Placing high school football teams in divisions based on perceived strength has always been a guessing game, even if the powers that be are making educated guesses. A 10-game season, changing adolescent bodies, transfers and football’s general unpredictable nature makes it hard to properly balance leagues. Cut the length of that season in half, and you’re taking blind stabs in the dark.
Entering the 2021 fall season, it was apparent that there would be teams placed in the wrong divisions. It could be an opportune time for a team in a lower league to win a CCS title.
At the very least, now that every CCS team except Stevenson has played at least one game, we can take inventory.
The WCAL is, of course, the strongest league, but there are distinct tiers of teams. Serra and Valley Christian seem to be a cut above the rest, but Bellarmine and St. Francis seem to be in the mix as well. St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart Cathedral have put up respectable early season results against solid competition, with each playing a one-score game against Sacred Heart Prep. Riordan opened with a solid win over Granada, while Mitty scuffled against Palma and was locked in a close fight with Mountain View.
The PCAL’s Gabilan Division looks like the best league outside of the WCAL, with Aptos, Hollister, Palma and Salinas as the top of the class. Christopher and Alvarez look like quality teams while Alisal has taken care of business against lower-tier competition. Seaside, the surprise inclusion in the division as a school that usually fits into smaller enrollment divisions, has lost two games to teams from the Mission Division, the “B” league in the PCAL.
As usual, the PAL-Bay Division is a strong league, but there seems to be a gap after the top three teams. Menlo-Atherton is 0-2, but the two losses have come against Bellarmine and Portland-area power Tualatin. Sacred Heart Prep has reloaded after departing an impressive senior class, while Burlingame has more big-play ability than any Panthers team in recent memory. The other three teams in the league - Half Moon Bay, King’s Academy and Terra Nova - are all dealing with low roster numbers, with HMB and the Knights both having graduated remarkable seniors.
With a 49-12 blowout win over The King’s Academy and quarterback Sergio Beltran shattering passing records, Menlo looks like a team that belongs in the Bay Division rather than the Ocean. The rest of the Ocean Division seems appropriately placed, though Aragon’s rough early showings suggest that the once-mighty Dons could be more fit for the Lake Division.
All five teams in the Lake seem to be in the right place, though San Mateo’s Week 1 victory over Saratoga - albeit a rebuilding Falcons team - suggests the Bearcats might be more fit for a promotion to the Ocean than any of the other Lake teams.
Most of the BVAL seems to be in the proper divisions, though Leigh certainly looks like a Mt. Hamilton-caliber squad. The Longhorns opened with a 41-14 win over Lincoln, and the combination of Aidan Goo, Aidan Williams and Sam Betz is giving opposing defenses nightmares.
SCVAL-De Anza teams enter Week 3 with just a 6-7-1 record, but those seven losses have all been against strong competition. Still, it looks like Los Gatos and Wilcox are the teams to beat in the De Anza. Palo Alto and Mountain View are off to strong starts, while Milpitas has lost a pair of lopsided games to quality NCS outfits.
Homestead and Santa Clara seem to once again be the “tweener” teams in the division, winning comfortably against lesser opponents to kick off their seasons to rack up power points before league play begins.
Of the lower divisions, the one oversight that seems to be apparent so far is Scotts Valley. The Falcons won the SCCAL "B" Division during the spring, yet were placed in the third tier of the PCAL, the Cypress Division. With a 28-6 season-opening win over Mission Division foe Soquel, the Falcons have already proven their legitimacy.
Gonzales also appears to have been misplaced after not having a spring season. The Spartans, up in the Mission Division, lost to Greenfield. The Bruins are in the Santa Lucia Division, the lowest of the PCAL’s four tiers, and haven’t won more than three games in a season since 2011.
A question worth asking each season is which of the CCS’s “C” leagues is the weakest. Entering Week 3, the answer appears to be the BVAL-West Valley Division. The teams are a combined 0-12 so far, having been outscored by an astonishing 507-85. Harbor was the only team to win a game thus far out of the PCAL Santa Lucia until Greenfield’s Thursday night upset over Gonzales, but the division has just five teams, and one of those, Stevenson, won’t play a game until next week, due to the school’s usual late start.
The SCVAL-El Camino’s teams enter Week 3 with a respectable 5-7 record, while the PAL Lake’s teams have combined for just two wins, San Mateo’s aforementioned trouncing of Saratoga and Woodside’s close call against a Rancho San Juan team that had been shut out in all three games in the spring.
Hard work pays off
This section is reserved for teams that snap long losing streaks, but with the dearth of games last season, there are far more than usual.
Harbor: The Pirates won their 2019 opener against Lynbrook, then dropped their final nine games and all five of their spring games were blowout defeats. Another showdown with the Vikings sent them in the right direction to open 2021.
Lincoln: Last Friday’s 56-12 thrashing of San Jose was their first win since the 2019 Big Bone Game, which was played on Thanksgiving.
Mitty: The Monarchs lost their final three games in 2019 and played just three games in the spring, losing two tight ones and a blowout. A thrilling Week 2 win over Mountain View, decided on a late Wills Towers touchdown pass to Danny Scudero, marked their first win since October 25, 2019.
San Mateo: After getting blown out in all six games in the spring, the Bearcats flipped the script in Week 1 against Saratoga, cruising to a 34-0 shutout win.
Terra Nova: After a late start to their spring - the Jefferson Union High School District was far behind the 8-ball resuming sports - the Tigers went 0-3 in their abbreviated season. Their win over Hillsdale was their first victory since 2019.
Lighting up the scoreboard
High-scoring games have been a common theme throughout the first two weeks of the season, with a few teams putting up especially staggering numbers.
Menlo has scored a section-leading 112 points across two games, with quarterback Sergio Beltran already throwing for 12 touchdowns in lopsided wins over The King’s Academy and Sequoia. Silver Creek isn’t far behind at 101, though the Raiders have racked up their scores against a pair of "C" league teams in Woodside and Evergreen Valley.
Of the teams that have played just one game so far, Bellarmine (56) and St. Francis (55) are at the head of the class. Their annual rivalry game is typically a low-scoring affair, with the 38-20 Lancer victory in April marking the highest combined score between the two since 2011. Perhaps this year’s meeting, set for October 22 at San Jose City College, will be a shootout for the ages.
A pair of PAL teams sit on the negative side, with Menlo-Atherton allowing 100 points and Sequoia surrendering 119. M-A’s two games came against Bellarmine and Tualatin, a quality outfit from Oregon, and the Bears have had to replace most of their defensive front. Sequoia allowed 63 to Menlo and 56 to a Gunn team that had only scored a safety in a season-opening loss to Monterey.
Oak Grove has played just one game and let up 55 to St. Francis in another installment of an early-season rivalry that’s gotten more and more lopsided in recent years. Since the Eagles stunned the Lancers in the 2015 CCS Division II Championship, St. Francis has won five straight meetings by an average of 33.4 points.
If you’re going to see any of these aforementioned teams, expect lots of offense and long games. Don’t go making a 10 p.m. dinner reservation if you’re planning on watching them at 7 on a Friday.
