Salinas football

 We kept waiting all season for Salinas to take off. And there were moments when it looked like it had found itself.
 Then a setback would pop up. An injury, or several injuries. An ill-advised play. Mental mistakes.
 Hey, it's part of the game, part of the teaching process at this level.
 Yet, the Cowboys seemed to have their share of bad luck this season.
 Salinas coach Steve Goodbody never said a word. But during a month long slump to score points, he was missing eight starters at times. The result -- three straight losses.
 Goodbody has always talked about playing your best football in November. That didn't happen this year.
 Still, Salinas went to the postseason for the ninth straight year. The only longer consecutive streak is Palma.
 You can point to a lot of reasons for a 5-6 season. The stat that does not appear on a sheet of paper that crippled Salinas this year was its struggles in the red zone.
 It occurred again in its postseason loss to San Benito.
 Yet, it's worth noting that of the five teams that beat Salinas (San Benito twice) this year, four of them are still playing football.