Play hard, play fast, play scrappy, play smart.
That seems to be the mantra for the Carpinteria High football team in 2011.
“We’re quicker than last year,” senior running back Alex Rodriguez said. “We’re smaller, but we’re definitely scrappier.”
Rodriguez is one of 12 players who started on last year’s 7-4 team. A three-year starter, he’ll be carrying a heavier load this season running the ball.
“Alex Rodriguez and Paul Cortez, between those two guys we’re pretty solid,” said Carpinteria coach Ben Hallock of his running backs.
Last season, Rodriguez rushed for 397 yards on 66 carries and caught 13 passes for 174 yards. Cortez was the leading rusher on the JV team.
The Warriors have experience all over the field, except at quarterback. They’ll be breaking in a new one with either Ian Craddock or Kevin Stein getting the starting nod in the season opener on Sept. 9 against Morro Bay. Both are sophomores up from the junior varsity.
“I have trust in them, I think they’ll step up,” Rodriguez said of the young QBs.
“Those guys have grown throughout the spring and summer,” said Hallock, who pointed out that Carpinteria had success when Coley Candaele and Son Ngo started at quarterback as sophomores.
Fortunately for the QBs, they’ll have an experienced offensive line to help them transition to the faster varsity game.
Andrew Sova, Brian Schneider are three-year starters on the O-line and Alberto “Nipomo” Santamaria and Juan Jimenez started some games last year.
“Those guys have done a great job, both offensively and defensively,” Hallock said. “Those guys are going to be very important for us.”
The quarterbacks also have experienced receivers in three-year starter Jordan Robinson and Gustavo Arreola, who saw a lot of action last year in the H-back position.
“We’ve got some great guys coming back,” Hallock said. “We’re excited about the opportunities to put this team together and play well.”
Defensively, Rodriguez leads an experienced secondary. He had nine interceptions last season. Robinson and Jeff Moorhouse also return in the defensive backfield.
Johnny Mendoza spearheads the defense at middle linebacker.
The team is not huge, but it makes up for it with aggressiveness and speed.
“We have speed,” said Sova of the team’s strength.
“We’re not huge or anything, nor do we have a true speed burner, but overall our speed is very good,” Hallock said. “We’re very scrappy, Our guys learned last year to play hard. We have to play with everything we got and play smart.”
