The leading teams in the North Bay League, Marin County Athletic League and the Sonoma County League were all big winners over the weekend and remained unbeaten in league play. Way up north behind the Redwood Curtain both races in the Humboldt-Del Norte Big Five and Little Four have been decided.
There were a few other games of note as well with a change in second place in the MCAL the biggest.
- In the North Bay League the Prep2Prep Caravan withstood steady rain and a muddy quagmire on the sidelines to watch Prep2Prep CIF North Coast Section No. 7 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (8-1, 6-0) post a 42-7 victory over Santa Rosa.
The Cardinals scored on their first four possessions and coasted from there. Senior quarterback Jordon Brookshire rushed for 139 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 79 yards. When he scored on a 9-yard run to culminate the first series of the third quarter to make it 35-0, the senior quarterback departed and both teams agreed on a running clock.
Wide receiver Damian Wallace didn’t have a pass reception but he ran several end around type plays and took one 43-yards to paydirt. He finished with 76 yards rushing. Junior Tanner Mendoza had a 24-yard touchdown run and finished with 60 yards on the ground. Each played less than three quarters.
Elsewhere in the North Bay League Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park (7-2, 6-0) kept pace with Newman after a 35-14 win at Maria Carrillo-Santa Rosa. The Cougars led 28-6 after the first quarter and that pretty much tells the story.
Next up is the game every North Bay League fan has been waiting for when P2P NCS No. 13 Rancho Cotate hosts Cardinal Newman on Friday night. One thing is certain and that is the Cougars will need to play their best possible game.
- The Marin County Athletic League race is pretty much all P2P NCS No. 11 Marin Catholic (7-2, 6-0) after the Wildcats rested with a bye. Prior to that, they posted 56-0 shutouts four times in five weeks with a 40-0 shutout in the mix. Since a 49-14 win over Redwood-Larkspur to open MCAL play Marin Catholic has outscored its next five opponents 264-0.
Despite being pulled early in every game since Redwood, junior quarterback Spencer Petras has thrown for over 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns and has another six TDs rushing. Wide receivers Jack Hogeboom and Hunter Juarez also are taken out early but according to Coach Mazi Moayed each is averaging around 22-yards per catch.
“Petras is having an incredible season,” Moayed remarked. “He, Hogeboom and Juarez would have really big numbers but we pull our starters.”
Before heading to the NCS Division III playoffs Marin Catholic finishes up league play on Friday at a Justin-Siena team that welcomed back Oregon State-bound quarterback Aidan Willard from injury in a 48-21 win at Drake. Willard had been out since the September Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland game with a non-tear knee injury.
“Right now we want to concentrate on Justin-Siena and finishing out the season at the highest level of performance,” Moayed said. “They’ve got Aidan back and that changes their team and gives them new life and energy. We cant afford to overlook anyone.”
The tie for second place in the MCAL was broken with a San Marin-Novato 35-28 home victory over P2P NCS No. 23 Redwood-Larkspur. San Marin is now 5-1 in league and 6-3 overall while Redwood falls back into third place at 4-2 and 7-2 overall.
Meanwhile at Terra Linda first year Trojans coach but veteran NCS (and SJS for a bit) coach Rich Cotruvo has his boys over .500 after a 28-14 win over Tamalpais-Mill Valley was the team’s third straight victory and gets Terra Linda to 5-4 overall and 4-3 in league. It was the wily veteran’s 207th career coaching win.
- The Sonoma County League has been all P2P NCS No. 9 Analy almost as long as the MCAL has been owned by Marin Catholic, including a mirror-like season this year.
The Tigers had a three-game shutout streak going but theirs came to an end with a 55-7 win over El Molino-Forestville. Analy (8-1, 5-0) also gave up a touchdown in its 55-7 win over Petaluma. Both scores were given up by the second team defense.
Similar to Marin Catholic scoring 56 points four times this season Analy had scored 55 points three times. The Tigers can sew up the league next week against an 0-8 Elsie Allen-Santa Rosa that likely will not score.
- St. Bernard’s-Eureka (8-1, 5-0) wrapped up the Humboldt-Del Norte Little Four League with a 49-21 victory on the road at arch rival Ferndale.
As has been the case the past couple of seasons it was another day at the office for Jack Rice. The Crusaders’ quarterback was 15-for-22 for 250 yards and four touchdowns and rushed a mere seven times for 154 yards and another score on a 60-yard scamper. Isaac Drake had seven receptions for 185 yards and three touchdowns.
In the far north of the far north the northernmost school in the NCS is now the Humboldt-Del Norte Big Five League champion after Del Norte-Crescent City (7-2, 5-0) was a 24-14 winner on the road in Eureka.
Both St. Bernard’s and Del Norte are in the NCS Division IV playoffs with Cardinal Newman. In the most recent NCS Playoff Projections by Nate Smith he has Cardinal Newman as the top seed with St. Bernard’s No. 2 and Del Norte in the No. 6 spot.
