In our first NorCal Regional Games of the Week feature we had three winners as far as action was concerned with De La Salle giving national No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas a tussle, Pittsburg and St. Mary’s-Stockton played a thriller, and Nate Ruchena made a name for himself as the hero of the Monte Vista win over Granite Bay. The fourth game wasn’t bad but as expected Jay Butterfield and company were a comfortable winner over Vacaville
For our second week we’re going to go a little deeper and only three teams get repeats - De La Salle, who likely will be featured in some way, shape or form almost every week, Liberty and Pittsburg. Also, as has been the tradition of this feature during the non-league beginning portion of the season, we try to feature games between teams from different CIF Sections.
All told, we are doing full previews on seven games with a capsule on two other interesting intra-section matchups.
Pittsburg at Serra-San Mateo, Saturday, 1:00 pm
This will be the fourth meeting between these intra-section rivals, host Serra from the CIF Central Coast Section and Pittsburg from the North Coast Section. Not only have the teams becomes rivals but the two coaches are both disciples of legendary De La Salle coach and movie man Bob Ladouceur.
Pittsburg, under Coach Vic Galli, a 1983 graduate of De La Salle and now in his 18th season at the Pirates helm, has won the first three meetings after beating the Padres 48-25 at home in 2016, 35-28 two years ago in San Mateo, and 45-35 last year at home.
Pittsburg moved up to No. 3 in the Prep2Prep NCS rankings after a solid 42-35 season-opening win at St. Mary’s-Stockton in a game where Jerry Johnson made his debut as the starting quarterback. All the 6-3, 170-pound senior did was go 21-of-31 for 368 yards and six touchdowns.
"In some respects (his performance) did surprise me, but in the end it was probably the best game a Pittsburg quarterback has ever had," Galli remarked. "The passing yardage is second to the 407 yards of Christian Young in 2015 and the six TDs tied Justin Boyd, but that was in a blowout against Berkeley in 2017. This performance was against a quality team. It was very refreshing and very needed and we might not win that game without that big-time performance from him."
Three of Johnson’s TD passes went to Johnny Blackmon III. The senior wide receiver had six catches for 108 yards. Avant Muldrow had a very good all-around game. The senior running back and defensive back didn’t get into the end zone running the ball, although he had 94 yards rushing, but he did as a receiver, and on defense Muldrow had 12 tackles.
Based on the showing against St. Mary’s, the Pirates would have to be favored, but Serra coach Patrick Walsh will likely pull out all the stops to try and get a victory.
Walsh, who is a 1993 De La Salle grad but has fellow Spartans alum Galli by a year in the coaching ranks since he took the Padres helm in 2001, has some new faces, plus unlike last year when Serra had two games under its belt before they played Pittsburg, this will be the Padres season opener, and the first time they will be tackling anyone.
“How we tackle will tell a lot about the outcome,” Walsh remarked. “We didn’t scrimmage so we literally haven’t tackled a human being to the ground.”
While Walsh expressed concern about his team facing an opponent for the first time, Galli looks at it as a concern for his team as well, without an ability to evaluate the Pirates' opponent.
"We don't have a grasp of what they can do, but we know they have prepared for us and circled this game, so knowing Patrick they will be ready," Galli added. "Obviously we need to take care of the the football. Early in the season you'll have some mistakes and one thing we need to do is clean up the penalties."
Like Pittsburg, the Padres have a new quarterback and that’s 6-3, 200-pound Daylin McLemore. He saw some limited action last season but this will be his first start.
“Hey, Pittsburg had a new quarterback too and look what he did last week,” Walsh said. “If Daylin can duplicate half of what Johnson did, say 200 yards and three touchdowns. That would look real good."
Vince Poni, a 5-9 160-pound junior comes up from the JV as one of two primary running backs. He will be joined by 5-11, 190-pound senior Jackson Lataimua.
“Between Poni and Lataimua we have a solid running back corps.”
