Coach’s Corner: Detroit was a mess when Jeff was a Lion
Editor’s Note: Below is a questions and answers column running each Tuesday called “Coach’s Corner.” Sports editor Josh Koehn and former Gavilan football coach Bob Garcia, father of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia, will talk about all things football. Check in each Tuesday throughout the football season to read Garcia’s thoughts and feel free to comment or ask a question that can be answered in future articles.
Koehn: Everything I read said Jeff’s legs carried the day?
Garcia: It was an unbelievable football game. Minnesota is a pretty good football team, but boy I tell you, it wasn’t the same (Bucs) team we saw when they came out against Kansas City. Defensively, they came after Minnesota and held Peterson to 84 yards.
G: Jeff had a great game and the local newspapers, and a matter of fact, Gruden was saying this may be Jeff’s best game as a Buccaneer. He bought so much time with his legs running all over…
K: Now Jeff is 4-1 as a starter and he gets to play my team, the terrible Detroit Lions. How good does this set up for Tampa Bay the rest of the way?
G: Well, you know what, every week is a battle. You can’t overlook anybody. Even though they haven’t won a game, the thing is, they’re playing better with Daunte Culpepper. But the main thing is [the Bucs] need to come in ready and be prepared.
K: Does Jeff have any extra motivation playing against a former team that kind of made him look bad, more than it was a reflection of his skills? Read the rest of this entry »
Coach’s Corner: Tampa on bye, GHS kisses undefeated season goodbye
Editor’s Note: Below is a questions and answers column running each Tuesday called “Coach’s Corner.” Sports editor Josh Koehn and former Gavilan football coach Bob Garcia, father of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia, will talk about all things football. Check in each Tuesday throughout the football season to read Garcia’s thoughts and feel free to comment or ask a question that can be answered in future articles. (This column ran in the Nov. 11 edition of he Dispatch)
Koehn: Lets start with the Gilroy game since Jeff is on bye this week.
Garcia: Okay.
K: They fell apart.
G: So they got beat by (North) Salinas. Hey, you know what, we’re not robots. We’re not made to do the same thing over and over. We’re human beings. We have to think, we have to react. We have to perform and sometimes were not up to it.
G: You know, Tuesday night I met with (Gilroy coach Rich) Hammond, I’m coaching the Barnstormers—
K: Wait. So you’re going to do that?
G: Yeah, I was there (for tryouts) Saturday and I’m gonna be doing some offensive coordinating and stuff. So, I like some of the things Hammond does and we met with him … just asked him about, ‘How you do this? How you do that?’ I really like some of the stuff he does. I really think it’s innovative. And the thing about it, he was saying, ‘We have some good ballplayers, but some of our players are average. And we’re gonna do things that we think they can have success at. We’re gonna put them in a position to succeed.’ Hey, if they get run over every play, they’re not going to succeed. So he’s doing a great job. Read the rest of this entry »
Coach’s Corner: Bucs’ win had coach’s heart pounding
Editor’s Note: Below is a questions and answers column running each Tuesday called “Coach’s Corner.” Sports editor Josh Koehn and former Gavilan football coach Bob Garcia, father of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia, will talk about all things football. Check in each Tuesday throughout the football season to read Garcia’s thoughts and feel free to comment or ask a question that can be answered in future articles.
Koehn: Bobby, it’s Josh Koehn.
Garcia: Hey Josher! What’s happening?
K: Not much, how you doing?
G: Well, we’re in a better mood this week.
K: Right, that was a heck of a win (for Tampa Bay), 21-point comeback.
G: Sheesh, I tell you what, I nearly had a heart attack. Matter of fact, when Jeff called after the game he goes, ‘Hey, dad, did you almost have a heart attack?’
I said, ‘Heart attack? I was pissed (the whole game). What did you guys think you were gonna do, show up and they’d roll over and play dead.’ I said you guys looked like crap because the whole game defensively — breakdowns — and offensively — couldn’t get nothing going.
