Miramonte Football Friday Night: Past and Present Collide
By Mark Bell, The Orinda News
September 27, 2024

    On Oct. 4, this Friday night, under the big lights, the previous and longtime Matadors Head Football Coach, Jack Schram, will roll into town wearing unfamiliar purple with his new team, the Division 2, College Park Falcons.
    He is set to face off for the first time against his replacement on the throne of the Miramonte football program, Head Coach Nick Safir.
    The local taverns are a-buzz about this game and how these two chess masters might play each other.
    Incumbent vs predecessor.
    One perhaps wanting to show the administration they were crazy to go in a new direction, and the other chompin' at the bit to show the community what he can do – take the team to the next level of greatness.
    But greatness is a road that goes straight through Schramville, and there's no way 'round.
    Coach Safir is certainly unintimidated, and his full-steam-ahead, "ALL IN," pack-of-wolves defense and high awareness/high energy formula should eat through just about anything in its way on Friday. That kind of 110% effort and team chemistry can tip just about any scale. Even if it is Division 5 versus Division 2, 25 players versus 40.
    Yes, many of our starters will be playing both ways due to our team size, but FYI, we are good. It pays to remember we won the North Coast Section Championship last season, with a very young team. One would have to believe we are only getting better working with Coach Safir for months now. And it seems the team has mastered his magic recipe playbook with the help of new assistant coaches Daniel Lynch (D-line), Eric Tang (Special Teams) and Marcus Hyer (Offensive Coordinator).
    The Falcons have a very unfortunate schedule, playing some of the league's toughest teams early on, before we do – Los Lomas, Acalanes and Clayton Valley. So expect to see their record not entirely reflect their true abilities to play us. We can't be over confident.
But we should still have confidence. Quarterback Carson Blair is returning, and receivers like Andrew Bjornson are catching everything thrown their way. Thankfully, we're playing at home. Our crowd has been known to make a big difference in a game. (Follow @mats_stampede on Instagram to rally up for "Pink-out").
    I expect we'll see lots of misdirection plays highlighting the skills of the elusive Charlie Hwang, (now a junior) to dart past their bigger-than-us defensive line. And watch for our tight ends across the middle to have a big night if they drop deep to cover the outside speed of wide receivers like Jack Quinnild.
    I fully acknowledge that both coaches would like to downplay this game as just another one, but, honestly, I'm feeling it's a bit more than that. Both men have a little something to prove to themselves, and to the folks on the sidelines, even if it's not being said out loud.
I find myself rooting for both coaches on each side of the ball for different reasons, and can't wait to see what happens.
    A rivalry game in the making? We'll just have to see …
    Kick-off is at 7 p.m. sharp!

https://theorindanews.com/2024/09/27/game-on-october-2024/