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Sabrina Matchups 1/4/25

Yeah, I've watched Special K and her mates quite a few times now. Truly excellent team led by one of the best high-school girl PG's I've ever seen lace 'em up.

And the other companies out there that make mixtapes, highlights, etc. should watch and learn from the tapes, too. They have a scoreboard up at nearly all times and show almost all the plays in the game. This way you get to see the good and not-so-good moments (Kaleena has very few bad moments, but they do happen occasionally, and you get to see 'em.).

Few coaches on the recruiting trail get any eval. help or enjoyment out of a five-minute "full-game" mixtape that shows none of the bad stuff.

Anyway, I'm hoping to go to this event, and really hope Ontario Christian plays Friday, not Saturday. Saturday is already locked up on my calendar...

Sabrina Matchups 1/4/25

Always a great event. Should be especially special this year. I don't have a list of all the games, but the one I know about is a doozy.

Ontario Christian (incredibly talented, but young group led by Special K) v. Mitty. Not crazy to imagine this as the state final this year or next, though Etiwanda, Sierra Canyon and Mater Dei will all have a say in that.

Regardless, I'd buy tickets (early) to see it.
It'll be interesting to see how Mater Dei looks post Kevin Kiernan. Wynn was a decent basketball coach, but coaching HS is WAY different than college.

PCAL Week 11

His complaints of Alvarez not getting in is a mute point. Still curious on why @RLS13 thinks Palma doesnt deserve to be in the playoffs...
I have been a way for the past few days so sorry did not respond sooner. My statement was based on Palma losing to Alvarez, they stepped up and won the game. Had they lost I felt it was not right that both them and Hollister would bypass Alvarez.

As @Cal 14 explained those are the rules, and while I understand and appreciate them, just did not sit well that Alvarez would finish in 5th place and be bypassed by the 6th and 7th place teams. CCS still has the "best" playoff format (imo), but they or the PCAL should have an ability to make a switch if necessary. Just my 2 cents.
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El Cerrito

Tough shit. I don’t care if this was Rincon’s bright idea, administration should have never been asleep at the wheel like they were and that begins with the Principal. You’ve allowed your coaches to sell kids the idea that EC is a great school with a great football program. So now sell them on the same things plus a 3 year ban.

Plus, if you believe this started with out-of-district transfers you’re mistaken. I can assure you this started with the school robbing the 5 other district high schools of their talent. Those schools are a combined 13-32 going into week 11, you don’t believe for a second that every school in the district organically gets dogshit talent but somehow El Cerrito can only lose to a program with a Disney movie, right?
That part. Also, if the punishment fit the crime, the adults would be fired and have to move on, not the kids. Why do all of these punishments only affect the kids, and not the adults that did the damage?!?

Sabrina Matchups 1/4/25

Always a great event. Should be especially special this year. I don't have a list of all the games, but the one I know about is a doozy.

Ontario Christian (incredibly talented, but young group led by Special K) v. Mitty. Not crazy to imagine this as the state final this year or next, though Etiwanda, Sierra Canyon and Mater Dei will all have a say in that.

Regardless, I'd buy tickets (early) to see it.
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SJS Playoff Brackets

I will be a homer and say if Folsom thinks Downey will be an easy win, be aware. I would add Downey is a smart team that has some cleverness to counter Folsom and Lyons. I see this game as 42-26. Turlock will a tough matchup for Central. Raiders are healthy and might make some noise. Inderkum could be another underdog to watch. Oak Ridge or Monterey
Trail goes to the wire. Folsom should win the D1 SJS, however things can change.
D2 I have Rocklin, Grant, St. Mary's and Manteca, all of these squads could win it out. Rodriguez of Fairfield let's see what you got. D3 I have Oakdale versus Merced in the Final.
Folsom will boat race Downey. No...it won't be close. No...Downey does not have a shot. With any other team in SJS D1, I would say that Downey (at the minimum) has a puncher's chance, if not a dominating win ahead of them. Downey is a good football team. With that said, if Downey can keep the game within three TD's, that should be considered a "win" for Downey.

Also:
Fri 11/15 Folsom (CA) vs Downey (Modesto, CA), 7:00pm
I Playoffs
projection and percent chances to win: Folsom (CA) 62 (>99%) Downey (Modesto, CA) 17 (<1%)
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El Cerrito

Personally, I'm okay with playoff bans. The students still get to play the regular season, which is all most schools get anyway. If the coaches were illegally recruiting just to get enough kids to field a team, then I might be more sympathetic. However, making the playoffs and getting to win additional titles is usually the motivation for the illegal recruiting. Taking away that incentive doesn't hurt the remaining kids anymore than any other team that didn't make the playoffs. They can play a full season and get the benefits of a more honest experience.

