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WCAL Football 2017: Sports Stars Magazine write up of Serra's State Bowl Win

Serra too much for the Bells. Turned off the livestream when it hit 28-0. Watching a good one between Folsom and GB, tied 7-7 with 26 seconds left in the half. DLS 28 BOD 3 is another mismatch (you think). And USC down 3 to Washington State.
 
Mitty 14-0 over Riordan at the 1/2.

Serra & Bell's in 3rd with Serra back-up QB in who is 6'5 who on 3rd down runs over Bell's defender for 1rst down. This game is over and can't end soon enough for over-matched Bells.

From bad to worse for Bell's as Serra back-up RB who is 6'0-205 breaks multiple tackles & scampers 25 yards to end zone for 48-0.
 
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You were saying Rmbr26 ?

Please see previous posts and also see my predictions at start of season as to who I picked and the order of league finish. Good for Serra, but glad I didn't drive down to see game as complete mismatch & not much of a game. But again good for Serra and not too much sympathy for the Bell's, Lol!
 
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Mr. Direct did call it saying the score would be similar to last years' 48-13 win. While I expected Serra to win and had them as my 2nd top pick in the weekly pick'em contest I really didn't see this whitewash coming.
I guess its ingrained in me to have some "fear" of the Bells due to their decades of success & dominance over Serra. The atmosphere has dramatically changed under Coach Walsh the last 2 Serra wins at the Bells expense were eye-opening. According to what I've read the Bells smaller roster has had a host of injuries including QB and was without a number of players. This was also not your "typical" Bells team as the execution was lacking and numerous penalties. The Bells were seriously in trouble at end of the 1rst quarter being down 21-0 and the game was over by the 1/2 with Serra pulling starters in the 3rd. With SF's win and VC's expected win today the top tier 3 teams are solidly in place with the other 5 teams considerably below them [with both Mitty or Bells possible upset victims still by the SF teams].

Mitty 43, Riordan 0

Serra 48, Bellarmine 0

St. Francis 45, Sacred Heart Cathedral 17
 
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Mr. Direct did call it saying the score would be similar to last years' 48-13 win. While I expected Serra to win and had them as my 2nd top pick in the weekly pick'em contest I really didn't see this whitewash coming.
I guess its ingrained in me to have some "fear" of the Bells due to their decades of success & dominance over Serra. The atmosphere has dramatically changed under Coach Walsh the last 2 Serra wins at the Bells expense were eye-opening. According to what I've read the Bells smaller roster has had a host of injuries including QB and was without a number of players. This was also not your "typical" Bells team as the execution was lacking and numerous penalties. The Bells were seriously in trouble at end of the 1rst quarter being down 21-0 and the game was over by the 1/2 with Serra pulling starters in the 3rd. With SF's win and VC's expected win today the top tier 3 teams are solidly in place with the other 5 teams considerably below them [with both Mitty or Bells possible upset victims still by the SF teams].

Mitty 43, Riordan 0

Serra 48, Bellarmine 0

St. Francis 45, Sacred Heart Cathedral 17

Are you underestimating Mitty at this point?
 
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Serra has beaten the Bells five times over five seasons, with the Bells winning once. Compounding Friday's misery for the Jesuits, the Serra JV's won, 28-7. So the combined Friday score was 76-7. That's the best (or worst) Serra double-dip vs. Bellarmine ever. Apparently, the worm has turned. At least for now.
 
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Are you underestimating Mitty at this point?

No col - but I am not "over-estimating" Mitty either. Mitty's down to the last second 14-7 win over the Bells' a mere week ago coupled with Serra's 48-0 thrashing of the Bell's has removed a considerable layer of luster off the Mitty win. As of now it remains to be seen if Mitty & Bells can both get by SHC & S.I. [IMO - ie: Serra 45-0 over Riordan & 48-0 over Bells - Bells loss almost seemed worse & I don't mean by the 3 points].
 
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Mitty is clearly the 4th best team and a notch below the big 3 of Serra, VC, and St. Francis. I do think they have a punchers chance against SF and VC.
 
Mitty is clearly the 4th best team and a notch below the big 3 of Serra, VC, and St. Francis. I do think they have a punchers chance against SF and VC.

