4-0 Miramonte enjoying its bounce-back season
There’s no substitute for experience, and last season Miramonte-Orinda had little of it.
Though the program had piled up 40 wins in the previous four seasons — including a North Coast Section Division II title in 2013 — coach Jack Schram’s team had nine underclassmen on defense and a group of unproven skill players.
The result was a 3-8 season, which ended with a 48-6 firstround NCS playoff loss to Casa Grande-Petaluma.
“We had to grow up,” said Miramonte defensive coordinator Prince Smalls. “We knew we’d have a lot of experienced seniors back this season, sprinkled in with some talented juniors. We had a feeling we’d be a lot better.”
Much better.
The Matadors (4-0) started the season with a 52-42 defeat of Pinole Valley and then beat 2014 NCS Division IV finalist St. Mary’s-Berkeley 58-41 in Week 2.
They’ve scored 199 points, have averaged 485 yards of offense per game and open Diablo Football Athletic League play Friday at Alhambra-Martinez (3-1) as the cofavorite with four-time defending champion Campolindo-Moraga (3-1).
Miramonte, which has won 10 NCS titles, is ranked 20th by The Chronicle and Campolindo is No. 11.
“(Campolindo) has won it four years in a row and we’ve been second three of those years,” Smalls said. “You need to play a nearly perfect game to beat those guys. You just need to grind it out.”
Hard to imagine the Matadors as “grinders.” They love to spread the field and chuck it around.
Last year, then-junior Ryan Anderson replaced his brother Drew at quarterback. An All-Metro standout, Drew Anderson threw for 4,074 yards and 47 touchdowns as a senior, eight of those scores to his younger brother.
Ryan moved back to wide receiver midway through last season, and now he’s thriving with 6-foot junior quarterback Tim Tague, who leads the Bay Area with 1,353 passing yards while completing 70 percent of his attempts (80 of 114).
Anderson has 17 catches for 379 yards and five scores, and Sutter Lindberg, another senior, has 25 receptions for 494 yards and five TDs. Senior Clayton Stehr, also a defensive standout, has rushed 44 times for 388 yards and a team-best eight touchdowns.
“The ceiling is definitely high with this group,” said Eric Ting, a 6-3, 245-pound two-way lineman and co-captain.
Senior linebacker and tight end McClain Marks (6-2, 225) said Miramonte’s turnaround started the day after its playoff loss last year.
“We started in the weight room immediately,” he said. “We did team bonding things all offseason. We all had a feeling we’d be much better, but talk is cheap. We had to prove it and the only way to do that is win football games.”