RLS13 said:

PCAL Week 11

Last week- 7-5 (Brutal week) Overall 113-38



Gabilan- Well safe to say the Soquel is the best team in the PCAL. Great statement win over Salinas last week. According to the projections Palma still looks like it is going to make the playoffs, but really, they don’t deserve it this year. Props to Monterey coaching for getting QB2 ready for his first varsity start. Hollister is literally an enigma wrapped up in a question. 2 years in a row losing to Alvarez? This week should be fun as playoff seedings will be decided. This is interesting to me, if Alvarez upsets Palma, they will still not go to playoffs after beating both Palma and Hollister and finishing in a tie for 4th place in the league, ahead of both aforementioned schools. They lose the 4th place tiebreaker (auto bid) to Aptos based on head-to-head, and Palma and Hollister will both have more CCS point and make the playoff field. That just seems wrong.

Fri 11/08 Salinas (CA) at Hollister (CA), 7:30pm -Hollister beat up Aptos, and had the closest Gabilan game with Soquel. Then proceeds to lose its next 4 games in a row and will probably finish in 7th place. Yet somehow still make playoffs? Salinas 34-7

Fri 11/08 Seaside (CA) at Monterey (CA), 7:30pm- When QB1 went down, I though Monterey season was over. Great job by coaching staff rallying this team and implementing JV QB into the varsity. This will be a nice warm up for them prior to playoffs. Monterey 38-14

Fri 11/08 Palma (Salinas, CA) vs Alvarez (Salinas, CA) at Salinas Sports Complex (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm -Alvarez has been playing really good football the past couple weeks, 1 pt loss to Aptos and a big win over Hollister. If they beat Palma CCS needs to figure a way to get them into the field. Alvarez 24-23

Fri 11/08 Aptos (CA) at Soquel (CA), 7:00pm This could be a trap game for Soquel playing their old SCCAL rival after a big win and looking forward to playoffs. But I think this team is way to good for that. Soquel 35-7

Mission North – North Monterey County is going to the playoffs. That is really all I can say about this division. Can’t tell you who else is going, can’t tell who is going to finish first. Can’t tell you why Watsonville can lose to Seaside but beat Alisal and MVC. Can’t tell you why Alisal can beat Scott’s Valley this weekend and still not make the playoffs if MVC beats St Francis and Watsonville beats NMC. Chaos. I am going to go out on a very small limb and say that Alisal will get the 2nd playoff spot.

Fri 11/08 Scotts Valley (CA) at Alisal (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm- If Alisal wins they should get in, as long as NMC or St Francis wins as well. I wonder if all the MVC and St Francis players will be on the Scott’s Valley sideline. Alisal 24-17

Fri 11/08 Watsonville (CA) at North Monterey County (Castroville, CA), 7:30pm – NMC wins, they get to hang the championship banner. If Watsonville wins, then Alisal could be in trouble. NMC 28-7

Sat 11/09 St. Francis (Watsonville, CA) at Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville, CA), 7:30pm: This game takes place on Saturday if the 2 predictions come through on Friday this game means nothing but pride. St Francis needs Alisal to lose and a win to make the playoffs. MVC needs a win and a Alisal Loss or a NMC loss in order to create a 3 way tie to get in. MVC 28-14

Mission South (North Salinas Bye)-Nice and simple. Carmel has secured the division crown and North Salinas has a bye week to prepare for the playoffs. Everyone else will be building towards next year. Next year should be fun as Carmel will drop way back to the pack. NS, PG, Soledad, and KC all have young teams and will be improved. Not to mention that RLS will probably be bumped up and Greenfield had the best defense in the league.

