Pioneer's coach is one for all seasons
Joe Berticevich is best known in the South Bay high school sports community as the longtime boys basketball coach at Pioneer.
He's also the San Jose school's athletic director.
Now, he's added another line to his resume: Girls flag football coach.
No, he wasn't his first choice to coach Pioneer's team in the inaugural flag season this fall. But when others couldn't do it, he figured, “Why not?”
So Berticevich went to work. A self-proclaimed “born and raised Niners fan,” he watched YouTube flag football videos to fill up the playsheet and, from a competitive standpoint, has approached the season as he would basketball.
“I am treating this very competitively,” he said. “Put the best foot forward. Not just going through the motions. No, we're out there trying to put the best team (on the field) and be as competitive as we can.” So far, so good.
Pioneer improved to 4-1 on Tuesday when it beat Willow Glen 20-0. That result followed a 30-6 win over Independence last week.
“I love football,” said Berticevich, who has coached basketball for three decades. “As a viewing sport, it's my favorite sport to watch and to root for. It's pretty cool, calling plays.”
It will get even cooler for Berticevich as the season moves along.
Pioneer will travel to Atherton on Oct. 16 to play a doubleheader against Menlo School, whose coaching staff includes Hall of Fame quarterback and former 49ers star Steve Young.
Menlo's head coach, John Paye, is also a former 49ers quarterback.
“I'll be calling plays against Steve Young and John Paye,” Berticevich said. “That's pretty cool.”
He added, laughing, “I am going to have to pull some special plays out for that game.”
— Darren Sabedra
What makes a good player?
Berticevich has quickly learned what it takes for a player to succeed in flag football.
“There is obviously some strategy with the different rules,” he said. “But really, with flag football, there are three skills you need to have. You need to be fast. You have to be able to catch the ball, and you have to be able to throw the ball.
“If you have one of the three, you'll be in good shape. If you can do all three, you're really good.”
— Darren Sabedra
Legendary QB impressed by girls' aptitude
There is a litany of reasons 49ers legend Young is enjoying helping coach Menlo's flag football team.
But he's especially enjoyed the full-hearted embrace of the sport by the girls.
“Football, I've always said, is just choreographed dance,” Young said. “Getting 11 guys to focus is not easy. Getting 11 women to focus, I'm telling you, it's so much easier. The first practice, everybody was listening, everybody was asking questions and wanting to know what to do.”
One specific joy he's discovered beyond watching his daughters play is seeing how quickly the girls pick up the nuances of the game that he loves, such as snap counts — how many times a quarterback says “hut” before the ball gets hiked.
Pretty much every football team snaps the ball after the second count — “hut, hut,” then snap – but quarterbacks can always change the snap count to try to confuse defenses.
“They were like, `We can go on three or four to try and get the defense to jump?' And when they did it, no one flinched,” Young said before exasperating, “I couldn't get my guys, for 15 years, to go on three or four.” — Alex Simon
California: Watching football differently now
Ana Sofia Lopez was already a football fan before joining California's flag team, the senior inheriting her love of the Raiders from her father.
But Lopez now watches pro football with a much more critical eye, ever since she went from admiring the pros to being someone who ran routes herself.
“We'll be like, `We need to add this and that to our playbook,' ” Lopez said. “We've got to practice this and practice that.”
Lopez isn't the only player who has gone from passive to serious viewing.
“They're watching the games, and now they're coming back talking about the plays, and it's terrific,” California coach Frank Grgurina said. — Joseph Dycus
Woodside: Eager, excited about season
Woodside strength and conditioning coach Dan Peterson was helping out with the track and field team but knew who to turn to on the Redwood City campus when news broke last winter that flag football would be starting in the fall.
Peterson approached history teacher Armando Carbajal and asked him to coach the team, offering himself as an assistant.
“I think that was the quickest `Yes' that ever came out of my mouth,” Carbajal recalled.
But Carbajal wasn't just signing himself up. He told Peterson that he was confident he could get 20 players to be ready to play in one week.
According to Peterson, Carbajal didn't get 20 — he got 27.
With the roster now at 30, the Wildcats have looked strong out of the gate, showing well against Menlo School in a scrimmage before winning the season opener over Burlingame, 34-20.
The smooth progression has left their head coach very excited about the year ahead.
“It's going to be a wild ride, but we're ready for the adventure,” Carbajal said. “It's going to be a fantastic season.
“Watch out for the Wildcats.”
— Alex Simon