The CIF North Coast Section continues to get top billing for this feature this week with the top game and several other solid matchups, but the Central Coast Section and Sac-Joaquin Section games featured are also important contests with league and playoff implications.
Clayton Valley-Concord (5-3, 1-2) hosting Monte Vista-Danville (6-2, 2-1), Friday, 7:15 pm
We go back to the Contra Costa County portion of the CIF North Coast Section for this week’s top game from the NCS but this week it’s the East Bay Athletic League – Mountain Division where we find what should be a very interesting matchup.
For Prep2Prep CIFNCS No. 4 ranked Monte Vista a win over host and NCS P2P No. 9 Clayton Valley would get them to 3-1 in league with San Ramon Valley-Danville remaining on their EBAL – Mountain schedule, so it would assure Coach Matt Russi and his Mustangs of no worse than a share of the league title De La Salle is ineligible to win. Winning out at this point is also important for NCS Division 1 playoff seedings.
The latest Prep2Prep NCS Playoff Projections, which pretty much mirrors the competitive equity plus other criteria formula used by the NCS for seeding, has Monte Vista as the No. 4 seed. A loss to either Clayton Valley and/or P2P NCS No. 16 and projected No. 7 seed San Ramon Valley could mean a drop below P2P NCS No. 10 and projected sixth-seed James Logan, and even NCS No. 8 and projected No. 5 seed California-San Ramon under some circumstances, despite a 15-14 win over the Grizzlies last week.
Clayton Valley has De La Salle remaining after Monte Vista, and that’s one for the loss column, so with the rough start they had in their introduction to the EBAL – Mountain with losses to California and San Ramon Valley means they have no shot at the top spot, but that’s not what’s important to the Ugly Eagles at this point.
Coach Tim Murphy and his Uglies had their backs to the wall last week since a loss would have made this game a must win for Clayton Valley to make the NCS Division 2 playoffs. Murphy got his boys fired up and they responded with a somewhat surprising 41-0 thrashing of NCS No. 15 Foothill-Pleasanton that is also in the D2 playoffs.
After their win over Foothill the Ugly Eagles went back into the No. 1 spot in the NCS Division 2 Playoff Projections, but a loss to Monte Vista could drop them back to the second seed again behind NCS No. 11 San Leandro, a team that has a win over Foothill but losses to Monte Vista and James Logan.
While the game is important for league standings and playoff seedings it’s also important for momentum. Other than their loss to De La Salle the only other loss for Monte Vista was to Liberty and had not a last second field goal hit the crossbar, it may not have been a 24-21 defeat. Russi and his boys have an impressive 20-0 win over San Leandro to open the season but recently they have been tested not only by California last week, but the Foothill team that got shellacked by Clayton Valley gave the Mustangs a real tussle before falling 35-29 in Danville two weeks ago.
A big question is has Clayton Valley righted the ship? Prior to the beginning of EBAL – Mountain play many analysts had projected the Ugly Eagles to be the No. 2 team in the league behind De La Salle. It’s not like they were blown out by California and San Ramon Valley because the games were close, but they lost.
If Murphy has his boys clicking again this week at home, Monte Vista will have its hands full stopping the patented Clayton Valley running game led by senior Makhi Gervais. The Uglies rolled up 350 rushing yards against Foothill.
With such dominance Murphy was able to limit Gervais touches and the result is a lot of running backs got into the act. Gervais rushed for two touchdowns and had 48 yards rushing. Senior Carson Sumter had a TD rushing and 66 yards on the ground, senior Rayshawn Jackson had a TD along with 106 total yards, 46 on the ground. In a bit of a twist, junior Omari Taylor didn’t find pay dirt, but he led Clayton Valley with 120 yards rushing.
Another factor for Clayton Valley was they had several players return from injuries including Jackson, senior guard David Khashabi, senior linebacker Jordan Martin and junior quarterback Jack Kern. Others will return as well against Monte Vista.
