In the past rainy weather has been a factor, and has usually been to the advantage of the Northern California teams, even when the games were played in Carson, but not always. It looks like no rain on Friday night for the 1-AA game but the forecast calls for a crisp cold Friday night and Saturday afternoon for the 1-A game.
With Cathedral Catholic and St. Mary’s facing off in the 1-AA Bowl Game it makes it a clean sweep along with the Open Division for Catholic schools in the top four spots.
DIVISION 1-AA
Cathedral Catholic-San Diego (14-0) versus St. Mary’s-Stockton (14-1), Friday, 8:00 pm at Sacramento State
Whether the fact St. Mary’s can stay warm at home until a short 50-mile ride north to Hornets Stadium, or the fact they Rams are a little more used to playing in what could be a rainy Friday night remains to be seen. However, if the boys from Stockton can get any advantage against a very solid and unbeaten Dons squad they certainly will take it.
St. Mary’s and Cathedral Catholic have been right with each other the last few weeks in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings with the Rams up to No. 7 and Cathedral Catholic at No. 6. The power rankings on this one are a little skewed since Cathedral Catholic is just about where they should be while somehow a 55-16 loss to state No. 1 and SoCal Open champion St. John Bosco and a 63-35 win over a Serra team De La Salle beat 47-13, somehow tells the computer that St. Mary’s is No. 4 in its power rankings and De La Salle is No. 5 despite not losing to anyone north of Fresno in over 280 games.
Had the placement committee used power rankings it would have been a re-match with St. John Bosco for the Rams, but there was no way that was going to happen with De La Salle in the picture.
With all due respect to Coach Tony Franks and the Rams players and fans St. Mary’s is in the right game. As it is they have their hands full with a Cathedral Catholic team where the matchup looks very similar to the lone appearance for each team in a CIF Bowl Game in 2008 when Cathedral Catholic prevailed 37-34 in the old format CIF Division II Bowl Game that was the most exciting games that year.
“Cathedral Catholic executes so well, and they’re so well coached and fine tuned that we’re going to have to play really well,” Franks remarked. “Just like the last time in LA this should be a heck of a high school football game.”
Just as predicted last week in the CIF Bowl Games insight and analysis feature on St. Mary’s, Franks unleashed 5-11, 214-pound junior running back Dusty Frampton for the second straight week after having his carries limited in the latter part of the season an Frampton responded with season highs of 37 carries and 349 yards with five touchdowns in the Rams 49-40 win over Freedom-Oakley in the Northern Regional Division 1-AA Bowl Game. In wins over Folsom and Freedom the past two weeks Frampton has rumbled for 642 yards and eight TDs combined and now has 2,176 yards and 41 TDs this season.
Quarterback Jake Dunniway did throw three interceptions and that’s something St. Mary’s can’t afford against Cathedral Catholic, but he was still 15-for-23 for 191 yards plus he scored on a 4-yard run.
The other thing that the Rams can’t afford is to not be at full strength and depending only on Frampton. Standout senior wide receiver Keaton Hampton did not look to be at full strength and only caught one pass while senior WR/DB Marcus Aponte went out with an injury and was finished for the night.
“At this point its not a time to change anything we can’t rest anybody,” Franks said. “We’ll go in with both guns blazing and see what happens.”
Cathedral Catholic has just as much firepower and maybe more. The Dons have been tested by Central Catholic in a 28-25 Honor Bowl victory, and fellow CIF San Diego Section power Helix-La Mesa gave them a good game in a September 35-28 victory, and then again in a 35-27 win in the CIFSDS Open Division title game. Last week defending CIF Division 1-A Bowl Game champion Narbonne-Harbor City tested Coach Sean Doyle and his boys in a 35-28 victory in the Southern Regional 1-AA Bowl Game, but while the Dons have bent they haven’t been broken, although they almost blew a 28-7 halftime lead and needed a stop on the final play of the game to hold on for the win.
Cathedral Catholic has injuries as well and because of it leading rusher Shawn Poma (933 yards, 12 TDs) has carried a bigger load and the sophomore responded with 137 yards on 10 carries. Nine different running backs carried the ball for 320 combined yards. Besides Poma 6-1, 215-pound senior Adam Eastwood had 91 yards rushing and scored once. Senior 6-1, 180-pound quarterback Tate Haynes, whom Franks calls “very effective,” was 7-for-14 passing for only 104 yards but he had four TD passes to four different wide receivers.
Its not just the Dons offense but their swarming defense produced 20 players with tackles in the Narbonne game led by the 10 tackles by 5-11, 240-pound senior linebacker Alec Simas.
“They stretch you out on defense and our offense will be challenged by their very sound defense,” Franks concluded.
