With one week of action in the books, most of the top teams around Northern California posted impressive wins to open the season, while a few others are seeking answers after a frustrating first week. We take a look at some of the top inter-sectional games involving teams from Northern California.
St. John’s-Washington, D.C. (1-0) at De La Salle (1-0), Friday, 8 pm
Over the years De La Salle has played more teams from more states than any other California program but this will be the first time they play a team from the District of Columbia.
St. Johns, which plays in the Washington Catholic League that has a lot of familiar names when it comes to top basketball programs, has stepped up its schedule and besides De La Salle the Cadets will play three other nationally-ranked teams in non-league play when they host New Jersey St. Joseph Regional, then travel to Florida IMG Academy, and then host St. John Bosco before beginning league play where they have nationally-ranked Maryland DeMatha on their schedule.
Last week the Spartans barely broke a sweat in a 42-7 victory over Amador Valley in a game they led 42-0 before the subs allowed a fourth quarter score.
Sophomore Henry To’oto’o took back an interception 79 yards for a TD and senior running back Kairee Robinson scored twice, including once on a 48-yard run on the first drive.
It’s pretty hard to gauge how good the Spartans are off the Amador Valley win or how good St. Johns is after opening at home with a 49-30 victory over Florida Jones-Orlando.
One thing is certain, and that is if De La Salle gives up 49 points they could be in trouble, but in all likelihood that is not going to happen to them playing at home. If they were to lose it likely would be similar to last year when they lost at home 23-21 to Utah East-Salt Lake City on a last second field goal.
Look for Sparta to try to march on the ground with Robinson as the key back in the vaunted veer behind 6-2, 315-pound USC-bound senior two-way lineman Tuli Letuligasenoa, 6-1, 233-pound senior John Deitchman, and 5-9, 220-pound senior Christian Villasenor. Luke Freeman, a 6-1, 205-pound tight end could also play a big part if Coach Justin Alumbaugh runs to his side.
St. John’s depends on the arm of 6-4, 210-pound senior quarterback Kevin Doyle. Last week, in his first game after transferring from Pennsylvania Malvern Prep, the No. 21 rated pro style passer by 247Sports.com was 18 of 21 for 289 yards and four touchdowns against Jones.
Look for De La Salle to try and flush Doyle from the pocket and test his mobility against a defense led by Letuligasenoa, Te’oto’o and fellow linebacker Brenden Riso.
A worry for De La Salle would be if they fell behind early since their passing game is still developing.
The game is being televised live on ESPNU.
St. Mary’s-Stockton (1-0) at Cardinal Newman (1-0), Friday, 7 pm
This will be the fourth year the two Catholic school powerhouses meet and although Newman has given St. Mary’s a good game two out of three times the hosts and P2P North Coast Section No. 11-ranked Cardinals will be a huge underdog this year against the P2P Sac-Joaquin Section No. 1 ranked and state and nationally-ranked Rams.
The series started in 2014 with St. Mary’s winning 35-15 at home. Two years ago in Santa Rosa the Rams prevailed after Newman went for a two-point conversion that would have won the game but the officials said the running back did not get to the goal line and St. Mary’s escaped with a 35-34 victory. Last year in Stockton, the Cardinals were competitive, but fell 49-32 to the CIF Northern Regional Division 1-AA champions.
While last year’s St. Mary’s team was explosive and averaged just under 52-points a game. This season’s team is just as talented, and according to sources that saw their 41-13 season-opening dismantling of a Serra team they beat 63-35 last season, may be even better.
The only question mark for the Rams is quarterback. After assuming the position this season from Prep2Prep SJS Player of the Year Jake Dunniway, 6-3, 185-pound sophomore Noah May suffered a separated shoulder against Serra after passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns. He is out for the Newman game and replacing him is last season’s second leading receiver Marcus Aponte. The 6-0, 180-pound senior has an adequate arm but also has excellent speed so he will be a dual threat for the Newman defense.
With May out St. Mary’s Coach Tony Franks will likely go to the Rams powerful running game and that will mean a huge dose of last year’s P2P SJS Junior of the Year Dusty Frampton running behind 6-6, 280-pound senior and top D1 recruit Max Barth. Frampton, a 5-11, 214-pound senior only had 124 yards rushing and one TD last week but look for those numbers to increase against a Newman line that does not have a lot of linemen with size.
The Rams receiving corps is mostly underclass with 6-0, 180-pound sophomore Jamar Marshall leading the way after only getting two catches for 118 yards last week, but both went for TDs including a 74-yarder. Junior Joe Fontes only had one catch last week but the took it 56 yards to the house.
For Cardinal Newman to have a chance they have to not give up the big plays and try to keep the St. Mary’s offense off the field, and that will be a tall task. Dino Kahaulelio, a 6-0, 235-pound junior will have to be sharp on both sides of the ball. He will need to do a good job blocking at center and get very busy as a defensive end.
This will also be a huge test for first year quarterback Beau Barrington. After excelling as a defensive back and backing up Jordon Brookshire at quarterback last season, the 6-1, 185-pound senior will need to have a huge game, and his favorite target, Jason Moran, will need some clutch catches. The running game led by 6-2, 200-pound senior Mark Boschetti and 5-9, 175-pound senior Tanner Mendoza will need to grind out first downs.
