With the devastating fires in the North Bay portion of the Bay Area and the resulting widespread smoke cancelling games throughout the North Coast Section, and also causing the Central Coast Section to push their playoffs out a week to accommodate cancelled games in several of their leagues, a slightly different lineup resulted in this week’s three match-ups.
NORTH COAST SECTION
No. 8 Cardinal Newman (5-1, 3-0 North Bay League) at No. 9 Rancho Cotate (6-0, 3-0), Monday, 7:30 pm
It was the North Coast Section’s turn to lead this week and until Tuesday the game that was going to be featured was the Friday night Diablo Athletic League – Foothill division battle in Lafayette between No. 15 Acalanes and No. 5 Clayton Valley.
That all changed on Tuesday afternoon when the Rancho Cotate athletic department tweeted that an unscheduled non-league game between the Cougars and North Bay League arch rival Cardinal Newman was going to be played next Monday night, meaning this week’s Top Games of the Week is actually being stretched to next week.
The two teams were already scheduled to play Nov. 4 in what will almost assuredly still be for the NBL title, but with all the devastation in the North Bay the announcement of an extra match-up between these two league foes that could have an impact on the NCS seeding for Division III, now takes center stage.
Many on social media have surmised, and even Cardinal Newman Coach Paul Cronin himself, that a sweep very well could impact those D3 seedings.
“I think if we beat them twice we’re the number one seed,” Cronin said
North Coast Section Commissioner Gil Lemmon validated that the game definitely means something.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s an unscheduled game or not every game has a bearing on where a team is seeded. That’s what the seeding criteria mandates,” Lemmon told Prep2Prep. “Just like head-to-head and strength of schedule, plus other criteria, we consider every game.”
Like a lot of people Lemmon likes the idea of the game. “I think it’s a good thing. It helps getting things back to normal whatever normal is now.”
Newman quarterback Beau Barrington and wide receiver Kyle Carinalli, both of whom had their families’ homes wiped out in the fire, agreed.
“I just think it’s something we can do to get our minds off things,” Barrington remarked.
“It’s a normal thing,” added Carinalli.
Rancho Cotate is coming off a bye and was scheduled to play Santa Rosa after the Santa Rosa City Schools allowed their teams to resume practicing on Wednesday. Cardinal Newman already had its game last Friday with Montgomery wiped out and had made an arrangement with Windsor to play on Monday night, however both contests fell through.
“Well, it’s kind of a long story,” responded Rancho Cotate Coach Gehrig Hotaling to a question about how the game with Newman came about. “There were deliberations behind closed doors regarding games but we couldn’t find a team that was able and willing to play us. Besides Cardinal Newman the other option was Ukiah but it also fell through.”
“Not to be harsh to the schools that backed out of games. It’s unfortunate the Windsor and Ukiah games didn’t work out, but yes, I feel good about it,” was the response by Cronin about whether he was concerned about playing Rancho Cotate after everything that’s happened.
As for the game it should be a doozy. Cardinal Newman won last year 35-34 in overtime after now retired Rancho Cotate head coach Ed Conroy elected to go for a 2-point conversion that failed.
Both teams have somewhat comparative schedules this season, although Cardinal Newman’s one loss was 48-34 at home to P2P Sac-Joaquin Section No. 5 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 39 St. Mary’s-Stockton. Rancho Cotate’s top game was at P2P NCS No. 13 Campolindo where the Cougars posted a 33-28 win.
The teams have two common opponents in Analy and Casa Grande. Newman beat them 63-26 and 64-14, respectively, while Rancho Cotate posted respective 48-3 and 56-7 victories, so it’s hard to take anything from that.
Both teams have explosive offenses that begin with their quarterbacks. Barrington has passed for 1,412 yards with 18 TDs and only two interceptions. He’s also rushed for 211 yards and seven additional scores. Rancho Cotate quarterback Jake Simmons has 1,959 yards passing with 24 TDs and only three interceptions, and he has 326 yards rushing and nine touchdowns.
Rancho Cotate has the home field advantage but Cardinal Newman has the adrenaline going and this may be one that goes right down to the wire just like last year’s OT thriller.
CENTRAL COAST SECTION
No. 6 Menlo-Atherton (4-2, 2-0 Peninsula Athletic League – Bay Division) at No. 5 Half Moon Bay (6-0, 1-0), Friday, 7:30 pm
Host Half Moon Bay is having a great season so far, and although they still have road games at unbeaten Aragon, plus Terra Nova and a Sacred Heart Prep team that’s having a down year, a win over Menlo-Atherton would go a long way toward the Cougars winning the PAL – Bay in its first year since coming over from the PAL – Ocean Division. It would also legitimize Half Moon Bay as a serious playoff contender, particularly if they can beat Menlo-Atherton and run the table.
The last time the two teams met was in 2012 when Half Moon Bay was in the PAL – Bay Division and that resulted in a Menlo-Atherton 31-14 road victory in a year the Cougars went 1-9 and 0-5 in league. The next year Half Moon Bay was moved to the Ocean Division.