Last year’s leading wide receiver, 6-0, 180-pound senior Terrence Loville (589 yards receiving, seven TDs) returns, as does slotback Nate Sanchez. He led the team in rushing with 498 yards and eight TDs, and he also had three TD receptions and 436 yards receiving.
Two names to look for are 6-6, 260-pound senior defensive end Nusi Malani, and 6-4, 220-pound junior tight end Christian Pedersen.
When asked what Serra has to do to win the game Walsh had this to say.
“We must eliminate the big plays,” Walsh responded. “Last week they had a lot of big plays that were either touchdowns or led to touchdowns, so we simply can’t let that happen from a secondary standpoint.”
Galli did have one final tongue-in-cheek comment about the budding rivalry between a pair of De La Salle alums.
"The only thing I tease him about is we have beat them three straight years, but they've gone on a tear after that," Galli said. " So maybe scheduling us has been good for them."
McClymonds-Oakland (0-0) at Marin Catholic-Kentfield (1-0), Saturday, 2:00 pm
Year two of a home and home between Marin Catholic of the CIF North Coast Section and McClymonds of the Oakland Section/Oakland Athletic League is in Marin County for an afternoon affair, and the Marin Catholic faithful are hoping for a turnaround from a 26-0 drubbing their boys suffered last year in Oakland.
Last year Marin Catholic was coming off a loss to Campolindo where they lost their primary running back for the season, and two lineman were out, and it spelled disaster against a team that went on to win a third-straight CIF state Bowl Game championship in a 32-6 4-
A title game rout of Garfield-Los Angeles.
“Last year after losing key guys we were trying to find ourselves and they were extremely good,” said Marin Catholic Coach Mazi Moayed. “In some areas were still finding ourselves but this year we’re more veteran and seasoned.”
This year Marin Catholic faces a young McClymonds team but with some solid returners, and the Wildcats are starting a sophomore quarterback, 6-1, 177-pound Michael Ingrassia, who faced nothing similar in a 42-6 shellacking of El Cerrito last week, to what he will face against the McClymonds secondary.
The McClymonds defensive backs Ingrassia will be throwing against are outstanding. The top returner from a recruiting standpoint is 6-1, 180-pound senior Edward Woods. He has 12 D1 offers including Arizona and Arizona State. He along with seniors Daveonne Sanders and Montrell Smith should help form one of the top secondaries in Northern California.
“Our secondary should be the strength of our defense,” McClymonds coach Michael Peters remarked.
“We had 19 seniors graduate and we last all our linebackers and two defensive linemen,” Peters continued. “And we only return one offensive lineman, so this will be a year of trying to re-build.
McClymonds will also be starting a sophomore quarterback as 5-10, 160-pound Dreyan Paul will be under center in what for the Warriors will be a season opener.
“He’ll have some growing pains and some young moments, but I expect Dreyan to step up big and we’ll go as far as he takes us.”
A player that could be a difference maker for Marin Catholic on both sides of the ball is Jamar Sekona. The 6-4, 310-pound USC-bound senior is the top defensive lineman recruit in the state, and also is a very good offensive lineman at this level. His defense will be a key, but if Marin Catholic is going to be able to move the ball it most likely will be on the ground with 5-9, 172-pound junior running back Mateo Perez running behind Sekona and the big Marin Catholic offensive line.
One final Marin Catholic player to look for on defense is 6-5, 220-pound senior defensive end Gio Ghilotti.
“There’s a reason they’ve won those state championships,” Moayed remarked. “They’re tough and well coached. We have tremendous respect for their program and excited to be hosting them.”
Marin Catholic will have the home field advantage and whether that will be the difference remains to be seen.
De La Salle-Concord (0-1) at Central Catholic-Modesto (0-1), Friday, 7:00 pm
This match-up is the second of a home-and-home series between the NCS with De La Salle the representative, and Central Catholic of the Sac-Joaquin Section.
De La Salle is coming off a 24-14 loss to national powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas of Florida in game that was a lot closer than the score, and where the Spartans were on the short end of some questionable calls.
