Lot of good games tonight

The PCAL equity league structure started as 3 divisions in 2012, and was revised in 2017 to 4 divisions when the SCCAL joined the PCAL. Since 2012, 14 teams have been moved from the A division down to the B division. Clearly the moves have been subjective...decided by committee without an apparent rule set. The cumulative LEAGUE record of those A division teams that went down to a B division was 12 and 77. The following year, in the B division their cumulative league record was 53 and 32. Only 4 of the 14 teams had a losing league record in the B division in the year following their year in the A division. And 3 teams that went down from an A division, won (or tied for the title) the B division title their following year. Furthermore, 4 times a team was elevated in one year and moved back down the following year, while 5 teams went up and then down 2 years later.

Looking at the other side, there have been 15 teams moved from the B division to the A division. They did really well in the B division so they were bumped up. Their league record in their "last" year in the B division was 80 and 10. But were they really ready to compete with A division teams? Or simply cannon fodder? In their year following their elevation their league record was 29 and 70. Only 1 team (MVC) that was bumped from the B division to the A had a winning league record in their first year up in the A division, 2 teams went 3 and 3 in league play while 12 had losing records including 4 teams that went 0 fer in the A division.

So what does this tell us? First I think it suggests that we need rules, not committee decisions. Rules that look at prior season record, mix of seniors and underclassmen on prior season, prior season JV record and perhaps a written statement from affected coaches arguing why a move does or doesn't make sense. And let the league realignment be decided by the league commissioner and not a committee. Second I think the A division should be team limited. Why have 8 or 9 teams in the A division when 4 teams are historically fighting among themselves and feasting on the other 4 or 5 teams in the league. I don't remember what CCS or CIF rules say about the minimum number of teams in any division, but in the PCAL, the number of teams in the A division should be set at the minimum. Nobody wins when a team goes into the season hoping they can get 1 or 2 league wins. Third I do think that school size should be an element of the rules set. Intuitively it should be much easier to re-load when your school has 1,800 students than when your school has 800 students. (If only Alvarez and Alisal had more success in the past, this argument would be easier to make.)

I am NOT against equity leagues. I'm just convinced that things can be changed to make them more equitable.

You'll have to excuse me as I live outside of the greater Bay Area and haven't kept up with all this stuff ... but when the Central Coast Section playoffs are finished, do only championship teams move on to the NorCal Regional games?

The usual. claykallam@gmail.com

Great Match-ups at the SMHS MLK Classic Showcase January 14-17.

Schedule

California signed seven players in the early signing period with six having NorCal ties

Joe Brown INF Petaluma HS
Cade Campbell INF Tokay HS
Darryl Dilworth Jr. OF Vanden HS
Devin Mason RHP Benicia
Tyler Stasiowski RHP Analy HS/Santa Rosa JC
Austin Turkington INF/RHP Bellarmine HS

First day of HS Hoops 🏀 practice starts today for most sections!
Who's your Tops in:

• NorCal?
• Sections?
• League?
• Top Newcomers?
• Notable Transfers?
• Top Tourneys?
• Must see matchups?

Team Notes

Foothill-Pleasanton (9-2) has a quality passing attack with quarterback Nick Walsh throwing for 2,042 yards and 33 touchdowns. His top two receivers are senior Kenny Olson (637 yards and 13 touchdowns) and freshman Chris Lawson (635 yards and eight touchdowns). Rancho Cotate junior quarterback Liam Keaney has thrown for more than 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in nine games. Junior Sailasa Vadrawale had 17 catches for 262 yards and a touchdown in wins over Cardinal Newman and Windsor.

Player Notes

Vacaville Christian 2022 defensive lineman Zack Mercado (6-foot-3, 260 pounds) is a high motor player who uses his quickness to beat initial blocks and chase down plays. He has announced he will attend Nevada next year. This season, he had 62 tackles and 13 sacks.

JUCO Notes

The NorCal final four appears to be set with the official announcement coming on Sunday. The matchups are expected to be American River at San Francisco and Fresno at San Mateo.

Alumni Watch

Last week, Austin Hooper (De La Salle) caught his second touchdown of the season in the Cleveland Browns’ loss to the New England Patriots. In nine games, he has 24 catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns.

