NorCal Report, week of 11/12/18

[Cal 14]

Teams finally started playing in some sectional playoffs, but others were forced to wait due to one of the deadliest fires in California history.  While football is a great distraction for us and an interruption of it is an inconvenience, I really feel for the town of Paradise, which has pretty much been wiped off the map.

When you drive along I-5 in California's Central Valley, you see sign after sign begging the state to create more water-storage dams.  Mostly, they're looking for cheap or even free water for their fields.  The sad reality is that the state may need to build some not for the fields, but rather to put out the ever-increasing number of fires that are ravaging the state.  It would not be without precedence... the damage that San Francisco experienced in 1906 due to an earthquake was one thing, but it was the fire that took three to four days to put out that really crumbled the city.  This was largely because the city did not have enough water.  As a result, the city was permitted by Congress to build a dam in a valley in Yosemite National Park, known as Hetch Hetchy.  Although around 160 miles away, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir provides 80% of the water to over two and a half million people.  Here's how it looked before vs now.

(As an aside... I had heard that some considered the Hetch Hetchy Valley to rival Yosemite Valley in terms of beauty, but it wasn't until I did a search for this post that I actually had seen a photograph of it in its natural state.  Although I sort of scoffed a little at this notion before... I do believe it now.  I feel a sudden sense of loss.)

Well... back to football.

Sac-Joaquin Section

The playoffs are in full swing as this section has been able to stay out of the smoke trail.  The only ranked team to lose was Sheldon on a dubious play at the end.  I've chosen Jesuit to take their place.

1.  Folsom (D-I):  Bulldogs have a remarkably easy time with Stockton Edison, putting up 50 in the first quarter.  But, don't let anyone tell you that the Vikings were a good team... they hadn't beaten anyone of consequence since week 0.  Folsom gets the 4-seed, St. Mary's next.  The Rams beat Sheldon on a deep ball to end the game, despite the fact that they were in prevent defense.

2.  Monterey Trail (D-I):  Mustangs blow past Pitman in their first playoff game, 63-7, with many observers raving about their team speed.  This sets up the semifinal match-up I was hoping to see with Oak Ridge.  In my estimation, it will be their first real test of the season.

3.  Capital Christian (D-III):  Cougars blast Buhach Colony, 55-0, bringing them to an interesting semifinal game against Antelope.  The Titans are an interesting team that seems to play up or down to their competition.  This game will be a rematch of a 26-19 contest in which Capital Christian won (they also only lost to Inderkum 37-28).

4.  Inderkum (D-II):  Tigers get an easy win over Modesto Downey, but now we get to see a huge semifinal game against Central Catholic.  Although I'm certain it won't have any bearing on this game, it is interesting to note that Inderkum has yet to allow more than 7 points in any road game, yielding only 21 points all year.  This game will be held at the Raiders home field.

5.  Del Oro (D-II):  Golden Eagles have an easier time than expected against Tracy, 36-7.  Were they just sandbagging in single-digit wins over Grant and Rocklin?  I don't know, but a much improved Jesuit team comes calling for an interesting semifinal match-up.

6.  Central Catholic (D-II):  Raiders crush Elk Grove, 49-7 (hey, wasn't the reduction of the SJS playoff teams supposed to limit the number of blowouts?).  Next up is a titanic game against Inderkum in the semifinals.  Central Catholic really hasn't faced a truly tough squad since their loss to De La Salle in the third game of the season.  They did beat St. Mary's the following week, but that was when the Rams were in the midst of a 4-game losing streak.

7.  Jesuit (D-II):  I elected to jump the Crusaders to this spot largely due to a recent defeat that Oak Ridge suffered against Granite Bay, which is the team that Jesuit just crushed 42-0 to reach the semifinals.  Granite Bay is also a team that had defeated the Crusaders earlier in the year, 27-12.  We'll see another test of just how much they've improved this week when they take on Del Oro.

8.  Oak Ridge (D-I):  Compared to the teams above them, the Trojans' 27-9 win over Turlock wasn't nearly as impressive.  They are still probably the third best team in SJS D-I and they'll have a chance to demonstrate that against a very good Monterey Trail team.

9.  Placer (D-III):  Hillmen continue their scoring rampage with a 52-19 demolition of Yuba City.  Placer is averaging about 56 points per game this year, although the schedule is lacking any serious names.  Hillmen get 7-5 River Valley (also from Yuba City) next.

 

North Coast Section

Only two games involving ranked teams were able to be played last week.  The rest of the games have been pushed back to this Saturday, with hopes that the fire containment continues to grow.

