We incorporated the CIF Central Coast Section Division I playoffs as part of the NorCal Regional Games of the Week feature but still did a game each from the Sac-Joaquin and North Coast Sections. We wanted to give Inderkum and Davis some love but the best game from the CIFSJS was in Folsom where Sacramento Bee SJS No. 1 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 6 Folsom almost bit the bug if not for a touchdown reception and then a pass bat down by UC Davis commit CJ Hutton in the end zone on fourth down avoided the upset as the Bulldogs pulled out a 45-42 victory.
Valley Christian-San Jose 25, St. Francis-Mountain View 3
We lead the NorCal Regional Games of the Week Recap with the dominating win of Valley Christian for two reasons. First, their portion of the NorCal Regional Games of the Week feature for this past weekend’s games mysteriously was lost in the transaction of posting the story and got past us, and the second reason is the Warriors victory over the Lancers was the only one of the four CCS Division I games that did not get live Prep2Prep coverage.
As expected, the Valley Christian defense totally dominated just like they have all season, including their one loss to Serra when the defense played well in a 10-0 defeat.
What wasn’t expected was Prep2Prep CCS No. 2 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 20 Valley Christian (10-1) threw the ball more than usual, and one of the recipients was freshman wide receiver Jurrion Dickey.
Senior quarterback Cory Taylor was only 6-for-13 but two of his passes went for TDs and he finished with a season high 166 yards passing.
Dickey had two receptions, a 48 yard TD catch and a 15-yard reception.
Senior running back Isaiah McElvane, a speedster with several D1 college offers, rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown, and had two receptions, including a 53-yard TD grab in which he eluded several tacklers on his way to pay dirt.
Defensively the second-seeded Warriors limited No. 7 seed St. Francis (4-7) to a 27-yard field goal on one of the few times the Lancers even got into the red. The defense had two sacks, five tackles for loss, McElvane had an interception, and senior Anthony Madrigal recovered a fumble.
In WCAL play this year Valley Christian was a 28-7 winner over St. Francis and now has won three-straight against the Lancers after a 33-30 double overtime win last year in the CCS Open Division 2 title game followed a 7-3 loss in league play.
Going into a semifinal showdown with a St. Ignatius team they beat 17-7 in WCAL play Coach Mike Machado and his boys have only given up double-digit points three times, in a 23-13 win over Wilcox, a 34-12 victory at Clovis West-Fresno, and the loss to Serra. Of the other eight games Valley Christian had pitched four shutouts and has only given up 58 points in 11 games.
In this day and age of spread offenses and limitations on tackling, a lot of teams, and even some good ones, give up almost that many points in one game.
With St. Ignatius playing great defense and giving Machado’s boys some trouble up front in the WCAL meeting, the game this Friday night up on the hill in south San Jose could be a real grinder.
Inderkum-Sacramento 43, Davis 21
After a bye in the first round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs, Inderkum advanced to the second round undefeated for the third straight year. The past two years they were beaten in the quarterfinals. The difference is Inderkum was 11-0 instead of 10-0 and coming off a first round victory the past two years in Division II before losing in the second round.
The old expression “the third time is a charm” ended up as a reality for Coach Terry Stark and his boys after they ended the Cinderella season of Davis. Now, the Tigers move on to the semifinals for the first time since 2106 when they went 11-3 and lost to Del Oro-Loomis in the Division II title game. Inderkum, the No. 3 team in the Sacramento Bee CIFSJS rankings will now face Bee No. 2 and host Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills.
Willie Hardy Jr. rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 85 and 10 yards, two-way star Aaron Espero had 127 yards rushing and one TD, plus six tackles a fumble recovery and two batted passes on defense, and Dino Watson had two scores of 52 and 29 yards. All told Inderkum rolled up 511 yards of offense.
Davis (10-2) fell behind 21-0 but fought back and only trailed 28-21 midway through the third quarter, but they just could not stop the Inderkum offense from that point on. Blue Devils quarterback Luke Carrell rushed for one touchdown and threw a 52-yard TD pass to Payne Barksdale.
For second-year Davis Coach Steve Smyte the loss ends a very solid first two years at the Blue Devils helm. The former college and Canadian Football League assistant went 6-5 and 3-3 in the Delta League and made the playoffs in what Smyte called a “year of redemption,” and this year in what he dubbed a “year of ascension,” they won the Delta League and their season should make the Blue Devils faithful very proud.
