Football: Arroyo Opens Playoffs at Rancho Cotate

football coach James Barnes is very familiar with Rancho Cotate — his team's opponent Friday at 7 p.m., in the North Coast Section Division II playoffs.

A year ago, as the coach for Castlemont, Barnes led his squad into Rohnert Park to take on the Cougars in a non-league matchup that led to a 53-30 loss.

This time the first-year coach is leading Arroyo.

"At Castlemont, we played teams like Rancho Cotate, Ukiah, Windsor," Barnes said. "We took care of the kids and they were ready to play."

His Dons, seeded No. 14 have the daunting task of traveling the 67 miles to take on No. 3 Rancho Cotate. But they'll be as comfortable as possible in a charter bus.

"You got to know when to turn it on and off," Barnes said of getting the kids ready for the game. "You get to relax and enjoy the familyhood of each other. You get to enjoy the time like that when you're traveling. You get to review assignments and then about 5 or 5:30 you start to rev it up. You don't want to do it too early or you burn them out."

Barnes, whose team is riding a five-game win streak that included a last week, wasn't too happy about his team's seed.

"I thought there were a lot of 5-5 teams ahead of us," said Barnes, whose team went 6-4. "We were 3-1 against Division I teams and 3-2 against Division II teams. We met the criteria on any level there."

There are six 5-5 teams seeded ahead of the Dons. But Arroyo's case for a higher seed may have been dismissed because of a loss to No. 12 Hayward in Hayward Area Athletic League play.

It was one of two league losses for the Dons, who went 5-2 in HAAL play and finished tied for second with a San Leandro team it beat 25-16.

"We expected the No. 8 or 9," Barnes said.

Still, the Dons earned an NCS berth for the first time since the 2007 season when it suffered a 28-18 loss to Pinole Valley in the first round.

"This is real big," Barnes said. "In the beginning of the season you preach hard work leads to this, the playoffs. "The evidence is here. Once the kids believe in something, the sky is the limit."

And with a young team playoff experience is huge for the Dons.

 "We start about 90 percent juniors and we're losing only four starting positions (to graduation)," Barnes said. "We get the sophomores and juniors experience and have brought some guys up. This will help us get ready for the 2011 season."

Barnes thinks the key to Friday is to stay within the gameplan. And that includes touches for running back Michael Young, who is coming off a 142-yard, five-touchdown effort against San Lorenzo.

"We've got to stick to the script."