The Prep2Prep Caravan will be in the house in Santa Rosa on Friday night and one way or another it should be an entertaining game.
Central Catholic (1-0) at Marin Catholic (1-0), Saturday, 2 pm
Marin Catholic finally got in the win column against Campolindo with last week’s 42-21 victory and will try to do the same thing against Central Catholic in the second game of a home and home series.
In the two previous meetings with the Raiders Marin Catholic lost in Modesto 49-14 in the 2015 CIF Northern Regional Small School Bowl Game, and last season in the first game of the home and home opened in similar fashion with a 42-16 road loss.
Defending North Coast Section Division III runner-up Marin Catholic depends on the arm of 6-5, 225-pound Oregon State-committed quarterback Spencer Petras and the hard-nosed running of 6-2, 220-pound junior Cole Truex.
Last week against Campolindo Petras finished 16-of-23 for 235 yards and two touchdowns plus he rushed for 53 yards. Truex had 20 carries for 138 yards and two TDs and on several plays he was dragging Cougars tacklers downfield, in particular on a 17-yard run that looked like it was stopped for a short gain. But that was against a rebuilding Campolindo and not Central Catholic.
The Raiders had their streak of four straight state championships halted last year and that was mostly due to the Sac-Joaquin Section moving them up to Division II where their season ended in a 42-14 second round loss to Jesuit.
With dual-threat quarterback Cole Petlansky now graduated Central Catholic is looking like it will depend even more on the grind it out running game. The Raiders lost their top two running backs in Jared Rice and Montell Bland but they always seem to have someone ready to step in and this year its 6-1, 195-pound senior Dauson Booker who rushed for 224 yards and four touchdowns last season on limited action.
Last week in a 68-7 shellacking of Archbishop Riordan, Booker had 190 yards rushing on 13 carries with two touchdowns. His status for this week's game, however, is not fully known due to his ejection in the second quarter against the Crusaders. If the rules stand as usual, he will not be able to play this week.
All eight of the Raiders scores came on rushing TDs with senior Coleby Garrett and juniors Kyle Jacklich and D’Angelo Bellamy each running for two scores.
Last week Marin Catholic came out sluggish and fell behind 7-0 on Campolindo’s first drive, and if that scenario repeats itself Coach Mazi Moayed and his boys could have problems.
In any case the Wildcats will have to play well on both sides of the ball to finally get a win against the Raiders.
Mililani-HI (3-0) at Clayton Valley (0-1), Friday, 7 pm
It was an ugly start for the Ugly Eagles who are young and start seven juniors on offense and six on defense, and it showed in a 38-22 loss on the road to Nevada Reed-Sparks.
The Uglies could not get untracked and trailed 38-8 in the third quarter before two late scores closed the gap.
The patented grind it out running game of Coach Tim Murphy led by running backs James Teofilo and Thomas “Junior” Alatini never got untracked and his new approach to passing the ball is still a work in progress for 6-0, 190-pound senior dual-threat quarterback Kenny “KJ” Gardner Jr. Gardner had to leave the Reed game with an injury, so junior quarterback Logan Sumter could also play a role.
Mililani, the defending Hawaii Division I state champion will be an even tougher task for Murphy and his boys. The Trojans are already 3-0, although one game was a forfeit, however in the other two games they beat Hawaii Leilehua and Castle, 47-0 and 49-0, respectively.
If the Ugly Eagles fall behind against Mililani like they did against Reed it could be a very long night for their fans.
Somehow, the offense is going to have to wake up and sustain some drives and the defense is going to have to find a way to stop running back Kilifi Malepeai and a Hawaii No. 5 ranked Mililani offense that racked up 499 yards while holding Hawaii No. 8 ranked Leilehua to just 81 net yards.
Del Oro (1-0) vs Timpview-Provo (1-1) at Mission Viejo, Saturday, 4 pm
The Golden Eagles got a steady offensive performance last week in a 22-12 win over Cathedral Catholic-San Diego, as senior Brice Edwards and junior Dawson Hurst combined for 164 of Del Oro's 177 rushing yards. Meanwhile, senior Josh Gazzaniga threw for two scores.
Senior Andrew Birch led the defense with 14 tackles in the win, while junior Tatuo Martinson registered 2.5 sacks.
Timpview figures to be another big challenge, after bouncing back from a season-opening loss to East-Salt Lake City with a 34-33 win over American Fork last week.
Best of the Rest
Two programs needing a big bounce-back effort meet south of Sacramento, when Elk Grove (0-1) hosts Serra (0-1). Elk Grove is looking to recover from a season-opening loss to Inderkum, while Serra needs to shake off last week's 41-13 loss to St. Mary's-Stockton, a game in which a slew of turnovers caused the Padres to trail 31-0 at the half.
Bellarmine (1-0) and Clovis North (1-0) are both coming off thrilling wins in the first week of play, and both teams will have to leave those emotions behind for this challenge. Bellarmine rallied to stun Menlo-Atherton, 21-16, while Clovis North knocked off Sunnyside, 20-19.
