The Acorn’s High School Football Game of the Week

Santa Clara Saints (8-0) at Oaks Christian Lions (8-0) Friday, 7:30 p.m.


JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SUPER SUB—Oaks Christian senior Jordan Morrison, center, is the team's second-leading rusher. He also plays linebacker.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SUPER SUB—Oaks Christian senior Jordan Morrison, center, is the team’s second-leading rusher. He also plays linebacker.


Everyone’s an underdog against Oaks Christian.

Despite 18 consecutive victories, including an 8-0 mark this year, Santa Clara High head football coach Fran Fredette brings his talented team to OCHS on Friday night with the proverbial chip on its shoulder—and it’s a large chip at that.

“The odds have to be like Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson (42-to-1),” Fredette said. “It’s like Appalachian State beating Michigan in the Big House. The odds would have to be unbelievably in their favor.”

Rarely does an undefeated defending section champion with a superstar running back— Santa Clara won the CIFSouthern Section MidValley Division title in 2007 behind Notre Dame-bound Cierre Wood— enter a late-season road contest facing such long odds.

When the other team has O.C. on its chests, however, those are the breaks.

Oaks Christian has won a CIFSS recordtying five consecutive section championships.

Ranked 10th in the state by CalHiSports.com, seventh by the Los Angeles Times and No. 1 in the CIF-SS Northwest Division coaches’ poll, the Lions once again spent the better part of October chewing up and spitting out Tri-Valley League opponents.

In the past three weeks, all games against league competition, the Lions have won by a combined score of 171-0. Oaks Christian has been victorious in 23 of its last 24 league contests.

OCHS head coach Bill Redell acknowledges that the other TVL teams have been completely overmatched. Redell rarely plays starters beyond the first half in an effort, he said, to keep the scoreboard in check.

While the Lions’ second-team players have received plenty of snaps, starters such as quarterback Nick Montana and running back/ linebacker Malcolm Jones have been limited. Redell said the starters need more work with the playoffs looming, but his hands have been tied lately.

“I can empathize with the people and coaches that think we’re running up the score, but that’s not the case,” Redell said. “We’re thinking of ways not to run up the score.

“There’s no question that we don’t belong in the Tri-Valley League, but what league are they going to put us in? At least we don’t belong in the Tri-Valley League in football at this point. Maybe in some years down the road we will, but at this point they should move us.”

All of which makes this regionally televised game on FSN Prime Ticket so intriguing.

Can Santa Clara, which was elevated from the Frontier League to the TVL during the offseason and has subsequently claimed the No. 3 spot in the Northwest Division poll, keep pace with the Lions?

Can Wood, who’s rushed for 1,526 yards and has 26 touchdowns, including a passing score, make it interesting with his mesmerizing skills?

And if not, if Oaks Christian uses its suffocating defense and superior depth to blow away another TVL opponent and steamroll to another league title, how much longer can this go on?

That’s a question for the future. On Friday night, it’s all about football.

“You know, kids are funny,” Fredette said. “Some kids might think they’re better than they really are and, until someone proves them different, they think pretty highly of themselves. Our kids are pretty confident.”

Players to Watch

Santa Clara Oaks Christian
QB Michael Laubacher QB Nick Montana
RB/DB Cierre Wood RB/LB Malcolm Jones
LB/OL Daniel Garcia DB/WR Nick Nugwynne
DL/OL Tom Torres DB/WR Brian Owusu

Outlook

Oaks Christian’s Malcolm Jones and Santa Clara’s Cierre Wood are two of the most talented high schoofootball players in the state. The problem for Santa

Clara is that OCHS has a bunch of other high-profile

athletes as well, and they’ll be primed for this regionally televised matchup on FSN Prime Ticket.

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