Fri 11/08 Soledad (CA) at King City (CA), 7:30pm-Some South County bragging rights on the line here as both these programs look to finish their season out on a positive note. KC RB/LB maybe one of the top players in the PCAL as a sophomore. Soledad improved as the season went on was close to making CCS as at large. Soledad 24-17

Fri 11/08 Carmel (CA) vs Pacific Grove (CA) at Monterey Peninsula College (Monterey, CA), 7:30pm. I would say because it is a rivalry game that PG has a chance. But here is the thing Carmel really cares about this game, more so than winning league. They would rather go 1-9 and beat PG than 9-1 and lose the Shoe. Carmel 48-14

Fri 11/08 Greenfield (CA) at Rancho San Juan (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm- The long season comes to an end for Rancho San Juan. They will be regulated to the Santa Lucia after scoring 29 total points this season. Wont get any easier for them vs Greenfield, whose defense only gave up 24 points to Carmel offense last week. Greenfield 24-0

Santa Lucia (Santa Cruz bye)- RLS is going back to the playoffs!!! Two division titles in 3 years! A quick shoutout to my alma mater: RLS participated in 8 sports this fall and won 6 league/division championships!! And yes The Santa Lucia is “C”, but the other 5 were in the top divisions!! This team is destined to move up to the Mission divisions next year, where they should be competitive if they stay healthy. Santa Cruz got it second win of the season, nice building blocks for them. SLV and Gonzales may be candidates to move up as well, it depends if the PCAL decides to move Seaside down.

Sat 11/09 San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, CA) at Pajaro Valley (Watsonville, CA), 12:30pm- SLV will have to lick its wounds as its perfect season came to an end. If they are still motivated they should be able to beat an improving Pajaro program. SLV 21-7

Sat 11/09 Gonzales (CA) vs Harbor (Santa Cruz, CA) at Soledad (CA), 7:30pm ; Harbor has had a tough year (again). Feel like the program took a step back this year with only 1 win. I don’t see them beating Gonzales. Gonzales 35-14

Sat 11/09 Marina (CA) at Stevenson (Pebble Beach, CA), 2:30pm- Take care of business and don’t get hurt. That’s what RLS has to do this Saturday vs a overmatched, but still dangerous Marina team. Then find out who we meet in the playoffs! RLS 34-13

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Streak One said:

Anthony Roy (Dublin) scored 27 points (7 threes), five rebounds and three assists in a loss at Oklahoma State.

He looks to be one of the top alumni to watch this college basketball season.

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ChewpaMiverga said:

Powerful quote right here:

“We’re letting adults dictate the lives of our players”

Way to play the victim

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bulldogmgc said:

D1 ... Agree, Folsom steamrolls to another SJS D1 section championship!

D2 ... I also agree that D2 will be the most competitive division for SJS playoffs. I wouldn't sell Rocklin short. They lost to a tough OR. OR has had the strongest SoS in the entire section, including Folsom. Rocklin still has a young talented QB in Reeve Slone and IMHO has the best defense in the SJS D2 division and their offense with Slone is very, very good. Outside of Folsom and OR, no team has held Rocklin to less than 35 points. Rocklin is the #1 seed in D2 for a reason. Sure, St. Mary's, Grant, and Manteca will be tough competition.

St. Mary's probably has the most explosive offense of the bunch. But, their defense is good, not great, but better than last year. Sometimes they have gotten beat on broken coverage and have given up some long runs. Lincoln Trojans dominated the time of possession much of the game. The Trojans were only able to put up 7 points. But, the low scoring is much due to failure to convert on 4th down deep in the Rams territory a few times. Lincoln and other teams have figured that it is better to go for it on 4th down than punt the ball and give the Rams offense the opportunity to put up points on the scoreboard. Several teams have also pooched kick or attempted onsides kicks against the Rams for this same reason. The Rams main weapons on offense are junior #3 Kenneth Moore III and sophomore sensation #13 Osani Gayles. Just put the ball in their hands and watch them do their thing.

Grant has size and speed and let's not forget that they beat Rocklin last year in the NorCal regional game after Rocklin defeated St. Mary's. Grant has cruised thru league with least resistance than any of these top 4 D2 teams. But, their SoS (17.7) is well below that of St. Mary's (23.2) and Rocklin's (21.7), much due to their league competition. A potential semi-final matchup between Grant @ St. Mary's is going to be epic, a shootout, and victorious for the team that can capitalize on turnovers. And although Grant has size and speed, IMHO, I do believe the Rams may have a bit more speed and their dual threat 2nd string QB Moses Alexander I believe will be the difference maker. Moses can fly! The Rams offense is even much better since his availability to play (due to transfer from Lincoln-Stockton). He adds an additional dimension that causes the opponent to have to practice against. As a homer, I will take St. Mary's in this game. But, in no way is it going to be easy. Grant could possibly steal this one from the Rams on Sanguinetti Field.