Story to Read

The first section final of the year will take place in Concord when De La Salle hosts Pittsburg for the NCS Open Division title. The loser will drop into the NCS Division I finals against the winner of Clayton Valley Charter and California.

Team Notes

Escalon-Ripon will play for a second time this season in the SJS Division V semi-finals. Escalon (10-1) won the regular season meeting 21-7 after getting out to an early 14-0 lead. The Cougars rushed for 248 yards as a team and had a defensive touchdown. Ripon had four turnovers, but got more than 100 receiving yards from Nolan Young.

In the second half of the season, Ripon scored 20 points or less in four of five games, but have scored 39 points in each of their two playoff wins against Ceres and Pioneer-Woodland. Escalon has given up more than 14 points just once in the past seven games.

Player Notes

Rocklin 2022 WR/DB Elias Mullican has committed to Sacramento State. Mullican has burst onto the scene this fall in winning Sierra Foothill League MVP honors. He is the third Sacramento area player to commit to the Hornets.

JUCO Notes

Johnny Williams (Inderkum) rushed for 104 yards and three touchdowns in Butte’s 49-6 win over Shasta. Ronald Nieto and Grant Garretson (Pleasant Valley) had four of their eight sacks as Butte held Shasta to 191 total yards.

Alumni Watch

Mississippi State wide receiver Makai Polk (El Cerrito) had 61 yards and two touchdowns in a 43-34 win over Auburn. This season, he has 781 yards and eight touchdowns. He signed with Cal out of high school.

Video to Watch

If you haven’t been able to catch Menlo’s offensive attack this season, here are some highlights from their first round win over Half Moon Bay.

Story to Read

Michael Ingrassia has 30 touchdowns and no interceptions this season for Marin Catholic. The San Francisco Chronicle takes a look at the latest standout quarterback for the Wildcats.

Miramonte High School is hosting the 13th annual Peyo classic December 2nd - 4th. It will be a standard 8 team format (3 games) and will be Varsity only.
If you’re interested in participating please contact Vince Wirthman..
Cell 510.504.5683
vwirthman@gmail.com

Here are the games this week. Picks are due by 7:00 PM on Friday. All are welcome to play, but below is the bracket infomation. Provide the total points for the game of the week. If you are correct, you get five bonus points.

Bellarmine at Los Gatos
Menlo-Atherton at Salinas
Half Moon Bay at Menlo
California at Monte Vista
Acalanes at El Cerrito
Dublin at Campolindo
St. Mary's at Edison (Game of the Week)
Elk Grove at Vacaville
Hilmar at Sonora
Whitney at Antelope

NorCalPreps Pick'em Playoff 2021

North

1.Kiddman32 490
16.Streak One 437

9.RLS13 462
8.Sweetjfromthebay 465

5.Concrete17 473
12.SearsPoints 457

13.FBAddict 456
4.NorCalSportsFan 473

..............................................

South

3.Bella123 474
14.Irish_Cheers 453

11.John Mellencamp 460
6.ArmchairGOAT 472

10.MC415 461
7.EN_FB_Alum 468

15.Espot 439
2.Bubba3000 476

I was just informed that my opponent cannot play us, Acalanes High School, on the 23rd as a Foundation Game. Anyone interested? We are willing to travel to you. Please contact me ASAP: Margaret Gartner 925-330-7414

Couple of quick notes with the high school games getting underway soon.

Player Notes

Last week, UC Davis made it official in signing Carondelet 2022 guard Nya Epps. UC Davis head coach Jennifer Gross said of Epps, “She is an incredible shooter with deep range, who also sees the floor extremely well. On top of her shooting ability, Nya has a high basketball IQ and a strong understanding of team play on both ends of the floor. These abilities make her a perfect fit for our program. She is an amazing person and teammate, and our staff cannot wait to start coaching her!”

JUCO Notes

Shasta (3-2) went over. 500 for the first time this season with two wins this past week over Monterey Peninsula (70-62) and Hartnell (63-33). Megan Collins (Biggs) is averaging 11 points, two rebounds and five assists per game.

Alumni Watch

In her first season with Sacramento State, Lianna Tillman (Lincoln-Stockton) had 19 points, five assists and four rebounds in a 75-65 win over San Jose State.

Team Notes

Moreau Catholic is hosting the Oscar Frayer Invitational on December 4. The five game event is highlighted by the Mariners and St. Francis-Mountain View.

