PCAL Week 3

[RLS13]

Week 3-

14-5 (25-10 overall) last week not counting the Salinas/NS game as I did picks late. The Biggest surprises from last week.

1. Seaside with a convincing win over Bishop O’Dowd. What a great start to the season for a program coming off a 1 win a year ago

2. Carmel’s complete lack of defense vs Templeton in a 69-61 loss. Good news is Carmel made the top 5 highest points scored in a loss. This team is looking like 5-5 or 4-6.

19 games this week. Looking forward to Salinas vs Clovis, Palma vs Oakdale while the best local game maybe Soledad vs Gonzales


Thu 09/12 St. Francis (Watsonville, CA) at Watsonville (CA), 7:30pm: The Catz have a bit too much depth and size for the undermanned Sharks. Taking Watsonville 24-14

Fri 09/13 Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo, CA) at Greenfield (CA), 7:00pm: This game I believe was moved to Tonight. Greenfield is still trying to get its offense together. I will take Mission Prep 35-28

Fri 09/13 San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, CA) vs Pajaro Valley (Watsonville, CA) at Cabrillo College (Aptos, CA), 7:30pm: SLV finally gets their first win vs their southern neighbors. SLV 28-7

Fri 09/13 Soledad (CA) at Gonzales (CA), 7:30pm: Soledad is off to a great start, Gonzlaes had a nice win last week. Taking Soledad in a close one 21-20

Fri 09/13 Santa Cruz (CA) at Pacific Grove (CA), 7:30pm: PG is better than last year but so is Santa Cruz. Taking Santa Cruz 24-14

Fri 09/13 Denair (CA) at Soquel (CA), 7:30pm: Soquel has gotten off to a nice start, But Denair is not PV or Santa Clara. Denair wins 24-10

Fri 09/13 Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco, CA) at Aptos (CA), 7:30pm: Aptos almost took down Oakdale last week. I think they will get by SHC. Aptos 34-28

Fri 09/13 Seaside (CA) at Christopher (Gilroy, CA), 7:30pm: Seaside seems to be better than advertised. As long as they stay focused they should handle Christopher. Seaside wins 42-14.

Fri 09/13 Salinas (CA) at Clovis (CA), 7:00pm: This is probably the best game of the night for a local team. It will give Salinas it’s first real test of the season. I am taking Salinas 28-27

Fri 09/13 Live Oak (Morgan Hill, CA) at Gilroy (CA), 7:30pm; Gilroy played Soledad tight, but I think Live Oak is much better. Live Oak 45-7

Fri 09/13 San Benito (Hollister, CA) at Los Gatos (CA), 7:00pm: Los Gatos has two blow outs vs average teams, Hollister will test them. But I like Los Gatos 28-18

Fri 09/13 Palma (Salinas, CA) at Oakdale (CA), 7:30pm; Oakdale playing the Gabilan back to back. I believe that Palam is better than Aptos. But Oakdale does not lose at home. Oakdale 28-27

Fri 09/13 Alvarez (Salinas, CA) vs North Salinas (Salinas, CA) at Salinas Sports Complex (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm; Alvarez is good North Salinas is not. Alvarez 35-14

Fri 09/13 Marin Catholic (Kentfield, CA) at Monterey (CA), 7:00pm- This will be a test for Monterey. MC beat up Mitty who had just beaten Palma a week earlier. MC is historically one of the best teams in the NCS. I don’t know if Monterey will be able to stop them. Marin Catholic 45-20

Fri 09/13 Alisal (Salinas, CA) at Terra Nova (Pacifica, CA), 7:00pm: TN lost a close game vs a good Riordan squad then beat a bad Fremont team, but not by much. I am taking the ground and pound of Alisal 28-20

Sat 09/14 King's Academy (Sunnyvale, CA) at Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville, CA), 7:30pm: Good test for both schools. This game will be quick as neither team throws a lot. Taking TKA 24-23

Sat 09/14 King City (CA) at Carmel (CA), 2:00pm: If I am King City all I do is run the ball until Carmel stops me. That worked very well for Templeton last week. Carmel gets a couple more stops this week. Carmel 45-34

Sat 09/14 North Monterey County (Castroville, CA) at Scotts Valley (CA), 2:00pm: 2 Evenly matched teams according to Cal Preps. I will take the home team, SV wins 24-20

Sat 09/14 Nevada Union (Grass Valley, CA) at Harbor (Santa Cruz, CA), 5:00pm: This looks like a tough matchup for Harbor. Nevada Union wins 54-14

Sat 09/14 Lynbrook (San Jose, CA) at Stevenson (Pebble Beach, CA), 2:00pm; This game is being played at Lynbrook Saturday night due to Renovations at RLS. It does not matter the Pirates will play anywhere at any time! RLS wins 34-14.

