's starter John Wallace.
Plus, Adams is in frequent contact with Gray, who has moved to South Dakota to be with his longtime girl friend.
"I call him as often as two to three times a day," Adams said. "He's still close to the program and runs our web site. And his old roommate, John Totten, is our defensive coordinator."
Sounds like TN won't skip a beat.
Briefly: Utah has offered St. Mary's-Albany safety Ron Smith, reports Brandon Huffman ... Former Burlingame High and Skyline College star Anthony Granato is the new baseball coach at Sacred Heart Prep ... South San Francisco two-way lineman Terrell Townsend committed to San Jose State over the summer, said Warriors coach Jay Oca. ... The St. Ignatius at Terra Nova football game will be televised on Comcast Hometown Network, said TN coach Adams.
