Prep2Prep SJS Rankings
THROUGH WEEK 8
The picture in the Delta League took shape as Jesuit, with its win over Sheldon, has now emerged as the predictable favorite. The Sierra Foothill League still looks to be all Folsom. The Valley Oak League is still awaiting the Oakdale at Central Catholic showdown on Nov. 3 to decide that race.
Note: Last week's rankings in parentheses
The Bulldogs were all over Nevada Union like the visitors were a juicy bone. In the process Coach Kris Richardson and his boys won their 22nd straight Sierra Foothill League contest and have a half game up on Oak Ridge in this year’s race with a bye coming this week. Junior quarterback Kaiden Bennett only passed for 179 yards in limited action but four of his seven completions went for touchdowns and the effort put him over 2,000 yards passing this season. Joe Ngata caught two of the TD passes and Daniel Ngata rushed for 128 yards, including a 67-yard TD scamper. Dylan Jorge got into the act with a 35-yard interception return for a score.
It was anything but easy but quarterback Marco Baldacchino came to the rescue in the Trojans overtime victory. With three minutes left in the game Baldacchino found Parker Barry for a 10-yard touchdown pass to tie it at 7-7 on the only pass reception the senior wide receiver had all night. Then, on the first play of overtime Baldacchino scampered 10-yards for the winning score after the defense held Granite Bay on fourth and inches in its overtime possession that followed. In order to be tied with Folsom at 4-0 in Sierra Foothill
When a team loses to the team above them in the rankings in overtime, and even if they’re not directly below that team in other rankings, it somewhat justifies our placement so for now the Grizzlies will not drop. The naysayers will say the margin they lost by to Folsom was greater than Sacramento and Oakdale, but this past week rebuts that. If Oak Ridge were to lose prior to playing Folsom then Granite Bay would drop with them, but that’s not likely.
The Raiders scored a season high in points in trouncing Weston Ranch and have now outscored their four Valley Oak League opponents 204-40 combined. The folks at Lathrop and Kimball are not looking forward to the Raiders coming to their towns in the next two weeks. If Central Catholic runs the table and beats Oakdale we will move them ahead of Granite Bay to start the playoffs regardless of what the Grizzlies do.
After another blowout the Rams have outscored their first two Tri-City League opponents 112-6. We should get a good gauge on how St. Mary’s is shaping up this week against a very solid Tracy.
Derek Sheldon passed for six TDs and the Dragons have a 197-0 combined score against the three Metropolitan League opponents they’ve played and it not going to get much better the next three weeks.
We moved Oakdale up last week and even though some major rankings have them ahead of Central Catholic we can’t move them up again until someone above them loses to a team below them or they get the win on Nov. 3 against Central Catholic. Like Central Catholic the fans at Kimball and Lathrop won’t be happy to see the Mustangs prance into their towns the next two weeks. .  Â
Even though Coach Marlon Blandon has a lot of walking wounded wandering the sidelines with his team decimated by injuries, the Marauders took care of business against Sheldon to take control for now in the Delta League. Laiatu Latu, a 6-5, 226-pound junior linebacker and tight end that is starting to get some D1 interest, was all over the field. He blocked a punt for the second time this season only this time he returned it 16 yards for a touchdown, had a bruising sack and also had an interception. Major D1 prospect Isaiah Rutherford had a 53-yard TD run and snagged his second interception this season.
The Tigers started a little slow but once they got going they mauled Woodland. Davion Ross had a 47-yard TD run that broke a 7-7 tie midway through the first quarter and the rout was on.
The Huskies now have a loss to Jesuit and a 28-21 loss to a Nevada Maxpreps No. 3 Nevada Reno team that just delivered a 39-0 spanking to a Nevada Reed-Sparks team that has a home win over P2P North Coast Section No. 5 Clayton Valley and only lost 24-21 at Oak Ridge. Seeing the Reno score had implications including Sheldon holding tight for now. Â Â
We strongly considered moving the Buffaloes up based on their season-opening win over P2P Central Coast Section No. 1 Valley Christian but the CCS looks a little down this year and that Reno score that affected Sheldon not dropping came into play.
It wasn’t the coasting win as expected at Davis that gets the Quakers a boost but that Reno score factor that elevates the pedigree of the Delta League.
The Thunder got it done and are now alone in third place in the Sierra Foothill League but they can only hold tight for now due to the re-assessment of strength of schedule.
The Golden Eagles just can’t win games against ranked teams and lost an opportunity to solidify their spot in the pecking order with the loss to Rocklin. After dropping four spots last week they drop again but only two spots after loss to Rocklin and fall in behind that team.
With their game with a Vintage team tied with them at 1-0 in the Monticello Empire League cancelled due to air quality the Bulldogs have to hold tight for now.
With their game this week against St. Mary’s we’ll get a better indication of how good Tracy is in comparison with the Sac-Joaquin Section top teams since their losses are to P2P North Coast Section No. 2 and state-ranked San Ramon Valley and NCS No. 11 Liberty.
The Thundering Herd are still in the mix after blanking cross-town Pleasant Grove and with the win they are now in a three-way tie with Franklin and Sheldon for second place in the Delta League. Zion Thomas rushed for 206 yards and two TDs for an Elk Grove team that played without injured quarterback Jake Jordan.Â
The Titans schedule isn’t all that impressive and they have had problems just like last week when they had to overcome a 98-yard kickoff return by Cosumnes Oaks to open the game but even so they have to move ahead of Grant and Capital Christian and drag Del Campo with them.
The Cougars continue to run roughshod over Capital Valley competition to keep pace with the Antelope team they meet this week at home. A win would not be a big surprise looking at the schedules of the two teams and how Coach Mike Dimino has his boys playing right now.
The Falcons fell off our radar screen but they’ve flown back into the picture after winning their fifth straight game since opening with a 1-point loss to Manteca and then a big loss to Jesuit.Â
The latest team to put the hurt on Grant did it by coming from behind after trailing 14-6 midway through the third quarter and then scoring three times in the final 10 minutes. Running back Aztlan Lopez rushed for two TDs and he also led the Mustangs stingy defense by recovering two fumbles and making 11 tackles.
The woes of the Pacers this season continues with the home loss to Monterey Trail and that means another drop.
Because of a 19-0 loss to Grant the Cougars have to take the drop along with the Pacers despite the whitewash of Lindhurst.
All three losses are to teams ranked ahead of them but the Wildcats still have to drop to make room for Christian Brothers.Â
Despite handling winless Johansen the Knights have to drop down a spot and back into a tie for the final spot with a Gregori team they meet on Nov. 3 that at this point almost assuredly with decide the Modesto Metro title.
With the elevation of Christian Brothers the Jaguars are once again tied for the final slice of the pie with their cross-town arch rivals after a solid win at Enochs.
