Reportedly, McLemore's potential status as Serra's 2019 starting QB will be challenged by the current frosh QB, supposedly outstanding in his own right
WCAL Football 2018 - San Jose Merc All Bay Area Team
- Thread starter Rmbr26
- Start date
I have to disagree with this Rmbr. Taylor-Smith was not comfortable. The Irish pass rush of Branch-Haynes and blitzing Evan Dere had him for the first 2.5 quarters off balance, indecisive on tucking and running and hitting receivers. His passing yards were the long 30-40 yard pass to Rosen and the TD to Rosen. SH made the adjustment and put Watkins on Rosen to shut Rosen down and he did not see another pass completed that way. Taylor-Smith had that awful falling to the ground pass that was a lame duck INT by Mateo. I would just call it inexperience. The kid obviously has physical tools to be a really good RPO QB. He should improve with more reps as season goes.
geary - maybe using the word "comfortable" was not the accurate description, but Taylor-Smith did not appear rattled most of the game in watching him. He completed over 60% of his passes, passing for a TD and a QB sneak for another TD along with an INT. Overall a pretty good first game at the most difficult position on the field. I would still give Taylor-Smith a thumbs-up positive rating on his performance.
https://www.hudl.com/profile/8020742/Zachary-TaylorSmith
*Scroll down to short video of SHC-S.I. highlites of QB Taylor-Smith
https://www.hudl.com/profile/8020742/Zachary-TaylorSmith
*Scroll down to short video of SHC-S.I. highlites of QB Taylor-Smith
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He definitely has upside. SI should not be down too long with this kid under center.
Here's the highlight reel of the game & NorCal is right in that SHC's Anthony Heard had some kind of night with I believe 220 yards & 3 TD's. This is a good video of the game just over 3 min.
The years when SH is able to win the BM football game are the years when the OL/DL are not dominated by SI. The running joke for years was with SH legacy of star running backs (Sheppards, Yarnway, Miles, etc) was the SI DL was in the backfield more than the RBs were. This year's game in particular, Heard was different in that he punished the SI tacklers. I have never seen this. He literally knocked out that one kid with a shot to his chin.
WCAL Football 2018
Of note last season's rushing leader for the entire CCS Darrell Page of St. Francis makes his debut this evening for Homestead of Cupertino against of all teams Wilcox the current #3 team in CCS. Wilcox is 7-0 while Homestead is 0-6. SHC Irish manhandled Homestead early in September by 58-6 if that gives anyone a clue as tonite's outcome with or without one Darrell Page for Homestead...
Of note last season's rushing leader for the entire CCS Darrell Page of St. Francis makes his debut this evening for Homestead of Cupertino against of all teams Wilcox the current #3 team in CCS. Wilcox is 7-0 while Homestead is 0-6. SHC Irish manhandled Homestead early in September by 58-6 if that gives anyone a clue as tonite's outcome with or without one Darrell Page for Homestead...
WCAL Football 2018 - Serra vs Valley Christian
Unfortunately I got "mis-directed" by NFHSnetwork.com indicating the Serra vs VC game was tomorrow nite at 7 PM. Watching SF-Riordan game I just checked in & Serra getting blasted by VC & 20-0 at the 1/2?? Who could have seen that coming? Not me! Anyway have no other knowledge other than what I just posted from the scores thread on NCP's. If correct that changes everything re: Serra, SF & VC....
Unfortunately I got "mis-directed" by NFHSnetwork.com indicating the Serra vs VC game was tomorrow nite at 7 PM. Watching SF-Riordan game I just checked in & Serra getting blasted by VC & 20-0 at the 1/2?? Who could have seen that coming? Not me! Anyway have no other knowledge other than what I just posted from the scores thread on NCP's. If correct that changes everything re: Serra, SF & VC....
From twitter of Serra@VC
Ethan Kassel@EthanRKassel 6m6 minutes ago
The strength of Valley’s front seven isn’t a surprise. The secondary play has been otherworldly.
Ethan Kassel@EthanRKassel 6m6 minutes ago
The strength of Valley’s front seven isn’t a surprise. The secondary play has been otherworldly.
Only giving up 61 total yards against SF last week shows VC has a great defense. I am really impressed. And this week the offense so far hasn’t shot the themselves in the feet.
