- East Bay Prep Corner
Cal High to travel to Seattle to play Bellevue
By Kyle Bonagura
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 12:09 am in Uncategorized.
For those of you who haven’t heard, the Cal High football team will be traveling to play Bellevue at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks next year.
Quite the step up from the 3 HAAL teams which made up the Grizzlies schedule last year and another sign that coach Tony Sanchez has big plans for this program
They have a high school football jamboree at Qwest Field every year and it draws some of the best high school teams in Washington with the final game normally Bellevue vs a top out-of-state team. I was there in 2004 when Bellevue beat De La Salle and also attended the event the following year when Bellevue beat Long Beach Poly. (I was attending Washington State Univ. at the time)
When Bellevue beat De La Salle it didn’t throw the ball one time and the next year I think they only threw the ball twice. Their offense reminds me a lot of the DLS veer because it is very hard to follow where the ball is. When they beat the Spartans their ball carriers were past the DLS linebackers before I could even figure out who had it. The draw was huge when DLS was there, with the lower sections full on both sides (excluding the end zones), and still probably more than 10k for the LB Poly game. Since there are four games before and a lot of the teams and fans come from all over Washington they tend to stay for the rest – unlike the NCS championship games when most of the fans filter out after the first game or arrive just for the second.
From what I’ve heard, Bellevue’s talent isn’t anything like the team that beat DLS, which had 4 Pac-10 skill guys and a lineman that went to Michigan, but it’s a team that is among the state’s best every year and will be a very tough challenge for the Grizzlies.
-Kyle
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February 14th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Not only is it a waste of time and money for the Cal team to go to Washington but it’s just unneccessary. If Sanchez wants to make a statement about his football program then he needs to concentrate on consistantly winning EBAL football games. So his team placed 2nd in league a few years back and tied for 1st this year. Although they are improving it doesn’t make them a DeLaSalle,Monte Vista or Foothill. If he wants to make a statement then he should stay home and work on beating DeLaSalle. That would make a statement.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:21 am
This is a great move. It will be a tremendous bonding trip for the team. Sanchez is trying to build a mind-set of success and pride in the San Ramon community and he’s doing it.
I feel he is working on preparing his team for playing the De La Salle’s, Monte Vista’s and Foothill’s of the world. Play in enough high pressure, big games and the kids mental preperation becomes that much better.
Cal had the deer-in-the headlights look in the final with DLS, this is another step to taking that away.
Props to Sanches for the effort. Basketball, baseball, softball and soccer teams regularly take trips all over the place for tournaments, why not football.
Although I will say, if I was going to take a team some place, it would be Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 14th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
EBAL fan-
“If he wants to make a statement then he should stay home and work on beating De La Salle”
Playing Bellevue is probably the best way to prepare for a team like DLS. Explain how “staying home” will make you better when there isn’t a team more comparable to DLS than Bellevue (at least that I’ve seen or heard of).
In the two times I’ve seen Bellevue I thought they might as well suit up in DLS jerseys because watching them is just like watching DLS.
Yes, beating DLS would make a statement, but come on, do you thing they are going to get ready for DLS by playing Hayward, Mt. Eden and JFK-Fremont like they did last year? How does that make sense?
February 14th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I dont think Sanchez knows what he is getting himself into. He may be in a little over his head…Bellevue is one of the top 10 programs in the nation! 5 state championships in the last 7 years with wins over DLS,LBP, and a then ranked Ferndale team.Sure last year they lost in the semi-final but people have told me that they were very beat up and had key players injured all year. They have sent atleast 3 kids a year to division one colleges since 2002.
Best of Luck!
February 15th, 2008 at 11:57 am
You don’t get to be the best by winning 40-point non-league games. They dropped Mt. Eden for Bellevue — you tell me, which game gets the team better ready for a tough league schedule?
I don’t know if Bellevue is top 10 any more. They went 11-2 in Washington last year. One of the top 20 programs in the Western United States — sure — but top 10 in the nation might be a reach.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
In all fairness, Mt. Eden should have won that game against Cal if it weren’t for a fumble on the 1-yard line. Ok, I will let it go…
But yea, I don’t see how Cal playing somebody better than them is a bad thing. Cal will be playing DLS every year now so might as well find another big non-league game that can compare to playing DLS. And they did. Great move!
February 15th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Dmiller, you are right about the top 10 program in the nation, but no doubt top 25. They were 11-2 last year with losses game 1, 0-6 to the eventual state champion and in the semi-final game to the state runner up. Two of Bellevues best players (both d1) were hurt game 1 and out all year b/c of it. Cal is a good local team and I love them going taking a challenge, but its a year or two early to be intentionally messin with the big boys…just my opinion.
I really just dont want high school version of Hawaii-Georgia…all the hype and hope…then total destruction haha.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
No one expected Bellevue to hang with De La Salle either.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Why can’t Cal stay “home”(bay area) and schedule a tougher non-league schedule? There are teams like Monte Vista and Foothill who purposely schedule tough non-league opponents. Then there’s teams like Cal and Amador who schedule the easy teams. Why do you think every preseason Amador comes out like they are a powerhouse and then when the season starts they are just middle of the pack again. I just don’t think you have to go out of state to find some decent competition.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:56 am
It’s not like Cal went and got an easy schedule on purpose last year.
It scheduled Hayward (defending NCS East Bay 3-A champs), San Leandro and Mt. Eden (which was supposed to have a banner year) and then Kennedy rounded out the schedule because their bye came in Week 10 is very rare.
These kids are going to have a chance to play in an NFL stadium, in front of 10k+, they will remember it for the rest of their lives. I dunno if you could say the same if say they went out and played a very strong somewhat local team, say … Napa High.
Nothing bad about it.