Sacred Heart Prep on the brink of pulling off Hoosiers — football style

The Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton, Calif.) football coaching staff got together right before the season, looked at one another and shrugged.

"So gentlemen," SHP head coach Pete Lavorato said. "What are we going to do to top last year?"

As if?

The Gators sprang from relative obscurity last year to win the CIF Northern California Division III Regional championship, taking the title game with one of the more impressive and memorable wins in Bay Area history, 42-7 over heavily favored El Cerrito.

They lost in the State Bowl championship to Corona del Mar 27-15 and finished 13-2.

"That was a very, very special season," Lavorato said. "One we'll hold on to for a very long time."

Well, at least until this season.

What the Gators are pulling off currently— a perfect 12-0 season and spot in the Central Coast Section's Open Division final — may be more improbable.

A school of 600 isn't supposed to compete with the big boys in the Open Division and Friday's 7 p.m. opponent at San Jose City College, all-boys Bellarmine (10-2), which has close to 1,600 enrollment.

These Gators are a football version of "Hoosiers."

Get three super standouts on a basketball court and small-enrollment teams can tangle with much larger teams. But small-sized football rarely even attempt to compete with larger schools. Yet these Gators continue to amaze.

Even Lavorato, a focused, one-game-at-a-time sort, has recently taken a step back and appreciated his squad.

"At this point, these guys don't really surprise me," he said. "But I was watching them in film the other day and thought to myself, ‘we're pretty good.' "

Led by Washington-bound linebacker and running back Ben Burr-Kirven, the San Francisco Chronicle's 2013 Peninsula Player of the Year, rock solid junior quarterback Mason Randall (1,886 yards, 14 TDs, 1 interception) and four running backs with at least 400 yards, SHP beat Los Gatos 28-21 last week in a memorable CCS semifinal game.

Mitchell Martella added a pick-six right before halftime and knocked away the final pass away in the end zone. The Gators got contributions from their usual long array of standouts such as Riley Tinsley, Nick O'donnell, Lapitu Mahoni and Andrew Daschbach on offense and John Van sweden, Will Johnston, Cole March Thomas Rogers, Justin Harmon and Cameron Chapman on defense.

"That was probably the best team we've ever played," said Lavorato, in his 12th season at the school. "Coaches don't tend to enjoy games as the go, but afterward everyone told me it was special."

They'll have to give another special performance to beat the sound, disciplined, Wing-T-style Bells, who have really been excelling on defense. They gave up just two field goals in a 9-6 overtime win over physical Milpitas, before a 21-18 win over speedy Valley Christian.

"They have tremendous tradition and are extremely well coached," said Lavorato, whose team will likely have to play without two mainsstays Andrew Robinson and JR Hardy due to injury. 

There's a strong chance even with a win, SHP won't be invited into the regional championships. CCS rules places the Open Division winner into the Division I pool, where three nationally ranked teams figure to qualify.

"We can only go by the rules that are made," Lavorato said. "We're not going to start spouting off sour grapes at this or any other point. Besides, our entire focus has to be on Bellarmine and it is."

A superb coaching staff always makes sure the Gators are focused on the job at hand. They include assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and former Stanford standout Matt Moran, defensive coordinate Mark Modeste, along with other assists Kevin Dos Remedios, Ed Larios, Mark Fabbri and Ron Modeste.

"An amazing group," Lavorato said. "Really."

That group has been somewhat amazed at their team's fearlessness.

Lavorato noted Week 9, when the Gators played Burlingame with a Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title at stake. The CCS works on a points system and the winner would not only have clinched the league crown but assured itself enough points to qualify for the Open Division, an interesting spot. A sort of Catch 22, as it were.

Lavorato noted the interesting debacle, that indeed a win would create a tougher road. The Gators' attitude was full steam forward.

"Their attitude is that we've already conquered the Division III division, let's go all the way and play with the big boys," Lavorato said. "They sincerely meant it."

Judging from their performance, they've backed up their words.