PCAL Week 4 -The GOOD, The BAD and The UGLY
This week is crossover week in the PCAL where all the teams play another team from a different league. This was done so AD’s only had to find 3 non-league games.
The Good- Harbor, Greenfield, Alisal and North Salinas all being 3-0. There are some other 3-0 teams left in the PCAL but these are the biggest surprises. Harbor has been just plain bad for a lot of years, so it is great to see them wining and winning by a lot. They will challenge RLS and Greenfield in the Sana Lucia this year. Greenfield has played a decent schedule and has beaten its south county neighbor and rival, King City, and 2 playoff teams from last year. They are now the team to beat in the Santa Lucia. North Salinas went winless last year, I still think Carmel and Alisal are better, but they may challenge in the Mission North. Alisal, by Cal Preps rankings, has the best win for all of the PCAL this year with their road victory over Sequoia. For some clarification Sequoia is ranked as a -19.1, not necessarily a great victory which leads us to:
The Bad- The Gabilan division is a bit of a disappointment this year. Not one signature win by it’s top 6 teams. Monterey is undefeated at 2-0 but both those wins were expected. Salinas and Aptos are a combined 0-6. Hollister and Alvarez have each beaten Oak Grove, and Soquel has an “ok” victory over a down Burlingame program. Meanwhile Palma beat up on King City and Soledad (Greenfield beat both as well) then got punched in the mouth by Yuma Catholic. It is safe to say that none of these Gabilan teams will threaten the top of the CCS this year. (Yes, I realize nobody is beating Serra, but I meant Riordan, St. Francis etc…
The Ugly – The Santa Cruz program is in trouble this year. Apparently, a bunch of kids left the program and went down the road to Soquel (Same District). It is so bad that they forfeited their game last week vs Soquel and have already forfeited/cancelled their game this week with Hollister due to small numbers and not enough healthy players. I really hope they can get a semi-competitive team for the remainder of the Mission North season. It raises the question about the bottom of the Gabilan. Carmel, Seaside, North Salinas, and MVC are all examples of “smaller” schools/programs that have been put into the Gabilan and then seen their programs decline for 2-3 years after getting beaten up. I do not have a perfect solution, but Santa Cruz joins a long list of programs trying to recover after a stint in the Gabilan.
Last Week 13-6 Overall 41-17
Thu 09/14 Scotts Valley (CA) at Soquel (CA), 7:30pm – Scott’s Valley is undefeated at 3-0, but Soquel is the better team this year. Soquel 28-14
Fri 09/15 Palma (Salinas, CA) at Alisal (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm- This is a crossover game so I can’t blame Palma for scheduling it. But Alisal is better than expected and may give Palma some trouble up front. In the end Palma probably has too many athletes. Palma 24-7
Fri 09/15 Carmel (CA) at Alvarez (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm Carmel will take its high scoring offense out for a night game for the first time this year. It may take them a qtr. to get acclimated to playing under the lights, but they will be too fast for Alvarez. Carmel 48-21
Fri 09/15 Monterey (CA) vs Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville, CA) at Monterey Peninsula College (Monterey, CA), 7:30pm -Battle of unbeatens. Monterey just has too much speed for MVC. Monterey 35-21
Fri 09/15 Aptos (CA) vs North Salinas (Salinas, CA) at Salinas Sports Complex (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm -Great start by North Salinas, but Aptos will get their firs victory of the year. Aptos35-14
Fri 09/15 Salinas (CA) at Seaside (CA), 7:30pm – This is not the crossover team you want to play if you are Salinas. Cal preps gives Seaside only a 19% chance to win. I give them about 50%. Let’s see if Salinas can score some point to help the defense. Salinas 21-20
Sat 09/16 Hollister (CA) at Santa Cruz (CA), 6:00pm – It is my understanding this game has been cancelled, which is probably best for Santa Cruz. NO Pick
Mission North
Fri 09/15 Harbor (Santa Cruz, CA) at North Monterey County (Castroville, CA), 7:30pm -This game should be close. NMC has yet to win but they have been in every game so far. Harbor has outscored it 3 opponents by 41 points. NMC has played a tougher schedule. Taking the upset here. Harbor 35-30
