CCS football: Father, son lead separate teams to section finals
"I do find it a little funny That was my dad's first CCS championship game. There is a full circle in life."
When Leland was going through a rough patch this season, the Chargers’ first-year coach Kelly King Jr. repeated a favorite saying of his father — “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”
His father, longtime Milpitas coach Kelly King, was probably saying the same thing to his squad this season.
Both teams bounced back from losing streaks and find themselves in Central Coast Section championship games.
Leland (7-5), the No. 1 seed in Division V, plays No. 2 Santa Cruz (9-3) this Friday at 7 p.m. at Independence High.
Saturday, the Division IV title game between No. 1 Milpitas (6-6) and No. 2 Branham (11-1) takes place at Independence at 4 p.m.
The father and son kept in touch after each round of the playoffs, but one subject has not come up.
“We haven’t talked about the possibility of us winning,” said King Jr. about title hopes. “If it happens, it would be great. … Don’t want to look too far ahead.”
“Obviously I want him to do well,” Milpitas’ King said. “We are focused on the task ahead of us.”
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They’re in a pretty special spot.
CCS assistant commissioner Steve Filios couldn’t recall something as unique as what Kelly King and his son are experiencing.
“I can’t think of a father-son coaching combo from the same season,” Filios said.
Mark Tennis, the longtime editor of Cal-Hi Sports, added, “It is pretty rare and don’t know of any others in the state this season.”
There have been father-son combinations that have won CCS titles but not in the same season.
Ron Calcagno’s St. Francis teams celebrated 11 CCS crowns, the last in 1995. His son, Greg, won a Division II title with St. Francis in 2014.
Butch Cattolico’s Los Gatos squads were champions in 13 seasons, including 1997. His son, Joe, won the 1998 Division II title with Overfelt.
King reached his first CCS championship game in 1993 for Milpitas against … Leland.
“I do find it a little funny,” King Jr. said. “That was my dad’s first CCS championship game. This is my first championship game (as a head coach). There is a full circle in life.”
Before leaving to be Leland’s offensive coordinator in 2018, King Jr. was an assistant coach on his father’s staff for 15 seasons. He started out as a special teams and offensive line coach while studying at San Jose State, then became the team’s offensive coordinator in 2008.
Milpitas won CCS titles in 2006, 2009 and 2013 and reached the Open Division I final in 2015-2017. King has been the head coach since 1990 and was an assistant for five seasons before that.
King Jr., 34, was hired as Leland’s head coach this spring after Mike Ward stepped down.
“They are two different types of coaches,” said Vito Cangemi, a longtime assistant at Milpitas, about the father and son. “Kelly is more of a defensive coach. Kelly Jr. is more of an offensive coach. They call two different types of games. It’s nice having two minds like that.
“They are very in tune to what is happening,” Cangemi added about making adjustments. “Both of them have very good football minds.”
Leaving Milpitas for Leland wasn’t easy for King Jr.
“We had tremendous success,” he said. “I just felt that it was kind of my chance. I had done everything I could do there. I really enjoyed coaching with him, but I felt it was time to see what I could do on my own.”
Leland had a rough 1-2 start to this season, with losses to powers Los Gatos (56-21) and Wilcox (49-34). In the Los Gatos game, the Chargers only had 19 players in uniform. But King Jr. saw the bigger picture.
“I thought we played pretty well that game,” he said about the Los Gatos matchup. “I thought we came back the next week against Wilcox and were more competitive.”
Leland also lost its last three regular-season games, but the team was at full strength with 26 players. In the playoffs, the Chargers beat No. 8 Mt. Pleasant 21-14 in the first round, then defeated No. 4 Homestead 34-22 in the semifinals. Leland now has 35 players on its roster.
Milpitas had even a rougher beginning to the season, starting out 1-6. It has won five games in a row, including a 24-14 victory over No. 8 Overfelt in the first round of the playoffs and 14-13 in overtime over No. 4 Hillsdale in the semifinals.
“We have a saying, ‘Success is often overshadowed by hard work,’ ” said Cangemi about Milpitas. “I know Kelly has taken that to Leland.”