1.  De La Salle (D-Open):  Spartans are able to play due to a Friday schedule and reassert themselves as top dogs in the NCS with a 38-0 victory over Pittsburg.  Now, it will be a two-week wait until they know whether they're playing Liberty or Clayton Valley Charter.

2.  Liberty (D-Open):  Lions have to wait an additional week for their semifinal game against Clayton Valley Charter.  The winner will advance to a NorCal regional game.  A Lion upset of De La Salle would most certainly put them in the CIF Open Division game against the Southern Section D-I champion.

3.  Clayton Valley Charter (D-Open):  Ugly Eagles are probably jumping at the bit to get to their game with Liberty.  Calpreps isn't giving them much hope, predicting a 17-point defeat.

4.  Pittsburg (D-Open):  Keeping the Pirates at #4 over Cardinal Newman based on the belief that the Cardinals probably would not have fared any better against DLS than the 38-0 loss that took place.  Also, Pittsburg did play Liberty a great deal closer than did Cardinal Newman.  Still, the Pirates will drop in the overall NorCal list.

5.  Cardinal Newman (D-III):  Cardinals also have to wait for their first playoff action.  Encinal is not expected to cause Cardinal Newman much anxiety.

6.  Rancho Cotate (D-II):  Cougars hope to get their quarterfinal game with American Canyon played on Saturday.

7.  Eureka (D-III):  Loggers are fortunate enough to be able to have their game played against De Anza, resulting in a 66-20 win.  Now, it will wait two weeks to find out if they play Terra Linda or undefeated Las Lomas.

 

Central Coast Section

Much like in the NCS, only a handful of games are able to be played due to the amount of smoke in the air from the fires.

1.  St. Francis (D-Open II):  Lancers get their game against Aragon postponed until Saturday.  No games in Open D-II were allowed to be played.

2.  Valley Christian (D-Open II):  Warriors also have to wait for their game against Christopher.

3.  Wilcox (D-Open I):  Although the Chargers' game against Piedmont Hills was postponed until this Friday, their potential semifinal opponent has been established as Salinas.  The Cowboys avenged a regular season loss to Hollister with a 38-14 triumph.  Salinas is also the defending CCS Open I champ.

4.  Serra (D-Open II):  Padres' game against Leland is hoped to be played on Friday night.  In truth, though, there may be only one semi-competitive game in the first round of the CCS Open II bracket (Oak Grove vs Mitty).

5.  Menlo-Atherton (D-Open I):  Bears hope to get their game against Milpitas in on Friday.  Menlo-Atherton won the CCS D-Open I title in 2016 before advancing to a state title game, where they lost to Paraclete.

6.  Palma (D-Open III):  Top-seeded Chieftains are able to play, blasting Pioneer, 55-14.  They'll now have to wait to see if they get Terra Nova next, or a rematch of a game that went down to the wire against Aptos.

 

Central Section

Similar to the SJS, the CS gets all of their games completed, with only one real surprise for the ranked teams.  Tulare Western gets upset by Stockdale.  Now, Tulare Union's already questionable schedule looks even more so.

1.  Central (D-I):  Tigers have a bit of a tussle with Fresno Edison before pulling away for a 42-21 victory.  The game was tied at 21 in the 3rd quarter.  Next up is Bakersfield, who scored in the 50s for the second consecutive playoff week.  Of course, the Drillers were also shut out by Liberty in their final regular season game, 7-0.

2.  Buchanan (D-I):  Bears don't have much trouble with Arroyo Grande, winning 48-17.  Next up is a great rematch against Liberty.  When the teams played earlier in the year, it was a 28-13 victory for Buchanan.  Good chance this game will be closer and could go the other way.

3.  Liberty (D-I):  Patriots are flying high after a 42-20 win over Clovis (their second against the Cougars this year).  Clovis is a member of the Tri-River Athletic Conference, along with Buchanan, who beat them 28-7.  Liberty's first win against Clovis was by 48-10.  A revenge win will likely put them up against Central for the CS D-I title.

4.  Bakersfield (D-I):  Drillers blow past Bullard 51-25, setting up a tough game against Central.  Bakersfield will have to establish their triple-option offense early to keep the Tiger offense off the field.

5.  San Joaquin Memorial (D-III):  Panthers get moved up one spot not so much for their 57-23 win over San Luis Obispo, but rather due to what happened with Tulare Union.  The Tribe struggled to beat a Garces team that SJM blew out 47-20.  Mt. Whitney is next, who struggled to their own 7-point win last week.

6.  Tulare Union (D-II):  Effects of playing a soft schedule nearly caught up with the Tribe, as they only managed to beat then 4-7 Garces, 34-27.  Combine that with what was their biggest win of the year against Tulare Western getting diminished by a big upset to Stockdale.  Suddenly, a semifinal game against Dinuba does not appear like a lock.