Player Notes

Sacred Heart Prep 2022 point guard Aidan Braccia has committed to Belmont. As a junior, he averaged 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in helping the Gators to a CCS title. He is ranked No. 10 in the 2022 class and is the fourth player in the Top 10 to announce his college choice.

JUCO Notes

Las Positas’ Jordahn Johson (Weston Ranch) is averaging 13.8 points and 9.8 rebounds in four games. He is coming off a 24 point, 16 rebound showing against Merritt. Las Positas has won four in a row since an opening loss to Butte.

Alumni Watch

In a 77-51 win over Idaho State, Seattle’s Riley Grigsby (Mitty) had 30 points. On the season, he is averaging 17 points and two rebounds.

Video to Watch

Simply Basketball had some highlights of 2023 Tyler Harris at Salesian. Harris is one of two nationally ranked prospects in NorCal for the 2023 class.

Story to Read

The San Francisco Chronicle did an in-depth update on Jalen Lewis and his professional career.

DEC 9-11th

1st Round
Top

Folsom vs Central (Fresno)

Vanden vs Inderkum

Bottom

Oakland Tech vs Grant

Gregori vs Edison

Team Notes

The Valley Oak League has four teams remaining in the Sac-Joaquin Section including the top seed in Division II (Central Catholic), Division III (Oakdale) and Division IV (Kimball). Division III No. 3 seed Manteca moved into the semi-finals with a 54-14 win over Sacramento.

Player Notes

Sacramento 2022 defensive back Lamont Johnson-Burrell announced his commitment to Sacramento State on Friday. At 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds, he is a long, athletic corner who creates turnovers and makes plays going back or coming in on the ball.

JUCO Notes

In the game of the year so far, San Francisco (10-0) beat San Mateo (9-1) 31-27. San Francisco led 31-17 after three quarters. Jack Newman (Analy) threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns for San Francisco. Luke Bottari (Serra) also threw for 247 yards with three touchdowns for San Mateo. San Francisco’s Fred Thompkins had a team high nine tackles.

Alumni Watch

In Fresno State’s 34-7 win over New Mexico, Jake Haener (Monte Vista) threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns including 103 yards and a score to Jordan Mims (Menlo-Atherton). Ronnie Rivers (Freedom) rushed for 71 yards and a score.

Video to Watch

In what will be one of the iconic plays from this season, Bellarmine’s Thomas DiVottorio had a 95 yard interception return in the 34-27 win over Los Gatos.

Story to Read

Jordan Wagner also had a late game interception to help Lincoln prevail over Christian Brothers. It is Lincoln’s first time making a section semi-final.

Salesian is looking for two varsity and junior varsity games. Ideally, we could host on January 11th and play away on January 27th. Other dates available.
Please email to me at spezzola@salesian.com if you are interested. Thanks.
Steve Pezzola

Team Notes

Central Catholic prepares for its SJS Division II quarterfinal matchup against Lodi with a strong running game and sophomore quarterback Tyler Paul Wentworth.

California’s Teddy Booras and Jake Calcagno have connected for 1,238 yards and 17 touchdowns. Their least productive game of the year came in a loss to Monte Vista when Calcagno had two catches for 39 yards. It was his only game without a touchdown.

During its four game winning streak, Campolindo has run for at least 192 yards three times with 106 yards against Alhambra. Max Rittman leads a multiple runner attack with 580 yards and four touchdowns.

Player Notes

Heritage 2023 running back Devon Rivers (5-foot-7, 165 pounds) has committed to Fresno State. He has put together two very good seasons for the Patriots. Rivers has 1,175 yards and 15 touchdowns this fall.

Rocklin 2022 wide receiver Nathan Kent (6-foot-3, 170 pounds) has picked up an offer from Navy. Through 10 games, he has 521 yards and five touchdowns.

San Ramon Valley 2022 offensive lineman Jackson Brown (6-foot-6, 295 pounds) remains a Cal commit, but has picked up some new offers including USC.

Folsom 2023 tight end Walker Lyons has announced a Top 11 of Ole Miss, Ohio State, USC, Stanford, UCLA, Wyoming, Michigan, Alabama, BYU, Oregon and Texas.

