Photos by : John V. Photographic
Homestead @ Milpitas 11/3/17
Tonight is the last game of the regular season for high school football in the Bay Area. It wouldn’t be complete without watching the #2 ranked team in the Bay Area, the Milpitas Trojans. Also I’m given an opportunity to watch standout Tongan student-athlete WR #9 Tuni Fifita. Tongans are not necessarily known to play football at the skill position level, but there is potential in Tuni as he happens to be 1st cousins with Milpitas alumni Vita Vea who is currently playing Defensive Tackle for the Washington Huskies and is a potential 1st round pick for the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft. Other standout players are the Bracy Twins #1 QB Tyree Bracy and #28 RB Tariq Bracy. Tariq is being heavily recruited by Notre Dame. What I enjoy the most from Head Coach Kelly King who has been the head coach for Milpitas Football for 20 years is that he has a strong foundation of community support for this school, a public school. With high school football becoming so much popular as you can see high school players are going to different schools like NFL free agency, what Milpitas has built are that these kids that play for the Trojans have been playing together for 8 years since their pop warner days together. Continuity overcomes talent & character for a high school football player.
To start the game, the opening drive for the Trojans #19 Ioane Vete has a 56 yard run. Unfortunately, the next play is a turnover by the Homestead Mustangs. The Trojans 2nd drive is capped off with a 1 yard TD run by #19 Ioane Vete with 5:40 remaining left. (You know this is a public high school when the clock of the scoreboard is missing the hundredth digit as the LEDs are out.) The next drive for Milpitas was a 62 yard quick screen catch and run by #9 WR Tuni Fifita as he was lighting up those Mustang defenders in the secondary before being pushed out of bounds. The very next play #9 Tuni Fifita gets a pass from QB Tyree Bracy as Tuni was on single coverage. 14-0 Milpitas with 3:10 remaining in the first quarter.
#19 Ioane Vete leading the block for #28 Tariq Bracy running the ball
#3 Mariano Robles kicks a field goal in the beginning of the 2nd quarter as Milpitas is up 17-0. On the next drive for the Trojans, #28 RB Tariq Bracy has a 32 yard TD run as the Trojans are up 24-0 with 7:20 remaining in the first half. The ensuing drive for the Homestead Mustangs the QB threw in double coverage and it was intercepted by #10 Donoven Moore for a 45 yard interception return for TD. It is 31-0 Trojans with still half a quarter left to play in the half. The next Milpitas possession #5 Jacob Romero has an 18yrd TD run and the score is now 38-0 which will be the halftime score.
Enjoying the music by the Milpitas marching band as this is their homecoming weekend. In the 2nd half the referees implemented the running clock to get this game over with. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter Milpitas QB Tyree Bracy throws a TD pass to #4 Israel Gill and the score is 45-0. With all the starters now out Coach King puts out his backups to get their playing time. Before the last play of the game, Homestead calls a timeout as they do have possession and the QB throws a TD pass so they can get on the scoreboard. To me it is being childish as I don’t know what the spread was for this game. Final score is 45-7. My evaluation of #9 Tuni Fifita is that he’s a possessive receiver and you can’t defend him on single coverage. I like his game and I’m glad I was able to make the cross country Bay Area trip to see him play.
This week, Milpitas is off as all current teams in CCS have to play their makeup game this week before the playoffs start the following week. With the North Bay fires that occur during the week of Oct 13; all CCS games were cancelled due to poor air quality which is why CCS postpone their playoffs a week later and allow all CCS games to makeup their game this week. The team is smart as they have a bye before they start the playoffs as I’m thinking that they will be put as a #1 seed in the Open Division to play against the WCAL teams. Having this weekend off will allow the football team and community to support their alumni Vita Vea as UDUB (University of Washington) comes to play Stanford Friday Night, Nov 10. For all the powerhouse football teams from Southern California, if you are looking to schedule an opponent from the Bay Area besides De La Salle in the future, Milpitas can be a great matchup. Once again congrats to the 2017 Milpitas Trojans Varsity Football team for an undefeated season.
Til next time. Ofa Atu
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