Foothill High’s Matt Sweeney has softball team on the rise

First of all, they should give Matt Sweeney a parade through the streets of Pleasanton.

They should then put him in a hot-air balloon and somehow navigate it toward the Livermore wineries and back down to the 580/680 corridor until he hits all parts of the Tri-Valley region.

It’s there he inspired vastly undersized Foothill-Pleasanton football teams for 31 seasons to reach great heights: 265 wins, 13 East Bay Athletic League and four North Coast Section titles.

“Your teams were always tough, well prepared,” former De La Salle-Concord and NFHS Hall of Fame football coach Bob Ladouceur wrote on a PleasantonWeekly.com message board.