Rodriguez Rebounds to Claim League Football Title

An opponent could have easily written off the Rodriguez High football team after four weeks of play in the 2010 prep football season with a winless record. First-year head coach John Bent and his Mustangs certainly didn't count themselves out at 0-4, and went to work to fix their team.

Their hard effort paid off big-time with a league title and a playoff appearance.

Rodriguez went on a six-game winning streak after its tough start, clinching a share of the Solano County Athletic Conference title for a second-straight season with a win over Benicia in week nine, and won it outright after edging Vanden 14-7 in the final game of the regular season.

"We've made some vast improvements," Bent said. "From our first game we were just having problems centering the ball. We've come a long way."

The Mustangs advanced into the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs as the No. 14 seed out of 16 teams in the SJS Division I playoff bracket, drawing No.3 seed Enochs of Modesto in the first round. Enochs rolled to a 31-10 win, closing out the Rodriguez season.

The season of the 2010 season was less than spectacular, falling 46-20 at home to Vacaville but a week two turnaround showed as the Mustangs lost 27-26 to Franklin, the No. 4 seed in the playoffs

Week three saw more improvements during the 40-32 loss to Fairfield. In week four, they traveled to Buhach Colony, the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, and got blown out 49-17.

"I think maybe people were surprised, but we expected to have a real tough non-league schedule," Bent said. "We knew what we were getting ourselves into. One of the reasons was we wanted to do it was to prepare ourselves for league; not only league, but hopefully (have it) vault us into the playoffs."

The tough schedule certainly did exactly that for Rodriguez.

"Hopefully it's a little smoother start next year, when I've been here a year," Bent said. "We're going through those growing pains now. The kids have really worked hard and made some great strides in improving."

A large part of the Mustangs success was their dual threat in the backfield. Running backs Spencer Morrow and Myles Burton combined to rush for more 1,700 yards this season. Rodriguez as a team has rushed for more than 2,400 yards.

Morrow, a senior, is getting looks from several four-year schools, including some in the Pac-10 and WAC. Burton is a junior who's looking at becoming the No. 1 running back on the depth chart next fall after rushing for 611 yards on just 92 carries and scoring five touchdowns this season. He said the team played at a higher rate of intensity than it was during the start of the season.

Morrow agreed with Burton.

"(Do) whatever coach wants us to do to win," the senior said.

Bent said both running backs matured to the point in their careers that they are no longer just running the ball, but actually planning their course of attack on a rush.

"As the years developed they're getting to that point where it takes a couple guys to bring them down, and their really trying to fight for those extra yards," he said. "Whenever they get tackled, we tell them to fall forward. That's an extra two to three yards at a time and that's pretty important."

Bent also credited the offensive line for understanding the team's system better as the season went.

"We have eight kids that can really start, so we're rotating them in there," he said. "There's a lot of competition. As a group they really gelled." 

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