Two coaches with a lot of familiarity will square off Friday night in a non-league football opener as Pioneer visits Los Gatos at 7 p.m.
Los Gatos coach Mark Krail was the coach at Pioneer for 12 years and Pioneer coach Eric Perry was the defensive coordinator for the Mustangs for all 12 of those years. In fact, Perry was a student and three-sport standout at Pioneer when Krail initially coached baseball there in the late 1990s. It was Krail who first coaxed Perry into coaching.
Now both are head coaches of successful programs.
“Mark has been my mentor my whole career,” Perry said. “I learned pretty much everything from him and (the late) Myron Zacheeo.”
Perry's father, Rich, was also a coach, at Leigh and Westmont. He still lives near Pioneer in the house where Eric Perry grew up.
Krail, on the eve of his team's opener, sounded cautiously optimistic.
“It’s the first game so you don’t know exactly how things will go, but we’ve had a good week of practice and we’ve seen film of their scrimmage,” Krail said. “It looks like they’re doing some of the things they were when I was there and we know it won’t look as simple as in the scrimmage, but there is some familiarity. And on defense they’re also doing the same thing (as when Krail was there) so we have an idea of what to expect.”
Pioneer runs a 3-5-3 defense and Krail knows his team will have to expect an attacking defense with blitzes coming from different angles.
Los Gatos is led by quarterback Kyle Reid, who at one point attended Bellarmine College Prep; tight end Jake Tonges and receiver/defensive back Ryan Wilcox.
“We’re excited to run around and see what happens,” Krail said. “We’ll have some nerves with kids coming up from JVs and it being the first Friday night, but I left school a little while ago and the sun was setting and it was a beautiful night and I expect the same thing out there on Friday night.”
Pioneer is paced by running back Raul Villa-letuligasenoaand two-way linemen Jacob Guerra and Brandon Dick.
With perfect weather and Field Turf now replacing the natural turf at Los Gatos High, it should be an evening of fair skies and true bounces for an intriguing, season-opening game.
Other games of interest
FRIDAY
Oak Grove at St. Francis, 7:30 p.m.: The teams split a pair of games last season with Oak Grove winning the more important of the two, rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat the Lancers 27-21 for the CCS Open Division II championship.
Jefferson vs. Mission-San Francisco at Kezar Stadium, 7 p.m.: Jefferson begins life without stellar quarterback Damari Cual-Davis who has graduated by travelling to historic Kezar to face a Mission team that looked good at times in scrimmages last Friday night against Mountain View and Half Moon Bay.
Menlo-Atherton vs. Bellarmine College Prep at SJCC, 7 p.m.: Senior QB Ike Ogbogu, FB/LB Jackson Burrill and DL Cade Hall lead the Bells against one of the Peninsula Athletic League-Bay’s best teams, paced by stellar RB Jordan Mims.
Half Moon Bay at Saratoga, 7 p.m.: The visiting Cougars have talent, led by the junior trio of QB Gavin Tomberlin, RB Chase Hofmann and WR Hayden Von Almen. But Saratoga is usually potent offensively and may find some holes against a Cougar defense that yielded some big plays in scrimmages with Mountain View and Mission-San Francisco last week. Falcons to keep an eye on are Kian Ghelichkhani, Will Liddle and Nolan Chao.
SATURDAY
St. Mary’s-Stockton at Serra, 2 p.m.: Serra leads the all-time series against St. Mary's-Stockton 5-0, outscoring the Rams 128-25 during that span. But the schools have not played since 1955 when the Padres won 38-0.
Star QB Leki Nunn, new running back Isiah Kendrick and a re-tooled Serra offensive line will have to play well for the Padres to hang with a veteran-laden St. Mary’s team paced by QB Jake Dunniway and receivers Dewey Cotton and Keaton Hampton. Lineman Popo Aumavae (6-4, 300) is another player to watch for the Rams.
San Benito at Sacred Heart Prep, 2 p.m.: One of the top teams from the MBL-Gabilan visits PAL-Bay power SHP which has made state playoff title bowl appearances in two of the past four years and has won four consecutive section titles.
San Benito has a new coach, Bryan Smith. Haybalers to watch are quarterback Hunter Raquet, along with Richard Justo, Michael Camacho and Vincent Chavez.
Thomas Wine is SHP's new quarterback, replacing the graduated Mason Randall. The Gators' top running back is Isoa Moimoi who rushed for 1,108 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. Michael Mooring will be a player to watch at receiver and Kevin Tinsley at TE.
