Football players, coaches talk at Media Day

By Mike Finnerty

mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com

The CIF Sac Joaquin Section office held it's annual Media Day banquet at the Alumni Center on the campus of Sacramento State University Sunday evening.

As always, this is a chance for players and coaches who are participating in section football championship games to meet with the media, members of the section office, as well as to talk to one another.

SureWest Sports' Mike Finnerty caught up with several players and coaches at today's event and here is what they had to say.

(Full length video interviews will air Tuesday on SureWestSports.com)

Bobby Heatherington - Del Oro (quarterback)

"We have a whole new team this year, a lot of new players that are filling in spots from last year’s seniors. Oakdale, they have new players, we don’t know what they have, so just getting ready for film sessions."

"This is a big game. I think it’s going to turn into a pretty big rivalry. Met them last year, took them out, so we’re just going to come out and do the same thing."

"We are going one game at a time, so however it goes down Friday night, then we can talk about what’s to come next."

(Key to winning game) Control the ball, no turnovers. A great defense.

Alex Bertrando - Del Oro (linebacker/tight end)

"Oakdale is a good team and we’re going to have our hands full this week. It’s going to be fun. We’re going to have a good time preparing for them. They run a really complicated offense, wing T, we’re just going to have to stay point on defense and get it done on offense."

"It’s (State Bowl) in the back of our minds, but we are trying to stay focused on the game ahead of us. It’s going to be a fun game. We play every week like it’s our last."

Casey Taylor - Del Oro head coach

"We’re real excited. We’ve have been working hard. It’s been our goal to get back here. We’re here, playing Oakdale, which was here last year. We have a great group of guys. Great character, they’ve been working hard, great senior leadership. You work all year from January on in the weight room to have an opportunity to win a section title. We just feel fortunate to be here."

"We really feel good with our group. We feel its one of those special years. We’re hoping for a great performance Friday night."

"I think we have to take care of the ball offensively. We’ve been able to do that. We’ve been really good. Taking care of the football. Our defense has been getting better and better every week. The last months we’ve been nails. Last year when we played them they made a couple of mistakes and we pounced on them. It’s going to come down to who eliminates the big plays and runs the ball more effectively. I think both of us runs the ball real well and the team who can control the line of scrimmage and the team that can make the least mistakes that will win."

"When you start the year out it’s (State Bowl) where you would like to be, and I know we’re really close, but if you don’t win Friday it doesn’t matter. We’re real focused on that and we’ll deal with it on Saturday. We do feel we’ve had a great season and we’ve been ranked real high, and we feel that if we do win on Friday that we are a team that should be going down there. We’ve put together a great season, played great non-league, won a great league, played well in the playoffs, and if we win Friday we should represent Northern California in a State Bowl."

"I’m real excited. That’s what you do it for. To have an opportunity to go to our third section title in three years, and to play a great program like Oakdale on a Friday night in a packed house at Sac State, that’s what it’s all about. I really want it for our kids, a great group of guys, great character. They do things on and off the field. It’s just been a special group. The season has flown by and I really want it for them. When we were going through some tough times last year our senior guys really stepped up and righted the ship and we were really fortunate to win last year and this year. They have just done everything we have asked. I just hope they get the opportunity to bring it home Friday and after that."

Kris Richardson - Folsom head coach

"Vacaville is a great football program, with a great history. I have seen some tape of them already. They grind it out. Swarm to the ball really well. They score a lot of points and they average almost 450 yards a game. It’s a great challenge in front of us."

"We go in to just about every game with the same plan. If we can control the run and protect our quarterback, I like our chances."

"We’ve been down before this year, battled back, and won some football games. Tanner is going to do everything he can to put us in a successful position. He’s playing defense now, he’s on some special teams, and our defense has really stepped up."

"Early in the season we were playing a lot of different people to try and find the right pieces and we’ve found those guys now. We’re playing darned good run defense and Tanner’s been a stud all year, fun to watch."

