How Milpitas went from 1-6 to a state championship football game
MILPITAS — After winning just one of its first seven games, Milpitas can claim its second state football championship in three seasons Saturday night.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The Trojans’ path to a state game was a mix of getting hot at the right time and taking full advantage of the Central Coast Section’s new playoff format that eliminated enrollment from the process and replaced it with competitive equality.
Milpitas finished the regular season 4-6, landed in the section’s Division IV playoffs as the top seed, survived overtime games in the semifinals and final and won a regional last week on the road by a touchdown.
Now, the Trojans — one of the section’s largest schools with 3,134 students — will play host to Reseda (11-3) for the California Interscholastic Federation Division 5-A state championship.
“Under the old format, I don’t think we make the playoffs this year,” said Vito Cangemi, a longtime Milpitas assistant. “The state has really dictated, ‘Hey, we really want competitive equity.’”
He added: “I love the new format, and the CCS loves it, too.”
It was easy to write off the Trojans (8-6) after a 49-21 loss at Wilcox on Oct. 18 dropped their record to 1-6.
But wins over Santa Clara, Fremont of Sunnyvale and Palo Alto launched Milpitas into the playoffs, and the Trojans have not stopped.
“Some teams will quit, but our team is different,” Milpitas senior Josue Torres said. “We all knew we had to step up and work twice as hard. Nothing is given to us.”
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In 2017, Milpitas claimed a state title after going unbeaten in the regular season. Its only hiccup came in a CCS championship game against Salinas.
When the CIF ruled that section runners-up could no longer advance to regional games beginning this season, the CCS embraced a competitive equity format that curbed the possibility of early-round blowouts.
“So that when they went and played that first-round game, they would walk in saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance to win,’ ” CCS commissioner Duane Morgan said.
One of the consequences is the section sent what amounted to its No. 1, No. 9, No. 17, No. 25 and No., 33 teams to regional games.
Milpitas was No. 25.
“It was the goal of not just our playoff format, but it was the goal of CIF to get a wide range of teams into their NorCal tournament,” said Morgan, who noted that on a recent conference the CCS football coaches committee opted to keep the format the same for next season.
“They felt that this format really did what it was intended to do,” Morgan added.
Milpitas coach Kelly King isn’t concerned about any of the semantics.
“I don’t worry about that stuff, it is what it is,” he said. “The rules change periodically and that’s just the way it is. You’ve just got to play with whatever the cards are played in front of you.”
If competitive equity was the intention, then Milpitas might indeed be the poster child.
The Trojans were pushed into overtime by both Hillsdale and Branham in the CCS Division IV playoffs, then pulled off a 26-19 victory at Caruthers to advance to a state final.
“We’re always trying to get to Monday, especially when it’s lose or go home in the playoffs,” Cangemi said. “We’re just definitely blessed about what is going on.”
To weather the storm over the past couple of weeks, Milpitas handed it off to Torres time and time again.
The 5-foot-8, 180-pound running back carried the load in the CCS title game with 39 carries for 311 yards, the latter eclipsing a school record by TaRiq Bracy, a sophomore at Notre Dame.
“Playing in the elements, it really turned into his kind of ballgame,” King said.
Under pouring rain at NorCals, it was almost a case of déjà vu with 40 carries for 285 yards and three touchdowns.
“I’ll tell you what, he’s got a thousand-pound heart,” Cangemi said. “That’s what really is driving us now. We’re really riding him.”
Torres calls it a testament to the guys up front as he prepares for his last game as a Trojan.
“I’m definitely sad because four years of high school football is finally coming to an end,” Torres said. “But I’m definitely grateful for making it this far into the season.”
Milpitas won’t end with double-digit wins after an up-and-down campaign. But in an era of competitive equity, this is exactly the type of team that figures to have opportunities to make a push at a state title.
“It’s really not how you start, it’s how you finish — and that’s really what we’ve been preaching to these kids,” Cangemi said. “And when it comes to heart, grit, determination and just grinding it out, these kids are at the top of what Milpitas football is all about.”