One thing De La Salle never does is look for excuses, and Coach Justin Alumbaugh wasn’t making any, but he and the team were feeling the sting.
“Pretty bitter taste all he week,” Alumbaugh said. “But we should have had 28 points at half and won the game, but we killed ourselves. Still bummed because we had that game, but moving on from a good learning experience.”
“The team has been working hard to improve,” continued Alumbaugh. We’re hoping we come out energetic.”
If what they have done in the past against a Northern California opponent after losing to an out of state power is any indication of things to come, Central Catholic, although at home, could be in for the same kind of game as last year when they lost 35-7 to De La Salle.
After losing two years ago to a nationally-ranked Bishop Gorman-Las Vegas, Nevada team that beat last year, the Spartans scored seven touchdowns the next game against a very good Central-Fresno team in a 49-30 victory.
Spartans senior running back Shamar Garrett could be a big weapon for the visitors. If he could run for 190 yards on 17 carries against St. Thomas Aquinas, one has to wonder what he will do against a Central Catholic team that will be missing two key defenders.
Senior Tony Cardenas, who plays fullback and linebacker for the Raiders, will miss another game with a hamstring injury, while junior outside linebacker Phoenix Jackson will not start after suffering a concussion last week in the team’s 26-22 loss to Clovis West-Fresno.
De La Salle junior quarterback Dorian Hale was harassed by Aquinas, but he shouldn’t have as much difficulty against Central Catholic. Look for him to get the ball in the hands of senior wide receiver Grant Dailey
To even stay close Central Catholic will need huge performances from senior quarterback Dalton Durossette (177 yards passing, two TDs against Clovis West) and senior running back Minaya Olivo. He had 110 yards rushing and one TD last week.
The bottom line is barring a monumental upset, De La Salle, the No. 3 team in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings and its usual No. 1 in the Prep2Prep NCS rankings, should roll.
Liberty-Brentwood (1-0) at Oakdale (1-0), Friday, 7:00 pm
Like the De La Salle versus Central Catholic match-up, this pits the North Coast Section against the Sac-Joaquin Section.
Both teams played in last year’s Honor Bowl Game at St. Francis-Mountain View with opposite results. Liberty crushed Gilroy en route to a CIF state Division 1-A Bowl Game championship, while Oakdale was soundly beaten, 42-14 by an Archbishop Mitty-San Jose team that had a season with mixed results.
While Liberty went all the way, Oakdale still had a respectable season and made it to the SJS Division IV semifinals before bowing out in a close loss to eventual champion Rio Linda, and that team went on to win the CIF state Division 5-AA Bowl Game title.
Oregon-committed 6-6, 215-pound Liberty quarterback Jay Butterfield started off right where he left off last season after passing for 311 yards and two TDs in a comfortable season-opening 49-24 victory at Vacaville. His primary target was senior wide receiver Cody Muth. He had six catches for 190 yards and one touchdown.
The ground game for Liberty was on as well as senior Brenden Bell rushed for 135 yards and two TDs, and senior Darrion Bartley only had four carries but two went for scores.
Oakdale got off to a very solid start with a 41-7 trouncing of a host Sonora team that made it to the CIFSJS D5 semis last season.
In the Sonora win junior running back Zeke Saffar and senior running back Leo Ayala accounted for 229 yards and three touchdowns, and sophomore quarterback Jackson Holt had a solid outing for his first varsity start.
Oakdale is tough to beat in the Mustangs’ Corrall, but they are going to have their hands full corralling Liberty.
Turlock (1-0) at Clayton Valley Charter (0-0), Friday, 7:00 pm
This is the third of four NCS versus SJS matchups we’re featuring, but one difference is Clayton Valley of the NCS will be in its season-opener while Turlock is coming off a 21-7 win over Freedom-Oakley, and that should make Clayton Valley coach Tim Murphy take notice, since Freedom was an NCS D1 runner up last year, although they lost a whole lot to graduation.