I liked this Mitty team pre-season and stated they might challenge the Bells for the 4th spot in WCAL.
At this point due to injuries and talent Mitty has a better offense & QB than the Bells, but how much better remains the question.

Mitty was a bit of a "Jekyl & Hyde" team last season taking VC to double-O/T before losing 38-31 and then a week later suffering their worst loss of the season 42-0 to SF. Mitty rebounded in the playoffs playing 3 solid games with the season ending loss to Serra by 13 points. From what I've seen so far Mitty appears slightly better than last season while the Bell's are a notch or 2 below 2016 [lacking at skill positions and depth].

SHC & S.I. appear very close based upon their close game a week ago [down to the wire 21-14 win by SHC] that either one could give Bells or Mitty a scare. The game that will be interesting will be Bells-SHC as SHC has a passing game and Bells do not.
 
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VC 20-3 over S.I. at the 1/2

Interesting game so far with S.I. playing VC's vaunted run game tough, but has gotten killed by VC's occasional long passes.
First pass WR wide open & TD. 2nd long pass and S.I. DB runs into WR and 15 yard P/I penalty. 3rd long pass again to open Alton Julian [6'2-190] for TD #2 with missed PAT. S.I.'s DB's & SS are weak on the deep coverage and simply cannot cover/stay with Alton Julian without double coverage. S.I.'s play calling started out very conservative & resulted in 4 @ 3 and outs to start the game. S.I.'s QB Katz has missed some throws, but no INT's and starting to find some kind of rythem.
S.I. had a golden opportunity on a muffed punt with the ball on the VC 10-yard line and 1rst & goal. S.I. lost yardage on both run plays and then an incomplete pass & the FG for their 3 points. S.I. had another chance pinning VC at their own 5 yard line and on a run was hit with a 15 yard "horse-collar" penalty. Very next play VC's Charlie Bostic breaks free for a 66 yard TD [Bostic's 10th TD on the year]. Too many mistakes by S.I. and not taking advantage of opportunities. Game seems closer than score except for the 3 big plays by VC.

Interesting - S.I. gets the ball back with over 2:26 left and is running plays getting yardage without using any of their 3 time-outs[??]. S.I. then completes pass and ball down to VC 40 and S.I. coach Regalia finally uses a time-out with 8-seconds left [??]. S.I. with first down at VC 40 and 8 seconds left, 2nd time out with 2 seconds left for a Hail Mary.
Not good use of time management - earlier use of the time outs would have given S.I. 2-3 more plays in VC territory.
 
34-3 VC in the 3rd. SI has played reasonably, well but VC has capitalized on three big pass plays for TD's and two long Bostic TD runs.
 
VC threw 4 TD passes in their first 4 games and has thrown 3 today, all long TD's as Defense_Rules pointed out.
 
As of today here are the top WCAL team IMHO:
1. Serra
2. Valley Christian
3. St. Francis
4. Mitty
5. Bellarmine
6-8 (No particular order right now) Riordan, SHC, SI

Appears the "Participation" Trophy err SF City title is still up for grabs...

Next week will be interesting as transfers will be eligible starting Monday. This will help teams like Riordan who are hit by the injury bug and gain 5 players. Sorry to hear that Riordan's soph QB is no longer with the team due to his parents' concern about his long term health. Cannot really blame them with the severe concussion he sustained based on that uncalled for late helmet hit to the head.
 
S.I. scores to make it 34-10 and then another opportunity and deep in VC red zone snaps ball over S.I. QB's head and recovered by VC. S.I. deep in VC red zone again with a first and goal at the 5 and fumbles the snap again, but recovers losing yardage. S.I. throws a pass and after catch WR fumbles ball & VC recovers again.

S. I. has not played badly and if they can correct their deep coverage by their secondary and quit fumbling snaps they could win a couple league games.
 
Outrageous, totally unreal prediction: There will be another tie for the WCAL title. Oh, that's right. A title tie is the WCAL norm.
 
[QUOTE="colhenrylives, post: 175427, member: 968"]Outrageous, totally unreal prediction: There will be another tie for the WCAL title. Oh, that's right. A title tie is the WCAL norm.[/QUOTE]

Which prediction?? What post are you referring to?
 
