Each of the three games we have chosen, one each from the CIF North Coast, Sac-Joaquin and Central Coast Sections had significant league and playoff implications, as well as the five games mentioned in the Best of the Rest
Pittsburg (6-1, 2-0) at Liberty (7-0, 2-0), Friday, 7:15 pm
Just like last season when this match-up was the one prep football aficionados in the North Coast Section were anxious to see, this year’s game has just as much if not more interest than last year when Liberty never trailed but after leading 17-7 with four minutes left in the third quarter they had to hold off the host Pirates down the stretch to post a 24-21 victory.
The circumstances are somewhat similar this season with Prep2Prep North Coast Section No. 2 Liberty and NCS No. 3 Pittsburg both coming into the game unbeaten in league but this year they are 2-0 in BVAL play whereas last year both were 3-0 when they met for what ended up being for the league title.
Like last year when Liberty was 8-0 and without a blemish when they met the Pirates, this season the Lions have not lost coming into the game but Coach Ryan Partridge and his boys have had some real close calls whereas last season their closest game prior to facing Pittsburg was a 31-14 win at Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa.
This season P2P NCS No. 5 Cardinal Newman gave the Lions a real tussle in a 17-13 win in a game played at Freedom-Oakley, plus they had close calls in a 19-14 win at an Oakdale team that has since faltered more than once, and they also beat NCS No. 13 Clayton Valley-Concord, 28-27 in overtime when the Ugly Eagles missed an extra point. Since then Clayton Valley has lost twice in EBAL action to NCS No. 10 California-San Ramon and No. 12 San Ramon Valley-Danville.
“Close games build character,” Partridge remarked. “We’ve learned some great lessons.”
Since the Newman win Liberty has handled Freedom and Antioch but Pittsburg will be likely more formidable than anyone Partridge and Lions have faced so far this season.
For Liberty it all starts with Oregon-committed quarterback Jay Butterfield and running back Darrion Bartley in the backfield and the guys in the trenches up front led by two-way standout lineman Payton Zdroik.
Butterfield, a 6-6, 210-pound senior, will need to be on his game and his sharpness could be the key to the game. Bartley, a 5-11, 205-pound senior could also be a huge factor if Zdroik and the rest of the line can open some holes.
Pittsburg has seen as tough if not a tougher schedule then Liberty and the only blemish is a 58-21 loss at P2P Central Coast Section No. 1 Serra-San Mateo and that was not looking that bad until Serra nearly faltered last week against new CCS No. 4 Archbishop Mitty-San Jose.
The best win for Coach Vic Galli and his Pirates at this point is a 35-31 victory over CCS No. 3 Wilcox-Santa Clara, but the only real comparison between the two teams would be a Pittsburg 49-33 win at a Freedom team Liberty handled 44-14 on the road.
Pittsburg quarterback Jerry Johnson has been more than adequate this season. After seeing limited action last year the 6-4, 180-pound senior came of the box with a huge performance after passing for 368 yards and six TDs in a season opening 42-35 victory over St. Mary’s-Stockton. Johnson went over the 300-yard mark a second time and that was last week when he passed for 315 yards and three touchdowns against Freedom.
Pittsburg will be eager to reverse last year’s result and perform more like they did in a 35-0 road win two years ago and a 2016 56-7 home win.
That was then and this is now, and Liberty was not the same team as last year when they were the CIF state 1-A Bowl Game champions.
“Our kids will be ready to roll,” said Partridge, whose Lions had a bye last week. “The bye week gets this game even more amplified but our guys were ready on Monday. Their mindset is to put on a show, and they’ve practiced this week with excitement and readiness.”
It’s pretty likely both teams will be ready for what at this stage of the season is the most important game they will have played and will almost assuredly decide the BVAL title and likely the No. 2 seed in the CIF North Coast Section Division 1 playoffs.
Sacred Heart Prep (5-1, 2-0) at Menlo-Atherton (3-3, 1-0), Friday, 7:00 pm
There is little question the matchup this week in Atherton could very well be for the Peninsula Athletic League – Bay title, although The Kings Academy-Sunnyvale may have something to say about that. One way or another the winner will have the inside track for now and for that reason we make this the featured game of the week for the CIF Central Coast Section.
Defending CIF Central Coast Section Open Division 1 and CIF state Division 3-AA Bowl Game champion Menlo-Atherton has scheduled tough and as a result has taken some lumps with losses to state top 20 Serra and top 10 ranked Folsom, and a loss to Utah top 10 East-Salt Lake City.
Menlo-Atherton has wins over Bellarmine, a solid Arroyo Grande from the Central Section, and then last week they opened PAL – Bay action with a 47-23 victory over Terra Nova-Pacifica, but the Prep2Prep CCS No. 5 ranked Bears have not faced another ranked team from the P2P CCS rankings.
On the other hand P2P CCS No. 10 Sacred Heart Prep has played ranked teams but with mixed results. The Gators were a 28-21 winner over a CCS No. 11 St. Ignatius team that just beat No. 13 St. Francis, but the next week they were blown out 40-0 by CCS No. 9 Half Moon Bay. Since then Gators have rolled with blowout wins over Hillsdale-San Mateo, Terra Nova and Aragon-San Mateo.