Manteca is probably the sleeper out of this group. Their only loss was a 28-29 loss to Marin Catholic. They do have a victory over Central Catholic, another common opponent of St. Mary's. The Rams won both of their games vs these two teams. Manteca also had a more dominant victory vs Lincoln-Stockton, another common opponent, and also a common opponent for Rocklin. Manteca, although has the weakest SoS (13.6), appears to have had a much easier victory vs Lincoln-Stockton than St. Mary's and Rocklin, with both SM and Rocklin struggling to get out of the gate early on before winning big, as well. The SoS may haunt Manteca once they potentially face off against Rocklin in the other semi-finals. I'm picking Rocklin.

I'm predicting a Rocklin vs St. Mary's rematch in the SJS D2 finals. Rocklin's defense vs the Rams offense was key last year. Will it be strong enough this year to slow down/stop the Rams speedsters this year. Hopefully, this is the finals matchup we will all see (bias on my part). Rocklin the #1 seed IMHO will be the favorite. Don't let their loss to OR sway you to think otherwise.

D3 ... Oakdale, like Folsom, steamrolls to another SJS section championship.

D4 ... 12 Bridges DITTO!

D2 is the SJS division that is going to be the MOST ENTERTAINING, especially when it gets to the semi-finals.

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bulldogmgc said:

D1 ... Agree, Folsom steamrolls to another SJS D1 section championship!

D2 ... I also agree that D2 will be the most competitive division for SJS playoffs. I wouldn't sell Rocklin short. They lost to a tough OR. OR has had the strongest SoS in the entire section, including Folsom. Rocklin still has a young talented QB in Reeve Slone and IMHO has the best defense in the SJS D2 division and their offense with Slone is very, very good. Outside of Folsom and OR, no team has held Rocklin to less than 35 points. Rocklin is the #1 seed in D2 for a reason. Sure, St. Mary's, Grant, and Manteca will be tough competition.

St. Mary's probably has the most explosive offense of the bunch. But, their defense is good, not great, but better than last year. Sometimes they have gotten beat on broken coverage and have given up some long runs. Lincoln Trojans dominated the time of possession much of the game. The Trojans were only able to put up 7 points. But, the low scoring is much due to failure to convert on 4th down deep in the Rams territory a few times. Lincoln and other teams have figured that it is better to go for it on 4th down than punt the ball and give the Rams offense the opportunity to put up points on the scoreboard. Several teams have also pooched kick or attempted onsides kicks against the Rams for this same reason. The Rams main weapons on offense are junior #3 Kenneth Moore III and sophomore sensation #13 Osani Gayles. Just put the ball in their hands and watch them do their thing.

Grant has size and speed and let's not forget that they beat Rocklin last year in the NorCal regional game after Rocklin defeated St. Mary's. Grant has cruised thru league with least resistance than any of these top 4 D2 teams. But, their SoS (17.7) is well below that of St. Mary's (23.2) and Rocklin's (21.7), much due to their league competition. A potential semi-final matchup between Grant @ St. Mary's is going to be epic, a shootout, and victorious for the team that can capitalize on turnovers. And although Grant has size and speed, IMHO, I do believe the Rams may have a bit more speed and their dual threat 2nd string QB Moses Alexander I believe will be the difference maker. Moses can fly! The Rams offense is even much better since his availability to play (due to transfer from Lincoln-Stockton). He adds an additional dimension that causes the opponent to have to practice against. As a homer, I will take St. Mary's in this game. But, in no way is it going to be easy. Grant could possibly steal this one from the Rams on Sanguinetti Field.