“Finally, we’re healthy for the first time this year,” Murphy said with a sense of relief.
Healthy or not, Murphy and his Ugly Eagles will have their hands full with a very talented Monte Vista. The Mustangs have recently had some close games, but other than the heartbreaking loss to Liberty and De La Salle, Russi and his boys have won them all including the close ones, and they’ve done it with a combination of just enough offense and solid defense.
Monte Vista quarterback Jack Stewardson didn’t have his best game against California after going 12-for-22 for 149 yards and one TD with an interception, and he will need to be solid against Clayton Valley.
Running back Gavin Cribb had one of his better games of the season with 21 carries for 171 yards but he never found pay dirt, and the Mustangs will probably need a solid ground game to keep the grinding Clayton Valley offense off the field. Star wide receiver Nate Rutchena didn’t do a lot on offense against California, but at safety on defense he had a team-high 11 tackles.
A player that could be a difference maker like he was against California and Foothill is senior wide receiver and special teams standout Jacob Oliphant. He scored the 2-point winning conversion against California and had an 85-yard punt return and 74-yard kickoff return for TDs against Foothill.
Asked if the possibility that the importance of the Foothill game and the way his team played may lead to a letdown this week Murphy was emphatic.
“Heck no,” was his answer. “We even told the kids ‘you didn’t leave it all on the field.’ We got better, our backups got in there and now we’re at full strength.”
Look for Prep2Prep game coverage on what should be a competitive contest.
The King’s Academy-Sunnyvale (7-0, 2-0) at Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton (5-2, 2-1)
To say it’s an old homecoming week for The Kings Academy Coach Pete Lavorato may be a bit of an understatement.
After having success at Sacred Heart Prep that included a 2013 CIF Central Coast Section Division IV championship that led to a CIF state Northern Regional Division III Bowl Game championship blowout victory of El Cerrito, and then an eventual state D3 runner-up finish, Lavorato left the Gators helm after the 2016 season and moved down the road to Sunnyvale where he is now in his third year as head coach at The King’s Academy.
His first year the Knights went 4-6 but last year Lavorato led The King’s Academy to an 11-2 record, a second place finish in the Peninsula Athletic League – Ocean Division, and a CIF Central Coast Section Division 5 championship.
Under the old CCS system the D5 winner did not move on to the CIF state NorCals but that was then and this is now.
With realignment The King’s Academy along with Burlingame were moved up to the PAL – Bay Division and with three league games left Lavorato and his boys are right in the thick of the league race but as kind of a dark horse with most analysts picking the Menlo-Atherton team they’re tied with for first place as the league champion.
Prep2Prep CIF Central Coast Section No. 12 ranked The King’s Academy plays P2P CCS No. 5 Menlo-Atherton in the league finale at home, but before then there’s the date on Friday with P2P CCS No. 10 Sacred Heart Prep and then another road game with Terra Nova-Pacifica.
The twist here is with The King’s Academy moving up to the PAL – Bay it will be the first time Lavorato will coach against his former team.
The two league wins so far for the Knights have been against Burlingame and Aragon-San Mateo, but those two teams are in fifth and sixth place, respectively. The competitive equity resume of the other five opponents is not real strong so this game against his old school will be the first real test for Lavorato and his boys this season.
Sacred Heart Prep is coming off a 26-20 loss at Menlo-Atherton where they played well in the second half but couldn’t overcome a 13-0 halftime deficit.
The Gators primarily like to run the ball led by Tevita Moimoi, but they had problems last week with only 146 yards on 50 carries as a team and Moimoi had 77 of the yards on 16 carries and he didn’t find the end zone. Look for third-year Sacred Heart Prep Coach Mark Grieb to go to his strength and give the ball to Moimoi and if he has a similar game to the one he had against P2P CCS No. 11 St. Ignatius-San Francisco, where he rushed for 161 yards and two TDs in a 28-21 victory, the Gators will be hard to beat.
