Dougherty Valley Football Preview: Wildcats Bringing More Physical Brand in 2010

Head Coach: Bob Spain
2009 Record: 2-8
Top Offensive Players:  RB Lucas Raventos, Sr.; RB Michael Spivey, Sr.; FB Edsel Snoddy, Jr.; LT Zac Walsh Sr.; OL Alex Austin, Sr.
Top Defensive Players:  LB Spivey, DT Snoody, CB Cody Larkin, Sr.; LB Shaun Collins, Jr.; FS Troy Buckman, Jr.; CB Landon Crawl, Jr.;
Team Strengths: Physicality, increased size
Mark the Calendar: Sept 24. vs Livermore.

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Even though the Dougherty Valley High football team advanced to the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs in 2008 — its first season as a varsity team — head coach Bob Spain knew the Wildcats were in for a rude awaking when they joined the Diablo Foothill Athletic League last season.

After winning their first two games of the season, the Wildcats dropped the final eight games of the season and finished 0-6 in DFAL play.

"We had a pretty good idea about what was coming," Spain said. "We just didn't have the physicality to match up."

That's no longer the case.

"It's so much different this year," Spain said. "We're going to be a completely different type of team because of how much bigger and stronger we are this year. We have (the team) understanding that this is a collision sport."

In senior running back Lucas Raventos, Dougherty has a powerful back, who will use his good vision to find holes in the line. Spain said he'll be the workhorse for much more run-based offense than last season.

"We're not the same team as last year," Raventos said. "We're running a different offense, we're running hard, we're running straight at them."

The Wildcats open the season at Archbishop Riordan-San Francisco on Saturday at 2 p.m.

"They needed a game, we needed a game, so we lined it up," said Spain of his season-opener against the West Catholic Athletic League team. 

Dougherty will then play Kennedy-Fremont, a team which the Wildcats picked up one of its two wins against last year, Northgate and Livermore to wrap up the non-league portion of the schedule. 

The real tests will begin once DFAL play begins on Oct. 1 against Campolindo.

"We think we'll be a lot more competitve in the league this year," Spain said. "We finally feel like we have the right people in place."

This year's senior class is the first to play four years in the Dougherty program, last year's group arrived at Dougherty as sophomores. 

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