GILROY—Any doubts about Christopher have been wiped away. The Cougars were dominate on both sides of the ball in their 48-14 pummeling of Live Oak on Sept. 12 at home. The offense, which produced just 12 points against Sobrato, racked up 390 yards on the Acorns—365 of which came in the air.
Quarterback Matt Adamkiewicz and running back Raul Tovar stole the show, accounting for all seven of the team’s TDs. Adamkiewicz connected with Max Sanford for two scores and Anthony Sammut for one. Tovar had only 25 yards rushing, but punched the ball in three times from short distances and intercepted Erik Ornduff’s pass for a 15-yard pick six.
The defense forced three turnovers—two interceptions and a fumble recovery—and sacked Ornduff five times. Jacob Moen and Jacob Zimmerman each had 1.5 sacks in the game.
Now comes the real test.
The Cougars are hitting the road for the first time this season to face a Carmel team which derailed last year’s perfect start with a 48-21 loss in Week 3. The Padres have gotten off to a rocky start, losing 30-7 to Palma in Week 1 and 61-29 to Salinas last week, but don’t let their record fool you.
Carmel racked up 448 yards of total offense against Salinas and 259 of those came from quarterback Connor Marden. He hit his receivers for three touchdowns and averaged 10.8 yards in the game. Christopher coach Tim Pierleoni said he’s confident in his defense’s ability to contain the Padres, but said it can’t underestimate its opponent.
“For us to think they’re an 0-2 team that’s not very good is foolish,” Pierleoni said. “Any defense that tries to stop everything will end up stopping nothing. They’re definitely coached well enough to know what we do well and be able to stop what we do well. We’re going to have do some stuff that maybe we’re not as comfortable doing, but that’s what this week of practice is about.”
Pierleoni said the coaching staff has been tirelessly watching film in hopes of knowing Carmel better than it knows itself—especially when it comes to its defense. The Padres run complicated and “exotic” defensive fronts, Pierleoni said, and the game could be decided by whether or not the O-line can hold up against them.
“We’ve got to be really sound with everything that we’re doing,” Pierleoni said. “That’s what we’re really, really, really, really trying to work on is making sure we’re sound with our protection and sound with our blocking schemes. That way we can go in and make some plays when we have a chance, otherwise we’re going to be in trouble.”
Mistakes and turnovers will be key against Carmel. Christopher had four personal foul penalties in four plays against Live Oak, something it can’t afford to do this week. The Cougars, Pierleoni said, need to play with not only their bodies, but their minds, too.
“This will definitely be our biggest test without a doubt,” he said. “They’re probably the best team we’ve played and it’s a great test of us. We schedule these guys because for this reason: they’re such a good football team and they’re well coached and it’s a great challenge for us.”
Christopher will play at Carmel at 2 p.m. Saturday.
