With just two weeks remaining in the section playoffs, the best of the best are the only ones still remaining on the field, which means for an exciting slate of games over the next two weeks. We preview each semifinal game in the North Coast Section and Central Coast Section, with this feature focusing on the match-ups in the NCS Division 4 field.
Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (10-1) hosting Piner-Santa Rosa (11-1), Friday, 7:00 pm
The matchup between top-seeded and P2P NCS No. 4 and top-seeded Cardinal Newman and No. 4 seed Piner might be more anticipated than the Cardinal Newman and Rancho Cotate North Bay League – Oak Division showdown this season for a couple of reasons.
Newman has been the top dog in the greater Santa Rosa and Sonoma County area for a long time with Montgomery and Rancho Cotate, and even Casa Grande occasionally dislodged them from the top spot, but now there’s a new challenger, and ironically its Piner where Newman Coach Paul Cronin graduated from in 1991, starred as a quarterback during his time there, and began his high school coaching career in 1998 before moving on to Newman five years later for the 2003 season.
Another thing that’s ironic is when Cronin was a junior in 1990 he led Piner to its last North Bay League championship and all the way to the NCS Division 3A championship game where the Prospectors lost 49-24 to De La Salle.
The game might have been even more meaningful if Piner had not been upset in a 31-27 loss to Santa Rosa two weeks ago since they would have been undefeated and the North Bay League – Redwood champion.
The competitive equity computer strength of the two teams isn’t comparable, and in fact Newman is not only No. 4 in the NCS but Cal-Hi Sports has them No. 46 in the state.
Cardinal Newman has prepped for the playoffs with as tough a schedule as a small school should play, and all the big non-league games were on the road. They scheduled and beat a CIF Northern Section perennial small school power Sutter, 21-7 on the road for that team’s only loss this season, they opened a brand new stadium at CIF Sac-Joaquin Section small school powerhouse Placer-Auburn and won that game as well, 30-27, and finally they went out to East Contra Costa County and took on NCS D1 No. 3 seed Liberty-Brentwood and in a 17-14 game they had a chance to win Cronin and his boys gave the Lions as good a game as any top large school team has this season.
Last week, in a 56-7 rout of Tennyson-Hayward Newman quarterback Jackson Pavitt and the rest of the Cardinals barely broke a sweat so they should all be raring to go. Pavitt played catch with his receivers and was 12-of-14 for 201 yards and four TDs before Cronin yanked him with Newman leading 49-0 at halftime. Junior and primary running back Shane Moran saw very limited action as did senior wide receiver Giancarlo Woods and emerging junior star wide receiver Tsion Nunnally.
On the surface it would seem a slam dunk for the host Cardinals since the non-league schedule of Piner was very weak as is the strength of the NBL – Redwood, but maybe not so.
In the Piner 41-36 win last week over Tamalpais-Mill Valley 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). If he can continue that against Newman he could get close, tie or pass Campbell as the NCS leader on the Single Season TD Passes (Overall) list with 57. Isaac already has thrown for seven TDs once and six five times, but those teams have a combined record of 15-45 and only Miramonte-Orinda made the playoffs.
Cronin looked at it succinctly.
“Piner is a team that runs what they run and they have confidence in their system,” Cronin remarked. They will have a few wrinkles but that will be it.”
“Our kids are really excited about this game,” Cronin continued. “They are thrilled to be playing a local team in the playoffs and because of it the week has been exciting.”
First year Piner Coach Terrence Bell has gotten Piner this far but can he and his boys climb this mountain? We shall see.
Marin Catholic-Kentfield (10-1) hosting Acalanes-Lafayette (9-2), Saturday, 1:00 pm
This Saturday afternoon match-up between Marin Catholic and Acalanes would have been the featured NCS game for the NorCal Regional Games of the Week had we not had to forego the feature this week due to all the semifinal playoff previews. Nevertheless, this should be a very interesting game pitting two teams that have not faced each other in the playoffs in a long time if ever.
Second-seed and Prep2Prep NCS No. 5 Marin Catholic is also state ranked like top-seeded Cardinal Newman with the Wildcats coming in right behind Newman at No. 47 in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings, and would likely be top 40 if they hadn’t lost 19-7 to state No. 41 McClymonds-Oakland after leading in the first half.
Even so, the host Wildcats looked for some competitive non-league games and gave P2P CCS No. 8 Archbishop Mitty-San Jose a 35-9 thrashing, and Mitty gave CCS No. 1 Serra-San Mateo a game. Marin Catholic went to Turlock and blew out Pitman, and they trounced Monterey and also pinned a 34-7 loss on a host Antioch team that gave NCS No. 2 Pittsburg a real scare before losing 42-41.
In the Marin County Athletic League, where they are a member but can’t win the championship, and only played four of the other seven teams, Marin Catholic got a game from Redwood in a 14-0 victory, but in the other three games they outscored opponents 157-16 combined.
Junior and primary running back Mateo Perez has only played a half or just a little more in a lot of games but still has rushed for 1,757 yards and 28 touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Michael Ingrassia has also sat early in a lot of games but has passed for 1,592 yards and 20 TDs with only three interceptions. His main targets have been Gavin Cooke, who also anchors the secondary, Geordie Aarsheim and Spencer Lauer.
The defense is led by USC-bound Jamar Sekona (nine sacks, 71 tackles), who also anchors the offensive line, and Giovanni Ghilotti. He has 10 sacks and 67 tackles. Cooke has five interceptions.
Everyone got an early rest last week in a 52-0 rout of Kennedy-Fremont, so despite two bye weeks in the last three weeks everyone should be ready to roll, but Moayed still has concerns about the byes and routs of Kennedy, and prior to that Tamalpais.
“The last three weeks we have had two bye weeks so our focus has just been to have a good week of practice, Moayed remarked.
Third seed and P2P NCS No. 11 Acalanes is coming off a 42-0 thrashing of Newark Memorial so they should be healthy and ready to go as well. The Dons have a 28-20 loss at D2 No. 2 seed Vintage-Napa, and they also lost 42-21 to D3 top-seed Las Lomas-Walnut Creek, but immediately after that they came back with a 17-7 win over D2 No. 3 seed Campolindo-Moraga, and with Campolindo beating Las Lomas, it created a three-way tie for the Diablo Athletic League - Foothill Division title.
Veteran coach and Dons head coach Floyd Burnsed, who has also coached at the junior college level, likes to throw the ball, and junior quarterback Brady Huchingson has passed for 2,503 yards and 29 TDs with only three interceptions. His favorite targets have been senior Lucas Eppinger (39 catches, 1,011 yards, 14 TDs) and senior Jack Muren (38 catches, 752 yards, 10 TDs).
Burnsed has three running backs that share the carries pretty equally. Senior Jake Delaney has rushed for 429 yards and 10 TDs to lead the ground attack.
“We approach this game just like all the rest. We just want to play at the level that is expected of our team and we need to block Sekona and slow down Perez,” Burnsed said. “They are very talented and it will be a difficult task for a public school to upset them.”
Whatever the case Moayed summed it up pretty well. “The semifinals are the semifinals. You have to prep and play well.”
