PCAL Week 4

[RLS13]

PCAL Week 4-

Last weeks surprises and opinions
1. St. Francis CC cancelled it’s game vs Watsonville due to player safety concern. The Sharks dress 15-16 for each game and the coach decided not to play the non-league game vs a roster of 60+ to keep his team healthy for the rest of the season. I am all for player safety, so I understand the decision. However, if you are St Francis CC do not schedule large public schools! That is not fair to the Watsonville kids. You know more or less what your roster is, and ST Francis CC, although competitive some years, has always struggled with low numbers.

2. Salinas and Palma, arguably the top 2 teams, went to the central valley last week and the biggest surprise was not the outcomes per say, but that neither game was that close. I was surprised Palma beat Oakdale by 14 and that Salinas was beaten up badly by Clovis. I though both games much more competitive.

3. Soquel being 3-0 and beating a good Denair team. Could this be the sleeper team in the Cyprus?

4. Gonzales beating Soledad, great win for the Spartans as they have changed the culture in the locker room, but Gonzales now needs to change the culture of their fans. Another Police escort for the visiting team out of Gonzales due to fights and altercations in the parking lot. It’s great to see Gonzales winning games, unfortunate that some in the community are ruining Friday nights.

I will get off my soap box now.

Last week was tough 11-7, now 36-17 for the season. Here are this week’s picks. Most of the Gabilan is on a bye this week so only 16 games.

Fri 09/20 Santa Cruz (CA) at Alisal (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm: Alisal got beat bad last week by Terra Nova, Santa Cruz had a bad loss to PG. Alisal with bounce back win 28-7

Fri 09/20 North Monterey County (Castroville, CA) at Greenfield (CA), 7:30pm; NMC had a great win last week at Scott’s Valley. They will make it 2 in row over an improving Greenfield team NMC 35-20

Fri 09/20 Pacific Grove (CA) at King City (CA), 7:30pm: I like these 2 are still playing despite being in different leagues. KC 24-14

Fri 09/20 San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, CA) at Leigh (San Jose, CA), 7:00pm: Leigh has beaten 2 bad teams, SLV has beaten 1 bad team. Leigh wins 35-30

Fri 09/20 Gonzales (CA) vs North Salinas (Salinas, CA) at Salinas Sports Complex (Salinas, CA), 7:30pm; Maybe the best local game of the weekend. NS has only been in one game, I like Gonzales 40-34

Fri 09/20 Scotts Valley (CA) at Soquel (CA), 7:30pm: Soquel is one of 2 undefeated teams (Seaside) down south. They had huge win last week. Lets keep it rolling. Soquel 24-10

Fri 09/20 Burlingame (CA) at Watsonville (CA), 7:30pm: I do not think the Cat’z wil bealble to keep up. Burlingame 35-7

Fri 09/20 Pitman (Turlock, CA) at Monterey (CA), 7:30pm – Pitman, is historically a strong program, this years team seems a little down. Monterey, as expected, had a tough time with MC las week. This should be a good test for both schools. I am taking Pitman 27-24

Fri 09/20 Soledad (CA) at Righetti (Santa Maria, CA), 7:00pm; Soledad will be competitive in league this year, but Righetti is much better than any Mission team. Righetti 42-7

Fri 09/20 Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville, CA) at Rodriguez (Fairfield, CA), 7:30pm; I am high on MVC this year, Rodriguez is still looking for its first win. I am taking MVC 24-14

Fri 09/20 Woodside (CA) at Seaside (CA), 7:30pm; Seaside will beat up on an overmatched woodside squad. Seaside 35-14.

Fri 09/20 Milpitas (CA) at Salinas (CA), 7:00pm: The Only Gabilan team playing this weekend, Salinas bounces back and beats a Milpitas team that seem a bit down this year. Salinas 35-20

Fri 09/20 St. Francis (Watsonville, CA) at Harker (San Jose, CA), 7:00pm; Harker is probably a better match up then Watsonville for this team. SFCC wins 27-7

Fri 09/20 Pajaro Valley (Watsonville, CA) at Mendota (CA), 7:30pm: PV had a close first game then has gotten beaten up lately. Mendota has some close losses vs some good teams. Mendota 34-0

Fri 09/20 Gunn (Palo Alto, CA) vs Marina (CA) at Monterey Peninsula College (Monterey, CA), 6:00pm; Gunn has played some really bad C league teams this year and won all of the games, by a lot. Unfortunately, the trend will continue. Gunn 48-6

Sat 09/21 Harbor (Santa Cruz, CA) at Lowell (San Francisco, CA), 2:00pm: This is a pick-em game. I am taking the home team. Lowell 20-18

 

[Cal 14]

Salinas and Palma, arguably the top 2 teams, went to the central valley last week and the biggest surprise was not the outcomes per say, but that neither game was that close. I was surprised Palma beat Oakdale by 14 and that Salinas was beaten up badly by Clovis. I though both games much more competitive.

While Salinas did have issues on D trying to stop Clovis, the Cowboys handed Clovis a 17-point swing due to their special teams play.

1. A punt snap went over the punter's head and the Cougars got a scoop 'n score.
2. On a kickoff, Clovis did a pooch kick and the Salinas return team assumed it was going to be a deep kick, never played the ball. Cougars recover for a short field to score.
3. Salinas drives down to the 3, fails to score. Misses FG.

Other than that, it was somewhat respectable. I hope Coach Zenk saw that playing North High in the opening game was just as worthless as the city jamboree. The team clearly wasn't prepared to take on someone like Clovis, but those are the types of teams they need to keep on playing to prepare for the WCAL teams in the playoffs.

Additionally, it sounded like Clovis wanted to run up the score a little, punching it in with only a minute and a half to go, but Salinas was able to respond with a score of their own in the last few seconds of the game.

Salinas did keep their penalties down for the most part, but got chippy late with some personal fouls. That needs to be addressed as well.