[QUOTE="colhenrylives, post: 175427, member: 968"]Outrageous, totally unreal prediction: There will be another tie for the WCAL title. Oh, that's right. A title tie is the WCAL norm.

Which prediction?? What post are you referring to?[/QUOTE]

That prediction is one made with some regularity by your devoted correspondent. It's not difficult. A WCAL title tie is becoming routine. Serra alone has six of them over the last 15 years.
 
Top CCS Teams and the WCAL

Looking at the top teams in the CCS it appears at the top there is currently VC, Serra & SF and then there is everyone else below. Looking at their records, opponents and scores these 3 teams seem to have separated themselves from the pack so to speak. Here is how it looks right now for the top rated 15 teams:

1. VC 4-1
2. Serra 3-2
3. St. Francis 4-1

4. Milpitas 5-0
5. Mitty
6.Aragon 5-0
7. Wilcox 3-2
8. HMB 5-0
9. Terra Nova 4-1
10. Bellarmine 2-3
11. SHC 4-1

12. MA 3-2
13. Aptos 3-2
14 Salinas 3-2
15 Hillsdale 5-0

From what I'm seeing there is a significant drop off after the first 3 teams and I do not see any team #4 thru #15 beating numbers 1,2 or 3 come playoff time in their respective divisions with Milpitas being possibly the lone exception. Of the 15 teams the 3 unbeatens remaining are Milpitas, Aragon & HMB. Milpitas does have one quality win over Salinas while the other 4 wins were over teams that frankly are not very good this season.Aragon's record is similar in that their lone quality win was a 28-27 win over Aptos. HMB could be an enigma such as SHP was a few years ago. HMB's toughest opponent to date has been a 1-4 Palo Alto team which is weak this season. Its difficult to judge HMB as they have yet to suit up against a competitive opponent, however that will change in coming weeks as their schedule has Burlingame, Aragon and a big test in MA. Those games will clear up as to which is the best team in the PAL Bay Division. HMB has a small roster under 30 yet has had such a soft schedule it has allowed them to "save" their best players and play the back-ups in easily winning. HMB has excellent skill players and could be the surprise team of the PAL Bay in the CCS. Currently it appears the 2nd tier of teams would include: Milpitas, Mitty, Aragon, Wilcox, HMB, Bellarmine, SHC & MA [8-teams]. As the season progresses I could see S.I. rising to be included into the Top 15 teams, which would require a win over Riordan and possibly an upset of Mitty or Bellarmine. It appears as stated that the top 3 teams are VC, Serra & SF and then there is everyone else, with Milpitas, Aragon & HMB yet to be tested.
 
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Haven't seen it noted anywhere, but Bellarmine is battling a lot of injuries. They have not had Cade Hall the WCAL DL of the Year and a D1 player since the Clovis game with an ankle injury. They've been down about another 6 starters the last few games.

Not sure the extent of the injuries but it's obviously affected their play significantly since they beat M-A and Clovis. Are they a top 3 WCAL team when healthy? No....but they could be a team that gets better if they get guys back over the next few weeks. The flip side is they could continue to get banged up in the WCAL and get picked off by one of the city schools.
 
[B said:
"ncpfan[/B], post: 175461, member: 1114"]Haven't seen it noted anywhere, but Bellarmine is battling a lot of injuries. They have not had Cade Hall the WCAL DL of the Year and a D1 player since the Clovis game with an ankle injury. They've been down about another 6 starters the last few games.

Not sure the extent of the injuries but it's obviously affected their play significantly since they beat M-A and Clovis. Are they a top 3 WCAL team when healthy? No....but they could be a team that gets better if they get guys back over the next few weeks. The flip side is they could continue to get banged up in the WCAL and get picked off by one of the city schools.

ncpfan - here is a segment from one of my posts yesterday regarding the Bells team.
"According to what I've read the Bells smaller roster has had a host of injuries including QB and was without a number of players. This was also not your "typical" Bells team as the execution was lacking and numerous penalties."

