Trans Valley League Host Two Games with-in 20 miles of each other. Escalon Cougars will have tri-tip, hot chocolate and some Fans in the House come Friday. Northwood Timberwolves will drive from (369 miles away) Irvine, leaving the warmer climate of Orange County will feel right at home enjoying the fragrances of the Escalon Dairies. Northwood did get some flavor last week in Delano, so perhaps an appreciation is forming. Escalon will be cold, damp even muddy as the kickoff awaits to bring back another Small-School State Championship to a hard nose, dedicated community of Football. Northwood may enjoy the scenery as a new experience gazing out in the Valley Farms driving up the 5 and seeing how Country folks live, not sure the long drive home will be as colorful. Escalon community will feed you excellent cuisine!! Escalon has a beautiful smalltown downtown and has good eateries.

Hughson the team that defeated Escalon and built its resume by having a fearless Offense! This team seems to enjoy the close fight until the very end. If you look at their playoff battles every game was close. Huskies will be celebrating the Peach Capital in State Championship Football fashion as they host Muir of Pasadena. I used to drive by Muir of Pasadena Nice School, I worked in Burbank years ago and find it hard to see them playing Hughson for D5 SBG. The Mustangs who will travel 311 miles will also be guests of the exciting travel through the breadbasket of California, with views of tractors, diesels, and people who maintain the agricultural machine. Hughson also has a great little downtown with pubs and restaurants. Smalltown not Metro, although less than 5 miles away from Modesto.


20 miles away two stories will be told, and two State Champions will be crowned!!
Two Communities of Farm America versus Urban sprawl concrete communities.

Goodluck Escalon and Hughson!!!

Top
4:00 Folsom vs San Leandro
5:30 Inderkum vs Redwood
Bottom
7:00 Grant vs Sheldon
8:30 Edison vs Lathrop

Some exciting Basketball at Edison H.S this weekend!

This Season, the frosh(some JV) programs have been impacted heavily and it has been hard to find games and tournaments. With the shortage of refs....and looking for games that will match in schedules is tough. So Kimball high would like to help.

We are willing host frosh/JV games in a showcase form where you will be able to play 1 or 2 games. CIF rules says you can play 2 games in one day but cannot play back-to-back. So, we would have you play a game, sit one, and play your second game. So, you won't have to be there the entire day.

We are looking for 8-10 teams for frosh and JV that is short of games. If you have interest, you can tell me if you want a single game or 2 games. If you can we are asking for $75 bucks just help to pay for officiating. There will be a charge at the door since this would be a high school event. If your school don't have a budget and need games, please call. We just want to cover the basic costs to run the event. But we want these frosh/JV programs to have as much experience as they will be the future of your programs. This will be a one-day Saturday event. hope this can help some programs! If it can help your program, please pass the info along! I will have the flyer sent to you via email for your school treasure to process payment.

Please email dlbarnett24@yahoo.com
510-209-9269
Coach Barnett

Only one game going at a time today, but still need to end the season with a scores thread.

McClymonds-Mater Dei Catholic is up first for the 2-AA title. MDC won the 2-AA state title last year.

We had so many close games. Campolindo came into the Tournament a very cohesive team, and It showed. I thought that Salesian’s Subs played a part in making the difference, when we got to the final.

We had our Tournament Queen crowned. Think of Indiana in the 1950s and you will get the idea.

Here’s a story for you.

We started the Tournament in 1953. For the 50th anniversary in 2003, we brought in all 50 former Tournament Queens. Some were flown in from across the country, all to gather at the tournament. It was to celebrate fifty years of doing this. All of the Women from 67 years old, down to 16 years old made the trip. It was quite the occasion.

Jay Olsen’s scoring record of 105 points survived another year. His total was made before the 3 point line was initiated.
(That’s 17 basket’s a game folks.) Courtney Anderson from Dublin made a run at it last year, scoring 97 points.

It was great to see so many old friends I have made thru the years. Gridley is like being part of a family.
Players being housed, friendships being made. There really is nothing quite like it.

Hope to see you next year.

Here’s wishing you great hoops.

