I do. And I acknowledged you were right about the NCS. I agree that MT should be ahead of Monte Vista, but could it also be true SRV is better now than they were in August?
Another question back: Is any section "up" this year?
From how the season progressed, it looks like SJS D-I is about normal. I had some questions early, but there are several pretty good teams and some surprises. Oak Ridge and Monterey Trail may not be able to truly challenge Folsom, but they should have the Bulldogs' attention. Davis was a surprise and Inderkum finally got a solid win against a recognized opponent, although they may have been going through the motions lately. SJS D-II seems a bit down compared to years past, but D-III-VI could bring home some titles in the state games.
The CCS looked like it got a little better at the top with a full-strength Serra and VC having good years, with talk of possibly challenging Folsom in the D-IAA game. Without the starting Padre QB, though, I'm not so sure, even if Serra goes undefeated (I'm now liking Fresno Central to oppose the Bulldogs, with the CCS D-I winner going to D-IA). I watched the game against VC and while there were flashes, there were also a number of newbie mistakes. What I think really was the story this year for the section was depth. More teams could legitimately cause some concern for the top two than in years past (watch out for St. Ignatius next week against a possible hung-over Serra). Unfortunately, the vast majority of the top teams will be eliminated in the D-I playoffs. The D-II winner could also be fairly good, but D-III thru V will have to populate the lower CIF divisions or get hammered by some better teams from the other sections.
Mostly, it's D-I for the NCS with which I have a problem. While there were an extraordinary number of games that went down to the wire and into overtime, when those teams played strong out-of-section games or even non-league games against weaker teams, they typically did not fare as expected. When you combine the two, I don't see how anyone can appear to be very strong, outside of DLS. Campo could be a saving grace in D-II, but the rest of the division is also not impressive. The only division that isn't extremely top-heavy may be D-IV, where the NCS has allowed the good private schools to hide. Watch out for Acalanes as a possible spoiler, but I still strongly like Marin Catholic to take this division (I still think they could legitimately be the #2 team in the entire section). I like Las Lomas in D-III, but don't see much competition for them.
NS D-III looks like a potentially great story, even without what happened to Paradise last year. D-II and D-IV are Chico's and East Nicolaus' divisions to lose, respectively.
Oakland is Oakland, but McClymonds could be a story this December.