Even so with the players missing due to injuries the Bells' were simply over-matched in this game. Serra has a deeper more talented roster this season. So yes injuries and missing players such as Cade Hall can be sorely missed especially on a smaller roster, but odds are the Bells' would not have beaten Serra this year with those injured players. Serra returned all its best skill players except one [Leki Nunn], & he was replaced by the talented #2 from last year Luke Bottari at QB who is currently the leading passer in the WCAL.
I agree with you ncpfan that if those players can return and Coach Janda makes adjustments as he always does then the Bells could make some kind of run in the playoffs later in the season.
 
I recall during the M-A/Bells stream, the announcer said that 7 starters on the Bells were 2-way starters. So it's a double-whammy if the injured players are any of the 2-way starters. SI, Bells, SHC and Riordan can ill-afford to lose players to remain competitive.

ColHenry, brings up an excellent point in terms of Serra and the top WCAL/CCS teams in general this season. The SJS and NCS teams have dominated the top WCAL teams - Sac-Mitty; SF-DeLa, Pitt-Serra, SMS-Serra, Manteca-VC all were WCAL losses with all being blowouts except for VC-Manteca. And Manteca just got blown out on its home field against Central Catholic this weekend. Yes, you can say these games were early on in the season and teams get better. The same goes for the opponents.
 
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The serra vs Pitt game came down to the last play of the game. It was not a blow out.
 
The serra vs Pitt game came down to the last play of the game. It was not a blow out.
My error. Pitt did have its 2nd string QB and was without its best lineman to pull out the road win. The Padres are the team to beat in CCS. I would like to see a Milpitas-Serra CCS title matchup. There would be so many storylines!
 

ncpfan - here is a segment from one of my posts yesterday regarding the Bells team.
"According to what I've read the Bells smaller roster has had a host of injuries including QB and was without a number of players. This was also not your "typical" Bells team as the execution was lacking and numerous penalties."

Even so with the players missing due to injuries the Bells' were simply over-matched in this game. Serra has a deeper more talented roster this season. So yes injuries and missing players such as Cade Hall can be sorely missed especially on a smaller roster, but odds are the Bells' would not have beaten Serra this year with those injured players. Serra returned all its best skill players except one [Leki Nunn], & he was replaced by the talented #2 from last year Luke Bottari at QB who is currently the leading passer in the WCAL.
I agree with you ncpfan that if those players can return and Coach Janda makes adjustments as he always does then the Bells could make some kind of run in the playoffs later in the season.

I should've known you mentioned it somewhere...I missed that earlier post. They're definitely not a top 3 team in the WCAL, but I think they beat Mitty if healthy. That's also part of football so credit to the Monarchs for pulling that one out.

Can a city school pick them off? A 6-4/7-3 SHC team would be a great start for their new staff with a win over a Bell and/or Mitty team. Bell could possibly fall as low as 4-6 which would be their first losing season in a while I'd have to imagine. When's the last time Bell lost to a city school?

Other dynamic to keep an eye on is SHC could end up in Open D3 and it's not a very strong division. SHC has a real shot at winning that and making a NorCal game. As for the WCAL favorites, Serra / VC / SF...they are all in Open D2 which will have some great storylines with some rematches definitely coming.
 
Here's a question: Has Serra defeated a truly strong team yet in 2017?

The answer would be "No" the same as it would be for St. Francis whose top win to date is over SHC.

Serra's loss to Pitt came down to the wire and Pitt is ranked higher than VC in regards to their win over SF by the same margin. The highest rated win to date by teams is VC's 28-21 win over SF followed by Serra's 42-21 win over Elk Grove and then Serra's 48-0 shut-out of the Bell's. Elk Grove would be considered a "good team" rated higher than the Bell's and slightly lower than Mitty.
 
CA Weekly State Rankings for WCAL Teams:

+ or - to indicate move up or down

#42 VC +3
#48 Serra +19
#54 SF +8
#108 Mitty +5
#180 Bells -21
#184 SHC -12
#299 S.I. -4
#356 ARHS -36
 
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To illustrate how strong the Bellarmine football program has been through the decades, Serra's Friday shutout vs. the Bells was the first time in 48 years that the Padres have tossed a bagel at their San Jose tormenters. Serra beat Bellarmine, 14-0, in 1969 with Lynn Swann at QB. He scored all of Serra's 14 digits in that one. Gee, how time flies.
 
