Rodriguez falls in playoff rout
SACRAMENTO — Some late fireworks from the Rodriguez High football team saved Thursday night’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff opener from being a total disaster.
As it was, the Mustangs (5-6) fell 57-13 to Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove at Community Stadium at Sheldon High.
The Eagles (10-1) had little trouble with the Mustangs for most of the night — until the final 5 minutes of play.
With Pleasant Grove leading 57-0 and the Rodriguez offense having been stagnant in the second half, the Mustangs broke loose on a fake handoff to running back Myles Burton, who dove right, drawing nearly the entire Eagles defense to him.
Quarterback Jordan Riggins, meanwhile scrambled left, dodged a pair of would-be tacklers and raced 75 yards to pay dirt, getting Rodriguez on the board with 5:12 left on the clock.
“That’s a play that’s really come around for us lately,” said Rodriguez coach Jason Ott. “Burton does a great job of selling it — it confuses our coaches in practice, too. Riggins rides it well, too.”
That made it 57-7 after Kaitlin Christ’s extra point.
Six plays into the ensuing possession, Pleasant Drove’s Devin Ericson rushed up the middle from his own 45, but the ball squirted loose and Rodriguez’s Mickey Thompson was right there to grab the ball and rumble 50 yards for the score making it 57-13 after Christ’s kick missed low.
“Mickey’s been around the ball all season,” Ott said. “We’ve worked on that a lot too — scoop and score.”
Ultimately, the Mustangs, the 15th seed in Division I, knew what they were up against in the Eagles, who are No. 2 in the section. Pleasant Grove is also ranked third in the Division I North bowl rankings behind De La Salle of Concord and Bellarmine of San Jose.
“That’s a powerhouse team,” Ott said. “There’s a reason they’re so good. You can tell they work extremely hard in the weight room. They’re bigger than us at every position.”
Ott, wrapping his first season at the helm, said that gives himself and his coaching staff motivation to build a program with similar work ethic and traditions.
“We know what we have to work on,” he said.
Early on it was apparent that the Eagles would dominate the game.
Pleasant Grove running back Mark Jenkins gave Rodriguez fits all night, finishing with 146 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns.
Eagles quarterback Cody Demps aired it out for 167 yards on 12 of 16 passing with no interceptions.
All told, the Eagles racked up 463 yards to the Mustangs’ 199.
Burton was responsible for 58 yards on the ground on 14 carries. Riggins passed for just 13 yards, but gained half his teams yards with 100 on the ground — most coming on his TD run.
Jenkins scored the first two TDs of the game, with runs of 1 and 2 yards in the first quarter.
A flurry of scoring in the second quarter made it 30-0 at the break.
Pleasant Grove added a safety when a Rodriguez punt snap sailed through the end zone with 11:13 to play.
Brandon Lewis then ran the ensuing free kick back 75 yards for a touchdown, and two possessions later, D.J. Dunn hauled in a 45-yard pass from Demps for the 30-0 lead.
Three unanswered touchdowns in the third made it 50-0 with a quarter to play.
Ott was pleased with his first season with the Mustangs.
“All year, we kept our motto of ‘Get better and compete,’ ” he said. “I’m happy with the guys and the way they accepted me as their coach.”
Now the focus shifts to the offseason and building for the future.
Reach Mike Corpos at 427-6979, or mcorpos@dailyrepublic.net.
Short URL: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/?p=107115
Posted by Mike Corpos
on Nov 10 2011.
Filed under High school, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
It is time for Rodriguez High School to find another football coach. Mr. Ott has been a disaster this year. It is sad that he thinks that the boys accepted him.It is a sad end to a sad season.
T-dub where are your comments coming from?? Are you a disgruntled player? Parent of a non playing player? Or do you have some inside info? Sour grapes because your team made it to the playoffs and lost shouldn’t get the coach fired. Look at poor Armijo and Fairfield High Schools losing seasons but the coaches are still there….Maybe you should give your first-year Varsity a coach a chance- after all Rod High can’t always win everything!!
To Trish Hamilton:
Sounds like jealousy to me with your “after all Rod can’t always win”, comment. You obviously were not involved in this situation this year. For everyone that was involved in it, we could see it was a total disaster.
Dub not sure if that means dub sack or wheels on a vehicle. Yes, it time for another coach let’s make it five in five years that’s what everyone wants Rod to make the state title for. Most coaches in a school open for ten years. You parents don’t get it and you never will. You’ll be at your sons junior college wanting a coaching change because you and the coach don’t see things in the same lite. Maybe, you try and get your boss fired, nevermind your boss is probably the government.Handouts. Ah, entitled dads make entitled kids that can’t tackle, can’t catch, can’t run routes, can’t throw, just run fast and blame their confusion on their coaches for fundamentals that can’t be taught due to inept youth coaches and parents that are clueless and unable to teach them themselfs.
to allota vagina:
Your comment should just be thrown out simply because of the imature name you chose for this article.
Ah, you must be another one of those angry parents, from another school, that has nothing to do with Rod, or knowing these players or parents, or the school for that matter, but you all love to jump on the band wagon when you might get a chance to put down a school or kids that you just don’t like. We see it all the time, hear it all the time, the only conclcusion I can come to is that your angry because Rod has a lot of talent, and it’s a newer school, and it’s surrounded by parents that care about what goes on with their kids and their education. Sorry for having it a little better than you do. Try not to be so anrgy.
All i know is, Coach ott is the worst coach in football history, and I dare anyone to try and prove that he’s not. He couldnt even coach a pop-warner team. He is the ABSOLUTE WORST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
excuse me trish hamilton. Noone wanted to give coach bent a chance when he ended 6-d, but yet you all want to give coach ott a chance when he ends 5-6. He was absolutely terrible. He had a decent record because he had a team with a tremendous amount of athletes. He was by far the worst football coach I have ever seen and he doesnt deserve to coach any football team across the country because he would ruin them just like he ruined rodriguez.