Manteca is probably the sleeper out of this group. Their only loss was a 28-29 loss to Marin Catholic. They do have a victory over Central Catholic, another common opponent of St. Mary's. The Rams won both of their games vs these two teams. Manteca also had a more dominant victory vs Lincoln-Stockton, another common opponent, and also a common opponent for Rocklin. Manteca, although has the weakest SoS (13.6), appears to have had a much easier victory vs Lincoln-Stockton than St. Mary's and Rocklin, with both SM and Rocklin struggling to get out of the gate early on before winning big, as well. The SoS may haunt Manteca once they potentially face off against Rocklin in the other semi-finals. I'm picking Rocklin.

I'm predicting a Rocklin vs St. Mary's rematch in the SJS D2 finals. Rocklin's defense vs the Rams offense was key last year. Will it be strong enough this year to slow down/stop the Rams speedsters this year. Hopefully, this is the finals matchup we will all see (bias on my part). Rocklin the #1 seed IMHO will be the favorite. Don't let their loss to OR sway you to think otherwise.

D3 ... Oakdale, like Folsom, steamrolls to another SJS section championship.

D4 ... 12 Bridges DITTO!

D2 is the SJS division that is going to be the MOST ENTERTAINING, especially when it gets to the semi-finals.

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jordan24 said:

Salesian, Modesto Christian, Riordan, DeLaSalle and SRV would be formidable against the SoCal teams.

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iamgearyblvd said:

Interesting that SC somewhat took a breather from a roster FULL of kids of NBA dads. At one juncture in the last 10 years it appeared that every year you would get a steady pipeline of them.

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larry legend33 said:

Thanks Streak.
My thoughts on first 4

D1. OR vs Folsom in rematch of last year with Folsom winning by 21+. OR is playing very well but I don't see anybody challenging Folsom in SJS.
D2. Absolutely the best division. loaded. I don't see Rocklin winning. I was really disappointed with them against OR. In fact they will have a tough time with Manteca. I like St Mary's or Grant to prevail but I'm leaning more toward St Marys.
D3 - Oakdale has played a really good schedule with a recent close loss to Manteca. I think they are in good position to come out ahead.
D4- Twelve Bridges rolls. Probably time for them to move up a div or 2.

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THEOC89 said:

Since the SJS changed the way their teams is slated in the Divisions, SJS D1 has become the worst playoff Bracket in Nor Cal…..

All the best teams are in D2, pretty dumb…. Need to move to a Competitive equity format where all the best teams are in D1…. I am sure none of the schools care though because no one wants their season ended by Folsom…. 🤣

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Macallan said:

I *think* (no facts to back anything up, just an opinion/feeling) that the SJS office believes they set up a long term competitive equity format with the "continued success" aspect of their playoff format/rules. In their mind, I think, the good programs will continue to move up, regardless of enrollment size and everything will be sorted out over the years. Right or wrong, my opinion is that this is the general thinking of the SJS office.

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ChewpaMiverga said:

Penalty is not harsh enough if you ask me. 3 year play off ban and give every kid currently in the program who was not involved one free trip out of town and to another school. Make sure the school doesn’t allow it to happen again

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ChewpaMiverga said:

Penalty is not harsh enough if you ask me. 3 year play off ban and give every kid currently in the program who was not involved one free trip out of town and to another school. Make sure the school doesn’t allow it to happen again

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kiddman32 said:

Of the 25, five are in CA, all in SoCal except for St. Joseph in Santa Maria, which is almost SoCal.

#3 Roosevelt of Eastvale
#5 St. John Bosco
#10 Harvard-Westlake
#19 Sierra Canyon
#24 St. Joseph-Santa Maria

At a glance, this looks to me like an NFHS member list, no "academies" that I know of.

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kiddman32 said:

Team NorCal... NO idea what that is. What high school does she go to?

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kiddman32 said:

Of the 25, five are in CA, all in SoCal except for St. Joseph in Santa Maria, which is almost SoCal.

#3 Roosevelt of Eastvale
#5 St. John Bosco
#10 Harvard-Westlake
#19 Sierra Canyon
#24 St. Joseph-Santa Maria

At a glance, this looks to me like an NFHS member list, no "academies" that I know of.

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