JUCO Notes

Tonight, Diablo Valley (5-4) will host Delta (1-8). Diablo Valley has one of the most productive passing attacks in the state with quarterbacks Joey Aguilar (Freedom) and Dylan Graham (Las Lomas). They have thrown for more than 2,600 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Delta receiver Jaylen Pickens (Rocklin) has 35 catches for 387 yards and a team high six touchdowns.

Alumni Watch

Jevon Holland (Bishop O’Dowd) had five tackles, two pass deflections and a sack in the Miami Dolphins’ 22-10 win on Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens.

If Tanner McKee can’t go for Stanford, the Cardinal will turn to true freshman Ari Patu (Folsom) at quarterback on Saturday at Oregon State.

Glad to have another full season (hopefully) ahead. A few tweaks to how the CCS is doing sectional and regional play-offs this year.

CCS play-offs consists of 40 teams. 33 automatic qualifiers top four teams from the WCAL, Deanza, Gabilan, PAL-Bay and Mt.. Hamilton; top three teams from the Mission; Top two teams from the PAL-Ocean, El Camino, Santa Teresa, and the top team from the West Valley, PAl-Lake, Cypress (B league - but gives one position to the Mission league), and Santa Lucia. There are seven at-large berths. These are selected by ranking the top ten non-automatic qualifiers by their CCS points and then giving 10 points to the team with the highest calprep tanking down to 1 point for the team with the lowest cal prep ranking and adding their CCS points to this. Top seven of these 10 team make the 40 team field.

Once the 40 team field is set, it is seeded into 5 divisions by adding CCS points to the Calprep ranking (top CCS team gets 40 points, lowest Calprep rated team gets 1 point. The five division champions advance to the regional play-offs.

CCS points are calculated as follows: 2 points for every win (1 point for a tie); 1 point for every A league team you play (out of section teams areas A team if their CAlprep ranking is 8 or higher); 0.5 points for every B team played (Out of section teams are B teams if their Calpreps ranking is between -19.9 and 7.9) and 0 point for every C team played (for out of section if calprep ranging is -20 or lower). You get the following bonus points. 2.5 points for winning an A league; 2 points for winning a B league; 1.5 points for winning a C league; 2 points for playing a team ranked in the top 100 of California as ranked by Calpreps and 1 point for playing a team ranked between 101-150 in California by Calpreps. If you play an out fo state team and their ranking is higher than the #100 team in CA you get 2 points; between 101-150 you get 1 point. For teams that play fewer than 10 games there is a formula to provide additional points.

For projection purposes I assume higher Calprep ranked team wins remaining games.

Divison 1
1. St. Francis - 81
2. Bellarmine 76.5
3. Menlo-Atherton 74.5
4. Serra 73.2
5. Los Gatos 70.5
6. Salinas 68.5
7. Valley Christian 68
8. San Benito 66

Absent a huge upset in the PAL-Bay or Deanza where Los Gatos has already defeated Wilcox) Division 1 will almost defiantly be the top 4 WCAL teams, Los Gatos, Menlo -Atherton, and the top two Gabilan teams (currently projected as Salinas and San Benito)

Division 2
1. Aptos 62
2. Wilcox 62
3. Palma 60
4. Burlingame 59
5. Leland 57.5
6. St. Ignatius 56
7. Menlo 55.5
8. Santa Cruz 55.5

Division 3
1. Live Oak 52.5
2. Riordan 51.5
3. Christopher 47.5
4. Mountain View 47.5
5. Half Moon Bay 46.7
6. Leigh 45
7. Terra Nova 44
8. Homestead 39

Division 4
1. Alisal 38.4
2. Hillsdale 38
3. Scotts Valley 38
4. Monterey 37.5
5. Palo Alto 36
6. Gunn 34.5
7. San Mateo 32.6
8. Silver Creek 31

Division 5
1. King City 29.2
2. Aragon 29
3. Cupertino 28.2
4. Pioneer 27.5
5. North Salinas 24.4
6. Santa Teresa 23.5
7. St-Francis-Watsonville 21
8. Hill 19

that the national champions started two CCS cagers?

It was roughly an hour ago, as the defending champs from Stanford started both Haley Jones (Mitty) and Hannah Jump (Pinewood) in their season opener. Very cool.

Before that? I have no idea. But I suspect never.

Newark Memorial is looking to host a JV Girls Basketball Team for a non-league game on Thursday, December 16, 5:30 pm, at the Event Center on the campus of Newark Memorial High School, 39375 Cedar Boulevard, Newark.

