Tonight: Live Oak (2-2, 0-1) at Oak Grove (4-0, 1-0)
7 p.m., Pioneer High School.
MORGAN HILL -- After falling victim to a beatable Lincoln squad in its league opener, Live Oak has a chance to show where it really measures up today -- against one of the best teams in Northern California.
The Acorns return to San Jose to face undefeated Oak Grove, ranked No. 2 in the CIF-Central Coast Section by the San Jose Mercury News, in a 7 p.m. Blossom Valley Athletic League-Mount Hamilton Division game at Pioneer High School.
The Eagles (4-0 overall, 1-0 BVAL) return most of their firepower from the 2007 squad that won the CIF-CCS Open Division championship and appear just as solid thus far. They began their march to a potential sixth straight Mount Hamilton Division title last week with a 21-7 road win over No. 11 Pioneer.
"You're somewhere stuck in between hope and reality when you play them," Live Oak coach Jon Michael Porras said. "You have to be perfect to even come close to having a chance against them."
Led by the explosive Carr brothers -- Omari at tailback; Jabari at wideout -- Oak Grove has outscored its opponents by an average of 33 points this season.
"They're talented top to bottom," Porras said. "They're fast and really good. They're also coached well.
"The thing about them is they have the attitude like, 'we know you know what we're going to do, and we know you can't stop us.' "
Porras and his staff aren't the kind who settle for moral victories and won't be passing out white flags before kick-off. They've devised a game plan that ranks among the simplest.
"We told our guys, '3 1/2 yards every single play,' " said Porras, who thought of the strategy while watching the Patriots beat the 49ers last Sunday. "If you saw what the Patriots did, they grinded it out in the second half. They controlled the clock and kept the Niners' offense off the field. That's what we need to do -- keep their studs off the field and not get into a throwing contest."
Porras wants to run the ball as often as possible. In addition to starting running backs Jeff Blean and Billy Van Aken, Porras will use Michael Singelton and Rodney Fiaava, who took carries with the first-team offense this week at practice.
"We're going running back by committee," Porras said. "Michael and Rodney will get opportunities inside the tackles. They're good hard-nosed runners."
Live Oak (2-2, 0-1) also will need another big game by all-league quarterback Jeff Roberts, who's scored multiple touchdowns in each game this year. He rushed for one and passed for another in last week's 28-16 loss at Lincoln.
Oak Grove isn't the chief concern for Porras right now. The second-year coach said he's still waiting for his players to come together like last year, when the Acorns marched to the CIF-CCS Medium School title game.
"We haven't come close to getting that family atmosphere where everyone loves and trusts each other," Porras said. "You have to have that, knowing that every guy has your back when you get down to crunch time.
"I told our guys if they do that, no one can stop them."
Scott J. Adams Scott J. Adams covers Morgan Hill sports for South Valley Newspapers. Send him an email or call him at 779-4106.
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