Heritage 2023 RB Devon Rivers has picked up an offer from UNLV. He was previously offered by New Mexico and Fresno State

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Salinas High's second cancellation this season. First one against Placer due to fire. Not sure if they were able to reschedule on their bye week. Salinas will only have 9 games this season and maybe only 8. Login to view embedded media

We have one of the most extended daisy chains we've seen in a long time, with regards to how teams are potentially ranked.

Oak Ridge lost to Vacaville.

Vacaville lost to Cardinal Newman.

Cardinal Newman lost to San Leandro.

San Leandro lost to Campolindo.

Campolindo got blasted by Aptos.

Aptos just edges Palma.

Aptos got blasted by Salinas.

Will this mean that despite losing badly last week, Aptos could actually make a big jump over 4 teams, possibly bring Palma along for the ride?

Do Liberty and Monte Vista also join this fray?

I think it's clear that Salinas belongs at the top of all of this around 16 or 17.

PCAL Week 4

I thought the top of the Gabilan would be close. Palma VS Aptos proved it. So, after a fantastic comeback, Aptos gets rewarded with a trip to the PIT against Salinas. Should be another great game! Hollister has not looked pretty in any of its games, but they keep on winning.

In the Mission, Santa Cruz still looks like the team to beat at 3-0 and outscoring it opponents by 35 points per game. Monterey is also undefeated, but their schedule has been a bit softer and games much closer. The last undefeated team, Carmel, has not played anybody. Seriously they have not had a game in 2 weeks and have a scheduled bye this week. They will start league play at 1-0 next week.

The Cypress is still King City’s division to lose, but Scott’s Valley is lurking in the shadows. The rest of the division seems to be a notch below.

The Santa Lucia will get it’s first look at RLS, as the Pirates take the field from the first time all year. And it is not due to Covid. It is because they are a boarding school that does bring kids back until September. They historically only have 8-9 games a year.



Last week 9-2 Overall 36-7

Gabilan

Thu 09/16 Alvarez (Salinas, CA) at Christopher (Gilroy, CA), 7:00pm: All of Alvarez games this year have been on Thursday night and they are 2-0. Christopher snaps the win streak. Christopher 24-14

Fri 09/17 Palma (Salinas, CA) at Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville, CA), 7:30pm: I thought MVC would give Salinas a better game last week, Palma is coming off a heartbreaking loss. MVC may stay close until Palam wakes up. Palma 45-14

Fri 09/17 Aptos (CA) at Salinas (CA), 7:30pm: I picked Aptos to finish 1st and Salinas to finish 4th . Salinas is playing much better than I thought, Aptos is coming off an incredible comeback and is probably a bit emotionally drained. Everything points to Salinas to win this game, but am going to stick to my preseason pick: Aptos 35-30

Fri 09/17 Alisal (Salinas, CA) at San Benito (Hollister, CA), 7:30pm: All Hollister is doing is wining, ugly. That continues vs the ground and pound of Alisal. Hollister17-14

Mission

Fri 09/17 King City (CA) at Gonzales (CA), 7:30pm: Battle of the “megaphone”. I believe this is the longest rivalry in Monterey County. Gonzales look like it is in complete rebuild mode after a bad loss to Greenfield. King City gets the Megaphone back. KC 35-10

Fri 09/17 Soledad (CA) at North Monterey County (Castroville, CA), 7:30pm – NMC beat a bad Pajaro team, Soledad beat a bad Greenfield team. Soledad has the better win. Soledad 28-19

Fri 09/17 North Salinas (Salinas, CA) at Watsonville (CA), 7:00pm- 2 bigger schools that have struggled of late on the football field. Giving the edge to the home team. Watsonville 35-21

Sat 09/18 Gilroy (CA) at Pajaro Valley (Watsonville, CA), 2:00pm- Neither team had played great this year. But Gilroy is winless vs better competition. Gilroy 42-12

