Christopher is happy that it is finally seeing success on the football field, but the Cougars aren’t taking much pleasure seeing a team that is struggling to find some wins.
The Cougars scored 33 points in first quarter against Pajaro Valley ultimately winning 46-8.
“We’ve been in that position before the last two years. We’ve been in that same position. We know how hard that is,” said coach Tim Pierleoni.
The Cougars the last two years won four games combined playing in the Gabilan Division, getting blown out in most games.
“I’m looking forward for next year for them get in lower league and have success,” Pierleoni said. “It’s no fun what they’re going through. We’ve been there last few years.”
But Pierleoni was very pleased that his younger players got to see some playing time and get some experience ahead of some grueling games that are still to come.
“We try to play as many young kids as possible and give as many young kids experience as we could. It was a good opportunity for lot of the backups to get playing time.”
Quarterback Ben Sanford was held out of the game under concerns for an injured ankle he suffered against Carmel. Pierleoni said there was no need to put him at risk against Pajaro Valley and instead opted to go with Connor O’Callaghan who is Sanford’s backup coming off a solid JV run a year a go.
“He makes Ben better and that’s a really good thing,” Pierleoni said. “They’re buddies. They hang out off the field. Ben was on the sideline for him whole time.”
O’Callaghan was conservative in his passing, throwing for 72 yards on 13 of 14 completions and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile runningback Tyler Davis ran for 106 yards and a score.
Jon Scarcella ran for 61 yards with a touchdown and AJ Gomez went for 59 yards and a TD.
Now the focus shifts to North Monterey County who is mired in a 1-4 season, suffering four blow out losses, including a 35-7 loss to Watsonville last Friday.
Pierleoni said he hopes that the backups can continue to get some playing time ahead of a murderer’s row of teams still to come starting with Gilroy on Oct. 6.
“It would be nice if can do that,” Pierleoni said of playing the reserves. “But we can never take them for granted, of course. They’re struggling little bit too. I hope outcome similar to Pajaro so that the kids can play and enjoy themselves.”
North County’s lone win came against a struggling Marina team on Sept. 8, defeating the Mariners 30-15.
But apart from that, it has been a tough road for the Condors. They fell 40-0 to Alvarez, 42-7 against Monte Vista Christian and 40-0 to Carmel before kicking off league play.
Christopher laid a 41-14 hurt on Carmel when they played earlier this season.
Still, Pierleoni is not taking the game lightly.
He said there is still a bunch of little things to clean up, especially if they are going to make a run at a possible league title.
And the team needs to play a solid brand of football so it doesn’t fall into a trap game against NMC while looking ahead to Gilroy on Oct. 6.
“We’ve been on collision course for Gilroy since we got into the new league,” Pierleoni said. “We know it. They know it. We don’t hide it. We’re looking forward to that challenge.”
But first they need to win this week starting at 7:30 p.m. in Castroville.
“We’re going to focus on North Monterey County and get better and will be excited to play Gilroy next,” Pierleoni said.
