Cardinal Newman vs. Windsor 10/22

[Sutliff26]

Looking to be one of the better games in recent memory in the North Bay. Cardinal Newman is currently #11 in the NCS and they're taking on #5 Windsor. Is anyone going to watch this game live?
Cardinal Newman has dropped in the rankings this year after getting a new Head Coach, Richard Sanchez, formerly with San Diego State. While Windsor has been dominate since acquiring Head Coach Paul Cronin from opponent Cardinal Newman. It makes to be a really compelling matchup.

Richard Sanchez took over a very talented team at Newman. While the team has started off slow they have shown progress. Santino Acevedo is their star player on offense and defense after losing Tsion Nunnally, who graduated and moved on to Washington State. Acevedo is averaging over 9 yards per run on offense. He leads the NCS in touchdowns and is ninth in rushing yards. On the defensive side of the ball he is sixth in the NCS in tackles and leads the team in sacks. Also look for Speedster Nicky Ayre at Safety and Returner. He is almost always the fasted kid on the field.

Over at Windsor Paul Cronin took over a team laden with talent and they are now undefeated midway through their season. Their closest game was a 38-14 win over Benicia. The Jaguars offense is lead by a talented senior quarterback Chase Vehmeyer. I don't have his complete stats but in two games he is 29-34 with 7 touchdowns and no interceptions. Helping him have a great season is a combination of talented receivers. Makhi Johnson, a senior this year, in his last game had 6 receptions for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns. Opposite of him is freshman Hayden Anderson who has been the surprise of the year in the North Bay. His speed and athleticism has allowed him to have dominate on offense and special teams. Against Napa earlier this year he had 2 receptions for 2 touchdowns and 94 yards.

 

[NCS707]

Has Cardinal Newman not lost to a public school not named Rancho Cotate north of SF since 2013 against Analy (now West County HS)? It has been so long since anyone besides them has been competitive at a medium large school level up there. Windsor, Analy, and Montgomery had some good squads up into the middle part of the last decade. Just 10-15 years ago that area was much more competitively balanced, Piner, Montgomery, Casa Grande, Petaluma, and even Healdsburg and Sonoma used to always have good squads. Now the big 5 Santa Rosa Public schools cannot even sniff the same turf as CN, Rancho, or now Windsor. Some barely even have complete football programs anymore. What a shame, the Bay Area/Wine Country is too expensive and not conducive to families. East Contra Costa, the valley and Sac are the spots now, although that is showing signs of slowing down.

 

[Sutliff26]

The talent pool is definitely spread thin by all the Santa Rosa schools. There's too many to be competitive. Its unfortunate. As a youth football coach we try to help get our players to the best programs to help them be seen and play against top talent, IE Newman. But being private it doesn't always work out financially for kids and then they get all spread out by the public school system.

 

[larry legend33]

Windsor has the edge in this one. You have one of the greatest coaches in calif and a program that was coming into this year with a strong supporting cast. Sanchez has done a really nice job at Newman. Throw out that San Leandro loss because they made so many adjustments since then and you really only have St Mary’s of Stockton that beat them. This is a very young team as well. Newman has played a very rough schedule and Cronin inherited cup cake city at Windsor this year. (I know he will schedule stronger in future) it’s nice to see some leveled. Field again in the nbl. Should be fun

 

[bella123]

31-17 Windsor. They have good very good lines on both sides and are just more talented. They are pretty solid all the way around. With Cronin I would not be shocked with a NCS title appearance or title this year. Maybe a one and done?

 

[3Yards&ACloudOfDust]

CN has five sophomores and four freshman on Varsity. Sanchez has huge shoes to fill, but what he’s doing with such a young team is showing me the guy can coach. Cronin is an outstanding coach and will be successful wherever he goes. In my opinion, Windsor will be the #one school in the North bay this year, and I agree they have a good shot at NCS.

 

[larry legend33]

CN has five sophomores and four freshman on Varsity. Sanchez has huge shoes to fill, but what he’s doing with such a young team is showing me the guy can coach. Cronin is an outstanding coach and will be successful wherever he goes. In my opinion, Windsor will be the #one school in the North bay this year, and I agree they have a good shot at NCS.

Paul inherited a good team and you take his talent and magic and you get something special. Agreed that Windsor wins in a tough game. 28-17 or so. Sanchez can flat out coach. After week 1 I was freaking out but he made great adj along the way. Newman will be even better next year. Anybody know what pipeline looks like for QB? Knectle is a Sr and newman has always had really good QB’s. Speaking of Brookshire has SDG State 5-0 and ranked #23. Happy for that kid .

 

[Sutliff26]

Paul inherited a good team and you take his talent and magic and you get something special. Agreed that Windsor wins in a tough game. 28-17 or so. Sanchez can flat out coach. After week 1 I was freaking out but he made great adj along the way. Newman will be even better next year. Anybody know what pipeline looks like for QB? Knectle is a Sr and newman has always had really good QB’s. Speaking of Brookshire has SDG State 5-0 and ranked #23. Happy for that kid .

CN doesnt have much currently at QB behind him. That is certainly their weak spot. They have Knechtles younger brother. But he is quite small. Hopefully he grows. Besides that its up in the air.
There is a good QB coming up that might go to Newman, but where he goes is undecided still. He will most likely be the best QB in the NBL in a few years. And depending on what Cronin does at Windsor maybe their current JV QB changes schools. I dont know. All speculation.

Seeing Brookshire playing for SD is great. The Aztecs are a good team. I'm just hoping they stick with him all season. Their other senior QB played pretty well when he was out.

 

[NCS707]

CN has five sophomores and four freshman on Varsity. Sanchez has huge shoes to fill, but what he’s doing with such a young team is showing me the guy can coach. Cronin is an outstanding coach and will be successful wherever he goes. In my opinion, Windsor will be the #one school in the North bay this year, and I agree they have a good shot at NCS.

What is up with so many underclassmen being brought up the past few years. I recall around a decade ago most teams, even small programs/schools would carry 0-4 Sophs usually at most and Freshman were a once every few years type thing, in fact it was almost illegal to play Varsity prior to being age 15. I suspect it is only a small portion of younger kids begin physically ready but just the drop in numbers makes it a necessity for depth, although there are still some standouts. Is there even a complete league for Freshman teams in the North Bay Area anymore?

 

[bella123]

Elijah Brown started as freshman as that had nothing to do with roster numbers. I actually knew a coach who said he would only have juniors and seniors and would never bring up a sophomore to varsity even if he was the best athlete in the school. Really dumb philosophy. If a kid can play and is ready use the best players, total common sense.

 

[larry legend33]

Elijah Brown started as freshman as that had nothing to do with roster numbers. I actually knew a coach who said he would only have juniors and seniors and would never bring up a sophomore to varsity even if he was the best athlete in the school. Really dumb philosophy. If a kid can play and is ready use the best players, total common sense.

Exactly. I would add most kids these days are 8-12 months older when they start 9th grade. Not many 16-17 year old seniors anymore. That is a big difference from 20 years ago.
But it’s similar to what’s happening in college. 20 years ago you almost always redshirted as a freshman. Not the case these days .