SFL season in overdrive

For most fans of Sierra Foothill League football, last Friday's opening of league play did not disappoint. Both the Roseville-Del Oro, and Woodcreek-Oakmont games were extremely tight. Easily the season's biggest surprise came when Rocklin (6-0) rolled over Granite Bay (4-2) 33-0 at Grizzly field in front of a pumped up homecoming crowd, there to celebrate a Granite Bay win. With Friday's wire-to-wire victory, the Thunder put the rest of the league on notice that they cannot be taken lightly.This week, a rejuvenated Oakmont squad (5-1) has the tough task of figuring out how to stop the Thunder running game and at the same time get their dynamic duo of quarterback Ryan Taylor and running back Ryan Lacy into open field. The Ryans are second and third in the SFL in scoring and first and fourth in rushing. But the team is a little bit of a mystery. Are they the squad that upset a ranked Folsom team in week five, or the unit that struggled to beat a winless Woodcreek squad (0-6) last Friday? Oakmont coach Dale Mortensen knows the job of beating the Thunder will be a difficult one. "We come into every week with an expectation of winning," Mortensen said. "We will need to play our best game of the year. We need 22 kids winning their own personal battles on the field. We can't have even one of our players let down." With the SFL owning a combined record of 26-10, Mortensen, an eight-year veteran of the SFL coaching ranks, knows that there is never a time when his team can be anything but at its best."The SFL is a meat grinder," Mortensen said. "There is no time off, but it's what we anticipated."Granite Bay at Roseville (5-1) has playoff implications written all over it. With only two SFL teams eligible for post-season play, both programs are well aware that a second league loss makes the chances of gaining a playoff berth very slim. This match-up should be an absolute dandy, with both teams desperate for a victory.On paper, Del Oro (6-0) at Woodcreek looks to be a blowout, even though Woodcreek has taken leads in three of the six games it has dropped. However, the Golden Eagles, the number-one ranked team in the area should prevail easily. My wish is that the Timberwolves can be competitive, but if not, let's hope the Golden Eagles don't feel it necessary to run up the score trying to compensate for last Friday's low-scoring win over Roseville.