September is here and we all know a bit more about the 2016 CCS prep football landscape. Here are six things we learned from last weekend’s games.
Football is better at night: Capuchino will host Half Moon Bay on Friday night at Carl Reyna Field. Portable lights will be brought in for the battle of PAL-Lake (Cap) and PAL-Ocean (HMB) teams. As has happened for several seasons around the San Mateo Union High School District, portable lights will occasionally be rolled in to places like Cap, Mills, San Mateo, Aragon and Hillsdale to give the players that Friday night lights feel. But soon those portables won’t be needed as all district schools (Burlingame already has them) will get permanent lights as a result of the already approved Stadium Light and Public Address System Project. It's too bad the county's parochial school, Serra, can't get them, too.
Burlingame won’t back down: The Panthers trailed defending section champion Half Moon Bay 22-0 after five minutes. Some fans hadn’t even found their seats yet. Then the Panthers struck back. Alec Meredith was running hard for the Panthers and Sean Saunders was at his elusive best. Burlingame narrowed the lead to 22-14 by the end of the first quarter and climbed to within single digits three times in the second half. Half Moon Bay eventually prevailed 43-34, but the Cougars knew they had been in a game.
There are signs of life at Mills: There are some notable obstacles at Mills which typically does not boast large rosters (31 players this year) nor hordes of 200-plus pound players. The Vikings went 3-7 overall last season and 0-5 in the PAL-Lake. But now Mills has opened up 2-0 under new coach Michael Dozier and led by players like Sione Langi and Isi Mapa. Granted, the Vikings have not faced Murderer’s Row in terms of its schedule so far, but it’s a good start. Next up, Andrew Hill.
Milpitas is just getting warmed up: Maybe the Trojans just aren’t an August team. Milpitas opened its season with a ho-hum 27-7 win against Homestead. But the Trojans revved it up Friday against Antioch and its superstar running back Najee Harris, winning 49-28. Tyree Bracy threw for 285 yards and five touchdowns and ran for two scores and his brother Tariq Bracy scored a touchdown, had a two-point conversion and picked off a pass in the wild win. Milpitas should be ready for a deep CCS playoff run.
Gunderson is having a Ball: The Grizzlies went 5-5 last season in their first year under coach Chuck Ball and are 2-0 this season after wins against Santa Clara (19-14 at Levi’s Stadium) and 12-0 against Leland. Joseph Catano has thrown for 246 yards and three TDs so far. This is heady stuff for a program that went 1-9 in 2014, with its only win against Evergreen Valley. “We’re just trying to play good football," Ball told Prep2Prep's Aaron Tan. Next up for the Grizzlies, Independence at home.
Don’t sleep on Ferguson: Menlo School’s Charlie Ferguson had another big game on Friday night, rushing for 250 yards and three touchdowns on Friday night in a 35-14 win against Mission-San Francisco at Kezar Stadium. Well, maybe Ferguson isn’t Hugh McElhenny (Google him, kids), but he’s put up some impressive numbers so far, rushing for more than 450 yards and six touchdowns in two Menlo wins. Menlo is at Harker at 7 p.m. Friday.
