Varsity football is ready to compete in the North Coast Section (NCS) playoffs. Undefeated throughout the regular season, the Cougars have been seeded 2nd in the tournament bracket, behind top ranked Marin Catholic.
According to Head Coach Kevin Macy, the toughest playoff competition will be Acalanes and El Cerrito. “It is very difficult to say what is going to happen at NCS because North Coast is forcing us to play two teams we have already played, and when we played them, it was with Philip Rei, who is now not playing because of an injury,” said Macy.
According to senior wide receiver Justin Dunn, the first game will be against Acalanes in single game elimination. “Definitely this week, because we have a bye, Coach Macy has been pushing us, having us do a lot of push-ups, and he’s been getting us pumped up and motivated. We are playing Acalanes which is our rival school so he is trying to instill a little anger in us,” said Dunn.
If Campo wins the first playoff game against the Dons, a highly touted El Cerrito team should be the next in line.
“We played them before so they will definitely want revenge. I’m looking forward to that game and I hope we can get there. It would be really excited to get to see them and play in the NCS championship,” said Dunn.
Sterling Strother believes in his team. “We can play with anybody as long as we play up to our ability,” he said.
“It’s going to be hard but I hope we can survive our next two games so we can have a shot at North Coast. North Coast has done a lot to make sure we don’t play Marin Catholic and that’s our goal: to get a chance to play them,” said Macy.
According to Dunn, Campolindo will be ready if they make it to the NCS championships and face Marin Catholic. “After beating Acalanes and El Cerrito, I would feel very confident playing Marin Catholic. They are a good team but if we get to that point, we will be so tested and have had to beat two teams in the playoffs that I will be very confident in our ability to win,” he said.
“Every team brings something new and if we underestimate them, they are all very capable of winning,” Strother said.
Macy believes the key players in their playoff run will be seniors Andrew Zolintakis, Justin Dunn, Nick Fadelli, Tyler Petite and Hunter Rosenbaum. In addition to the varsity regular season roster, 8 JV players and 4 freshmen have moved up to the squad for the playoffs.
According to Strother, the team is going back to the fundamentals to prepare. “We are going hard in practice, making sure we take everything seriously and have no messing around,” said Strother.
“During practice, you never know if Thursday before the game will be your last practice so everyone practices like it could be their last and Coach Macy definitely reminds us of that. That is motivation to win even more because you never want it to end. Football is different from other sports. Football there is a brotherhood,” said Dunn.
