Nick Lobao, a 2003 Terra Nova graduate, has been a teacher at Mills for the last five years. After beginning his coaching career in the Terra Nova program during the Bill Gray and Tim Adams regimes, Lobao took a couple years off as he started a family.
But he kept his eye on the Vikings. He said whenever he volunteered for administrative duties, he tried to pick a Mills football game to stay engaged.
Now he’s back on the sideline, becoming the latest coach to try resurrecting the Vikings’ football program.
After a rough couple of weeks to open the season, Mills (2-2 overall) appears to be hitting its stride. The Vikings have won two in row, including last week’s Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division opener, where they put on a dominant display in a 35-0 win over Cupertino.
Friday, Mills gets its next test when the Vikings host El Camino in the Daily Journal’s Game of the Week.
One of my main focuses is taking pride in Mills football again,” Lobao said. “Being a new coach this year, new systems on both side of the ball, it took a little bit to get going.”
Mills will take on an El Camino (0-1, 2-2) squad that saw a two-game winning streak snapped with a 43-21 loss to Jefferson last week and will do so with similar offenses.
Both Lobao and his El Camino counterpart, Rustin Mayorga, say they want to be a run-first team, but both are finding the most success through the air.
Last week, El Camino quarterback Quentin Bromaghim completed 10 of 16 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. But the Colts managed to run for just 105 yards as a team.
“We can’t sit here and say we’re a downhill run team and we don’t get it downhill,” Mayorga told the Daily Journal after last week’s loss to Jefferson.
Lobao has found his offense in a similar predicament. Sophomore quarterback Brian Lourenco has been a revelation this season, averaging 131 yards passing, throwing for 100 yards or more in three of four games. He threw for a career high 259 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-6 win over Harbor-Santa Cruz Sept. 19. He followed that with 122 yards and a touchdown last week in the win over Cupertino.
Lobao has nothing but praise for Lourenco, but wants to see more out of the running game.
“You don’t bring a sophomore up to varsity unless you’re sure,” said Lobao, especially if you’re talking about a quarterback.
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“From the moment I got hired, to getting to summer ball and (fall) camp, he’s hasn’t missed one single practice, one single workout,” Lobao continued. “But I’m a Terra Nova guy and if I’m being completely honest, [running the ball] is what I want to do. But we’ve had to throw the ball to open up the running game.”
Lobao said he came to that conclusion after a season-opening 22-6 loss to San Jose and it continued in a 25-0 loss to Redwood Christian-San Lorenzo Sept. 12, games in which the Vikings ran for a combined 80 yards.
“We got into way too many second-and-long, third-and-longs (trying to run the ball),” Lobao said.
Against Cupertino last week, the Vikings finally got rolling on the ground, rushing for a season-high 173 yards, averaging nearly 10 yards a carry. Valentino Maza had big game, running for 100 yards on just nine carries. He, Jayden Carmona and Jhared Sese all scored a rushing touchdown last week after having running for two scores, combined, through the first three games.
During their two-game winning streak, the Vikings are averaging 31 points after scoring a total of just 6 points through its first two games.
As well as the Mills offense has played the last two weeks, so has the Vikings’ defense. They gave up more than 20 points in each of their two losses — 22 to San Jose and 25 to Redwood Christian.
But over the last two games, they’ve allowed just 6 points. Against Cupertino, the Vikings gave up just 86 yards of offense. The previous week, they held Harbor under 200 yards, limiting the Pirates to just 190 yards.
Mills’ defense should face a bit of a stiffer test against an El Camino offense that is averaging three touchdowns a game. Can Mills make it three wins in a row for the first time since winning five in a row during the 2023 season?
Maybe, but Lobao wanted his team to enjoy winning two in a row, first.
“Winning two in a row is something that hasn’t happened often (here at Mills). … I’m just proud after an oh-and-2 start the guys weren’t falling back into despair,” Lobao said. “The focus is dealing with success.”
What will it take for the Vikings to beat the Colts? In addition to execution, it’s about attitude.
“I come in with an old Terra Nova mentality,” Lobao said. “That we’re going to dictate (to the other team).”
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