Most high school programs practice at night at least one time each week. Few, however, make mid-week night practice as special as the program at Pittsburg High School, which brings together generations of former Pirates to guarantee that the current group of student-athletes will not go to bed hungry.
“We always wanted to do a night practice, from the moment I took over the program,” said Pittsburg coach Victor Galli. “We’ve also always wanted to make sure our kids had a good meal before going to bed. So we got this started, and been doing it for 14 years now.”
For Galli’s first 13 seasons, the Pirates practiced at night on Wednesdays, but switched to Tuesdays this year, for a better fit with other after-school programs such as study hall and tutoring. The players are also fed on Fridays, ensuring that at least two nights per week, no player leaves Pirate Stadium with an empty stomach.
Over the years, the weekly routine has grown into a community event, bringing together former Pittsburg players and parents, community members who use it as an opportunity to bond with the current student-athletes and continue to give back to the school where they spent their formative years.
And the Pittsburg Unified School District is doing its part along with the football program, providing healthy meals during the day and even during its after-school programs, as part of California’s ‘Healthy School Lunch’ program. Galli made sure to also credit Child Nutrition Services director Matt Belasco as one of the agents of positive change in the community, helping to ensure that student-athletes who spend hours depleting the nutrients in their systems are getting proper nutrition on a daily basis.
But back to those night practices and the dinners that follow them. We’re not talking about your average pasta night here. Instead, a full crew of alumni man the barbecue grills, led by Head Grillmaster Frank Myers. And after talking to Galli, I’m pretty tempted to accept his offer of becoming an attendee at the night practices and dinners. Pirate student-athletes and coaches are treated to a feast of tri-tip, hot links, chicken, beans, and whatever else you can name which could fit into this menu.
Galli requires just one small thing of his teams in order to participate in these regular dinners.
“I tell my teams that in order for us to have these dinners, they need to stay hungry,” Galli said. “Hungry for success on the field, hungry for success in the classroom and the community. That way, I know they’ll be hungry after those practices.”
For a behind the scenes video detailing a close look at these night practices and the dinners, click here. Be aware, though - it may cause you to run out to the nearest barbecue joint and order mass amounts of food.
This cast looks familiar . . . Each division champion from the last three years is still alive in this season’s North Coast Section playoffs. You have to go all the way back to 2011, and Division V champion Hoopa Valley, to find a section champion not in the current field.
Five unbeatens remain . . . Antioch, Foothill, Analy, Fortuna, and Fort Bragg remain as the only unbeaten teams in the section. And the ironic part about that is none of those teams are top seeds in their respective divisions.
Antioch and Foothill could be on a collision course to meet in the Division I semifinals, while Analy is seeded below defending Division III state champion Campolindo, and Fortuna and Fort Bragg are both in the Division IV bracket, where Marin Catholic and Cardinal Newman are favorites to meet in the final.
We say our farewells . . . Three of the top ten rushers in the section ended their seasons and high school careers last weekend. Pinole Valley’s Michael Kyle finished with 1,770 yards for the season, but bowed out with a loss to Windsor. With him went the Spartans’ standout dual-threat quarterback, Troyante McConico, who ran and passed for over 1,000 yards each for the second straight year.
Livermore Valley Prep’s Austin Brown finished his year with 1,761 yards and 19 touchdowns, while Piner’s Jose Ramirez finished with 1,500 yards and 19 touchdowns.
First round mismatches . . . I know we’ve already broached this subject earlier in the week, but the total numbers are staggering. In addition to the fact that just two of the 29 games last week were decided by seven points or less, we also saw two teams in the same division score 70 points, four more score over 60, and a handful of others break the 50-point barrier. But if you want to measure competitiveness, then let’s measure each division.
In Division V, the three games last week had a combined score of 146-0. In Division IV, the average margin of victory was 29.4 points per game, and that was in a division where the top ten seeds all had eight or more regular-season wins.
In Division III, the average margin was nearly 31 points per game, while the top three seeds had their starters play a half or less. In Division II, all but one of the games was decided by at least 30 points, while two games had 56-point spreads. And the one game that was decided by less than 30 featured two late scores for the losing team.
Even in Division I, the average margin of victory in the first round was 23 points per game, and that is including California’s one-point win over James Logan.
The good news is that things promise to be much more competitive this round, when all those teams who traveled the easy road last week get to meet on the field this week.