Wilcox-Santa Clara 42, Menlo-Atherton-Atherton 35 OT
The best of the four CCS Division I quarterfinal match-ups was in Atherton where host Menlo-Atherton got one dose too many of Wilcox star Paul M. Rosa after the Chargers senior running back capped an amazing performance by scoring the winning touchdown in overtime.
After the teams finished tied 35-35 at the end of four quarters, Wilcox (9-2) took the ball to open the extra period. Each team got a chance in overtime from the 10-yard line. Rosa, the son of Coach Paul Rosa, put his team ahead on the second play after breaking a tackle and taking it to the end zone from 8-yards out.
Wilcox stuffed Menlo-Atherton on its first play in overtime and three plays later after an incomplete pass the host Bears were denied back-to-back CCS title after winning the Open 1 championship last year over Wilcox in the Chargers only loss last season. Both teams went on to win CIF state Bowl Game championships.
The winning touchdown was the icing on the cake for Rosa after he rushed for 239 yards and three touchdowns, and got a fourth score and the only TD of the second half for Wilcox on a 73-yard halfback option pass to Aaron Ah Sing with 7:52 to go in regulation. It may be a cliché to say Rosa turned out the lights on Menlo-Atherton but it actually happened because the lights did go out at MA with 1:59 left in the first, and when they came back on Rosa Rushed form a 38-yard touchdown.
Menlo-Atherton finishes 7-4 including a forfeit win.
For the full feature on this game click here.
Serra-San Mateo, 42 Half Moon Bay 14
The way this game started it was looking disastrous for Prep2Prep Central Coast Section No. 1 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 19 Serra (10-1) after that didn’t even see the ball in the first quarter and until four seconds into the second quarter after Half Moon Bay went on a 23-play 80-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead, and then after a three-and-out by Serra the boys from the coast marched 65-yards in nine plays to take a 14-0 lead.
Serra scored with 32.9 seconds left in the half and it began a turnaround of 42 unanswered points.
For a small school that was No. 1 in the last Cal-Hi Sports Small School state rankings and No. 9 in the P2P CCS rankings, Half Moon Bay (10-1) is the real deal but eventually Serra wore down a bunch of 2-way players from a small but proud community that filled the visitors stands and whose kids, coaches and fans showed a lot of class.
For the full feature of this game click here.
St. Ignatius-San Francisco 28, Archbishop Mitty-San Jose 7
The re-match of the West Catholic Athletic League game St. Ignatius (9-2) won 21-7 was nearly a duplicate as the Wildcats defense dominated like in the first meeting, but the difference in the CCS Division I quarterfinal was quarterback Teddye Buchanan directed his team to one more score. It was the first playoff win for No. 3 seed and P2P CCS No. 3 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 41 St. Ignatius since 2014.
Mitty finishes 6-5 this season.
For the full feature on this game click here.
Piner-Santa Rosa 41 Tamalpais-Mill Valley 36
The win by No. 5 seed Piner (10-1) over No. 4 and host Tamalpais in the CIF North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs based on seeds is a minor upset, but with the kind of numbers Piner has been putting up this season, picking up a first playoff win for the Prospectors since 2013 is not a real shock, since a letdown loss to Santa Rosa actually cost Coach Terence Bell and his boys the No. 4 seed and a home game, but in the end it didn’t matter.
Piner never trailed and at one point they had a 21-2 lead but Tamalpais (7-4) fought back to make it a game.
Prospectors quarterback Yonaton Isaac had three touchdown passes to give him 51 this season. The 48 TD passes he came into the game with had him tied with T.J. Campbell of St. Bernard’s-Eureka (2017) for the top spot in the NCS on the Cal-Hi Sports Record Book list for Single Season TD Passes (Regular).
Campbell is the leader on the Single Season TD Passes (Overall) list with 57, and with No. 8 seed Piner facing top-seed and Prep2Prep NCS No. 4 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 47 Cardinal Newman how many TDs Isaac will add to the total will be interesting.
On a side note Cardinal Newman Coach Paul Cronin was a quarterback at Piner and was the head coach there for four years before landing the Newman job.
For the full feature on this game click here.
