Grass Attack!

The Cougars fell to 1-2 after being shutout 21-0 by Spanish Springs High School in Nevada last Friday.

Talking with players and coaches at practice the week after the game was interesting, as it turns out playing on an organic surface was a surprise.

Approaching the game, the 5,200 foot elevation difference between SLV (300 feet above sea level) and Spanish Springs High (5,500 feet above sea level) seemed like the natural stumbling point for the Cougars. But they literally stumbled on something else.

"It was grass more than the altitude," said one Cougar.

Why the grass? Because it was tall, green and REAL.

The Cougars practice and play on their state-of-the art rubberized turf field completed at the start of 2007. In fact, every contest before their trip to Nevada was played on a turf field: The Jamboree at Cabrillo College, at Alisal High in Salinas and at home against Hayward High.

In fact, Coach Morris said that every Cougar practice had been on turf up until the day before the game.

While it is great that many of the high schools have turf fields (Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz and Harbor are the exception in the SCCAL), the tall cut of a grassy field is different than turf. There is a little more give and it's possible to slip on grass for no good reason. It's also a little less consistent across the entire 5,000 square feet on a football field (not counting the endzone). There is usually a rough patch between both 35 yard lines at mid-field and if the lawn mower has missed a spot, watch out.

In the photo, you can see the Cougars old grassy field in 2006.

No one knows if playing on turf would have made a difference, but for all the old-timer football types, this seems like a "boohoo, deal with it" kind of thing. The Cougars did deal with it and came out on the losing end...was it the grass?

Photo: courtesy of http://www.mvp-photography.photoreflect.com/.