Battle for 'The Shoe' comes 10 weeks early

The emotion of a long standing rivalry game -- 72 years and running for a coveted shoe, mixed in with opening game jitters.

It's not an ideal situation for football coaches to have a pressure packed opener with so much at stake. It's a little awkward for the players, even confusing to the campus' of Pacific Grove and Carmel.

Instead of the leafs falling and an autumn chill in the air, a twilight sky on a late summer evening will be the setting Friday when Pacific Grove hosts the Padres in the 72nd Shoe Game.

"Usually you look at things a little differently in a Week 1 non-league game," Pacific Grove coach Chris Morgan said. "But a rivalry game adds a little more sense of urgency in practice."

Usually the battle for 'The Shoe' isn't a topic of discussion until the final week of the season. This year talk of the rivalry game heated up all summer.

With the two teams in different divisions this season in the Pacific Coast Athletic League, the only date available was Week 1.

"As important as a game that it is, there is a tomorrow," Carmel coach Golden Anderson said. "We've made it known this is not the Super Bowl."

Owners of four straight wins, the Padres have taken a 36-33-2 lead in the series, having posted a 57-0 win last fall and a 64-0 decision in 2017.

"We have been in a situation before where we've played a big game in Week 1," Anderson said. "For me, having played and coached in this game, this feels weird. For the kids, I don't know if it makes much of a difference."

The defending Mission Division champion Padres, who were forced into the Gabilan Division this fall, are no strangers to season openers with significance.

Over the last decade, Carmel has faced Palma twice and Salinas twice in season openers, and Menlo  once.

Still, those weren't rivalry games, where the hype around campus builds as the week goes along, where alumni from the past text inspirational messages.

"What changes is your opponent is going to be extremely motivated," Anderson said. "You do not always have that in a non-league game. We get that. Personally, I have the same expectations."

The concern both coaches expressed are the season opening mistakes, which are more common after two weeks of practice, rather than in Week 11.

"Usually you're worried about your base offense," Morgan said. "You're thinking about special teams and ironing out your deficiencies. You don't normally have this much emotion involved in Week 1."

The annual affair has been somewhat one-sided over the last decade with Carmel having won 10 of the last 11 games -- not including a postseason loss to Pacific Grove.

"Football teaches you resiliency," Morgan said. "It's a big game. But it's Week 1. Whatever the result, you have to be ready the following week. You can't get complacent or have a mental letdown."

What the Breakers have going for them is momentum. The program has improved in the win column in each of the last two years, and has 24 seniors on a roster of 26.

"Teams with a lot of experience tend to be very good at the beginning of the season," Anderson said. "Senior heavy teams are usually good from the start. They've dealt with the unknowns."

Carmel is a mixed bag this year, with arguably two of the elite players in the county at their positions in quarterback Kai Lee and tailback Dakota Mornhinweg.

Lee has tossed 45 touchdowns passes in the last two years, including five in two games against the Breakers, while Mornhinweg rushed for nearly 1,500 yards and 22 touchdown last fall.

"For us, it starts with containing those two," Morgan said. "When you have two guys like that, it makes a defensive coordinator (Morgan) have some sleepless nights."

The Breakers did a good job in last year's showdown in holding Mornhinweg to just 16 yards on the ground. But Lee torched them for 238 yards and four touchdowns through the air.

"We try to maximize what we have," Anderson said. "Outside of that you take what the defense gives you, attack the things that are there. That doesn't change no matter who the opponent is."

Lee does have an imposing target this fall in 6-foot-5 junior J.T. Byrne, along with Benicio Cristafalo and his sprinters speed on the outside.

"Carmel is capable of doing a lot of different things," Morgan said. "You think you have one aspect of their offense taken away, then they do something else."

A senior laden Pacific Grove squad starts with Blake Moore, who compiled over 1,000 rushing and receiving yards last year.

He'll join a backfield that includes Anthony DaSilva and Chianti Carter. In addition quarterback Ben Minik is a threat with his legs as well.

"Blake Moore is as good as anybody on the peninsula," Anderson said. "The Carter kid looks like he's in phenomenal shape. They have playmakers."

And the Breakers have one of the more gifted defensive players in the county in Mae Tulua, who will create havoc with a pass rush. Part of Carmel's youth movement includes sophomore pass rusher Amir Brown.

"We have had some moments in the last couple of years against them, albeit you don't see it on the scoreboard," Morgan said. "It's always been a mistake here or there that swung the momentum."

And that's a concern for Anderson, who expects more penalties and turnovers in a season opener with so much adrenaline running through the veins of players.

"Sloppy things happen in Week 1," Anderson said. "We're not scared of that. We're realistic. We have 10 less players on our roster. A lot has been made of that. But it doesn't change how we deploy our guys on a weekly basis."