And he said, ‘Yeah, but when it counted we pulled it out.’
I said, ‘You know what, a ‘W’ is a ‘W.’ It doesn’t matter if its purdy, ugly, whatever.’ That last drive to tie it up, that was amazing… Read the rest of this entry »
State football rankings (10/29/08)
Below are the latest high school state football rankings, according to CalHiSports.com.
Things are starting to fall into place for Gilroy making a state bowl game appearance, assuming the Mustangs can continue to stay undefeated. Following a 60-14 win over Allisal, Gilroy (7-0) has moved up to the highest ranking in school history, 18. Gilroy was ranked 19 last week.
The climb came on the heels of fellow Central Coast Section member Bellarmine (No. 3 last week) being upset by Serra (23), following a Bells (now ranked 19) victory over Valley Christian (20) a week before.
Oak Grove (No. 
and Gilroy now have control over their fate. One of the two would be the clear-cut favorite to represent the North in the Open Division bowl game if Gilroy or Oak Grove went into the playoffs flawless and then ran the table in the three-round tournament.
(Previous ranking in parentheses)
1. (1) Poly (Long Beach) 7-0
2. (2) Centennial (Corona) 7-0
3. (4) De La Salle (Concord) 6-1
4. (5) Oceanside 7-0
5. (6) St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 6-1
6. (7) Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 7-0
7. (8) Los Alamitos 7-0
8. (9) Oak Grove (San Jose) 7-0
9. (10) Granite Bay 7-0
10. (11) Grant (Sacramento) 7-0
11. (12) Crespi (Encino) 6-1
12. (13) Oaks Christian (Westlaike Village) 7-0
13. (15) Bishop Amat (La Puente) 6-1
14. (14) Redlands East Valley (Redlands) 7-0
15. (17) Lutheran (Orange) 6-1
16. (18) Monte Vista (Danville) 7-0
17. (21) Tesoro (Las Flores) 7-0
18. (19) Gilroy 7-0
19. (3) Bellarmine (San Jose) 6-1
20. (23) Valley Christian (San Jose) 6-1
21. (24) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 7-0
22. (20) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 6-1
23. (nr) Junipero Serra (San Mateo) 4-3
24. (nr) Chaparral (Temecula) 6-1
25. (22) Edison (Huntington Beach) 5-2
Read the rest of this entry »
Coach’s Corner: Hammond could teach San Jose State’s coaches a thing or two
Editor’s Note: Below is our weekly questions and answers column running each Tuesday called “Coach’s Corner.” Sports editor Josh Koehn and former Gavilan football coach Bob Garcia, father of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia, will talk about all things football. Check in each Tuesday throughout the football season to read Garcia’s thoughts and feel free to comment or ask a question that can be answered in future articles.
Koehn: So, how you doing?
Garcia: Well, the darn Cowboys took it to us.
K: I saw just the end of the game. It looked like Tampa had a chance to win but just came up short.
G: You gotta give [Dallas] a lot of credit. Their defense put a lot of pressure on Jeff.
K: They were coming after him from what I read. They were blitzing heavy the whole game.
G: Yeah, they didn’t really give [Jeff] an opportunity to set up, but they had an opportunity to win, so what the heck. What can you say, you know? And that Roy Williams made a nice catch with, what, two seconds in the half. … That was the game.
You just gotta regroup and get ready for Kansas City next week. [The Bucs] played pretty well, but offensively, god, we haven’t been able to run the ball the last two games.
K: The numbers I saw were pretty poor.
G: Well they’ve been poor for quite a while, even against Denver. Jeff said, ‘Hey, they stayed in that Cover 2 and we tried to run the ball but we [couldn’t].’ There’s no openings. I’m watching other teams where, shit, the guy is just running through a hole into the secondary. But our guys have a tough time getting through the line of scrimmage. Read the rest of this entry »
