Milpitas may be the most dominant team in the entire Central Coast Section, but the Trojans won’t be taking Salinas lightly on Friday. Since Milpitas handed Salinas a 27-0 defeat back on September 15, the Cowboys have rolled to ten straight wins, capturing the MBL Gabilan title en route to the CCS Open Division I Championship Game, set for Friday night at Independence HS.
Milpitas has reached the Division I title game in each of the last two years but has come up short in those efforts. In 2015, Bellarmine handed the Trojans a 26-13 loss, and Menlo-Atherton shut out Milpitas last year, 17-0. The 2017 playoff run has been a sort of revenge tour for the Trojans, who have knocked off the Bells and Bears en route to the championship game.
Perhaps the most difficult part of preparing for the Cowboys is the multitude of weapons that Salinas (10-2) brings to the table. While Brett Reade will often throw to Kelly McDermott, the Cowboys have turned to nine different receivers on the year. The running game is even more varied, with 18 different players registering carries on the season. While depth is to be expected from a team that carries more than 80 players on the roster, to have so many prominent contributors is nearly unheard of.
While Milpitas’ roster is by no means small, with 54 players suiting up for the Trojans, the spotlight will be squarely on a few major contributors to shine on Friday night. Tyree Bracy has thrown for 22 touchdowns and accounted for another seven on the ground. His brother Tariq has been a menace on the ground, rushing for 1,280 yards and 17 touchdowns. Tariq has also caught 12 passes on the season, but the key receiving threat is tight end Tuni Faletau Fifita, who has 32 catches for 663 yards and ten touchdowns.
Defensively, it’s been a much more balanced effort for a Milpitas team that has allowed a section-low 78 points on the year. Christian Garcia leads the Trojans with 52 solo tackles, but six other players have at least 30. The defense has forced 27 turnovers, with Donoven Moore responsible for four of the team’s 17 interceptions.
Salinas knows the capabilities of the Milpitas defense as well as anyone. While the Trojans have shut out three opponents on the year, Salinas is arguably the most powerful of those teams.
The 27-0 victory was actually Milpitas’ second-closest regular season game, with only a 25-point win over Wilcox providing a closer margin. The postseason has been a different tune for the Trojans. After a 28-point win over Bellarmine, Milpitas was tied 7-7 with Menlo-Atherton at halftime and had to fight off a late charge after opening up a 19-point lead. While they’ve mainly played blowout games over the course of the season, Milpitas (12-0) finally has experience in some tighter contests.
