Ride 'em
COWBOY After several dismal seasons, Livermore football rises up behind a second-year coach and Damariay Drew — perhaps the school’s best player in decades
T
he East Bay Athletic League is chock full of football tradition, powerhouse teams, local coaching legends and of course, supreme talent. It is considered the best public school league in Northern California, if not the state. Well, it’s 86 percent public with the one private school being De La Salle, which, with six mythical national championships and a national record 151-game win streak on its resume, may be the top program in the country. This season, the EBAL’s claim to fame is a trio of Division I-committed quarterbacks – San Ramon Valley’s Zach Kline (Cal), Monte Vista’s Jeff Lockie (Oregon) and De La Salle’s Bart Houston (Wisconsin). Yet consensus with those in the know — the coaches — the league’s best all-around player resides in, of all neighborhoods, near Livermore High, the league’s undisputed doormat. Damariay Drew is a 5-foot-11, 195-pound block of sheer speed, muscle and athleticism. “What an athlete,” Monte Vista coach Craig Bergman said. “What a burst. He’s so explosive.”
Said Amador Valley coach Rick Sira: “Very, very impressive.” Said Foothill coach Matt Sweeney: “The kid is a flat out stud.” Besides speeding past defenders into the end zone or jack-hammering an unsuspecting ball carrier, Drew is blowing up a reputation — one that claims the Cowboys are a pushover, a much-needed breather during a brutal league run, an automatic victory. “We’re moving in the right direction,” Drew said following a 28-27 heartbreaking loss at 6-1 California on Oct. 21. “But we got to get the job done. We’ve got to get that victory.” The Cowboys came into the season having lost 21 straight EBAL games, and 43 of 45. During that same seven-year slide, they were 16-56 overall. The California loss dropped them to 3-4 and 0-4 in league play, extending the losing streak to 25. But besides a 62-0 loss to nationally-ranked De La Salle, the Cowboys have been more than competitive and very much snake-bit. Livermore largely outplayed Amador Valley but five turnovers and nine penalties led to a 14-12 defeat. Drew had a career-high 15 tackles in that game to go along with 117 yards rushing and a touchdown. “That was our game,” Drew said. “We let it slip away.” Against Monte Vista, he exploded for 208 yards rushing and four touchdowns and the Cowboys piled up almost 400 yards. But Lockie threw for 309 and four touchdowns and Monte Vista ran up 442 total yards in a wild 49-40 win. “We were right there,” Drew said. “We’re just that close.”
In the California game, the Cowboys trailed 21-7 at halftime, made a gallant comeback and Drew sprinted up the middle on a 17-yard touchdown with 54.7 seconds left to apparently tie the game. But second-year coach Greg Haubner went for the win with a two-point conversion. On a play they’d practiced all week, quarterback Zach McPherson handed the ball to Drew running from the I-formation. Rather than power up the middle, Drew attempted a jump pass, but it was tipped and fell incomplete. “They had everyone up and there wasn’t a safety in sight,” Haubner said. “We thought our tight end would be left uncovered. It just didn’t work.” Said Drew: “We’d been running the ball, running the ball and we figured they’d think we’d run again. But the play was bad from the start. They had two guys on the tight end. It was like they were expecting it.” All was not lost. The Cowboys recovered an onside kick, however four plays netted negative one yard. Another spirited effort. Another painful defeat, this to a Top10 team in Northern California. “In some ways that made it hurt worse,” Drew said. But at least it wasn’t a jack-stomping. Last season, California beat Livermore 62-0, Monte Vista blitzed the Cowboys 55-20 and Amador Valley tied one on 34-7. Those are combined scores of 151-27. This season the combined count was 91-79. “We’re closing the gap,” Haubner said. “We’ve picked up the pieces and made considerable strides.” Here, here, Drew said. He points directly at Haubner for the turnaround.
Story by Mitch Stephens | Photos by Dennis Lee 18
SportStars™
October 27, 2011
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