 

[colhenrylives]

Outstanding work. Diligent, Informative. Researched. Terse.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Salinas v Clovis is a tough one to pick. C Rich have evolved to another level at QB even from last season where he took a huge jump after a few games. I think they will have more success on offense but question mark will be the Cowboy defense against a bigger Clovis. Should be a much better game than last season, but really tough to tell how good Salinas is based on the North Salinas game.


As far as Palma versus Oakdale...that will be an interesting matchup. Watched the Liberty Oakdale game video last night and Oakdale's defense looked really quick in the first half but as it went on Liberty line and balance seemed to have success. Liberty seemed to play a really bad game. Oakdale offense seemed to confuse Liberty defense at times although Liberty defense seems to be a little soft up the middle and Oakdale deception and quick RBs seemed to give them problems. Palma o-line in many ways is similar to Liberty and they also go between power running and spread. Oakdale quick defense may give Palma some problems at first and that could create mistakes. Palma D-Bs and LBs will need to play much better than they have as far as tackling if they are to slow or stop the Oakdale offense. Oakdale will try to stop Palma's Anthony Villegas and she may take some time to get going, and so the Chieftains will need to throw the ball and change things up. Oakdale also likes to blitz and pressure the QB and so the Palma QB will need to make quick decisions and get rid of the ball quickly. I would throw more screens which Liberty had some success with and after the Liberty QB keep the DBs honest by throwing downfield. Palma WRs speed wise should match up fine. If Palma QB has a good game, it could be close, but the Palma defense will need to play better. Would be an upset if Palma pulls out the win at Oakdale. I'm trying get to the game but if not will be watching that video stream and DLS/Folsom and some others. I like the Oakdale field after viewing the video and seems like a great place for a game. I am impressed by Oakdale's quickness and execution. Aptos seems that they are slightly not as good as they were last season. QB looks really good and one RB and TE. They miss the beast they had a RB last season and ine seems not as strong as last season. Defense looked pretty good. Both are very similar looking teams. Maybe Oakdale slightly bugger but Oakdale isn't a big as far as their player size. They seemed to use their quickness to compete against Liberty. Liberty definaitly doesn't look as good as last season.


Monterey v Marin Catholic will be interesting. MC will be heavy favorite, but Monterey has serious speed at the skill positions. If Monterey can hang some with MC, that will be a feat and watch out for Monterey in the playoffs.

 

[Cal 14]

Week 3-

14-5 (25-10 overall) last week not counting the Salinas/NS game as I did picks late.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say your prediction for the SHS/NSHS game would have been something to the effect of "Cowboys, a whole lot of points, Vikings, not very many".

Go ahead and give yourself a W there.

 

[Cal 14]

Monterey v Marin Catholic will be interesting. MC will be heavy favorite, but Monterey has serious speed at the skill positions. If Monterey can hang some with MC, that will be a feat and watch out for Monterey in the playoffs.

Monterey barely beat Alvarez. Marin Catholic clobbered Mitty. This game is going to be over by the end of the 1st quarter.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Monterey barely beat Alvarez. Marin Catholic clobbered Mitty. This game is going to be over by the end of the 1st quarter.

Probably right. Watched the MC v Mitty game and Marin Catholic is very good. Monterey will have a tough time with the MC offense, but Monterey really has some burners and just interested in seeing if their offense has any success. If I was a betting man, I would expect it over at half, but still interested in seeing the matchup. I don't think this game should have been scheduled.

 

[FormerD1Backer]

I think the 1st quarter will be exciting, but expect MC will be way too much for the Dores over the course of the game. 42-14 final.

 

[RLS13]

I see this game being about 14-7 in the first qtr, then MC making some adjustments to augment Monterey's speed. Then by the 4th qtr 45-7. Monterey may get one or 2 late touchdowns.

But if Monterey Wins? Wow, by far the biggest upset of the year for a CCS team, much less a PCAL team. I am rooting for the upset, I just would not put any money on it.