Meet the players helping Central Catholic get ready for its big VOL matchup with Manteca
Central Catholic High football player Benicio “Benny” Padilla isn’t a household name.
He hasn’t been a player of the week nominee. He doesn’t have college recruiters stopping by practice to see him and he doesn’t have stars next to his name on recruiting websites.
But he’s still one of the most important players on the Raiders’ football team.
Padilla runs with the scout team and though he’s only recorded stats in half of the team’s games, his practice reps are vital in helping the team get ready for games week after week.
“I like to come out here, have fun with my friends and put in work,” Padilla said. “When I come out here, I feel like I’m just doing my job trying to help the team out. I like to be a part of something.”
Being on the scout team takes a special type of person.
No ego. No self-promotion. Just work.
“I’ve always been a smaller person so I never looked at it like ‘Oh, I’m sad. I gotta be on the scout team,’” the 5-foot-6 running back and linebacker said. “I just come out here, it’s a job, it’s fun. I just run every play the best I can.”
Padilla and his fellow scout team teammates had a tall task this week: Prepare the defending Valley Oak League champions for a matchup against a hungry, undefeated Manteca squad looking to beat Central Catholic for the first time.
Since the Raiders joined the VOL in 2014, they are 7-0 against the Buffaloes. They will look to make it eight straight wins at 7 p.m. Friday in Manteca.
‘Not a great job’
Being on the scout team isn’t glamorous.
They emulate what the opposing team does on offense and defense based on what coaches have seen on film and try to give the starters the best look at what they will face during a game.
For Padilla, who plays sparingly in games, that means playing the opposing team’s linebacker. Blitzing, dropping back into coverage and running into starting offensive linemen and running backs Monday through Thursday.
“When I’m on scout ‘D,’ I like to do a bunch of different looks for our linemen so they know what’s going on,” Padilla said.
On offense, he’s hitting the A-gap hard as a running back, barely gaining a yard or two every play before being swallowed up by defensive linemen and linebackers.
“It’s not a fun job to just have the starting fullback or your linebackers just running at you,” Raiders coach Roger Canepa said. “It’s not a great job if they actually break one and the coach is mad and he yells ‘They better not get another yard.’ It’s not a top-10 job in the world to have. People aren’t applying for them.”
Teaalo Bullock started playing football because of his older brother Tamirr and gets both scout team reps and a few game reps for the Raiders when a player needs rest. The 5-foot-11 junior defensive back uses scout team reps as preparation for any snaps he’ll see in games.
“It’s a great responsibility that comes with playing scout,” Bullock said. “It helps our teammates. Benny pushes me every day and he tells me that I need to work harder on scout if I want to get more playing time. If I work hard on scout and coach notices, I put things I worked on in scout onto the field in a real game.
“There’s a small group of us that do go in and a lot of the time it does transfer over into the game because we’ve been on scout and we’ve seen what their plays are and what they’re doing.”
Preparation for the big games
The scout team sets the tone each week. The tougher Padilla, Bullock and the rest of the scout team members play, the better the starters play.
“I’m a firm believer that the better the look the scout team guys give us, the better we play,” Canepa said. “The closer look that we get from Monday to Thursday of the other team’s offense and defense, the better you are. When you don’t get a good look, things move faster in the game.”
Siad Bullock: “Before our Oakdale game, our scout defense really went hard and we weren’t giving up anything. There was a lot of trash talk during practice, but it showed during the game.”
The goal was the same this week.
Set the tone for the four practices and give the Raiders’ offense and defense an idea of what they will face Friday night.
“On offense, I’m just bringing intensity,” Padilla said. “I have to hit linebackers as hard as I can. I may not hit as hard as (Manteca) but I’m sure gonna try. On defense it’s just to fly to the ball and help the linemen get to their spots faster because they got some guys that can get down the field fast.”
Said Bullock on his role: “I just got to really pick my feet up and get my speed right because they do have some fast guys on the other team. So on scout I try my hardest at doing everything fast and just being everywhere.”
Colliding every day with 300-plus-pound linemen or running backs and linebackers that are looking for someone to hit after being challenged by a coach often goes without notice. Assistant coach Billy Hylla says he finds Padilla after wins to thank him for helping get the team ready during the week. Padilla appreciates when his work gets noticed, but nothing is sweeter than victory.
“The biggest ‘thank you’ is when they get on the field and then they only allow seven,” Padilla said. “We’ll allow seven and we’ll drop 50. That’s the best ‘thank you’ for me.”
