Kickoff is tonight for Danville high schools, with the Monte Vista Mustangs facing Antioch at 7 p.m. in Antioch while San Ramon also plays away, at Campolindo.
Danville’s “Big Game” will be Nov. 10 – when the Mustangs and the Wolves play each other, at San Ramon Valley High, in the last game of the regular season. But first they face an exciting season of competition.
San Ramon returns to the gridiron as last year’s North Coast Section Champions; “2005 will be very challenging,” said Dave Kravitz, San Ramon head coach of 14 years. “We’ll be young. We have two returning starters coming back. But many of our players played a lot vs. other team’s starters last season because we had some big wins. When they were in, they did very well.”
“We are looking forward to this season,” said Monte Vista Coach Craig Bergman. “We have a good mix of returners and newcomers this year and we hope to improve week to week.”
“Our top returners are Mike Costanzo on the offensive and defensive lines as well as John Seroy and David Rudberg on the lines,” he added. “We have two inexperienced but very athletic quarterbacks competing for the job, in Drew McCallister and Chip Tengler with a plethora of receivers led by senior Luke Langon and junior Ryan Whalen.”
He also noted that the East Bay Athletic League is the most competitive league in the NCS. “This year will be no exception with all teams being very strong,” he said.
Next week, the Mustangs play at home against Merrill West from Tracy.
San Ramon’s Kravitz said the league competition is great, with good players and coaches and lots of school support. He said next year there will be a State Bowl system. “The top teams from Northern California will play the teams from Southern California,” he explained. “It will be broken up by the size of the schools.”
But right now he’s planning for this season, which starts at 7 p.m. tonight at Campolindo High School. Next week, Sept. 16, it’s a home game against Irvington.
“Our goal is to minimize our mistakes early in the season so we can be ‘experienced’ when league play begins,” said Kravitz. “Our players have worked hard all off-season, so we’re expecting good things.”
Schedule
(Varsity at 7 p.m.; JV at 4:30 p.m.)
Monte Vista
Sept. 9 At Antioch
Sept. 16 Merrill West (Tracy)
Sept. 23 Berkeley
Sept. 30 California
Oct. 7 Livermore
Oct. 14 Freedom
Oct. 21 At Granada
Oct. 28 Foothill
Nov. 4 At Amador Valley
Nov. 10 At San Ramon Valley
San Ramon Valley
Sept. 9 At Campolindo
Sept. 16 Irvington
Sept. 23 Will C. Wood
Sept. 30 Foothill
Oct. 7 At Granada
Oct. 14 At Livermore
Oct. 21 Amador Valley
Oct. 28 At San Leandro
Nov. 4 At California
Nov. 10 Monte Vista
