Santa Clara-Alisal football

Friday's game
Santa Clara (0-0) at Alisal (0-0), 7:30 p.m.
 A resurgent Alisal program came out with a lot of emotion in last week's Salinas Jamboree.  It was physical on defense and showed flashes of its potential on offense.
 While Alisal won just two games last year, it won its final game on the road against a team that was still in the postseason chase.
 A momentum builder for this season?
 Santa Clara struggled last year, going 1-9, allowing 50 or more points in six games while forfeiting another.
 The Bruins do return quarterback Branden Priest, who threw for over 1,700 yards last year on 300 plus attempts. Darius Jones-Dorsey is coming off a 41 catch season.
 Alisal's strength could be its secondary, where all league defensive back David Valencia is back.
 Make no mistake Santa Clara is going to air it out, having averaged just 2.9 yards on the ground as a team last season.
 Quarterback Raul Garnica, who came up as a sophomore last year to run the offense for the Trojans  after they lost four other signal callers, has a grasp of the system this season.