Half Moon Bay is coming off a week where their game against Sacred Heart Prep was re-scheduled to Nov. 10 after the CCS decided to delay their playoffs a week to accommodate teams affected by bad air quality caused by the fires. As far as their resume is concerned the only game they’ve played against a team in the P2P CCS rankings or even in the Others Considered category is a 39-15 home win in league over No. 11 Burlingame. Other than that they’ve outscored their other five opponents 281-14 combined.
Half Moon Bay Coach Keith Holden likes to primarily run the ball and he has three senior running backs he primarily uses led by 6-0, 180-pound Chase Hofmann. He’s rushed for 457 yards and 20 of the 31 rushing TDs for the Cougars this season. Quarterback Gavin Tomberlin has passed for 764 yards and eight TDs with no interceptions, and he’s the second-leading rusher with 215 yards and four scores.
Menlo-Atherton started the season with two straight losses but they were to teams that are now behind them in the rankings. In week one it was a 21-16 home loss to No. 13 Bellarmine and that was followed by a 30-23 home loss to No. 9 Archbishop Mitty. The Bear no-league schedule was obviously stronger with Palma and Los Gatos wins following the two losses, but against the one common ranked opponent Menlo-Atherton had to squeak out a 14-10 win at Burlingame.
Bears Coach Adhir Ravipati is about 50-50 between running and passing in his offensive attack but it would not be surprising to see Menlo-Atherton try to take control of the game physically by running the ball to start and putting the ball in the hands of 5-9, 170-pound junior running back De’Marshaun Payton (405 yards rushing, five TDs) and letting him run behind an offensive line that averages nearly 300 pounds. Quarterback Miles Conrad can run as well but he’s also passed for 1,069 yards and 10 TDs but he does have six interceptions.
Half Moon Bay will have the home field advantage and a chance to prove themselves but Menlo-Atherton may have too much size and speed for the Cougars to overcome.
SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION
No. 5 St. Mary’s (5-2, 2-0 Tri-City Athletic League) at No. 16 Tracy (5-2, 2-0), Friday, 7:15 pm
So far since going to the new format of a game each from the NCS, CCS and Sac-Joaquin Section we’ve featured SJS teams from the Sierra Foothill and Valley Oak Leagues so we had to choose between this game and the one between No. 8 Jesuit and No. 12 Franklin-Elk Grove so we could either have a game from the Tri-City or Delta Leagues.
We decided on this game for a couple of reasons. First we had done the greater Sacramento and Modesto metro areas so we wanted to go to the greater Stockton area, and second, this game has a lot of intrigue with St. Mary’s and Tracy tied with Lincoln-Stockton at 2-0 in league.
St. Mary’s is a top 40 team in both Maxpreps and Cal-Hi Sports state rankings and should be a favorite despite being on the road. The Rams have been getting used to Marcus Aponte at quarterback after he had to replace sophomore Noah May who was injured in a season-opening 41-13 win over P2P CCs No. 3 Serra. Aponte had a shaky game passing in a 48-34 win over NCS No. 8 Cardinal Newman, although he rushed for 190 yards, and was even shakier in a 20-7 loss to No. 4 Central Catholic. He kind of came of age as a passer with a 19 of 30 for 263 yards and a TD performance against state and national No. 1 Mater Dei-Santa Ana in a 52-14 loss at Levi’s Stadium. Since then he’s barely broke a sweat in two league blowouts of Tokay and West.
The 6-0, 180-pound Aponte has three wide receivers that have double-digit receptions, juniors Dumaurier Cotton and Nicolas Reis and sophomore Jamar Marshall, plus others that can take it to the house, but the primary weapon in the arsenal of Coach Tony Franks is senior running back Dusty Frampton.
He was bottled up against Mater Dei, was hardly used against West, and didn’t play against Tokay. The result is although the 5-11, 214-pound Frampton doesn’t have the gaudy numbers he had at this point last year, he’s still rushed for 792 yards and 11 TDs so far this season. Franks would love to see him have a similar game to the 29 carries for 336 yards and four TDs like he had in a 42-21 win over Cosumnes Oaks in mid-September, however Tracy is not Cosumnes Oaks.
The host Bulldogs haven’t played a nationally-ranked team like St. Mary’s but they opened the season with a 27-7 loss at NCS No. 2 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 15 San Ramon Valley and that’s a lot better than the six other opponents, all from the East Bay Athletic League, have done against San Ramon Valley. Their other loss was 24-21 on a late field goal to NCS No. 11 Liberty, and that team’s only loss is to the No. 15 Vacaville team just above Tracy in the rankings.
Sophomore 6-0, 175-pound quarterback Logan Fife (1,044 yards passing, 12 TDs, 266 yards rushing, four TDs) will need to hang in there against what will likely be a lot of pressure from St. Mary’s. The running game of Coach Matt Shrout will need to get going as well, and that means to beat the visiting Rams junior running back Mason Sarsfield and senior Xavier Moore, plus others, will need to step up.
St. Mary’s has won all three meeting since Tracy came over from the San Joaquin Athletic Association in 2013, and all have been by 20-points or more. Could this be the year the Bulldogs get back at the Rams?
