The Best in Silicon Valley football ready to strap on pads one
more time
By Jimmy Durkin
San Jose – There are a lot of things to get excited about when preparing to play in the Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football game, be it the game’s history, the quality of the players participating or trying to represent the North or the South and earn a victory.
But ultimately, the game provides the opportunity for the best players in the Silicon Valley to strap on the pads one final time as a high school football player.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. Just to put the pads on, get them broken in again, get the headaches again,” said Live Oak graduate Nathan Goldie, who will play linebacker for the South squad.
Goldie is joined on the South team by former Acorn teammates Dustin Muhn and Jason Romero, as well as former rival Bobby Best of Gilroy.
“We had a big, ol’ rivalry with Gilroy so to be playing with (Best), it’s cool, but it gets kind of weird in a way,” Goldie said. “But it’s definitely fun.”
Best, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound center and defensive lineman, missed practice all of last week after having minor surgery to remove a cyst on the back of his neck, which formed where the weight bar rests on his neck while doing squats.
“Doctors say as long as they fight the infection well, with the good trainers we have here, we’ll pad it up, and I’ll be good to play maybe a quarter or a half,” Best said.
The cyst first began forming more than two weeks ago and eventually became swollen and got infected, forcing doctors to remove it.
“It’s already feeling better, though,” Best said after practice last week. “It’s just great being here because everyone is here because they want to be here. It’s just great to play some football after not playing for so long. It’s something that I want to do. Just standing here on the sideline, I want to get in there. I want to hit someone.”
Romero, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound offensive and defensive lineman who has been filling in at the center position for Best at practice, said it’s strange to be on the same team as a former rival, but that the mutual desire to earn a victory outweighs those feelings.
“It’s kind of weird at first playing with these guys like Bobby – long-time rivals,” Romero said. “But we’re all playing for one cause and that’s beat the North.”
Muhn, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound running back who will play rugby at Cal next season, hopes to take advantage of his final game as a high school football player.
“You’ve got to be patient, because there’s a lot of guys out here that are going to get the ball, and when you finally do get the ball just show what you’ve got,” said Muhn, who was a first-team All-Tri-County Athletic League performer and the league’s Most Valuable Utility Player last season.
“I want to score at least once, but each play that I’m in, I want to just run everything right, not screw anything up. I want to just enjoy my last game and end on a good note,” he said.
Valley Christian fullback Travis Nilmeyer, who lives in Morgan Hill, is excited to finally have a chance to play with his hometown friends.
Nilmeyer grew up playing Pop Warner football with Goldie and youth baseball with Muhn.
He also worked out with Live Oak during the summer prior to his freshman year before transferring to Valley Christian.
“Not very many kids have the opportunity to win a CCS Championship and then come out and play in an All-Star game,” Nilmeyer said. “I’m actually finally getting to play with my friends from Morgan Hill and all the other kids from the (West Catholic Athletic League) that I got to play with during the season.”
Goldie, a 6-foot-0, 210-pound linebacker, appreciates the chance to play in the same game as Jeff Ulbrich, another former Live Oak linebacker and current San Francisco 49er.
“To play in a game that Jeff Ulbrich played in is just amazing,” Goldie said. “To know that he was doing the same stuff I was doing, it’s awesome.”
Kickoff at 7:30pm tonight at San Jose City College.