Serra doesn't have one quality win. Valley's game plan was perfect. Not surprised at all. Valley runs the same plays to the left and to the right and Serra had a hard time stopping them. Coach Vasser is missed. 30-6 valley
rb/db Lang has been the best player on the field. Valley's d is very good
Amazing as to Serra-VC as none of the prior games stats or opponents pointed to this. As for anyone "not being surprised at all", sorry but I'm a non-believer unless you posted prior to about what is amounting to a major upset..
Monday morning QB's one thing, but 99% of fans thought Serra would take this game comfortably. Completely changes the landscape of WCAL..
Monday morning QB's one thing, but 99% of fans thought Serra would take this game comfortably. Completely changes the landscape of WCAL..
This says so much. Bells really stink to lay a goose egg. SH came to play and really earned this one. Coach Mac really putting together what appears to be start of a very good competitive football program. In almost 2 years he has beat SI twice, likely Riordan twice, and each season has a win vs a south bay league school that historically has owned SH, and also with this win tonight has the program going to back to back CCS playoffs. Unbelievable effort by this man and his staff and the players that have dedicated themselves. Go Irish.
OK... Who kidnapped Serra's players (and cost me 10 points?)
I think a lot of people lost 10 points on that game. Definitely a shocker, especially the score. Most thought it would be reversed.
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Man, I was so wrong on my projection. Sounds Serra got manhandled. I didn’t see the game, was at Grant vs D.O. Game. Agreed as stated above this changes everything in the wcal top team discussion
A whacky season cheers for sure especially in the weekly pick'em contest. I had Serra as my top pick & this is the 4th week that my top pick has gone down in flames [I think one poster had VC as their lowest pick over Serra]. I really didn't think VC could take Serra to the woodshed like that..
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/12/football-valley-christian-overpowers-serra-in-wcal-rout/
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Not one to pile on, tho the Crusaders have struggled mightily. lol!
Huge congrats to VC and SHC on their key wins last night. Hope Speedy is ok after leaving the game late in the Bells game.
Huge congrats to VC and SHC on their key wins last night. Hope Speedy is ok after leaving the game late in the Bells game.
As we have noted in the recent past, VC helped to alter the balance of WCAL power when it joined the league in 2002. Never take them for granted.
Indeed.
Indeed.
WCAL Football 2018 - VC 37-6 Win over Serra
So while this was certainly unexpected, the question this morning is "Just how did this happen anyway?".
What most expected just didn't happen - at all. seradprs pointed out that Serra did not have a quality win going into the game & perhaps that should have been a tip off. The perception was that VC lost to Wilcox scoring just 6 points & again to SF scoring just 3 points. I like many others thought perhaps VC simply didn't have the offense to outscore a Serra team with a wide open offense, veteran QB & a highly rated passing game. One of the many posts stated "the 1rst 1/2 of the game was the "worst 1/2 Serra had played all season". This was accurate as well, but can be taken a step further: stat wise this was clearly the worst game of the season by the Padres.
The stats I just reviewed tell the story and raise a question as well. VC had no passing game to speak of with 2 completions in 7 attempts along with an interception. What killed Serra was a complete inability to stop the run. VC had its best rushing game of the year vs the Padres with 47 rushes for 335 yards & a whopping 7.1 yards per carry [YPC].
Serra did stop VC in Serra territory 3 times, however with a good kicker those 3 stops resulted in 3 field goals for an additional 9 points besides the 4 TD's scored on the ground. Field position also played a part as Serra found itself in poor field position a large part of the game [unless I'm misinterpreting the info]. On the Serra side of the ball Bottari was 13/28 for 208 yards with a season low 46% completion percentage and the most shocking aspect of Serra's inability to rush at all against the VC D-line - Serra had 24 rushes for 35 yards for a 1.5 yard per carry avg [again - shocking]. What does surprise me is Serra was able to pass vs VC even though the completion percentage was down.
Bottari's APC or average per catch was 16 yards which is quite good. So should Serra have abandoned the run altogether with an additional WR? I did not hear many comments & was wondering which formations Serra ran most of the night. Did Serra alternate between the spread and the double-wing and if so which had more success? Was there anything Serra could have, should have done to counter VC on either offense or defense? It was such a dominating win by VC its hard to imagine what would take place in a 2nd meeting perhaps in the CCS play-offs? Usually as history tells us such one-sided wins are not reversed in a 2nd meeting. First Serra must get by a charged up SHC Irish team coming off 2 wins and a "good" 0-6 S.I. team before facing SF in the last league game of the season. After last nights VC victory St. Francis must be chomping at the bit for the Serra game after losing the last 4 games to the Padres. Will "The Curse" once again be in play?
