Finding and Digitizing Program Data
The all-time Monte Vista statistics compiled in this book evolved organically — shaped by what was available — rather than by any master plan. Statistical compilation began in 1998 using local newspapers, primarily the San Ramon Valley Times. From 2001 to 2007, microfilm copies of past newspaper articles were gathered from libraries across the region, primarily from the Contra Costa Times (CC Times). Because the CC Times did not always publish detailed individual-game statistics, additional microfilm newspaper sources were consulted — including the Tri-Valley Herald, Oakland Tribune, San Mateo County Times, Menlo Park Almanac, Valley Pioneer, Hayward Daily Review, and Half Moon Bay Review. Since 2009, statistics have been drawn from either the San Ramon Valley Times or team statistics posted on the MaxPreps website.
Types of Data
Initially, the goal was to capture the results of every game. This is what I refer to as Team Results. All I really needed to have for that was the score. Then other attributes like Home/Away, Coach, Opponent could enhance that. But after getting 2-3 years data, I realized that this could easily be expanded to offensive Player Statistics. I had to go back and recapture some newspaper articles, but only for a few years. The third and final type of data was all names for players and staff which were gathered from multiple sources and compiled as Player Rosters and later also as Staff Rosters.
Photos were more of an afterthought that started with the building of the first web site. Most photos that have been captured are either Team Photos or Player Head Shots.
Statistical Data Capture
When this effort began, there was hope that the Team Results and Player Statistics already existed — that the EBAL, NCS, CIF, or the newspapers had compiled them and we simply needed to collect them. That turned out not to be the case. None of those sources has comprehensive summary statistics available in any format dating back to the beginning of the Mustang program. What follows is a chronological description of how the data was captured.
The initial effort focused on accumulating Team Results using the CC Times as the primary source. The CC Times provided approximately 65% of the Team Results and even more of the player statistics. For games where individual statistics were not printed in the CC Times, microfilm from other newspapers was located and reviewed at libraries in Concord, Livermore, Oakland, Fremont, Palo Alto, and Half Moon Bay. The Tri-Valley Herald supplied an additional 30% of the data, with the remaining 5% coming from other papers. As of today, complete Player Statistics have been located for all games back to 1979, most games from 1972 to 1978, and a handful of games from 1968 to 1971. The search continues, and statistics will be updated as additional records are discovered.
In some cases, two articles covering the same game were captured — typically one from the CC Times and one from the Tri-Valley Herald — and the Player Statistics did not match between them. When discrepancies arose, the CC Times figures were used if they reconciled to the game totals. If the CC Times did not reconcile but the Tri-Valley Herald did, the Tri-Valley Herald statistics were accepted instead.
Both key newspapers and the MaxPreps website occasionally contain statistics that don’t reconcile — either between sources or within a single source (for example, passing yards not matching receiving yards, completions not matching receptions, or individual rushing totals not summing to the team total). In cases where quarterback totals conflicted with receiver totals and individual receiver statistics were available, the receiver stats were treated as correct and quarterback statistics adjusted accordingly. Sometimes the Player Statistics between the two sources were just not the same and couldn’t be reconciled.
MaxPreps has been compiling statistics since 2004 and has become the primary data source since local newspapers stopped publishing game statistics around 2015.
The physical research materials — copies of individual game results and player statistics — have been assembled into several three-ring binders organized by season.
Data Digitization
Once documents were gathered, the data had to be digitized. Based on the software and expertise available at the time, data was entered into three separate Excel worksheets covering Team Results, Player Statistics, and Player Rosters.
All team results from newspaper articles were digitized to capture, as accurately as possible, the game date, MV head coach, game location, and score by quarter for each team. This data is considered complete, with the exception of exact quarter-by-quarter scoring for a handful of games from the 1970s.
All Player Statistics data was manually entered from individual newspaper sources into an Excel spreadsheet representing more than 200,000 cells. Some data-entry errors are likely, and several name misspellings have been identified over time that caused a player’s statistical totals to appear lower than actual. All known cases have been corrected.
Several algorithms were developed to help identify data corrections. These compared player scoring totals to game results, passing yards to receiving yards, completions to receptions, and similar pairings. The algorithms flagged approximately 150 data-entry errors, all of which were corrected.
Player Rosters and Staff Rosters were compiled from game statistics, Monte Vista’s annual Game Day programs, yearbook team photos, and preseason newspaper articles. In addition to player names, rosters include each player’s jersey number, height, weight, class, and position. Partial data exists for a number of seasons, though that number has been shrinking as new sources are uncovered.
Staff Roster information has been limited to date, but an effort is underway to document coaches at all three levels — varsity, junior varsity, and freshman — as well as the medical staff and student managers who support the team. The goal is to honor all those who contributed to Mustang football.
Despite our best efforts, it is unlikely that every data-entry error has been caught. Over time, readers and former players will likely identify additional discrepancies or missing information.
Initial and Current Web Sites
Once the initial data was gathered, an initial website was built displaying records for rushing, passing, receiving, scoring, kicking, the first time an event took place, the last time an event took place, and the longest event. The site quickly became unmanageable, and its updating process proved slow and cumbersome. After two to three years, it was taken down.
Over a Memorial Day holiday weekend, a new site was created using Claude as an AI engine. The site was released for user interaction one week later and continues to be updated with new features and additional data. Key features of the new site include:
Photographs of teams as well as headshots of players and coaches. This capability helps meet a core goal: ensuring that every Monte Vista varsity football player can find their name and photo on the site at least once.
Instant updates to records upon entry of statistics for a new game. Rather than recompiling leaders at the end of a season, data is updated immediately when new statistics are submitted.
Direct entry of new data into the reporting system by site stewards. This feature may also be automated by connecting to an Excel tool the team currently uses to capture statistics during games.
Automatic generation of prep sheets for use by broadcast teams for each game they announce, without requiring third-party intervention.