Cypress

Fri 09/17 Stevenson (Pebble Beach, CA) at Pacific Grove (CA), 7:00pm: “Pirateball” is back!!! RLS is ready to burst on to the scene. They may have one of the best athletes in the whole PCAL lining up at WR/DB. The question is there enough to support him. This is game will be a great test. PG had a nice win 2 weeks vs Gonzales, but after the Spartans dropped turd vs Greenfield, that win does not look. I expect a close game, and you all know there is no way I am picking PG! RLS 24-20

Sat 09/18 St. Francis (Watsonville, CA) vs Rancho San Juan (Salinas, CA) at Cabrillo College (Aptos, CA), 7:30pm – This maybe Rancho’s best shot at a victory this year. I just don’t know if they can get by St Francis, who just beat DLS last week. (I am just teasing). St. Francis 21-14

Sat 09/18 Arroyo (San Lorenzo, CA) at San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, CA), 2:00pm- Due to Covid SLV has only played 1 Game, but their original non-league schedule was really odd. 3 of the 4 were out of section. most schools try to play teams close to home. Arroyo 24-14

Sat 09/18 Greenfield (CA) at Scotts Valley (CA), 2:00pm- Scott’s Valley should be able to contain Greenfields running attack, and the Falcon offense will be good enough to score some pints. Scotts Valley 21-7



Santa Lucia

Fri 09/17 Valley Christian (Roseville, CA) at Harbor (Santa Cruz, CA), 5:00pm- Harbor could win its 3rd game? And be 3-1? I really want it to happen, but Valley Christian, on paper, looks to be a little better. Valley Christian 35-34

This might be a yearly thing, but it seems like home teams have dominated the biggest matchups of the season. Here are a couple that come to mind where either it was an upset or teams that are evenly matched.

St. Francis over De La Salle
Folsom over Pittsburg
Pittsburg over Valley Christian
Central Catholic over San Ramon Valley
Bellarmine over Central Catholic
Vacaville over Oak Ridge
Cardinal Newman over Vacaville
Del Oro over Clayton Valley
Granite Bay over Del Oro/Vacaville
Aptos over Palma
Salinas over Aptos

Getting it set up early tonight. Should be a fun night of football!

Will the Monarchs' game be livestreamed Saturday?

The preseason is over and It’s finally here! League! Where we finally get to see what the wins and losses mean from the first three weeks, and where the quest for a banner begins! Here’s a quick projection from my end! We’ll start with the problem children and end with the big boys!

West Valley

Champ: Gunderson
Hill
Mt. Pleasant
Evergreen Valley
Yerba Buena
Del Mar
San Jose
James Lick

One thing that’s a for sure takeaway from the first three games and that who will be on the bottom half of this league. Let’s just hope they can establish a culture to move forward and be more competitive in years to come, teams like these are who we need to grow in order to save our game of HS football and make the BVAL more equitable/competitive. With that being said the Automatic qualifier here or league champion is going to be a four-man race but at the end of the day, it is going to be between Andrew Hill and Gunderson. The league championship could easily be their week 7 matchup. I really believe that Gundersons’ grueling preseason schedule will pay off for them. No team in this league is even close to those three contests and barring injury they will be ready for the sub-par opponents. The Grizzlies take the West Valley.

Santa Teresa

Champ: Leigh
Branham
Westmont
Sobrato
Pioneer
Prospect
Willow Glen
Independence

The battle for Santa Teresa Is going to be a little more interesting and it starts right out of the gate! Games with huge implications are being played this opening week. First off unbeaten Westmont will play unbeaten Leigh for what will be control of Santa Teresa the winner of this game will be the clear front runner. The second game to keep an eye on would be the potential “battle for an at-large bid” Branham is taking on Sobrato with the winner being in position to get a hard-to-come-by at large bid into the CCS playoffs. Between those two teams, Branham can also flip the table here with the ability to challenge Leigh and Westmont, so the top part of this league is as close as any. After watching pioneer this weekend I’m having doubts and the last three teams will be competitive amongst each other. This is definitely going to be the league to watch in terms of having impactful playoff implications.