Here are the games for this week. Remember, you need to designate who is the finalist and who is the consolation winner. PICKS ARE DUE BY 3:30 PM ON THURSDAY

- Pick two finalists for Gridley - http://gridleyinvitational.org/bracket22.htm

- Pick consolation bracket winner from Gridley - http://gridleyinvitational.org/bracket22.htm

- Pick two finalists for Jesuit Tournament - Login to view embedded media
- Pick Consolation winner from Jesuit Tournament

- Pick two finalists for Edison Tournament - Login to view embedded media
- Pick consolation winner from Edison Tournament

- Stonebarger Tournament (Liberty): Pick the Tournament Winner

Del Oro (Loomis) vs. Vallejo, 3:30 pm
Heritage (Brentwood) vs. Enochs (Modesto), 5 pm
College Park (Pleasant Hill) vs. Liberty (Brentwood), 6:30 pm
Foothill (Pleasanton) vs. Reed (Sparks, Nev.), 8 pm

Clet doesn’t look as good as last year.
Guard play looks suspect.

Why no gushing from Gridley?

Well…. the entire town’s internet and cell service was totally DOWN all day…

But fear not…. I took notes in my phone.

Friday
Atwater beats Central Catholic
Manteca beats undefeated Downey

Today 6pm
Downey vs central Catholic

Championship game 730pm
Manteca vs Atwater

Another year of SBG games are done. Overall the NorCal vs SoCal battle was pretty balanced this year with the North winning 8 games and the South winning 7 games. And as usual, the South dominated the upper divisions - all 5 keynote games being won by SoCal.

Here is the tally among the sections

CCS with 3 SBG games and 0 wins = 0%
CS with 4 SBG games and 2 wins = 50%
LAS with 2 SBG games and 0 wins = 0%
NCS with 5 SBG games and 2 wins = 40%
NS with 1 SBG game and 1 win = 100%
OS with 1 SBG game and 0 wins = 0%
SDS with 3 SBG games and 3 wins = 100%
SFS with 1 SBG game and 1 win = 100%
SJS with 3 SBG games and 3 wins = 100%
SS with 7 SBG games and 3 wins = 43%

Branson def. Montgomery 52-24
San Leandro def. Amador 43-29
Miramonte def. Capuchino 59-23
Windsor def. Petaluma 42-41

Friday Games:
3:30. - Montgomery v Amador
5:00 - Capuchino v Petaluma
6:30 - Branson v San Leandro
8:00 - Miramonte v Windsor

I’m just asking.

I haven’t watched Grant play in years but in watching them tonight it is clear that this is no longer Coach Mike Alberghini’s Grant Pacers. The offense has been modernized and, boy, do they still have some athletes.

For all of Folsom’s success one thing that has not come easy is that state championship trophy……….something the Almighty Grant Pacers will have an opportunity to hoist over the entire 916 next weekend!

Will we look back a few years from now and point at tonight as the night where the Rico Flores’ and Onterrio Smith Jr’s of the world decided that the daily drive to Folsom was no longer as appealing as it once was?

Good luck to both the Pacers and the Spartans next week! NorCal Football is truly at its best when both of those programs are relevant!

Troy Taylor heads South to run Stanford Cardinal gridiron. Great run at Sac State and now the D1 challenge awaits.

Incredible football game in Del Paso Heights! Grant trailed 34 - 30 after a San Jacinto score under a minute left in 4th.

Grant returned the kickoff almost to the house. Pacers punched in 6 on a short yardage run.

5 touchdowns scored in final five minutes! Great BATTLE

P A C E R S !!!

Incredible football game in Del Paso Heights! Grant trailed 34 - 30 after a San Jacinto score...Grant returned the kickoff almost to the house. Pacers punched in 6 on a short yardage run.

5 touchdowns scored in final five minutes! Great BATTLE

P A C E R S !!!

So CalPreps ie: the computers have Serra as roughly a 5 TD underdog to SJB 41-7 and we all know that last year in the same game Serra lost to Mater Dei by 44-7.
SJB is #1 in CA and #1 ranked nationally while Serra is #6 in CA and #54 nationally. The big question of course is will the game be any different this evening or simply a replay of last years' game?