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This Weeks Upcoming Games:

Fri 10/06 Mitty at Serra 7:00pm
Fri 10/06 Sacred Heart Cathedral at Valley Christian 7:00pm
Sat 10/07 Bellarmine vs Riordan at City College of San Francisco 3:00pm
Sat 10/07 St. Francis at St. Ignatius 2:30pm

The Over/Under:

Serra by 14
VC by 30
Bells by 11
SF by 22

Teams I Like in the Spread:
Serra -14
SHC +30
Bells -11
S.I. +22

Offense PPG after 2 league games:
Serra 46.5
SF 33.0
VC 31.0
Mitty 28.5
SHC 19.0
S.I. 12.0
Bells 3.5
ARHS 0.0

Defense Points Allowed per game:
Serra 0
Mitty 3.5
VC 15.5
SF 22.5
S.I. 27.5
SHC 29.5
Bells 31
ARHS 44
 
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This Weeks Upcoming Games & Those Televised

Fri 10/06 Mitty at Serra 7:00pm
Fri 10/06 Sacred Heart Cathedral at Valley Christian 7:00pm
Sat 10/07 Bellarmine vs Riordan at City College of San Francisco 3:00pm
Sat 10/07 St. Francis at St. Ignatius 2:30pm

Tonite - Mitty at Serra on Baosn.tv [Serra web says 7:00 PM while Baosn.tv shows 6:00 PM

Tomorrow - Bells at Riordan CCSF 2:50 PM TheCube

Other Games of Interest Tonite:

Burlingame 4-1 at HMB 5-0 7:30 PM NFHSnetwork

Wilcox 3-2 at Milpitas 5-0 7:30 PM NFHSnetwork

Pittsburg 3-1 at Freedom 5-0 7:00 NFHSnetwork
 
Anyone smell a possible upset of the 4 games this week?

Looking at the 4 games the likeliest upset could come from Mitty-Serra. Mitty has 1 loss and Serra 2. Both teams are a bit of a mystery as Mitty has played well at times and had a tough win over the Bell's and then crushed Riordan the following week in a score similar to Serra-Riordan. Serra had the win over Riordan and then crushed the Bell's. It would be easy to say that Serra should win easily due to their 48-0 win over Bell's versus Mitty's 14-7 win over Bells. Experience with the WCAL though shows this type of cross match-up predictions doesn't always work simply because teams match up differently with one another.

Serra's offense seems to have found its groove after the first few games and their D is playing much better as well. Mitty with a young QB is 4th in scoring of the 8 WCAL teams and their D is ranked among the top 3 to date giving up an average of under 17 PPG for the season. Serra and VC are the 2 top rated offenses in the league so the Monarch's D will have to step up in this game to slow down Serra. It is doubtful Mitty can beat Serra in a shoot-out so the Monarch D will have to have a stellar game this evening. The spread is Serra -14, but I think this will be a much better game than Serra-Bells.

Mitty at Serra
Sacred Heart Cathedral at Valley Christian
Bellarmine vs Riordan
St. Francis at St. Ignatius

The Over/Under:
Serra by 14
VC by 30
Bells by 11
SF by 22

Teams I Like in the Spread:
Serra -14
SHC +30
Bells -11
S.I. +22



 
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Agree with all four picks on the spread. Reading through the posts, I was thinking SI could keep it close at home against St. Francis. Scrolled down and you already were thinking that :)
 
____________________________________

# 5) No Zack, no wins...witty comment and funny...There is no Zack on the Freshman or Jv's currently...so hoping for a transfer?..There was no Zack in 1986 and we won so there you go:).

Zack Tapel is an assistant coach, so we have a Zack. Go Irish!
 
I've seen both Mitty and Serra first hand. Serra should cover if there are no turnovers or injuries. Serra has too much overall speed.

The Crusaders have two "Bells" (coaches Darius and Kahlil). Riordan has that going for them against Bellarmine! Lol!
 
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