Bent, Bent couldn’t run a hotdog stand and had no control or disipline over boostets, kids, or parents oh nevermind they can’t be controlled they,drink too much. I love the statements that the program is being ruined, its being ruined according to dumb, clueless parents,boosters, and administration. When you can’t keep coaches for at least four years you will never see the potential. Pay attention a program goes as such, hiring coaches, hard to do with no stipends, coaching clinics,weight training with structure and coaches that can demonstrate the proper form,not curls,and half squats on the field, then proceeded by passing leagues, then followed by a football camp. Give the coach that and you will see better results. Also, their preseason is a joke that they are not ready for see they play real programs.And you can’t compete with real programs Rod has not been a good program since Fishleigh won D3 with D1 enrollment. Go do you homework. A program a program to this school is a pamplet you sell before the game.
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excuse me wake up. u really do need 2 wake up because coach bent has a number of athletes go 2 the next level. James michael Johnson is at nevada and is about to go pro. Mike Johnson is at unlv. Anthony Riggins is at fresno st. Marcel jenson is at fresno st. Myles caralock is at southern utah. Konner bent is at mid-america. And lets not forget the pro. steve johnson who is on the buffalo bills. Everyone of these athletes came back to visit coach bent, but they never came to see that lame excuse of a man in coach ott because he has done absolutely nothing for anybody. He hasnt had a single scout at a single practice. Coach bent has had a number of scouts out there. You can even ask the team Coach NOTT!!! just gt dun “coaching”. Not a single athlete was happy out there. So Ive done my research and if you have anything else to say, I will gladly shut your statement down once again.
With RHS being a D1 school (2000+students) there should always be a good group of talent. The RHS Administration has failed at keeping coaches in place, as well as the FUSD. Opening up head coaching positions in June (of any year) is too late as Football begins in January with weight training/Spring ball etc. RHS will get subpar head coaching the way they hire. Any “knowledgeable smart coach” will need a 3year deal to rebuild this program. Making coaches re-apply every year is ill advised. But the way FUSD hires and unless they change hiring practice coaching round robin will continue. About the coaches the last three years…Fred Kelly- who came from the Sac state was on the right path, was promised a teaching job and left because RHS didnt come through. John Bent, who had been there for years as Frosh/JV coach was hired with the help of parents and boosters. John was also on the right path and should have been allowed to stay but it was ONLY the RHS administration who said no ( according to state law, a accredited teacher has first dibs on a opening) John had total support of boosters/parents and the players loved him. Jason Ott while not his fault for appling for a job in June had missed opportunities as well as trying to assemble a coaching staff basically in July. He came into a already sensitive situation and rather than embrace the football family at RHS, he closed everyone out and micro managed the program. The kids did not want to play for Ott and many of the Seniors quit mid season and the others were miserable. There are always good and bad with any coach, and a football coach needs time to build a successful program with weight/conditioning. training/coaching clinics/player continuity/a good staff and financial support. No one will want to coach RHS football without some type of multiyear deal.
TO T-DUB,
YOU ARE RIGHT, IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER COACH, AND IT IS SAD THAT OTT THINKS THE BOYS ACCEPTED HIM. THEY WERE ALL JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS. IT WAS A TRULY SAD SAD SEASON. PUTTING ALL FOOTBALL ASIDE, THIS COACH CREATED A DEPRESSING AND NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENT FROM WHAT I WATCHED ALL SEASON. ALL PARENTS THAT I KNOW WHERE NOT HAPPY TO SEE BENT LEAVE, BUT THE COMMENTS WHEN OTT FIRST GOT THERE, WHERE “MAYBE THIS WILL BE A GOOD THING, WE’VE HEARD GREAT THINGS ABOUT THIS COACH.” TRUTH IS, PARENTS AND PLAYERS WANTED OTT TO SUCCEED, WE ARE TIRED OF HAVING NEW COACHES EVERY YEAR, BUT IT DIDN’T HAPPEN THAT WAY. I TOO HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED ANY THING AS BAD AS THIS SEASON FROM A COACH. IT TRULY WAS A BRUTALLY LONG SEASON. I HAVE NEVER SEEN MY KID HAPPY WHEN A SEASON WAS OVER, HE WAS ALWAY A LITTLE TEARED UP THAT IT WAS THE LAST GAME, EMOTIONS RUN HIGH WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR NOT GOING TO GET TO PLAY FOR 9 MORE MONTHS. BUT THIS SEASON, WHEN THESE BOYS GOT OUT OF THE LOCKER ROOM AFTER THE LAST GAME AGAINST PLEASANT GROVE, THERE WERE PLENTY OF SMILES THAT WE HADN’T SEEN IN A LONG TIME. COMING OUT OF THE LOCKER ROOM ALL SEASON, WIN OR LOOSE, YOU GOT THE SAME REACTION, JUST SADNESS, UNTIL THAT LAST GAME WAS OVER, THEN THE SMILES WERE BACK. AND TO ALL THOSE PARENTS WHO ARE STATING COMMENTS LIKE, “YOU MUST BE PARENTS WHO ARE DISGRUNTLED BECAUSE YOUR KID DIDN’T PLAY,” OR, “THESE KIDS ARE PRIVELEDGED AND SPOILED,” WELL, ALL I HAVE TO SAY TO YOU IS, YOU OBVIOUSLY WEREN’T INVOLVED IN THIS SEASON’S TRUE CAOS CREATED BY THIS COACH.