7.  Clovis (D-I):  I debated who I should place in the last spot for the CS before ending up choosing Clovis, despite a convincing loss to Liberty.  The reality is that after the first four or five teams, there's a big drop off in the section.  Still, the Cougars did have a very good win against the same Stockdale team that upset Tulare Western, 42-14.

 

Overall NorCal Top 10

1.  De La Salle

2.  Folsom

3.  Liberty (Brentwood)

4.  Central

5.  Clayton Valley Charter

6.  St. Francis

7.  Buchanan

8.  Monterey Trail

9.  Liberty (Bakersfield)

10.  Pittsburg

 

[Extremely Humble]

Appreciate you taking the time to do this every week. Can you see put a lot of time into this.

Firm handshakes

[Cossacks]

I wouldn’t be shocked if OR gives MT a good game. And I’m curios if CVC can slow down Liberty. Liberty is a good team, but I think that could be a close game as well. That CVC loss to Antioch is just a strange one, not sure what happened there?

[Cal 14]

3 minutes ago, Cossacks said:

I wouldn’t be shocked if OR gives MT a good game. And I’m curios if CVC can slow down Liberty. Liberty is a good team, but I think that could be a close game as well. That CVC loss to Antioch is just a strange one, not sure what happened there?

Against Antioch, I believe there were a lot of early turnovers that lead to a big early deficit.  Once they settled down, they came roaring back.  I believe they lost when they went for two at the end of the game and didn't get it.  Of course, if they dominated the second half of the game, why wouldn't have they just elected to go to overtime?

Oak Ridge seems to be a bit like San Mateo Serra... against weaker teams, they've crushed... against better teams, they've folded.  We (or at least I) still don't know that much about Monterey Trail since they hardly played anyone this year.  They whipped Sheldon, but that was at the beginning of the season.

[AztecPadre]

Have you seen the latest on the CCS games being postponed till the weekend of the 23rd? 

[Cal 14]

17 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

Have you seen the latest on the CCS games being postponed till the weekend of the 23rd? 

I just looked up the CCS website and Twitter account.  That's not getting reported.  Where did you see it?  If that's true, they can kiss any state games goodbye.

The reality, though, is that there are only a handful of contested games in the first round.  Really, Aragon should be conceding to St. Francis if this ends up being the case.

[AztecPadre]

6 minutes ago, Cal 14 said:

I just looked up the CCS website and Twitter account.  That's not getting reported.  Where did you see it?  If that's true, they can kiss any state games goodbye.

The reality, though, is that there are only a handful of contested games in the first round.  Really, Aragon should be conceding to St. Francis if this ends up being the case.

AD/HC from Carmel texted me it last night. 

[Cal 14]

1 minute ago, AztecPadre said:

AD/HC from Carmel texted me it last night. 

The NCS has reportedly approved the use of coin flips to determine their representatives.

This would be Block's wet dream... Clayton Valley wins two coin flips over Liberty and De La Salle to claim NCS Open title.

[AztecPadre]

What basically happened is that anybody who has played a first round game does not play their second game until the 24th.  Originally was scheduled for this weekend but got postponed to the 23rd/24th/25th

[AztecPadre]

Only teams that would be playing this weekend are those who were not able to get their first round games in.

[Cal 14]

2 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

Only teams that would be playing this weekend are those who were not able to get their first round games in.

Oh... that.  Yes, I have heard that.

[Cossacks]

2 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

Have you seen the latest on the CCS games being postponed till the weekend of the 23rd? 

Is that what they’re looking at now??

NCS is trying for this Saturday.  The AQI in the Northbay has been terrible and I don’t know if it will be much better by then. Looks like off shore flow is supposed to come back Saturday. That should clean up the atmosphere a bit and push it east, but I don’t know if that’s gonna to be enough 

[Cal 14]

1 minute ago, Cossacks said:

Is that what they’re looking at now??

NCS is trying for this Saturday.  The AQI in the Northbay has been terrible and I don’t know if it will be much better by then. Looks like off shore flow is supposed to come back Saturday. That should clean up the atmosphere a bit and push it east, but I don’t know if that’s gonna to be enough 

Aztec clarified... it's mostly for the Gonzales-Carmel game.  Even though the match-up is setup, they're going to postpone it until the other first round games have been decided.

Also, to clarify the NCS rule, it apparently does not apply to either the Open or D-I.

[mikejones]

Wouldn't that be ironic if DLS lost a coin toss and had to play Folsom in the D1 regional bowl game!?

People on this forum would be SHITTING themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PrepGridiron]

I think you’ve got Jesuit and Central Catholic too low. We will find out this weekend, but I like those two teams advancing. 