Mt. Hamilton

Champ: Live Oak
Leland
Silver Creek
Piedmont Hills
Overfelt
Santa Teresa
Oak Grove
Lincoln

This is going to come down to three teams and the battle of attrition. Silver Creek, Leland, and Live Oak all are solid contenders. Leland and Silver Creek kick things off week one and Leland will be Creek’s first big test after losing to a down Milpitas team. The winner of this game will play Live Oak for the league title. The only other team that can possibly blindside LO is an athletic Piedmont Hills team or a late peaking Santa Teresa however that seems like it will be a longshot. The Mount Hamilton is the Acorns to lose but I don’t see them slipping up.

What an exciting time in the South Bay, I’m excited to see how things shake out this weekend!

Demetrius Jackson returns to SHC after previously serving asan assistant on the Boys team from 2010-2016

Good JUCO showcase coming up this weekend at Delta College

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Here are the games for this week. Picks are due by 7:00 PM

Cathedral at De La Salle
Oak Ridge at Folsom
Sacred Heart Prep at Mountain View
Central Catholic vs. Bellarmine at SJCC
Marin Catholic at McClymonds
Del Oro at Granite Bay
Lincoln-Stockton at Monterey Trail
Liberty at Monte Vista
Vista del Lago at Capital Christian
Eureka at Shasta

2022 Aidan Mahaney of Campolindo will stay local and further his career at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga
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This is a damn fine team and I had no idea Haener would be this good. Personally I Thought Washington was a stretch out of Hs. Nope. What a baller.
Sac state looked solid as well against cal.

Big pick-up for the Huksies in adding the talented and versatile guard.

Miramonte has announced the debut of a new MLK weekend event, being played on the Saturday of the weekend. There are six games scheduled this year with teams from four different sections.

Noon: Mission vs. Saratoga
1:40: Lincoln-SF vs. St. Joseph Notre Dame
3:20: Granada vs. Mt. Eden
5:00 Montgomery @ Miramonte
6:40 Sacred Heart Prep vs. Half Moon Bay
8:20 Oakland Tech vs. Bishop O'Dowd

Getting ready to go…

Maybe Cathedral’s coach didn’t prepare all that well…. He thinks they’re playing De La Sol, whomever that is

Seeing people talk about state bowl game site. Where's the place you love to watch from? I love The Corral. But, Dunleavy Field in Sonora is awesome.. Concrete seats. Built in the side of a mountain. The smell of the ribs cooking. Everyone sits on same side on different ends. The players enter down to the field the stadium seats.. Classic. Went to Campolindo they sit on one side too. Funnest place. One of their fans had me laughing so hard my sides ached! One kid was going off for Oakdale. He kept saying can anyone stop #2 . Hey the ball is going to #2. For god sake can someone actually tackle #2,This was going on all night! They were great host's!

Ready for another year of Friday night updates! I’m out at Monterey Trail-Folsom tonight.

Benicia will travel to Clayton Valley Charter on Monday night at 7:00 pm. Come on out to the game, hopefully we can give your money’s worth.

If anyone knows of some steaming games tonight please post them here.

I know the undefeated Bells are playing an undefeated Central Catholic. That should be a battle.

Lot of talk on here about how you slot teams now. Here are a few takes:

NCP:

1. Folsom
2. St. Francis
3. De La Salle
4. Serra
5. Pittsburg

Cal Hi Sports (NorCal)

1. Folsom
2. Serra
3. St. Francis
4. De La Salle
5. Pittsburg

BANG (Bay Area Only)

1. Serra
2. St. Francis
3. Pittsburg
4. De La Salle
5. Los Gatos

SF Chronicle (Bay Area)

1. St. Francis
2. De La Salle
3. Serra
4. Pittsburg
5. McClymonds

SportsStars (NorCal)

1. Folsom
2. St. Francis
3. De La Salle
4. Serra
5. Pittsburg