FAB 50 Preseason West Region Top 20

FAB 50 Preseason
WEST Region Top 20

(Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming)

1. (4) AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) 27-6
2. (1) Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.) 33-6
3. (3) Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.) 31-4
4. (5) Perry (Gilbert, Ariz.) 24-6
5. (6) St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) 28-7
6. (NA) Utah Prep (Hurricane, Utah) 0-0
7. (2) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) 33-3
8. (NR) Dream City Christian (Glendale, Ariz.) 27-7
9. (8) Millennium (Goodyear, Ariz.) 25-5
10. (10) St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.) 31-4
11. (13) Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) 15-7
12. (12) Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) 31-4
13. (7) Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) 31-2
14. (NR) Orem (Provo, Utah) 19-7
15. (NR) JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) 25-7
16. (NR) Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.) 20-8
17. (15) Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) 25-5
18. (NR) De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 25-6
19. (NR) Central Catholic (Portland, Ore.) 28-3
20. (NR) Damien (La Verne, Calif.) 28-6

WCAL: A Final Glance

I like this ranking for next year....SHC varsity is very young, they only had 3-5 seniors. Lots of Sophmores. They add some depth in their D line and you might have a very much better defense. They could definitely get some transfers too. The problem with SHC is not the offense this year.

Same with Riordan. It just hasn't come to the forefront nearly as much as SHC is more reliant on their Sophomores than Riordan is.

I heard someone say this and I believe there is a lot of truth to it: Riordan's True Sophomore teams play Varsity football. Their True Freshmen team plays JV.

WCAL: A Final Glance

SI’s oline is returning except John Mills. Faupusa and Vandermade may play both ways next year.

The Dline isn’t going anywhere with SI Football Legend Igor Olshansky coaching this group.

The QB position will actually improve. Standby for a reputable transfer.

Junior players Hicks will be our go to WR and Malone will be our feature back. Malone actually has breakaway speed. I hear there will be WR transfers enrolling after the season.

Coach Vandermade’s era at St. Ignatius is going to keep wildcat football relevant long as he’s at the helm.
I hope USC fires Riley or UCLA fires Foster and gets Vandermade. :p:p:p
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WCAL: A Final Glance

Tell me how Riordan is in flux? Their JV starters were all freshman and were competitive in almost all of their games.
Serra graduates 40 seniors including its starting QB, RB, TEs, OLine, DBs and WR. SF also graduates many starters of its Oline/Dline, LB, QB and RB. SI graduates its starting QB, RB, many of its WRs, DLine, OLine and PK/P.
Riordan returns next year its starting QB, most of it OLine and DLine, DBs, 3 WRs and one of its RBs.
My far too early WCAL rankings for next year:
  1. Riordan
  2. SF
  3. VC
  4. Serra
  5. SHC
  6. SI
  7. AM
  8. BCP
I like this ranking for next year....SHC varsity is very young, they only had 3-5 seniors. Lots of Sophmores. They add some depth in their D line and you might have a very much better defense. They could definitely get some transfers too. The problem with SHC is not the offense this year.
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Suggestions for Modifying CCS Play-off rules

