Bay Area high school football is starting to lose games.
Leland has forfeited its road game on Friday night against Santa Teresa and Santa Cruz has done the same for its home game against McClymonds.
Both schools did so for similar reasons: Not enough healthy players.
Leland coach Anthony Herrera told the Bay Area News Group on Friday morning that his team only had 17 players available to suit up.
The news reached Santa Teresa coach Steve Papin early in the week.
“I looked all over the state, L.A., Reno, trying to find a game to cover it, and the only one that I could find Monday was Santa Cruz,” Papin said. “Then I reached out to Santa Cruz, and they didn’t respond to me until Tuesday that they couldn’t do it because they got rid of McClymonds. So they didn’t think they could do it because (it was) playing another A-league team.”
Papin said he reached out to McClymonds about scheduling a matchup but ultimately determined that preparing on short notice to play an opponent coming off a win over St. Francis wasn’t a good idea.
“As good as they are, to play them on short notice would have been suicide for us,” Papin said. “They’re so big up front. Why subject my team – even though I want to play – (unless) I knew I had a week in advance to prepare or get ready? And then they were gracious, they said they’d come to us and all that. But two days notice to play a team like that, that’s rough.”
McClymonds coach Michael Peters did not respond to a request for comment on the Warriors’ forfeit win and possible rescheduling of their lost game.
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Santa Teresa’s bye week is in two weeks, but Papin indicated he plans to keep the date open to rest his players ahead of the Saints’ Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division opener at Live Oak.
“We were looking into that,” Papin said. “But to be honest with you, I like where my bye is at, because we play Live Oak the next week. So it gives us a chance to get an extra week to prepare for Live Oak, because they’re pretty good.”
Papin was disappointed that Santa Teresa likely will finish the regular season with just nine games. But with the way the Saints (now 4-0) have opened the year, it’s a virtual lock they’ll make the playoffs and get at least 10 games on the field this season.
“That’s the plan,” Papin said. “We can’t predict it, but the way things are going, I think we got a pretty good team to where we should get at least 10.”
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