CIF State Bowl Championship games
Games featured at Saddleback College:
Open Division
San Mateo Serra vs Santa Ana Mater Dei
Serra got revenge on league rival St. Francis for a loss at the end of the regular season to win the CCS D-1 championship. The athletic Padres tend to use the spread option, like most teams these days, but can also utilize a double-wing set in short-yardage situations. QB Dominick Lampkin has some state championship experience, having come in late in the 2019 D-1A title game against Corona del Mar. This will be Serra’s 4th appearance in a state bowl game, going 1-2 in previous games. There was some initial controversy as to whether they were the right selection for the Open Division game over De La Salle, but that was put to rest after the Spartans dropped their NorCal D-1AA regional game against Folsom.
What hasn’t already been said about national #1 Mater Dei? They have a tenacious defense and an offense that can both run and pass with equal efficiency. The fact that starting QB Elijah Brown is only a sophomore does not loom well for the rest of the state for the next two years. Recently USC-committed RB Raleek Brown has over 1000 yards and 12 TDs on the ground, despite spending a lot of time on the sidelines in blowout wins. One of Mater Dei’s defeated foes this year, Duncanville, is still in contention for a state title in football-crazy Texas. This will be the Monarchs' third state bowl game, having won Open Division titles in 2017 and 2018.
D-1AA
Folsom vs San Diego Cathedral Catholic
Folsom tends to get a lot of flack for their schedules, but it may have actually worked to its favor for 2021. Two games each against physical teams Jesuit, De La Salle, and Rocklin may have them better prepared than in most years for their opponent this weekend. An injury to QB Tyler Tremain in the middle of the season help contribute to losses to Granite Bay and Rocklin, but the air raid offense has looked more like itself since his return, culminating in an SJS D-1 title and a landmark victory over De La Salle in the NorCal D-1AA regional game. Last week's win definitely gave the SJS bragging rights over the NCS this year, as the Bulldogs defeated both of that sections Open and D-1 champions.
Cathedral Catholic set up a challenging schedule for themselves, but unfortunately wasn’t especially successful in those losses to Corona Centennial and De La Salle. However, much like with their opponent this weekend, they may have learned a great deal from those games, catapulting themselves into the D-1AA state bowl game. The Dons will likely have to be concerned with giving up a whopping 62 points in their win over Orange Lutheran last week in the SoCal regional bowl game and facing another passing team. To counter, they will have a terrific RB in Lucky Sutton, who just set a new rushing record for state bowl games. They may also be hoping that this game ends up like their first state bowl appearance where, while they had great difficulty stopping a Stockton St. Mary’s passing attack, their nearly unstoppable rushing game was able to lead them to the win.
D-1A
Bakersfield Liberty vs Gardena Serra
Entering the CS playoffs, all of the talk was about the potential rematch between Clovis Buchanan and Fresno Central in the title game. What actually transpired was this Patriot team crashed the party by eliminating both of the section favorites and in dominating fashion against Central for the title (42-14). They followed that up by blowing out Pittsburg in the NorCal D-1A regional bowl game, 35-7. Offensively, Liberty is led by senior QB Carson Woods and junior RB Jalen Hankins, who has 19 rushing TDs this year.
While injuries for other teams may have led to significant bumps in the road, one may have actually landed Serra in the D-1A state bowl game. QB Maalik Murphy was injured early in a tough matchup against Downey Warren, which contributed to a 14-0 loss. That result played a role in lowering the Cavalier’s calpreps rating enough to place them in the SS D-3 bracket instead of D-2. They had to survive in an overtime semifinal game against #2 seed Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda and a revenge-minded Long Beach Poly in the SoCal D-1A regional bowl game, but those experiences should only help as Serra seeks another state divisional championship win.
D-2AA
Modesto Central Catholic vs Chula Vista Mater Dei Catholic
Central Catholic’s climb to an SJS D-2 title has been a story of growth over the last 15 or so years. The small-enrollment private school began by dominating lower-levels D-4 and D-3 before finally being moved up to D-2, winning several CIF state bowl championships along the way. Many of these games will feature a strong contrast in styles and this will be no different. The Raiders will be utilizing an I-formation on offense and one might think that this has helped them control the clock, but they have been involved in a number of high-scoring contests, including a 44-41 victory over Fresno Bullard in the NorCal regional bowl game. That said, the overall level of competition has actually been a bit stronger than that of their opponent this weekend.
Mater Dei (odd quirk with two Serras and two Mater Deis playing this weekend for titles), may have greatly benefited from the fact that the SDS is only one of four CIF sections that have playoff systems still originally rooted in enrollment distinctions. The SDS has an ‘Open” division, but those participants are only chosen from those pre-determined to be D-1. Despite the fact that many in the area regarded the Crusaders as being one of the top four teams in the section, being pre-determined to be in D-3 prevented them from forced to compete against the other top teams from the section. As mentioned above, regarding contrasting styles, Mater Dei will use a wide-open passing attack out of the spread on offense. Whether this team really is worthy of a top-4 SDS distinction may be confirmed this weekend, as none of their opponents this season were really of any high-regard until they final faced La Mesa Helix in the SoCal regional bowl game, where they advanced with a 24-21 win.
D-2A
Santa Clara Wilcox vs San Diego Scripps Ranch
Continuing a theme that has existed for a number of teams this season, Wilcox took their lumps against early good competition, but have rebounded with 9 straight wins after a 1-4 start. Once again, this game will feature a strong contrast in offensive styles with the Chargers using a quick-hitting veer offense, one that has been good for over 4000 yards this year. Defensively, they faced a very good passing attack in the CCS D-2 title game against Atherton Menlo, which should help a little against this weekend’s opponent. There was some initial talk that perhaps Wilcox was placed a little too high for these state bowl divisions, but they didn’t have a great deal of trouble in their NorCal regional bowl game against Manteca, winning 35-21.
Scripps Ranch overcame the absence of their leading scorer last week in a win over Valencia in the SoCal regional bowl game. The Falcons feature an excellent passing attack out of the spread formation, with a lot of speed at WR. The SDS D-2 champions, however, are a bit undersized on defense and really struggled against a Valencia rushing attack that hadn’t been especially overwhelming in the regular season. Still, Scripps Ranch is very well-coached and prides itself in a collective GPA north of 3.5 as an entire team. They have also only been held to less than 30 points three times all season this year and their lone loss was in overtime to San Diego Mira Mesa. Junior QB Jax Leatherwood (a football name, if your author has ever heard one) has an impressive 41:2 TD:Int ratio to go along with his 2923 yards through the air.