We’ll find out soon enough if Turlock, the Central California Athletic League champion and SJS Division I quarterfinalist, is in the same league as the 2018 NCS Open Division qualifier and current P2P sixth-ranked Ugly Eagles and their punishing ground game led by 5-11, 170-pound senior Makhi Gervais.
Last season Gervais rushed for 1,499 yards and 18 touchdowns. He’s joined in the backfield by senior Carson Sumter. He had 895 yards and 11 TDs rushing last season. A third Clayton Valley running back to look for this season is junior Tyson Vida.
The defense did the job for Turlock against Freedom, but the Ugly Eagles are a horse of a different color.
Turlock also likes to run the ball behind a big offensive line and that’s what they did last week with senior running back Anthony Frias rushing for 129 yards, and junior running back Josiah Gonzales scored twice on the ground.
“Turlock is really big,” Murphy said. “We are probably giving up 70 to 80 pounds average from their O-line to our D-line.
“They’re very good on offense and defense with lots of returning starters and it shows in the way they play,” Murphy continued. “We are really young so limiting first game mistakes like penalties and turnovers is going to be key.”
Acalanes-Lafayette (1-0) versus Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco (0-0), Friday, 7:00 pm at Kezar Stadium
Historic Kezar Stadium in San Francisco is the site of what could be a very interesting match-up between teams from the CIFNCS and CIF Central Coast Section.
Year four in the tenure of veteran Coach Floyd Burnsed at the Acalanes helm started out with a bang as the Dons put the hurt on Armijo-Fairfield in a 75-6 rout. Senior starting quarterback Mike O’Donnell passed for two TDs and ran for a third score, and his back-up, junior Brady Huchingson passed for three TDs and ran for two. Senior wide receiver had the biggest impact with 164 yards and three TDs receiving
Armijo like Acalanes was coming off a 4-6 season but the Diablo Valley League – Foothill Division the Dons are in is much stronger than the Monticello Empire League where Armijo plays.
After their win last week Acalanes moved up from No. 20 in the Prep2Prep NCS preseason rankings to No. 17 this week.
Host Sacred Heart Cathedral is coming off a very decent season that saw Coach Barry McLaughlin and his boys go a very respectable 3-4 in the ultra tough West Catholic Athletic League and 6-6 overall, and that was good enough to earn them a No. 13 spot in the Prep2Prep CCS preseason rankings.
This season could be even more promising as the Fightin' Irish return junior quarterback Cian Dowling, who started last year as a sophomore. A big help should be the returning size and experience up front, which includes juniors Evan Branch-Haynes and Geoffrey Hester.
Vanden-Fairfield (0-1) at Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park (0-1), Friday, 7:00 pm
Both teams are looking to rebound after Rancho Cotate did not have a good game in a 24-6 loss on the road at Sacramento, and Vanden was crushed 38-7 on the road at Edison-Stockton.
There were high expectations for a Rancho Cotate team that dropped from No. 9 in the P2P NCS preseason rankings to No. 14 this week.
“I think we needed a little kick in the behind,” Rancho Cotate coach Gehrig Hotaling remarked. “We are going to come out fighting.”
CIF Central Coast Section versus CIF Southern Section match-ups
Two very interesting games to watch for are pitting teams from the CIFCCS against the Southern Section and two teams from Newport Beach.
Defending CIF Northern Regional Division 2-A champions and Prep2Prep Preseason No. 4 St. Francis (0-0) hosts a Corona del Mar team that made it to the CIFSS Division 4 title game, and is coming off a season-opening 57-20 win over Downey.
The other CCS versus Southern Section contest pits defending CCS Division III champion, CIF Northern Regional Division 4-A Bowl Game runner up, and Prep2Prep preseason No. 9 Aptos, matching up against a Newport Harbor team coming off a 3-6-1 season last year but a win last week to open this season, 26-10 at Woodbridge-Irvine.