Fri 09/15 San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, CA) at Watsonville (CA), 7:30pm – Another pretty evenly matched game here between 2 struggling programs. Taking the home team Catz. Watsonville 17-14
Sat 09/16 Pajaro Valley (Watsonville, CA) at St. Francis (Watsonville, CA), 12:30pm -Pajaro seem to be struggling offensively as they have yet to score this season. It probably won’t get better this game. St Francis 35-0
Mission South
Thu 09/14 Pacific Grove (CA) at Greenfield (CA), 7:30pm- For safety reasons Thursday games should be played with teams that did not play on the Saturday before. Both these teams played last Saturday so no advantage, but both are banged up and this game should be pushed to Friday. (just my 2 cents.) Greenfield keeps the magic going. Greenfield 24-22
Fri 09/15 Marina (CA) at Rancho San Juan (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm – I though Rancho would of given MVC a better game last week, Marina had a great performance vs an overmatched Lick squad. This game may be closer than expected. Rancho 28-24
Sat 09/16 Soledad (CA) at Gonzales (CA), 7:30pm – The battle for the best Swiss Sausage sandwich. Gonzales uses Roy’s, and they are fantastic, the sausage not the football team this year. But Soledad is probably a bit better on the football field. Soledad 21-17
Sat 09/16 King City (CA) at Stevenson (Pebble Beach, CA), 2:00pm – Both these teams seem to be learning on the fly. KC got a 2-point victory over Gonzales last week, while RLS remembered why they hate playing Carmel. KC is going to try and establish it’s physicality and keep the ball away from RLS’s young but talented QB. If I was betting, (which I stopped doing) I would take King City. But… RLS 20-17
Santa Lucia
Cross over weekend all games already picked.
This week is crossover week in the PCAL where all the teams play another team from a different league. This was done so AD’s only had to find 3 non-league games.
The Good- Harbor, Greenfield, Alisal and North Salinas all being 3-0. There are some other 3-0 teams left in the PCAL but these are the biggest surprises. Harbor has been just plain bad for a lot of years, so it is great to see them wining and winning by a lot. They will challenge RLS and Greenfield in the Sana Lucia this year. Greenfield has played a decent schedule and has beaten its south county neighbor and rival, King City, and 2 playoff teams from last year. They are now the team to beat in the Santa Lucia. North Salinas went winless last year, I still think Carmel and Alisal are better, but they may challenge in the Mission North. Alisal, by Cal Preps rankings, has the best win for all of the PCAL this year with their road victory over Sequoia. For some clarification Sequoia is ranked as a -19.1, not necessarily a great victory which leads us to:
The Bad- The Gabilan division is a bit of a disappointment this year. Not one signature win by it’s top 6 teams. Monterey is undefeated at 2-0 but both those wins were expected. Salinas and Aptos are a combined 0-6. Hollister and Alvarez have each beaten Oak Grove, and Soquel has an “ok” victory over a down Burlingame program. Meanwhile Palma beat up on King City and Soledad (Greenfield beat both as well) then got punched in the mouth by Yuma Catholic. It is safe to say that none of these Gabilan teams will threaten the top of the CCS this year. (Yes, I realize nobody is beating Serra, but I meant Riordan, St. Francis etc…
The Ugly – The Santa Cruz program is in trouble this year. Apparently, a bunch of kids left the program and went down the road to Soquel (Same District). It is so bad that they forfeited their game last week vs Soquel and have already forfeited/cancelled their game this week with Hollister due to small numbers and not enough healthy players. I really hope they can get a semi-competitive team for the remainder of the Mission North season. It raises the question about the bottom of the Gabilan. Carmel, Seaside, North Salinas, and MVC are all examples of “smaller” schools/programs that have been put into the Gabilan and then seen their programs decline for 2-3 years after getting beaten up. I do not have a perfect solution, but Santa Cruz joins a long list of programs trying to recover after a stint in the Gabilan.
