Terra Nova football is enjoying a renaissance

“We’re not the school of 1,400 kids any more, winning back-to-back-to-back Bay titles, competing in the Open Division, winning CCS championships,” Lotti said, a 2012 Terra Nova graduate whose grandfather’s name, Bob Lotti, graces the field at Bill Gray Stadium, for whom Lotti played and coached.

“It’s a huge difference.”

So huge that the team Gray once bragged had never played in any Peninsula Athletic League division other than the Bay, has now slipped to the fourth of the five-rung PAL division system — the El Camino Division.

And at the start of the season, Lotti had a heart-to-heart with his team. The first goal was simple — to beat another PAL team. The Tigers had lost 10 straight Ocean Division games in 2023 and 2024, necessitating the move down to the El Camino Division for 2025.

“At the beginning of the season, we talked to our guys — no one here has won a [division] game,” Lotti said. “That was the No. 1 goal (this year). Let’s win a league game and go from there.”

Two months later, the Tigers find themselves vying for the El Camino Division championship. Terra Nova (3-0 PAL El Camino, 5-2 overall) can get one step closer to its first division title since 2013 when the Tigers host Santa Clara (1-1, 3-4) at 7 p.m. Friday night in the Daily Journal’s Game of the Week.

“We have (righted the ship),” Lotti said. “We’ve had a couple of big wins that have built our confidence.”

The Tigers finally got off the PAL schneid with a 44-7 win over Jefferson in the season opener. But the big boost was a come-from-behind, 27-24 win over a Capuchino squad that is playing two levels above the Tigers in the De Anza Division.

“That (win) was a big turnaround for our season,” Lotti said. “It created a huge amount of confidence.”

The Tigers’ rise from the ashes has coincided with Lotti returning to the program’s roots, ditching a spread offense and going to a power running game. Much of that has to do with the fact Lotti simply doesn’t have the horses to be playing hurry-up football and slinging the ball all over the place.

With a roster of only 20, a lot of the starters are going both ways which means fatigue in a major factor. While Lotti said his offense is roughly 70-30 run-pass, the Tigers do throw enough to make teams defend it. Quarterback Joey Donati is throwing for less than 100 yards per game, yet the Tigers receiving corp is averaging nearly 15 yards per catch and have scored six touchdowns.

Lotti credits Donati with having the offense playing well. He is in his third season starting but had never played quarterback before getting the job prior to his sophomore year. Now, he is one of the more dynamic dual-threat QBs in the division, as he has accounted for more than 1,000 yards of offense this season.

“He’s an amazing running threat,” Lotti said.

Austin Snead, the Tigers leading rusher with nearly 600 yards, gives the team a potent 1-2 punch out of the backfield.

But it’s really been the defense’s emergence, another longtime Terra Nova trait, that has the Tigers in position to challenge for the El Camino Division title. In their five wins, the defense is allowing less than 10 points per game.

Terra Nova will be facing a Santa Clara squad that snapped a three-game losing streak with a 28-27 overtime win over South City last week. The Bruins have been feast or famine this season. In their three wins, the Bruins are scoring an average of 34 points per game. In four losses, the number drops to a little more than 8 points per game.

“The kids understand [what’s at stake]. They can do the math,” Lotti said. “But every week we tell them, ‘Every week is a championship week.’” If you lose one, it could change the entire outcome (of the division).”