If your JV team is interested and available please contact Coach Darryl Reina at darryl14r@aol.com or text to 510-917-4060.

Open until filled.

Thanks,

Coach Reina
Newark Memorial HS

We're looking for a home opponent for JV and frosh on that Wednesday. Or just one of the two. claykallam@gmail.com

Congrats to the kid but man things must be bad down on the farm. First true fresh to start since early 80’s! Patu barely was the starter at Folsom and wasn’t even the best QB in the league. Sorry this one is puzzling.

Serra 7-6 end of first with each team fumbling once and a questionable "personal foul" call against VC. Serra does not have an adequate defensive plan devised to contain VC's WR-Jurion Dickey
on offense. On any long 3rd downs it's almost automatic that VC will pass to Dickey as that is what they've done all season - Dickey IS their primary WR. Dickey caught one nice pass and was clearly open and end of first quarter ran by 2 Serra defenders to haul in a long pass and run untouched another 30 yards into the end zone. This is the best WR in the WCAL and Serra needs to at least contain Dickey to short range passes as he's entirely capable of scoring several more TD's with loose coverage.

FYI: Dickey 6'2-210 is a junior who is a 3-year starter on varsity and has a number of Div 1 offers.

OK so some very knowledgeable fans on this board and tough competition in the weekly pick-ems over the years [of which I certainly was not one of the regular top finishers].
Anyone up to the challenge of picking the 20 winners of the first round? Or perhaps the division they are the most knowledgeable in? A daunting task for sure and some divisions seem clearly
easier to forecast than others. This is clearly & curious as to how many winners of the 20 games anyone can predict. Clearly the temptation is to preview CalPreps projections, but we all know this is the playoffs and there are usually a few upsets that take place and why they play the games after all.

I'll take a shot and start with Div I winners: Los Gatos, Serra, Salinas, SF. - Div II Wilcox, Palma, HMB, San Benito, Div III SHC, Mt View, Christopher, Leland, Div IV SHP, Hillsdale, Pioneer, Homestead,
Div V Soquel, Cupertino, North Salinas, Aragon

While most of these look like easy picks I'll be anxious to see all the final scores.

Central Coast Section Football Playoffs

Division I

No. 3 Bellarmine (7-3) at No. 6 Los Gatos (10-0), Friday, 7 p.m.*

No. 7 Valley Christian (6-4) at No. 2 Serra (8-1), Saturday, 1 p.m.

No. 5 Menlo-Atherton (8-2) at No. 4 Salinas (8-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 8 Aptos (8-1) at No. 1 St. Francis (9-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

* Bellarmine is the home team

Division II

No. 6 Santa Cruz (9-0) at No. 3 Wilcox (6-4), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 7 St. Ignatius (4-6) at No. 2 Palma (7-3), Rabobank Stadium, Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 5 Half Moon Bay (5-4) at No. 4 Menlo School (10-0), Saturday, 1 p.m.

No. 8 Burlingame (8-2) at No. 1 San Benito (8-1), Friday, 7 p.m.

Division III

No. 6 Leigh (9-1) vs. No. 3 Sacred Heart Cathedral (3-7) at Kezar Stadium, Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 7 Mountain View (5-5) at No. 2 Live Oak (7-2), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 5 Palo Alto (5-5) at No. 4 Christopher (5-5), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 8 Scotts Valley (9-1) at No. 1 Leland (8-2), Friday, 7 p.m.

Division IV

No. 6 Alisal (4-5) at No. 3 Sacred Heart Prep (3-7), Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

No. 7 Lincoln-San Jose (6-3) at No. 2 Hillsdale (8-2), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 5 Pioneer (8-2) at No. 4 Santa Teresa (6-4), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 8 Milpitas (3-7) at No. 1 Homestead (5-5), Friday, 7 p.m.

Division V

No. 6 Los Altos (7-3) at No. 3 Soquel (7-3), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 7 St. Francis-Watsonville (7-3) at No. 2 Cupertino (9-1), Friday, 7 p.m.

No. 5 North Salinas (6-3) at No. 5 San Mateo (8-1), Saturday, 7 p.m.

No. 8 Andrew Hill (7-3) at No. 1 Aragon (6-4), Friday, 7 p.m.