We’re on the downhill slope now, with one week remaining in the regular season. Plenty of great action dotted the landscape across the section this weekend, with plenty more to come this Thursday through Saturday. And, of course, don’t forget about next Sunday, when the much-anticipated playoff brackets will be revealed. For now, however, let’s take you on our quick tour around the weekend that was in the North Coast Section.
- California School for the Deaf made its appearance in front of a national television audience on Thursday evening (ESPN2) and did not disappoint, rolling past over-matched Woodland Christian, 43-0. We already knew to watch outstanding dual-threat quarterback Jax Pedersen, and stud linebacker Brandon Duran, but junior Spezio Harmount showed off some impressive speed, and everyone had to take notice of the Eagles’ freshman fullback, 247-pound bruiser Calel Aramboles.
Aramboles should be physically imposing on both sides of the ball – along with the other three mentioned – in the upcoming Division V playoffs.
- Cal-Hi Sports’ Mark Tennis made a valid argument in a social media post this weekend – that Freedom senior running back Ronnie Rivers could be the Bay Valley Athletic League Player of the Year, an argument that Rivers strengthed with his performance on Friday in Freedom’s 41-38 win over Pittsburg. Rivers had 157 yards and two touchdowns rushing, returned a kickoff 93 yards for a score, and also threw a touchdown pass.
Of course, if Rivers does get selected for that award, he would be doing so despite being in the same league as the nation’s top recruit, Najee Harris. But speaking of recruiting, Rivers is a Pac-12 talent. He does not have any offers from there yet, or even from his dad’s alma mater, Fresno State, where his older sister currently starts on the softball team. That should change. It has to.
- The year of the Kennedy’s continued, and it’s been a special year for both schools. Kennedy-Richmond clinched the TCAL-Stone title with its 31-6 win over De Anza, the school’s first league title since 1988. Meanwhile, Kennedy-Fremont downed Washington on Saturday night, 28-14, to clinch at least a share of the league title for the second time in three years. A win over Irvington this week would give the Titans two undefeated regular season in the last three years.
Of course, Titans coach Dave Damewood is not about to let his team look ahead. They will focus on this week, and then erasing the playoff ghosts from two years ago, when they were routed in the first round by Rancho Cotate.
- Hayward and Encinal both cruised to victories in the WACC-Shoreline on Friday, meaning both can finish tied at 4-1 atop the league standings with wins over Alameda and San Lorenzo, respectively, this week. The Farmers, however, beat Encinal 12-6 in an earlier match-up, so Hayward controls its own destiny for locking up the league’s automatic playoff berth and league champ designation. This would mark the first league title for Hayward under coach Justin Redemer, and has the potential for allowing them to host a playoff game.
- Nothing is decided yet in the DAL-Foothill Conference, as Berean Christian, Northgate, and College Park all head into the final weekend tied for the league lead. Berean Christian has a loss to Northgate, which has a loss to College Park, which has a loss to Berean Christian. None of the three play each other this weekend, so a three-way tie is definitely possible.
College Park has the most difficult game this Friday, though, hosting Alhambra, which nearly beat Northgate this past Friday. If College Park was to lose that game, Northgate would hold the head-to-head advantage over Berean Christian for the league’s designated champ berth, a result of the Broncos’ improbable blocked kick fumble return as time expired, the previous week.
- One Diablo Athletic League team will see a significant league winning streak come to an end this coming Friday, when Clayton Valley hosts Campolindo for the Valley Conference championship. The visiting Cougars have won 34 straight league games, while the host Eagles have won 26 straight games in league play, the past 24 of them since the arrival of coach Tim Murphy in 2012.
- In something we always want to see, the TCAL-Rock Division title will also be decided on the field this coming weekend, after Salesian and El Cerrito both won to set up a championship game between the schools this coming Friday.
- Analy saw its three-game shutout streak come to an end on Friday, beating El Molino, 55-7. The Tigers’ starting defense, however, still has not been scored upon in SCL play. They will look to extend that streak against Elsie Allen this week, which would result in a scoreless league slate for the starting unit.
- Along with the DAL-Valley and the TCAL-Rock, the WACC-Foothill will also host a league title game this week, when fellow league unbeatens San Leandro and Bishop O’Dowd tangle. San Leandro is seeking its fourth straight Foothill title, while O’Dowd’s only loss this season is to BVAL champion Freedom.
- Finally, the biggest game of the week in the section coming up, and maybe in the state, is Monte Vista at De La Salle. We will get into this one much more in the coming week, but an interesting sidebar is the fact that despite the fact Monte Vista has already won the EBAL regular season title (since De La Salle is independent for football), De La Salle is assured of receiving the league’s champion designation for the NCS playoffs.
The agreement between the EBAL and De La Salle for the Spartans to play independent calls for them to receive the automatic designation each year. That is regardless of this Friday’s outcome. What could that mean?
Well, if Monte Vista could pull off the upset (no Northern California team has beaten DLS in the regular season since 1989), the Mustangs could potentially be the top seed in the Open Division, yet still travel in the semifinals, since designated league champs get to host in the first round if they play a non-league champ. It was confirmed by the section office that the Open semifinals are also considered the first round, since it is only a four-team bracket.
