Prep2Prep Northern California Rankings
THROUGH WEEK 0
For our new edition of the NorCal Football Rankings the one thing that hasn’t changed is the team on top, De La Salle, but their streak of years on top of Northern California goes back a lot longer than our short tenure of doing these rankings. Despite not playing any games teams from the CIF Central Coast Section are included but the pecking order in the CCS is in question. The CIF Sac Joaquin Section may or may not undergo a change at the top but Folsom is still there for now.
Note: Last week's rankings in parentheses
The Spartans started the season as De La Shutout and they did it by forcing five turnovers against the second best team in Northern California in a 14-0 victory over Folsom, the first time that team has been shut in 14 years. Isaiah Foskey, a 6-5, 235-pound defensive end and tight end that has over 20 major D1 offers and who we had projected as a possible difference maker in the game was just that after getting an interception and then on the ensuing drive catching a TD pass for the Spartans first and only points they would need. Next up is a Central Catholic team coming off a shutout themselves over Clovis West.
Someone other than De La Salle is going to have to beat the defending CIF Division 1-AA Bowl game champions for them to drop any lower, and that could very well happen this Friday at home against Jesuit. Even in losing the Sacramento Bee No. 1 ranked Bulldogs held De La Salle scoreless in the first half but their high-powered offense was overpowered by the Spartans defense for two halves. It would not be surprising to see Folsom rebound big against Jesuit. Last season they were a 55-9 winner.
The Marauders, who are the No. 2 team from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section in the rankings behind Folsom, had a bye so they should be physically healthy and ready for Folsom. According to the Sacramento Bee the coaches of their No. 2 team pored over film of the Folsom-De La Salle film, and Jesuit fared well in a scrimmage against De La Salle. We’ll see if that translates into a victory on Friday night.
We had thought of putting both Clayton Valley and Pittsburg behind St. Francis and Liberty like some other rankings but although these rankings wont always have the same pecking order we agreed with the Prep2Prep CIF North Coast Section rankings that have Clayton Valley No. 2 behind De La Salle for a couple of reasons. St. Francis has not played yet and is a different team and the Ugly Eagles like Pittsburg were in the NCS Open Division. It took two overtime periods but Carson Sumter’s 3-yard run gave the Ugly Eagles the lead, which was followed by an incomplete pass on fourth down that sealed the deal in a 38-31 win over Pittsburg. Air Force commit Cade Carter had a big night. He scored on a 75-yard touchdown reception, intercepted a pass, his 35-yard return of a fumble  set up a late game-tying field goal.Â
Losing in double overtime does not drop the Pirates below Liberty or St. Francis like some other rankings. As was previously stated St. Francis hasn’t played and needs to prove itself and despite the loss to Clayton Valley Coach Vic Galli has a better team this year than the one that beat Liberty 35-0 last year on the road. As for this week’s opponent it doesn’t get any easier as Galli and his boys host No. 8 St. Mary’s on Friday night.
The defending NCS Division I champions can’t go ahead of Pittsburg just yet but if they keep up their winning ways the possibility exists they can at some point prior to the two teams meeting in mid October. In the 35-10 win over Vacaville junior quarterback Jay Butterfield passed for 292 yards and three TDs and senior wide receiver Sione Vaki caught eight of the passes for 138 yards and one touchdown. The Lions are playing on Saturday in the Honor Bowl at St. Francis on Saturday in the 4 pm game against Gilroy.
With rumors flying about why Darrel Page is no longer with the team after rushing for over 2,200 yards last season, we’re going to take a wait and see attitude with the Lancers, although the defending CIF Division 2-A Bowl game champions are still the No. 1 team from the Central Coast Section. The Lancers are the hosts for all the Honor Bowl games and they play Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks in the late game on Friday night.
The Rams have two very tough games in the next two weeks to start the season. Their opener is at Pittsburg where they will face a Pirates team looking to rebound big after being stunned by Clayton Valley. Then they go on the road to a Central Catholic team that will be coming off a game at De La Salle.
With their being questions about St. Francis the Padres faithful and some analysts are thinking that possibly Coach Patrick Walsh and his defending CIF Division 2-AA Bowl Game titlists are the top team from the West Catholic Athletic League and the CCS just like they were last year. They will get a chance to prove it right out of the box when they open on Saturday night in a Serra versus Serra matchup with the very tough Cavaliers from Gardena.
After a 21-0 blanking of 2017 CIF Central Section Division I semifinalist Clovis West-Fresno, the fans and even the players are crowing about the possibility the Raiders could be the team to beat De La Salle, and why not? If you don’t think you can win a game going into it why play. This is going to be a game of grind-it-out offenses and Coach Roger Canepa hopes his offensive line of Evan Nunes, Chris Mendoza, Severino Rossini, Mikey Duran and Eric Soares can open holes in Sparta’s defense for the running game just like it did against Clovis West. A twist to this game is Clovis West is the last team from north of the Grapevine to beat De La Salle.