Tanner Trosin - Folsom (quarterback)

"It’s been pretty good getting just getting a lot of experience from last year’s team, showing us how they did it last year with all the leaders we had on the team last year and it was a good learning experience for me so I just try to build up from that last season and do it this season."

"I haven’t really thought about it that much. I’m just trying to win the section championship. After the season, if that all that stuff comes, then I guess it’s just going to come."

"We need to prepare like crazy like we did last week, stay focused, get healthy and see how it goes Saturday."

J’Juan “MoJo” Muldrow - Folsom (WR, DB)

"We have to prepare harder than we did the previous weeks and just play our game and don’t do anything we haven’t practiced doing."

"We feel pretty confident, because if we play our game, I don’t think they’ll be able to hang with us. They are a great team also, so you can’t look passed them, so I think it will be a pretty good game."

Brendan Keeney - Granite Bay (quarterback)

"I’m excited that we finally got the chance to be in the big ball game at Sacramento State. Been working for it for three years, just my entire life, to be in the section championship is just an honor."

"We know they are big, physical, fast, athletic team, so we have to come out just as fast as they do, just execute, just try to out play them. They are a great team. We are in the section championship with them, so we have to play at our level with them."

Gavin Andrews - Granite Bay (OL)

"On offense we can’t be passive at all. We have to attack them. Defense needs to come out and hit hard. Keep our mind on our game, not they’re game."

"He’s (Arik Armstead) a great player. I give him that. He’s phenomenal. I hope I get the chance to play against him. Overall I think it’s going to be a great experience for me playing against someone at a high level like him."

Spencer Briare - Granite Bay (LB, TE)

"We’ve been playing together as kids for as long as I can remember. To grow up and to actually come to this stage where we are playing in a section championship with my buddies from third grade on, it’s a real privledge and we’re going to have fun."

"We like our chances and we don’t see ourselves as an underdog at all. We just like to come out every game, Grizzly pride. That means just hitting them under the chain, coming out hard, coming out fast."

Ernie Cooper - Granite Bay head coach 

"It’s been a wonderful experience. It’s been a real good group to work with. We’ve played a tough schedule and we’ve taken a couple of tough losses, Vacaville and Del Oro, and they hurt, but I think it made us a little tougher."

"Having played Lincoln of Stockton really helps us prepare for Pleasant Grove. Joe has done a great job. They are solid everywhere. They can do it all. This is a tough one, but we know we are playing the very best and it gets you competitive juices going."

"Our team has come together real nicely. We do have some kids that can get it done. We’re not going in with the cupboard bare, but Pleasant Grove is probably the top team in the section. We’re going to try and give them a competitive game."

Arik Armstead - Pleasant Grove (OL, DL)

"We had a tough loss earlier in the season. I think we grew from a lot from that, learned some things. It brought us to where we are at today and we’ve got a big game on Saturday and hopefully we come out prepared, play well, and hopefully everything goes good."

"I haven’t seen them personally or watched them on film yet, but I’ve heard they are an excellent team, with a good program. Balance with power running, and they can throw the ball too, a big line, so I think it will be an excellent game and we match up pretty well against them."

"My guys are pretty confident in our ability and I think we’ll be able to come out and play real well on Saturday."

Joe Cattolico

"I know a good amount about Granite Bay. We haven’t played them before, but I know Coach Cooper really well and I know he just a really good job with his program. does and outstanding job with his program. They are outstanding. I don’t think we’re going to stop them per say, but we have to try to make a couple more plays than they make. I think that will be the key, whichever team is able to get a couple breaks and make a couple of plays will probably be the team that wins the ball game."

"We’re a run first philosophy. We’ve thrown the ball really well this year. Cody has done a great job playing quarterback. He’s thrown for 21 touchdowns and only two or three interceptions, so we’ve had really good balance. We do believe in being able to come out and run the football and that has really been a cornerstone of our success at the time we have been open playing football at Pleasant Grove."