I looked at last years' Serra team vs this year and also SJB this year versus Mater Dei last season to see how the 2 teams will face off later today & here's what the stats & ratings indicate:

2022 Serra Padres
* Ranked #6 in state vs #10 last season.
* This season 13-0 to date vs 11-2 last season.
* The power rating favors last seasons' Padres by 63.6 over this seasons Padres 62.0.
* Strength of Schedule also favors last seasons Padres by 46..5 to this season 33.4 [MD game factored in is the difference as Serra's SOS will jump up after tonights game].
* 2021 PAdres lost to Mater Dei by +37 points and SJB tonight is favored by +34 points.
* 22 Padres avg 36.5 point offense per game while last seasons team avg 33.1 [difference of 3.4 points per game].
* 22 Padres allow 11.8 points per game on Defense while last seasons teeam allowed 16.2 points per game [difference of 4.4 PPG].
* In last seasons' game vs Mater Dei the Padres fell behind 24-0 at 1/2, 3rd quarter 37-7 and final 44-7.
* Against Mater Dei Serra ran 59 plays to 47 for Mater Dei and dominated time of possession by 32 minutes to 16 min for MD, yet could not stop MD offense from big plays.
Conclusion: the 2022 Serra Padres are close to where the 2021 team ended. This Serra team 2022 is slightly better on both offense & defense given the same number of games. The biggest factor may be
the QB as last season Serra had Dom Lampkin a duel-threat QB who was unpredictable running while this season the Padres are led by Maeliuaki Smith more of a classic drop back QB. While both ofthese QB's were/are ranked highly in QB ratings this years' QB Smith has thrown over twice the number of TD's vs Lampkin last season - 34 by Smith vs 14 for Lampkin last season [Lampkin also rushed for 8 TD's vs 0 for Smith].

2022 St. John Bosco Braves
* SJB #1 in state & #1 nationally same as Mater Dei last season.
* SJB power rating is 90.7 vs MD's 103.8 last season.
* SJB SOS for this season is 60 vs MD's 70.5 last season.
* SJB offense this season 42.0 PPG vs 45.6 last season for MD [difference of 3.6 PPG].
* SJB Defense allowed 8.5 PPG this season vs MD 12.6 last season [difference of 4.1 PPG ].
Conclusion: Like the 2 different Serra teams the last 2 seasons there does not appear to be a great deal of difference between MD last season or the St. John Bosco team Serra will face this evening. Loaded with talent at all positions SJB uses a multitude of both RB's & WR's as well as rotating many players on D due to incredible team depth

Prediction: It's difficult to see much of a change from last seasons' outcome vs Mater Dei based upon the disparity of college level talent on the 2 teams [SJB has 45 players with college offers]. Serra in their tougher games this season has def been a 2nd 1/2 team [a tale of 2 teams it seemed in several games such as both Mitty games, playing to the level of their oppenent before "waking up" in the 2nd 1/2.
Should the Padres come out slow in this game I do not see a resurrection taking place in the 2nd 1/2 against the likes of SJB [simply too much talent]. However this is an excellent Serra team and perhaps the best team to ever take the field at Serra so there is always "hope" and why the game is played.
SJB 35-16

Got into the gym a little late, listening to the St. Mary’s game. (St. Mary’s beat San Diego State, 68-61 behind Aidan Mahaney’s 20 points with 6 clutch FT’s in the last two minutes)…. Arrived and looked at the board, hoping for Gridley to be at least somehwt competitive with Oakland Tech…

Well, not so. It was 26-0 Tech when I walked in, and it’s 35-0 now.

Mitty just relentless. Vanden getting demoralized early as its getn ugly quick. I think Mitty could probably drop 100 on just about anybody in the North if they want.

Mitty 54
Vanden 19

Half

The Stonebarger Tournament will start this Thursday, Dec 8th. I am not familiar with a lot of these teams and am looking for insight from those who know them better. Who are the favorite(s)? Who are the dark horses? Are there any standout players I can anticipate watching?

Bracket from top to bottom:
Del Oro vs Vallejo
Heritage vs Enochs
College Park vs Liberty
Foothill vs Reed

The 48th Fr. Barry Classic at Jesuit High School is December 8-10, 2022.

First Round Games December 8
3:45pm: Archbishop Mitty vs St. Patrick-St. Vincent
5:15pm: Cathedral Catholic vs De LaSalle
6:45pm: Jesuit vs Garces Memorial
8:15pm: Loyola vs St. Mary's

Good field with Folsom, St. Mary's and Oak Ridge leading the way

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No shot at the number one team in the
Nation
DHunt am I seeing this right

Beast mode…. is that correct, 9 steals

First game in 15 minutes is Dublin v. Oakland Tech. Dublin lost a thriller to Clovis North yesterday, Oakland Tech lost a somewhat sloppy but competitive contest to Salesian yesterday

I think Dublin will take this one, but O Tech is probably capable of better than what we saw yesterday…

Bring on the HOOPS!