Championship Saturday is here, with all five of the enrollment divisions set to play for top honors between two sites, Palo Alto HS and Santa Clara HS. The games are split up neatly, with two BVAL vs. SCVAL matchups, two between a Santa Cruz County team and a Monterey County team and a WBAL-PSAL battle in Division V.
All 10 teams will advance to the CIF State Tournament, but that’ll hardly matter when the teams take the court on Saturday. Championships are on the line, and for the moment, that’s all they’ll be focused on.
Division I: No. 3 Palo Alto (17-9) vs. No. 1 Piedmont Hills (22-4), 8 p.m. at Palo Alto HS
There was uproar among the Pirates and their fans when they learned they’d be playing Palo Alto on the Vikings’ home floor, rather than over at Santa Clara, a neutral site located almost perfectly between the two schools. CCS Staff Liaison and Events Coordinator Ray Miailovich noted that with Palo Alto personnel staffing the site, if the game was played elsewhere, the facility would lack the necessary staff.
As for the game itself, the Vikings might be coming in as the lower seed, but even if the game wasn’t in their own gym, they’d be coming in with all the momentum in the world. On Thursday, they thoroughly dominated Carlmont to advance to the finals and extend their winning streak to seven games. They’ve been outstanding in transition, which will make for a challenging adjustment for Piedmont Hills. The Pirates faced a polar opposite on Thursday in a tight win over Cupertino, and they’ll have to get up to speed to match what Rodney Tention’s team is doing.
However it goes, a first-year head coach will have led his team to a section championship, whether it’s Tention or Tim Ewers. Both will likely have their predecessors in the building, with Peter Diepenbrock cheering on Palo Alto and Pete Simos supporting Piedmont Hills.
Division II: No. 3 Mountain View (22-4) vs. No. 1 Leland (24-2), 6 p.m. at Santa Clara HS
Considering how entertaining both teams’ semifinal wins were on Thursday, this one should be a doozy. It’s got all the makings of a great matchup: Both teams have size, skill and can perform in both high- and low-scoring games. Sam Tobin and Sohan Kshirsagar both starred for their teams in those semifinal victories, but both teams also got key plays from elsewhere when needed. Jailen Daniel-Dalton scored 19 and 7-foot-1 center Will Dominguez added 13 for the Spartans in a double-overtime win over Aragon, while Shane McKnight scored 14 for Leland and Fuad Alemu chipped in 11. A McKnight layup with just over a minute left gave the Chargers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as they won the rubber match with Leigh.
Division III: No. 2 Aptos (18-10) vs. No. 1 Monterey (21-4), 4 p.m. at Palo Alto HS
With two teams from the southern end of the section playing for the Division III title, folks affiliated with both the Mariners and Toreadores were frustrated to find that they’ll be playing in Palo Alto, rather than a site on their end of the section. Unfortunately, few sites were made available when the CCS was initially planning the championships, and to move the game within less than 48 hours would be tremendously difficult, especially considering that many schools took the entire week off.
Though Monterey handed Aptos a 76-45 beatdown back on December 13, the Mariners had just gotten Hunter Matys and others back from football, and they’ve been playing far better as of late. Aptos has won 12 of 13, and the one loss was avenged with an SCCAL Tournament Championship victory over Santa Cruz. The Mariners have been especially tight on defense during their current eight-game winning streak, not allowing a single opponent over 45 points.
Keeping that up against the Toreadores will be a mighty challenge. Monterey loves to run and gun, averaging 67.7 points per game behind Mohammed Adam, Mohanid Adam and Tahjae Ordonio. The trio combined with Evans Charles to score 51 of the team’s 63 points in Thursday’s closer-than-expected semifinal win over Hillsdale.
Division IV: No. 2 Santa Cruz (21-7) vs. No. 1 Carmel (22-4), 2 p.m. at Santa Clara HS
In an extremely deep Division IV field, the top two seeds have survived difficult tests to reach Saturday’s championship. Carmel center J.T. Byrne typically dominates in the middle, but the Cardinals defend the post particularly well thanks to Robert Bishop III and Jeremiah Elmore. The Padres also have athleticism at guard with Kai Lee and Zach DeZee, but Santa Cruz can counter that with the likes of Zavier Hill-Kemp.
Perhaps the biggest contrast between the two excellent teams is the history of the programs. Santa Cruz has appeared in eight prior CCS championships, including the first two, and the Cardinals won section titles in both 2005 and 2015. This will be just Carmel’s third appearance, and the Padres are still searching for their first championship in program history.
Division V: No. 3 Nueva (21-4) vs. No. 1 Eastside (18-7), 10 a.m. at Palo Alto HS
The Mavericks will have to hope that games at the very start of the season can be flukes, considering that Eastside handed them a 59-25 beatdown back on November 27. Considering that Nueva enters Saturday morning’s bout on a 15-game winning streak, that November meeting may very well have been a fluke. Whether it was or not, Saturday should be a tremendous one-on-one showdown between Nueva’s Kyle McGraw and Eastside’s Isaiah Saams-Hoy. The Panthers also tend to get strong play from Million Jackson and Raymond Reece, meaning Nueva will need some key depth contributions in order to hang with the top team in the division.