The Lavorato offense has always been about a 2-1 ration of running to passing and this year’s Knights team is no different. They have several running backs but the go-to guy has been senior Jayden Frazier. He has half the team’s rushes and years with 90 carries for 659 yards, and 16 of the Knights 24 rushing touchdowns.
Both teams have solid quarterbacks, junior Teddy Purcell of Sacred Heart Prep, and junior Antonio Gonzalez for The King’s Academy, but this game is likely to be won in the trenches and which team is able to control the line of scrimmage.
Ripon (7-1, 3-1) at Hughson (4-4, 2-2)
We decided to go to the Metro Modesto area just south of the Tuolumne River for our CIF Sac-Joaquin Section featured game as part of the NorCal Regional Games of the Week feature, not because it is a big-time glamour game, but to give the small schools some love, and recognize a Ripon team that made some big noise last week when they knocked off the Cal-Hi Sports top small school in the state with a 42-21 victory over Escalon that elevated the Indians to the Cal-Hi Sports No. 6 ranking for small schools.
Against Escalon the Indians forced three turnovers on defense and on offense they rushed for four touchdowns led by senior Danny Hernandez who had 11 carries for 105 yards and one TD, plus he had one of two Ripon interceptions he returned 34 yards.
In a lot of respects the game is very important for both Ripon and Hughson. Ripon has a Trans Valley League loss to Hilmar, but Hilmar has a loss to Escalon so the three teams along with Livingston are all 3-1 and tied for first place. Hughson has losses to Livingston and Hilmar so a win would be a big boost to their potential seeding in the CIFSJS Division VI playoffs.
They will have a raucous home crowd behind them but for Hughson to win this game they will need big performances from junior dual-threat quarterback Aiden Meyer, and senior running back Zander de la Cruz.
The Trans Valley League is always competitive and home field is important, so anything could happen in this matchup.
Best of the Rest
Prep2Prep CIF North Coast Section No. 10 James Logan-Union City (7-1, 4-0) is having one of its best season in several years under Coach Ricky Rodriguez and for the second straight year they will face Moreau Catholic-Hayward for what will almost assuredly be the Mission Valley Athletic League title. The difference is last year they lost 42-14 at home in their first league game of the season, and this year they take a short ride up Mission Boulevard to Moreau in the next to last game of the regular season. With Logan having Kennedy-Fremont left and Moreau facing Newark Memorial-Newark next week this game that should decide the MVAL crown would have received top billing had not it gotten a feature of its own.
Prep2Prep NCS No. 7 Las Lomas-Walnut Creek (8-0, 3-0) will have a chance to pretty much wrap up the Diablo Athletic League – Foothill Division with a win over P2P NCS No. 15 Campolindo-Moraga (6-2, 1-1) since the Cougars have a loss to Acalanes-Lafayette team Las Lomas beat 42-21 two weeks ago.
P2P NCS No. 8 California-San Ramon (6-2, 1-2) and NCS No. 16 San Ramon Valley-Danville (5-3, 1-2) have both qualified for the playoffs but this game will be important for the East Bay Athletic League – Mountain Division pecking order and playoff seeding for the NCS Division 1 playoffs.
P2P NCS No. 17 Encinal-Alameda (7-1, 3-0) hosting NCS No. 11 San Leandro (5-2, 3-0) is shaping up as a battle for the WACC – Foothill title but Encinal still has a game with Bishop O’Dowd left.
We promise to feature Sacramento Bee CIF Sac-Joaquin Section No. 2 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 36 Inderkum-Sacramento (8-0, 4-0) particularly if the Tigers get their 40th consecutive Capital Valley Conference win and wrap up the title this Friday against the Yuba City team that in 2012 was the last team to beat Inderkum in league play.
It’s always a tough contest when Los Gatos and Palo Alto hook up and when the P2P CCS No. 8 ranked Cats host CCS No. 14 Paly on Friday it should be no different.