So while this was certainly unexpected, the question this morning is "Just how did this happen anyway?".
What most expected just didn't happen - at all. seradprs pointed out that Serra did not have a quality win going into the game & perhaps that should have been a tip off. The perception was that VC lost to Wilcox scoring just 6 points & again to SF scoring just 3 points. I like many others thought perhaps VC simply didn't have the offense to outscore a Serra team with a wide open offense, veteran QB & a highly rated passing game. One of the many posts stated "the 1rst 1/2 of the game was the "worst 1/2 Serra had played all season". This was accurate as well, but can be taken a step further: stat wise this was clearly the worst game of the season by the Padres.
The stats I just reviewed tell the story and raise a question as well. VC had no passing game to speak of with 2 completions in 7 attempts along with an interception. What killed Serra was a complete inability to stop the run. VC had its best rushing game of the year vs the Padres with 47 rushes for 335 yards & a whopping 7.1 yards per carry [YPC].
Serra did stop VC in Serra territory 3 times, however with a good kicker those 3 stops resulted in 3 field goals for an additional 9 points besides the 4 TD's scored on the ground. Field position also played a part as Serra found itself in poor field position a large part of the game [unless I'm misinterpreting the info]. On the Serra side of the ball Bottari was 13/28 for 208 yards with a season low 46% completion percentage and the most shocking aspect of Serra's inability to rush at all against the VC D-line - Serra had 24 rushes for 35 yards for a 1.5 yard per carry avg [again - shocking]. What does surprise me is Serra was able to pass vs VC even though the completion percentage was down.
Bottari's APC or average per catch was 16 yards which is quite good. So should Serra have abandoned the run altogether with an additional WR? I did not hear many comments & was wondering which formations Serra ran most of the night. Did Serra alternate between the spread and the double-wing and if so which had more success? Was there anything Serra could have, should have done to counter VC on either offense or defense? It was such a dominating win by VC its hard to imagine what would take place in a 2nd meeting perhaps in the CCS play-offs? Usually as history tells us such one-sided wins are not reversed in a 2nd meeting. First Serra must get by a charged up SHC Irish team coming off 2 wins and a "good" 0-6 S.I. team before facing SF in the last league game of the season. After last nights VC victory St. Francis must be chomping at the bit for the Serra game after losing the last 4 games to the Padres. Will "The Curse" once again be in play?
Serra was in the spread all night. In fact they only ran the Raider (double wing) one play that was stuffed on the goal line. What surprised me the most about this game was Valley Christian’s ability to control the LOS and cover Serra WR’s all night. Serra ran empty formation the most I have seen all year. Typically when this happens defenses will adjust and only bring 3 to 4 rushers. Valley rushed 5 to 6 and played cover 0! That is straight man to man in empty and Serra couldn’t get open. Very impressed with the valley defense. Thought this game would be a Serra blowout win. Running game was non existent for Serra. WCAL just got a lot more interesting!
Sounds like a lot of film breakdown on W. 20th ave this week. A really disappointing performance by Serra, stellar performance by VC!
Serra - is it scheme, execution, emotion, are they just not tough enough? I know the WCAL is a grind, but a performance like this is embarrassing for the Padres.
My world has been upended, don’t know what’s what’s, do I shampoo first our last? Smh
Lots of respect for the VC program and the Machado staff. Well-done.
Very Good weekend of wcal football with SHC win over Bellarmine for the first time in 20 yrs and Valley ending Serra’s winning streak over wcal opponents
Great point about Serra's lack of a signature win so far in 2018. The Padres lack quality depth in both lines. It was a concern coming into the season and it still is. What's more, their OL people are primarily pass-blockers. Power run-blocking is not their forte. The coaching staff now will work overtime to come up with some possible fixes, especially when St. Francis comes to San Mateo in early November. Before that, Serra has two City schools on the schedule, SHC and SI.
Don't want to throw cold water on a stellar VC win, But.... VC has yet to show much improvement on pass offense. Since their running game is as good as it appears to be, VC should be practicing 80% of their time on the pass offense. Have to say, I was really impressed by VC O-line and D-line for the SF game and they seemed to do good against Serra too. I was doubly surprised by the VC secondary defense in the Serra game. Good job!
Ya. Throwing 4 int’s in two games isn’t good and the three against SF cost them that game IMHO. Definitely their Achilles heel. On the positive side Scharrenberg has the D playing outstanding ball.
Let's see if the prevailing logic persists: With SI's win over Mitty today, does that make the Wildcats the best one-win team in the region?
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