[AztecPadre]

17 minutes ago, Cossacks said:

Is that what they’re looking at now??

NCS is trying for this Saturday.  The AQI in the Northbay has been terrible and I don’t know if it will be much better by then. Looks like off shore flow is supposed to come back Saturday. That should clean up the atmosphere a bit and push it east, but I don’t know if that’s gonna to be enough 

I have heard rumors that everything will be pushed back a week so the SBG's would be pushed back a week to the 14th and 15th.  Both sides of the state are getting destroyed.  Sad shit.

[AztecPadre]

16 minutes ago, mikejones said:

Wouldn't that be ironic if DLS lost a coin toss and had to play Folsom in the D1 regional bowl game!?

People on this forum would be SHITTING themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Block, lets just stay with one Profile, please brother. 

[Cossacks]

At this point if they didn’t play the SBG’s it wouldn’t bother me one bit. As it is I hate the 36 or whatever it is game format. 5-6 divisions tops. 

[THEOC89]

45 minutes ago, mikejones said:

Wouldn't that be ironic if DLS lost a coin toss and had to play Folsom in the D1 regional bowl game!?

People on this forum would be SHITTING themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This would be a Bummer for Folsom... They would have to Cancel the Consolation Bowl Parade after DLS held them to ZERO point's again.... I am sure they have a great one planned! They Love their Consolation Parades in Folsom!

[Cal 14]

1 hour ago, PrepGridiron said:

I think you’ve got Jesuit and Central Catholic too low. We will find out this weekend, but I like those two teams advancing. 

Jesuit is currently a victim of their slow start.  Their recent play is what prompted me to shoot them up to 7.  I agree that they absolutely could beat Del Oro and move up further.

For Central Catholic, they're a victim of their league.  They did what they could with their non-league schedule... Clovis West, DLS, and St. Mary's, but they haven't played anyone since then.  Manteca and Oakdale are both down, so they're not good measuring sticks... even then, they struggled with Manteca.

Inderkum is a little bit of a gut thing for me, but really only Antelope has given them any trouble.  They're another team that needs to step up their non-league schedule... seems like it's been like this for years with them.

Right now, my suspicion is that Inderkum-Central Catholic will be really close, but that they both could possibly beat Del Oro.  Jesuit does throw a new wrinkle in the division, though.

[mikejones]

35 minutes ago, THEOC89 said:

This would be a Bummer for Folsom... They would have to Cancel the Consolation Bowl Parade after DLS held them to ZERO point's again.... I am sure they have a great one planned! They Love their Consolation Parades in Folsom!

You have to be the biggest loser on this site. You must monitor it 24/7 for any Folsom related content. I almost feel bad. Its scary creepy. 

I hope by some twist of fate, Folsom gets DLS at this point in the season. 

The meltdown on here would be epic. And you'd probably monitor the site 24/7, every minute of the day. 

Bizarre. 

See @THEOC89 below. 

[Cal 14]

UPDATE DUE TO FIRES:

The CCS moved all their playoff games to the southern end of the section (Monterey Bay area) and it's anticipated that all of the games will be played.

The NCS has postponed their upcoming games to next week, which means that the actual title winners (except for D-I and the Open) will likely be decided by coin flips.  Yes, those teams will advance to the NorCal regional games.

The SJS has also postponed their upcoming games to next week, however there was one incredible development on top of that.  Jesuit self-reported the use of an ineligible player in their two playoff games and therefore will not be allowed to continue in the tournament.  Del Oro now receives an automatic bid to face the winner of Central Catholic and Inderkum.

 

[Ararar]

7 minutes ago, Cal 14 said:

Jesuit self-reported the use of an ineligible player in their two playoff games

How did they not know the kid was ineligible until the 12th game of the season?

[Cal 14]

4 minutes ago, Ararar said:

How did they not know the kid was ineligible until the 12th game of the season?

I believe it may be a new quarter.  The kid was reportedly a sophomore.

[THEOC89]

12 minutes ago, Cal 14 said:

UPDATE DUE TO FIRES:

The CCS moved all their playoff games to the southern end of the section (Monterey Bay area) and it's anticipated that all of the games will be played.

The NCS has postponed their upcoming games to next week, which means that the actual title winners (except for D-I and the Open) will likely be decided by coin flips.  Yes, those teams will advance to the NorCal regional games.

The SJS has also postponed their upcoming games to next week, however there was one incredible development on top of that.  Jesuit self-reported the use of an ineligible player in their two playoff games and therefore will not be allowed to continue in the tournament.  Del Oro now receives an automatic bid to face the winner of Central Catholic and Inderkum.

 

Wow! I feel terrible for those kids!.... How does something like that happen this late in the season??????