Comcast Sports Net Game of the Week
Teams: Novato at Foothill (Pleasanton)
When: Today, 7:30 p.m.
North Coast Ranking: Novato No. 2, Foothill No. 9
Live TV: Comcast
Announcers: Greg Papa/Jim Kozimor and Mike Pawlawski
Sideline reporter: Dan Dibley
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
PLEASANTON, Calif. — For 21 seasons, no one in the Bay Area prepared more diligently or painstakingly than Foothill football coach Matt Sweeney.
So, heading into tonight’s opener against Novato, after taking a season off, Sweeney is calm, cool and refreshed, correct?
Umm, not so.
The passionate and fiery coach, who has squeezed more talent out of average football players than a juicer at Jamba Juice, is ready and raring to go.
With an emphasis on raring.
“We got a lot of growing up to do,” he said about his young squad.
Sweeney has a new tag – he’s co-coach along with his longtime defensive coordinator John Mannion, who was the head coach last year – but there’s nothing really different about the 48-year-old who looks considerably younger.
And why change things?
In 21 seasons, he won nine league and four North Coast Section titles while compiling a 188-54-5 mark.
As usual, the Falcons are undersized and basically under-manned heading into the 2008 season. But frankly, Sweeney wouldn’t want it any other way.
There is one difference however.
“When I first started we had a 30-man roster and eight of them went both ways,” he said. “Now we have 50-man rosters, but we still have about eight that go both ways.
“We’re not real big as usual, but we’ll come out as tough young men. It’s a tough young team.”
The Falcons return strong-armed 6-foot-5 quarterback Sean Mannion and one of the East Bay Athletic League’s top receivers in Nathan Hinke. Patrick Lynch and Ryan Walsworth will continue Foothill’s long line of small, feisty effective running backs.
“Our number one concern with Foothill always is how well coached they are,” Novato coach Travis Brackett said. “They don’t have any big bruisers like (San Diego State freshman Rob Andrews who started three seasons at Foothill) but they have a great quarterback and an effective, efficient team.”
Brackett’s comments make him the pot or the kettle.
In his ninth season, Brackett has emerged as one of North California’s top coaches, using many of the same tactics as Sweeney at Pleasanton.
The Hornets have raised the bar in Marin County after winning back-to-back North Coast Section 2A titles that have included play against East Bay competition (previously the section gave separate East Bay and North Bay championships).
In 2006 Novato lost its opener at Foothill, then won 12 straight games by a 545-24 count, just missing out on a state Division II Bowl bid.
Last year, the Hornets defeated visiting Foothill 25-22, won the next 12 in a row, was selected to the state D-II bowl game, losing to Oceanside 28-14.
They come in ranked second in the NCS by MaxPreps, even after losing last week’s opener at one of the state’s top-ranked team Valley Christian (San Jose) 22-13 in a winnable contest. The Hornets simply couldn’t contain one of the area’s top running backs, Cameron Marshall, who rushed 22 times for 176 yards including a crushing 59-yard touchdown late in the first half.
The Hornets return all their skill players, including quarterback Jeff Stephens, top-notch receiver Jake Davis and running back Kyle Campas.
“Other than De La Salle, we don’t have a team on our schedule with better skill players,” Sweeney said. “On top of that, (Brackett) does a great job, he’s built a great program and raised the reputation of Marin football. He does a great job of scheming offensively. He challenges you horizontally and vertically.”
He’s very similar to Sweeney in that regard, who has made a living out of calling just the right play at the right time.
The big difference between the two coaches is that Sweeney throws and pumps fist with the vigor and frequency of Tiger Woods. Brackett, who has never lost two straight regular-season games, looks like he’s watching CSPAN.
No matter the styles, the results have been largely the same.
