It’s rivalry week for many Central Coast Section teams and yet one of the biggest games involves schools that not only aren’t rivals, but who many did not figure would play in a meaningful game this time of year.
Saturday at 1 p.m. Archbishop Riordan meets St. Francis at City College of San Francisco’s George Rush Field with much at stake.
St. Francis will earn a WCAL co-title with a victory. If it loses, it falls into a second-place finish with Riordan and possibly Valley Christian which is at Serra.
For Riordan, it’s Senior Day, a chance to nail down that second-place finish and earn and eighth victory, one season after going 1-9.
“It’s big,” Riordan coach Kevin Fordon said. “We’re going to need to stop their running game – they have three backs and they all run well. We need to get them in third-and-long where they’re a little more predictable on offense. And we need to run the ball well because that opens up our passing game for Jacky (quarterback Luavasa).”
In Riordan’s 42-7 win against Sacred Heart Cathedral last week, Luavasa ran for three scores, receiver/special teams ace Aidan Verba-Hamilton returned a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns (he has seven special teams returns for scores this season) and running back Raymone Sanders ran for more than 150 yards, including a 38-yard TD run.
Riordan’s losses are to Bellarmine and Valley Christian, but it has had trophy game wins against Serra, SHC and St. Ignatius.
Fordon knows the Crusaders are in for a tussle.
“It’s going to be a very physical game,” the former De La Salle player said. “Their defensive linemen and linebackers are going to come down and hit you.”
St. Francis has played three pulse-pounding games in a row, losing to Bellarmine 28-26, then rebounding in the fourth quarter to defeat both Serra (43-42) and Mitty (14-13).
The Lancers are led by quarterback Kamallii Akina who has passed for 718 yards and four touchdowns with one interception and running backs Cyrus Habibi Likio (885 yards rushing, 10 TDs) and Lutoviko Ahoia (578 yards rushing, five TDs). Receiver Darius Thomas (15 catches, 326 yards, two TDs) is Akina’s favorite target.
As mentioned, there are plenty of rivalry games around the section this week, including (on Friday) Mills at Capuchino at 7 p.m. in The Battle of the Strip, Half Moon Bay at Terra Nova at 7 p.m. in the Skull Game, Aragon at Hillsdale at 7 p.m. in the Battle of the Fleas, Sacred Heart Prep vs. Menlo at Sequoia High in the Battle of Valparaiso Ave., Carmel at Pacific Grove in the Shoe Game; and (on Saturday) Burlingame at San Mateo at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Little Big Game and South San Francisco at El Camino at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Bell Game.
Besides St. Francis vs. Riordan on Saturday, here are five games to keep an eye on around the section, all on Friday:
Carmel (6-3, 5-1) at Pacific Grove (8-1, 6-0), 7:30 p.m.: Pacific Grove holds a 33-32-2 lead in The Shoe game series. Last year the Breakers snapped a six-game losing streak to Carmel in the annual game to complete an unbeaten league season.
Pacific Grove has already clinched at least an MTAL co-title, but Carmel can also grab a piece of the championship with a win. The Breakers can be explosive, as shown when it turned a 20-14 lead over Fremont after one period into a 59-28 blowout by scoring 36 second-quarter points. Running back Noah Cryns is a player to watch.
Monte Vista Christian (8-1, 4-1) at San Benito (6-3, 3-2), 7:30 p.m.: San Benito out-gained Palma 382 to 231 last Friday night, yet fell to the Chieftains 33-32 in overtime as it committed two turnovers that led to 14 Palma points and was flagged 13 times for 140 yards in penalties, according to the Hollister Free Lance. Running back Hunter Nye (116 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns vs. Palma) is a player to watch for the Balers. Monte Vista Christian, which lost in last season’s section title game to Terra Nova, had a notable win last week against Salinas, 31-27. Quarterback Ryan Spohn’s 30-yard TD pass to Seth Fletscher earned the victory for the Mustangs. Spohn (313 yards passing, three TDs vs. Salinas) and D’Shawn Hopkins (172 yards rushing, one TD) are MVC’s playmakers. A Palma loss to Alvarez and a Monte Vista Christian win will give the Mustangs an MBL-Gabilan co-title.
Aptos (5-4, 4-0) at Scotts Valley (7-2, 4-0), 7:30 p.m.: The Mariners have won four consecutive games and Scotts Valley has won seven straight, beginning with a 7-0 triumph against Watsonville at Levi’s Stadium during the Friday Night Light event.
Scotts Valley has out-scored its opponents by a combined 166-71 and is led by RB Troy Menna who has numerous 200-plus yard rushing efforts this season. Tristan Leonetti is a player to watch on defense.
Aptos opened its season with a 17-12 win against Salinas, then lost four games in a row – to Mitty, Bellarmine, Palma and Capital Christian, all strong teams. Since then the Mariners have won four consecutive SCCAL games, outscoring opponents by a combined 189-33. The two-time defending CCS Division III champs are led by QB Gavin Glaum, WR Jack Harris and running backs Jack Wolf. Danner Pardue and Miles Beaudoin.
Westmont (6-3, 5-1) at Silver Creek (8-1, 5-1), 7 p.m.: Lincoln is unbeaten in the BVAL-Santa Teresa and has defeated Westmont and Silver Creek but will not go to the CCS playoffs, choosing instead to play its annual Big Bone Game on Thanksgiving Day against San Jose.
Westmont has won six of seven games after opening the season with successive losses to Monta Vista and Leigh. The Warriors are led by RB Cooper Horwitz and defender Damien Monroe who averages 9.8 tackles per game and has 15 tackles for loss.
Only a two-point setback to Lincoln is keeping Silver Creek from an unbeaten record. The Raiders are led by RB Dontye Jones who has rushed for more than 1,500 yards and has scored 10 touchdowns.
Half Moon Bay (8-1, 4-1) at Terra Nova (4-5, 2-3), 7 p.m.: This is the 52nd Skull Game and HMB is coming off a 49-48 win against Terra Nova last season. The Cougars also won 34-10 in 2010 in a season when TN won a section title, but dropped 56-0, 42-7 and 41-8 decisions to TN in 2013, 2012, and 2011, respectively. Terra Nova QB Joey Pledger (163-266, 1,881 yards, 17 TDs, 11 interceptions) should go over 2,000 yards passing in this game. Saini Saini and Randall Auelua have combined for 1,178 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns for the Tigers. Running backs Matt Spigelman and Chase Hofmann lead a pounding HMB running attack and QB Gavin Tomberlin and WR Pablo Gutierrez have combined for six TD passes in two games. The coaches are Keith Holden and Tim Adams, Coastline products who played for HMB and Serra, respectively.