Like the last time they met for all the marbles this game could be a barn burner.
DIVISION 1-A
San Clemente (12-3) versus Del Oro-Loomis (13-2), Saturday, 4:00pm at Sacramento State
Other then De La Salle no team in this year’s CIF Bowl Game lineup has made more appearances in a Bowl Game than Del Oro and Coach Casey Taylor. Both the Golden Eagles and Campolindo in the 4-AA game are making a fourth appearance.
Del Oro was the 2-AA champion last year after a hard fought 16-13 victory over Camarillo in a game that turned into a defensive battle. In two previous appearances Del Oro was on the short end of the stick. In 2011 they lost to Helix-La Mesa in the old format CIF Division II Bowl Game and in 2011 they were beaten by Bakersfield in the Division I game.
Both participants suffered blowout losses in league but a 2015 CIF 1-AA champion Mission Viejo team that beat San Clemente 41-3 in South Coast League action and a 2014 Division I champion Folsom team that beat Del Oro 42-7 in Sierra Foothill League play, are both out of the picture.
As for rankings San Clemente is No. 11 in the Maxpreps power rankings and No. 13 in the Cal-Hi Sports Top 25 while Del Oro is No. 10 in the power rankings and No. 21 in Cal-Hi Sports, so in this case the computer and the human rankings see it a bit differently but still see both teams as very highly regarded based on each one’s pecking order.
Since suffering their second loss in a close 34-32 defeat to Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills the Golden Eagles have won six-straight including avenging the Bakersfield loss with a 57-16 thrashing of the Drillers last week at home in the CIF Northern Regional 1-A Bowl Game.
San Clemente has won five straight since the Mission Viejo loss but last week in the Southern Regional 1-A Bowl Game it was a nail-biter but the Tritons pulled out a 39-35 win at Edison-Huntington Beach on a 1-yard plunge by Brandon Reaves with 48 seconds left.
The big buzz in this game for Southern California fans is the fact 6-3, 200-pound USC-bound senior San Clemente quarterback Jack Sears has his Tritons in a CIF Bowl Game and as the only representative from Orange County this year. Sears not only orchestrated the 72-yard drive with under 5 minutes left and included two fourth down conversions, he went in on defense against Edison at safety and broke up a pass on third down with 15 seconds remaining. Sears finished 21-for-31 for248 yards passing with three TDs but he did have two interceptions. He also led the team in rushing as he has most of the season with 84 yards. That gives him 2,504 yards passing and 36 TDs and 1,099 yards rushing and nine TDs this season.
“Sears is a special player and he’s going to get his but we’ve got to limit his big plays,” Del Oro Coach Casey Taylor told Prep2Prep.
Sears may be getting all the hype from the folks down south but this game is in Sacramento. The Del Oro fans from just up the road in Loomis that turned out in big numbers last year at Sacramento State will most assuredly turn out again this Saturday evening, and they have their own hero at signal-caller.
Golden Eagles 6-4, 205-pound senior quarterback Stone Smartt didn’t have what the folks at the Nike Elite 11 portion of The Opening saw in Sears, but Smartt is just that, and he’s big and strong and his numbers are just as good as Sears against similarly tough competition. Smartt has thrown for 2,862 yards and 29 TDs and rushed for 842 yards and 10 more scores. He only throw 10 passes against Bakersfield but completed eight with four going for touchdowns.
“We’ll see,” was Taylor’s response when asked if he thought it would be a battle of quarterbacks. “We love our guy and have a lot of confidence in him. Stone has been a great quarterback and won some big games for us.”
Sears may have what the big-time colleges are looking for but Smartt has been in this position before and in essence it’s a home game for he and his teammates.
It could be the supporting cast or defense that turns the trick in this one. Del Oro senior running backs Dalton Gee and Camrion Davis have combined for 2,307 yards rushing and 31 touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Mason Hurst and his 1,489 yards and 17 TDs receiving leads the Golden Eagles.
San Clemente junior running back Austin Whitsett is right behind Sears with 1,065 yards rushing but only three TDs, while senior Brandon Reaves has 14 TDs and 708 yards rushing. Sears has a few receivers to choose from but his favorite target is Reaves who has 805 yards and 11 TDs receiving.
Del Oro has a ton of good defenders but 6-0, 205-pound junior linebacker Austin Birch has the best overall numbers with 110 tacks (16.5 for loss), five sacks, two forced fumbles and recoveries and a blocked punt.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to go back-to-back and we understand the big stage we’re on,” Taylor said and then continued. “We need take care of the ball, tackle well, block well and play our best 48 minutes of football this season. We expect it to come right down to the wire and hopefully we make the big play to score and win or come up with the big stop.”