The Sacramento Bee has the Golden Eagles behind Oak Ridge but we’re going to go with Coach Jeff Walters and his boys as the No. 3 team from the CIFSJS after a solid 49-27 win over Amador Valley. Senior quarterback Carson Jarratt tossed five first-half touchdowns with four going to senior star Dawson Hurst. Del Oro travels to Mountain View for the first of the five Honor Bowl games in a 4 pm Friday matchup with Oak Grove.
This is one of those cases we are not going with the P2P NCS pecking order since the Turlock team the Falcons beat 42-35 in their opener and first game for former Moreau Catholic coach and new Freedom Coach Andrew Cotter, was projected to be one of the top teams in the southern portion of the CIF Sac Joaquin Section. Senior Giles Jackson came up huge against Turlock. He rushed for a touchdown, had a receiving TD, and returned an interception for a third score.Â
There are those around the CCS always looking for a team to compete with the WCAL teams and the past few years it’s been Milpitas, but this year it looks like it could be the Bears. We’ll find out soon enough as they open on Friday against a host Bellarmine team that beat them last year 21-16 at home.
Coach Mike Machado and his boys open with two Friday night road games at Wilcox and a Pleasant Valley-Chico team many feel will be the best team in the CIF Northern Section.
The Trojans posted a very solid 56-20 victory over always tough Lincoln behind the arm of Matt Jenner. The senior quarterback was a pinpoint 21 of 24 for 268 yards and three TDs with two of them to senior wide receiver Sawyer Merrill.
We have the Wolves one spot lower than in the pecking order of the P2P NCS rankings but at this stage of the season it really doesn’t matter. In last week’s lopsided 56-7 win over Heritage three running backs and four wide receivers each had a touchdown. This week’s opponent Monterey Trail opened with a big win over Sheldon-Sacramento.
Based on competitive equity from last season and the fact the Dragons were playing against teams that were higher in that system’s pecking order, they get to come in ahead of cross-town McClymonds. Coach Napoleon Kaufman and his boys play on Thursday and should not get much of a tussle from Kennedy.
The 2016 CIF Division 5-A and 2017 Division 5-AA Bowl game champions will put a 25-game winning streak on the line on Friday night against a reeling Marin Catholic team coming off their loss to Campolindo. Coach Michael Peters has a young team but some returning talent and either the streak will end or Marin Catholic will go to 0-2 to start the season for the first time in a while.
The Mustangs trampled visiting Sonora in a 49-0 blanking but Coach Trent Merzon graduated just about all his offensive firepower from his 2017 team that was upset by Manteca in the CIFSJS Division III title game so we’re not going to start them out too high, particularly since they haven’t scheduled that terribly tough. We’ll see how they do against Mitty and then reassess things.
It wasn’t pretty but after a 9-3 win over Granite Bay the Mustangs are back in the mix after falling out last season. The defense shut down Granite Bay and Jacob Oliphant's 90-yard kickoff return following a safety provided the eventual game-winning points.
The Sacramento Bee No. 5 ranked and defending CIF Northern Regional 4-AA Bowl Game champion Hillmen got four rushing touchdowns from bruising 6-3, 210-pound junior running back Hans Grassman in a season-opening 48-21 victory over Pleasant Grove.
It was supposed to be a rebuilding year for wily veteran Coach Kevin Macy but the Cougars came out of the box with a surprise after left-handed junior quarterback Grant Harper passed for 366 yards and five TDs with four going to Max Schoenberger (eight receptions, 222 yards receiving) in a 35-21 win over visiting Marin Catholic.
Most everyone projects the Vikings to be the top team from the CIF Northern Section based on the fact they have the most returning talent including senior quarterback Tanner Hughes. They likely won’t get a big test in their opener against Yuba City.
The Cardinals are a bit lower in the pecking order here than in the P2P NCS rankings since we felt their 35-6 win at Fortuna did not carry the weight of the Campolindo, Monte Vista or Freedom victories. Up next is an always tough Sutter team whose season was ended last year by Half Moon Bay in the CIF NorCal 3-A Bowl game.
A win over Lincoln-Stockton without starting quarterback William Karnthong who was out with an injury get the Panthers a slice of the pie.
Had the Cougars 14-12 win not come against a Sacramento team that had six players suspended for a fight at school last week they could be higher.
A 37-13 win over Elk Grove gets the Tigers in the mix.
The projected No. 2 team from the CIF Northern Section gets a slice of the pie but is team that graduated most of its offensive talent.