Last Week 13-6 Overall 41-17
Thu 09/14 Scotts Valley (CA) at Soquel (CA), 7:30pm – Scott’s Valley is undefeated at 3-0, but Soquel is the better team this year. Soquel 28-14
Fri 09/15 Palma (Salinas, CA) at Alisal (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm- This is a crossover game so I can’t blame Palma for scheduling it. But Alisal is better than expected and may give Palma some trouble up front. In the end Palma probably has too many athletes. Palma 24-7
Fri 09/15 Carmel (CA) at Alvarez (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm Carmel will take its high scoring offense out for a night game for the first time this year. It may take them a qtr. to get acclimated to playing under the lights, but they will be too fast for Alvarez. Carmel 48-21
Fri 09/15 Monterey (CA) vs Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville, CA) at Monterey Peninsula College (Monterey, CA), 7:30pm -Battle of unbeatens. Monterey just has too much speed for MVC. Monterey 35-21
Fri 09/15 Aptos (CA) vs North Salinas (Salinas, CA) at Salinas Sports Complex (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm -Great start by North Salinas, but Aptos will get their firs victory of the year. Aptos35-14
Fri 09/15 Salinas (CA) at Seaside (CA), 7:30pm – This is not the crossover team you want to play if you are Salinas. Cal preps gives Seaside only a 19% chance to win. I give them about 50%. Let’s see if Salinas can score some point to help the defense. Salinas 21-20
Sat 09/16 Hollister (CA) at Santa Cruz (CA), 6:00pm – It is my understanding this game has been cancelled, which is probably best for Santa Cruz. NO Pick
Mission North
Fri 09/15 Harbor (Santa Cruz, CA) at North Monterey County (Castroville, CA), 7:30pm -This game should be close. NMC has yet to win but they have been in every game so far. Harbor has outscored it 3 opponents by 41 points. NMC has played a tougher schedule. Taking the upset here. Harbor 35-30
Fri 09/15 San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, CA) at Watsonville (CA), 7:30pm – Another pretty evenly matched game here between 2 struggling programs. Taking the home team Catz. Watsonville 17-14
Sat 09/16 Pajaro Valley (Watsonville, CA) at St. Francis (Watsonville, CA), 12:30pm -Pajaro seem to be struggling offensively as they have yet to score this season. It probably won’t get better this game. St Francis 35-0
Mission South
Thu 09/14 Pacific Grove (CA) at Greenfield (CA), 7:30pm- For safety reasons Thursday games should be played with teams that did not play on the Saturday before. Both these teams played last Saturday so no advantage, but both are banged up and this game should be pushed to Friday. (just my 2 cents.) Greenfield keeps the magic going. Greenfield 24-22
Fri 09/15 Marina (CA) at Rancho San Juan (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm – I though Rancho would of given MVC a better game last week, Marina had a great performance vs an overmatched Lick squad. This game may be closer than expected. Rancho 28-24
Sat 09/16 Soledad (CA) at Gonzales (CA), 7:30pm – The battle for the best Swiss Sausage sandwich. Gonzales uses Roy’s, and they are fantastic, the sausage not the football team this year. But Soledad is probably a bit better on the football field. Soledad 21-17
Sat 09/16 King City (CA) at Stevenson (Pebble Beach, CA), 2:00pm – Both these teams seem to be learning on the fly. KC got a 2-point victory over Gonzales last week, while RLS remembered why they hate playing Carmel. KC is going to try and establish it’s physicality and keep the ball away from RLS’s young but talented QB. If I was betting, (which I stopped doing) I would take King City. But… RLS 20-17
Santa Lucia
Cross over weekend all games already picked.
