When the brackets came out for the Central Coast Section playoffs, everything seemed to line up perfectly for the West Coast Athletic League.
As expected, WCAL teams comprised the top two seeds in the Open/Division 1 playoffs, setting up a potential clash between WCAL powerhouses Serra and Saint Francis for the Open Division title, and clearing the way for the Lancers – or perhaps one of the other WCAL powers – to claim the Division 1 title.
Not only that, Archbishop Mitty, which had initially been projected to land in Open/Division 1 in the unenviable position as the No. 8 seed and a date with No. 1 Serra, wound up as the No. 1 seed in Division 2. That opened the door for a potential WCAL sweep of the top 3 divisions.
Uh, not so fast. With Wilcox stunning Saint Francis, Los Gatos finally getting off the schneid against WCAL opponents and Christopher shocking Archbishop Mitty, the WCAL is left with just two surviving teams: Serra and St. Ignatius.
Wilcox 52, Saint Francis 28
Senior running back Elijah Walker ran for 220 yards and scored five touchdowns to lift Wilcox, which trailed 21-17 before a second-half onslaught put the game away. Saint Francis established a lead thanks in large part to the running of senior Kingston Keanaaina, who ran for three touchdowns. After his third touchdown, a 76-yard run that gave the Lancers a 28-24 lead, Walker took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a score and Wilcox never trailed again.
As if taking down the No. 2 team wasn’t enough, now the Chargers are faced with the overwhelmingly No. 1 Serra squad that has been decimating opponents all season. Serra raced out to a 47-0 lead – in the first half – before cruising to a 47-7 victory over PCAL-Gabilan champ Salinas.
Los Gatos 28, Archbishop Riordan 14
During this stage of the playoffs the last two seasons, Los Gatos went down in excruciating fashion, losing to Bellarmine and Archbishop Mitty by the most gut-wrenching means imaginable. But the Wildcats avoided such theatrics with a relatively comfortable 28-14 win over explosive Archbishop Riordan.
Tied 14-14 at the half, Los Gatos shut down a Riordan offense that came into the game averaging 38 points per game against stout competition. Senior running back Boxer Kopcsak-Yeung missed some time with an ankle injury, but still finished with 168 yards on 26 carries. Quarterback AJ Minyard completed 11 of 19 passes for 232 yards, including a 33-yard TD pass to Jaylen Thomas that put the ‘Cats up for good at 21-14 in the third quarter.
In 2021, Los Gatos appeared to be driving for the winning score when the Bells stole the game on a pick-six from deep in their own territory in the final seconds. Last season, the Wildcats lost to Mitty in overtime when the Monarchs converted a two-point conversion.
Los Gatos gets another shot at a WCAL team in the semifinals when it takes on St. Ignatius. The winner will take on the loser of Serra-Wilcox for the Division 1 title.
Christopher 32, Archbishop Mitty 28
To the uninitiated, a 9-1 team beating a 5-5 team certainly doesn’t look like an upset. But the WCAL is no ordinary league, and as a result, Mitty came in as a heavy favorite against a Cougar team that had just lost its first game of the season the previous weekend against Live Oak for the BVAL-Mount Hamilton championship.
Junior Jaxen Robinson completed 14-of-24 passes for 222 yards and 2 TDs and senior William Rizqallah scored on a pair of short runs, including a 10-yarder in the final minute to lift the Cougars to victory.
Mitty led 28-19 on a five-yard touchdown run by Lazaro Faraj-Washington with 5 minutes remaining, but senior Amari Bluford took the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a score to bring Christopher back into the game.
Next up for Christopher is a trip to Atherton to take on Menlo Saturday afternoon. Menlo got past Live Oak, 30-28, in another first-round matchup.
