My picks in bold …
10) Manteca at St. Mary's *
09) Patterson at Sequoia
08) Vacaville at Cardinal Newman
07) Pittsburg at Granite Bay
06) Los Gatos at Liberty
05) Bellarmine vs. McClymonds
04) Yuba City at Pleasant Valley
03) St. Francis at Monterey Trail
02) Escalon at Windsor
01) De La Salle at Serra (24-21)
* St. Mary’s will pack the box and dare Manteca to pass the ball. Manteca will bust thru the box on a few big plays and score, in addition to gaining big yards on QB sweeps. But IMHO, it won’t be enough. The Rams balanced offense and speed is much better than VDL and GB, and will move the ball, especially in the air, and will be very hard to stop, or even slow down. If the Rams get stopped it will be via mistakes (penalties/turnovers). The Rams D gave up big yards vs Central Catholic. But, they made the stops when needed, especially getting some tackles in the backfield, to pull out the win in the 4th quarter. This will be another tale of “catch me if you can”. However, not discounting Manteca. With their ground game, anticipate them to control the clock and limit the number of possessions for the Rams. As such, the Rams “must” score on each and every opportunity it has to stretch the lead and neutralize any concerns with the clock, and instead force Manteca to rush their plays and make mistakes (ie. go to the air, which they don’t do). Special teams will be a factor, too. The Rams special teams have blocked extra points in each of their games to start the season. This may be mute as I anticipate the Buffaloes going for 2pts on occasion, especially if they can find ease running the ball. Not at all predicting the Rams to win big. It may come down to which team has the ball at the end to win the game, as the Rams have been giving up big points. Anticipate a shootout like occurred between Manteca vs VDL and St. Mary’s vs Central Catholic. It’s only my 10 pointer because I’m a SM Rams homer and I have confidence in their offense being much better than VDL’s who had a big lead vs Manteca early in their game. I am still working on my confidence with the Rams defense. Hence, this will most likely be a very close game, noting that the Buffaloes pitched an impressive shutout vs Granite Bay and also made the stops vs VDL to allow their offense to takeover that game. Manteca’s defense is good! Their offense is very good! And if Bryson Davis returns from his elbow injury, they will be very hard to stop. Will the Buffaloes upset the home team Rams? It’s very possible, just as Turlock did in the playoffs last season. Huge challenge for both teams’ D in this game. Rams D will need to step up! GO RAMS!!!