The two teams have a common opponent and comparing their 42-10 win over Terra Nova to the 47-23 win by Menlo-Atherton, it could very well be a real close game.
Menlo-Atherton uses both the pass and the run depending on the matchup. Coach Steve Papin used two quarterbacks last week in the Bear win over Terra Nova. Junior Raymond Price III only attempted seven passes and completed four, but three went for TDs and he had 158 yards passing. Sophomore Matt McLeod was 7-of-10 for 105 yards.
The Bears have several threats at wide receiver led by junior Troy Franklin. He has 31 receptions for 480 yards and six touchdowns.
Senior Francisco Sanchez and sophomore Thomas Taufui are the two Bears running backs that have been getting the bulk of the carries and between them they have rushed for 517 yards and six touchdowns.
Sacred Heart Prep likes to run the ball and the player that gets the most carries is 6-0, 220-pound bruising senior running back Tevita Moimoi. So far this season Moimoi has 563 yards and 10 TDs on 83 carries. His best game was 161 yards on 29 carries and two TDs in the St. Ignatius win, but against Half Moon Bay Moimoi only managed 25 yards on 12 carries and he never found the end zone.
Quarterback Teddy Purcell has only attempted 73 passes in six games and he’s completed 51 for 792 yards and eight touchdowns.
Menlo-Atherton would seem to have more offensive weapons but this will be the toughest opponent they have faced where they have been favored, and Sacred Heart Prep will be no easy task.
Jesuit-Carmichael (3-4, 2-1) at Davis (6-1, 2-1), Friday, 7:15 pm
We asked Sacramento Bee prep sports writer Cameron Salerno to give us his top games of the week and he came up with three, Placer-Auburn hosting Oakmont-Roseville in a game that could decide the Foothill Valley League title, Del Oro-Loomis hosting Grant-Sacramento in what Salerno calls a “must win got both teams,” and Davis hosting Jesuit in the game we chose and in which he had the following to say. “If Davis wins, I think they’re in the driver’s seat to win the Delta (League). If Jesuit wins, they jump right back into contention.”
Another reason we picked the Davis hosting Jesuit game is we go to the Delta League for the first time this season, and since Folsom departed for the Sierra Foothill League several years ago the Delta League, despite having some of the top teams and players in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section is sometimes overlooked.
Both Davis and Jesuit come into the game tied at 2-1 in Delta action that is shaping up like a who beat whom scenario since the Blue Devils one loss is 42-35 to 3-1 Elk Grove but the Thundering Herd lost to Jesuit last week, 38-35. Jesuit lost 28-21 to 3-1 Cosumnes Oaks-Elk Grove two weeks ago and that team is 3-1 but they lost to 1-2 Franklin-Elk Grove last week.
One way to gauge the matchup is to look at the respective performances of each team against Elk Grove.
In their 42-35 loss to Elk Grove the running game of Davis was held to 100 yards with Taylor Vaughn getting 95 of them and the one touchdown they had on the ground. Quarterback Luke Carroll had a decent game after going 12-of-23 for 218 yards and two TDs, but the offense didn’t go deep enough to withstand the 42 points given up by the defense.
Jesuit had a more balanced attack in last week’s win over Elk Grove but they were at home while Davis lost to Elk Grove on the road. Marauders quarterback Daniel Susac passed for 308 yards and four TDs and although they only scored once on the ground on a quarterback keeper by Susac, they had six players that had multiple carries led by Aca Saca who had 17 carries for 65 yards. The one negative was although Jesuit had 40 carries it was only for 134 yards, so they also had trouble running the ball against the Thundering Herd but the balance between running and passing, where the Marauders had six wide receivers with three different players getting TD receptions, got Jesuit the victory.
This could be a very close game and Jesuit looks like a slight favorite, but what it might very well come down to is the home field advantage for Davis
Best of the Rest
Prep2Prep North Coast Section No. 4 ranked Monte Vista hosting No. 10 California will go a long way towards shedding light on who will be the top contender for the runner-up spot in the East Bay Athletic League since both teams are 1-1 but both teams’ lone loss is to De La Salle.
The Davis hosting Jesuit game gets one of the top billing spots but as previously stated the Del Oro hosting Grant and Placer hosting Oakmont have significant league title and playoff implications.
Prep2Prep NCS No. 14 Clayton Valley-Concord is on the road at NCS No. 9 Foothill-Pleasanton, and at this stage of the season the Ugly Eagles are in a position of having to either win this week against the Falcons on the road, or next week at home against Monte Vista.
Prep2Prep Central Coast Section top-ranked Serra-San Mateo is 6-0 to start for the first time since 2004 and the Padres are 3-0 in the West Catholic Athletic League for the second straight season. This week they meet league rival St. Francis and a twist to the matchup is in 2004 and last year as well the team that broke the overall and league winning streak was St. Francis. The Padres are coming off a close win over CCS No. 4 Archbishop Mitty and No. 13 St. Francis-Mountain View is coming off an upset loss to CCS No. 11 St. Ignatius, but in the wild-and-wacky West Catholic Athletic League anything is possible, and the game is in Mountain View.