I'm ready for change. How about this one? Start with this. WCAL gets maximum 6 teams...A leagues get maximum of 4 ...B leagues get 2...and C leagues get one. That's 37 teams. We will make the 38 through 40 teams adjustment at the end. Next we will place teams in the play-off ONLY based on their CalPreps rating. No points calculations based on wins/losses, playing league champions or the rest of the calculations. Just the CalPreps algorithm. So Division 1 is St Francis, St Ignatius, Serra, Riordan, Los Gatos, Soquel, Valley Christian and Wilcox. Division 2 is Salinas, SHC, MA, Carmel, Monterey, Menlo, Christopher, and Palma. Division 3 is Santa Teresa, Willow Glen, Half Moon Bay, Capuchino, San Mateo, Piedmont Hills, North Salinas and Hillsdale. Division 4 is Burlingame, Kings Academy, Sobrato, Woodside, NMC, Alisal, Live Oak, and South San Francisco. Division 5 is Leigh, Pioneeer, Stevenson, Gunn, Gunderson. Now we have to come up with 3 more to fill out the 40 team field. Do we take 3 "lower ranked" teams to fill out D5. Or the 3 "best teams" and place them in D1, 2, or 3 even though some leagues would get more than their allowed? Three "lower ranked" are Jefferson, Pajaro Valley and Gilroy. Doesn't seem fair to put them in the play-offs...slighting any of those teams higher ranked than Gunderson. So seems like the best solution is to take the 3 best teams that did not make the play-offs because of the maximum number of teams for each league requirement. Which puts Mitty, Hollister and Palo Alto in the play-offs with Mitty in D2 ahead of Carmel, with Hollister and Palo Alto falling just after Palma. Then teams being re-seeded because these three teams have been inserted in the play-off line-up. Bottom line...use CalPreps ONLY to identify the play-off teams and their seeding. With an initial maximum number of teams per league requirement that is "over-looked" in filling out the play-off brackets. No more playing a league champion points. In fact no more points. Just the CalPreps rating. (Of course you could go further and simply put the top 40 teams ranked by CalPreps rating into the play-offs but then leagues are very unlikely to be fairly represented...in fact C leagues would virtually never get teams into the play-offs.)
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Suggestions for Modifying CCS Play-off rules

Probably should wait for the play-offs to play out, but in advance of the sections December 4th meeting I think there are a few modifications the CCS should consider to their play-off point system. I do appreciate that the CCS has been willing to continuously look and review their processes to make them more equitable for all participants. But here are a few changes I would like to see.

1. The current CCS league classification system is antiquated. For scheduling points I would propose that teams get one point for all teams they play that have a positive CalPrep ranking at the end of the year. 0.5 points for playing a team with a ranking between 0 to -20 ranking and 0 points for playing teams with a ranking worse than -20 regardless of what league the opponent plays in. Teams already getting rewarded for playing top ranked teams (1 point extra for teams ranked between 101-150 this year between 21.3-29.7) and (1.5 points from top 100 ranked teams) this year about 29.7.

If they don't do this they have to do something else. Can't get the same points for playing a Mt. Hamilton team as a WCAL or Bay or Gabilan team. The PAL explicitly puts their 7-12 ranked teams in the DeAnza and 1-6 ranked teams in the Bay put teams get the same points for scheduling teams in either league.

2. Not a big fan of getting one point for playing a league champion. Pretty arbitrary. Don't get a league championship point for playing St. John Bosch #3 ranked team in the Country but you do get one for playing Gunderson ranked #11,730 in the country. If they are going to keep this then for non-CCS teams they should require the league have at least 6 teams (requirement of the CCS). Kings Academy got a championship point for playing Rio Honda Prep that plays in a three team league.

3. While I appreciate the spirit of last year's rule change to not put B teams in Division 1 and 2 and putting all C league teams in Division 5, I do think the spirit of this rule is predicated on leagues doing a reasonable job of placing teams correctly in their equity divisions and not gaming the system. While no judgement is perfect, especially in retrospect, I think the PAL and BVAL have put forward a pretty honest effort over the years.

In my opinion there is still a lot of politics and non-sensical placements in PCAL across their divisions leading to a lot of inequity. Exhibit A this year is Carmel who was pretty widely predicted to be the third best team ranked in the whole PCAL during pre-season. Putting them in a B league and keeping them out of D1 and D2 in my opinion is gaming the system. They have already beaten the 3 and 5 seeds in D2 (Christopher and Monterey) and would have been slotted as the 3 seed in D2. I think the CCS should be able to exempt a team from this rule at the beginning of the season if they feel the local league has not played fair in creating their equity leagues or if a team finishes in the top 15 of the Final CalPrep rankings for the section. Likewise a C Team that finishes in the top 40 ranked teams should be exempt from the rule. Exempt teams would just play where their points have them land.

Curious to hear changes others might suggest for next year.
One of the things that caused outrage and forced some changes was Half Moon Bay being put in D-I. They ended the year rated #7 in the CCS, coming out of a B league.

So, no, your last suggestion would not fly.

The league classification is a self-fulfilling prophesy. The number of playoff teams positively impacts your classification, so the MHAL puts 4 teams in the playoffs (largely in lower divisions than the other A leagues), so that they remain an A league. For out-of-section teams, they can't be considered an A team unless their rating is 8 or above. How 'bout a league can't be considered A unless the teams' average is 8 or above. If the average is -20 to 8, it's B league. Below that are C leagues. Or just eliminate the league designations and go straight with the 8+ = A, -20 to 7.9 = B, lower than -20.1 is C for all teams.
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