By Vincent Liu
Town Crier Correspondent
As Kyle Cochran of The King’s Academy took his position at cornerback, the crowd and the opposing team looked amused.
After all, Cochran is a shade below 5 feet tip-toed and weighs all of 90 pounds - dripping wet. The Mountain View resident looked like a twig among oak trees on the football field.
A few plays later, amusement turned to amazement as Cochran popped a much heftier runner with a crisp tackle.
One play later, he fended off a downfield blocker and smacked down the 6-4 wide receiver who caught the pass with another clean hit.
By this time, The King’s Academy’s sideline was in a frenzy as the rhythmic chant of “Kyle, Kyle, Kyle” reached a feverish pitch.
In a controlled scrimmage last Saturday against Harker School’s junior varsity team, the inspiring play of Cochran may be a sign of things to come for the Knights’ upcoming football season. That is: don’t count them out of any games just because the 12-year-old private school in Sunnyvale is starting its first-ever football program.
Judging by the fact that his inexperienced players virtually battled their more established opponents to a standstill, head coach Bob Sykes had a difficult time hiding his satisfaction.
The coach described his team’s showing as “fantastic,” especially when “considering that all but two of my players had never played contact football before.”
Equally impressed was Dave Uppal, Harker’s JV coach. “They are real competitive for a first-year team,” he said. “They’ll be just fine with more experience, and I expect them to be one of the tougher opponents down the road.”
What surprised Uppal most is the size of the Knights’ squad, which numbers 35.
“When we started our program three years ago, I only had 17 players,” he said.
Fielding a team was the least of Sykes’ challenges. Forty-eight players signed up, and he had to pare the roster down. He cited a pent-up demand on the campus for the big turnout.
“We’ve been waiting for this a long time,” said co-captain James Johnson, a fullback/linebacker from Woodside.
All of his teammates shared his sentiment, including several from Mountain View: sophomores J.T. Martin and Jacob Monroe, juniors Robbie Clarkson and Steve Haney, and freshman Cochran.
“It’s my first time playing football and I want to be a pioneer,” said Martin, a wide receiver.
“I want to hit people,” confessed Haney who gets his licks at defensive end.
In an unofficial poll, smacking people seems to be the most popular motivation for these first-year players. Cochran, nicknamed “Pee-Wee” by his teammates, called “hitting people” his No. 1 passion, despite giving up some 60 to 80 pounds to his opponents.
“He’s fearless,” said co-captain Bryan Lind, the team’s quarterback.
Lind severely bruised his toe during the scrimmage and was told to shut it down by trainer Jill Sikkema. Twenty minutes later he was back on the field and declared himself fit for combat.
Such bravado seemed to fit well with the Knights, who don’t seem to suffer any lack of confidence or enthusiasm.
“We have a lot of talent and desire,” said Marvin Gleaton, a junior from Sunnyvale, “and as long as we work hard and get more experience, we will do well.”
Added Clarkson: “I’m totally excited. We look pretty good for a first-year team, and we will win a lot of games.”
Running back Tyson Kornely of Sunnyvale appeared to be in midseason form, scoring three of the team’s four touchdowns including a 60-yarder. Among the fastest on the squad, Kornely runs the 40 yards in 4.6 seconds.
Sykes tried his best to restrain his enthusiasm.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but we’ll get better every week,” he said. “I have no goal in terms of wins; my only goal is for the team to be real competitive.”
His team will begin league play against JV competition Sept. 12.
A football coach for 20 years, Sykes was the head frosh-soph coach at Saratoga High last year. He jumped at the opportunity to start the football program at The King’s Academy.
“I have a chance to create a tradition here,” he said, “and this is too good to pass up.”
Sykes was an easy choice for his athletic director, Paul Spates, who called his first-ever football coach a teacher of character.
“It’s time to start another set of sports for student athletes at King’s,” he said. “Football is a great team sport that requires perseverance and hard work. My only goal for our team is to play hard with class.”
