With all the action from Week 6 across the North Coast Section in the books, it’s time to take a look back at the weekend that was.
- Yep, another weekend of action, another wrench thrown into the outlook of the Open Division selections. If I am on the seeding committee, Advil is on hand as I go through the resumes of each team competing for a spot.
De La Salle continues to take down elite competition, with its win over Buchanan, who might end up winning the Central Section title, while Liberty steamrolled past another over-matched opponent in Deer Valley to stay unbeaten. De La Salle is written in pen, but the Lions are in pencil right now. Why is that? Well, let’s take a look at the rest of the contenders from the BVAL.
Pittsburg has two losses right now, but one doesn’t really count for these purposes (Centennial) while the overtime loss to Clayton Valley could loom larger every week. But on the other hand, the win over St. Mary’s-Stockton became so much better when the Rams cruised past O’Dowd on Friday night, knocking the Dragons off the bubble of the Open Division.
Then there is the Freedom win over Antioch on Friday night. Since Freedom has a loss to California, who has a loss to Antioch, who has a win over Clayton Valley, who has the win over Pittsburg, things appear as a Tough Mudder race for the moment – completely messy with little way of telling who will emerge in the front of the pack.
- After five games of play, Hoopa Valley is 3-2 overall, with a win last Friday over Ferndale. While most of the section will say ‘who?’ and ‘why is that important?’, we remind our readers that we love answering those questions.
First, it was Hoopa’s first win over Ferndale since 1995. It was also the Warriors’ first home win over Ferndale since 1971, and their most promising start since going 9-3 in 2011. And for those who are wondering, Hoopa Valley is a very small school (less than 300 students) on Highway 96, along the Trinity River, in the land of the Hoopa Valley Tribe.
- In the two biggest EBAL cross-over games of the week, the Mountain Division held serve as San Ramon Valley and California defeated Dublin and Granada, respectively. Granada, however, showed that it belonged in the upper division this season with a close three-point loss on the road, while Mountain Division member Foothill fell in overtime to Dougherty Valley.
- In the first few weeks of the season, it certainly appeared that the TCAL-Stone title would come down to either Pinole Valley or De Anza. Pinole beat the Dons in dramatic fashion on Friday night, with Demari Davis’ stunning run as time expired, moving the Spartans to 6-0 with a grip on first place in the standings. However, there appears to be one more legitimate challenger to the league crown, as Bethel-Vallejo has won three in a row overall and is tied with Pinole Valley atop the heap. The two teams play this Friday at Pinole.
- Marin County Athletic League play is only two weeks old, and already they are down to just one team unbeaten in league play, after Redwood raced past Terra Linda on Saturday, and Drake fell to San Marin. That leaves Redwood as the only unblemished team in the league title race, but the Giants face San Marin this coming Saturday. If they get past the Mustangs, visions of a league title can begin to dance in their heads.
- Unbeaten no more: Antioch, Del Norte, St. Bernard’s, Dublin, Granada, and California School for the Deaf all suffered their first defeats of the season. The team to beat CSD, Burton-SF, had previously handed St. Vincent de Paul its first defeat of the season last week.
- First win in the books: Arroyo beat American, 13-9, for its first win of the year. Berean Christian also earned its first win, beating Concord 32-27 for a key victory in DAL-Valley play.
- Random, emerging names to keep an eye on: Nate Rutchena (Monte Vista), Michael Brewer (Campolindo), Chase Sims (James Logan), Gaven Cooke (Marin Catholic), Ronald Robertson (Salesian), Dameon Potts (Albany), Crewe Hutson (Tamalpais), Matt Carr (Montgomery), Justin Zimmer (Benicia)
