Sacred Heart Prep football is relatively new. Formerly an all-girls' convent school founded in 1898, SHP, with the addition of boys (total student body is about 600 now), determined that football would be a wise investment right around the turn of the century. The Gators, playing in the Bay Counties League early on, were decent right off the bat. The hiring of Pete Lavorato upped the ante considerably and SHP, blessed with a cadre of outstanding individual athletes (much to the dismay of people at Serra, St. Francis, etc.) became a small-school NorCal power as a member of the PAL. Which brings up a point. You can make a fair argument that the rise of SHP (in spite of tuition/fees that approach $50,000) and the arrival of Patrick Walsh at Serra in 2001 have been two key factors in diluting some PAL public school rosters of key public middle school athletes. The Polynesian aspect has been especially noticeable at Serra. The SHP tree-lined campus is an Atherton treasure. It includes a swimming complex, baseball field, tennis courts, gymnasiums, a football field and a variety of amenities (including the renovated original convent school building, a retirement home for Sacred Heart nuns and a graveyard). The place is worth a visit with or without an athletic contest in mind. With its considerable acreage and range of physical additions and improvements, SHP is unlike the SHC campus which is cramped and hemmed in within the tight confines of the San Francisco urban core, just blocks from the Tenderloin. Parking is available on the SHP campus. The SHP football food service is more than adequate as well.
