St. Francis players celebrate after defeating Serra 42-7 for the regular season finale at Serra High in San Mateo on Sat, November 2, 2018 [LiPo Ching – BANG]. Serra could have thrown the WCAL into a 3-way tie along with Valley Christian with a win, but SF left no doubt whatsoever in dominating from start to finish. St. Francis Lancers 2018 WCAL Champs!
Are You Ready for some Football? WCAL Football!
Coming up quickly on the start of a new season for the 8-team rugged West Catholic Athletic League. The 2018 season once again provided 2 very strong teams from the league in SF & VC who went deep into the playoffs. In an ironic twist the SF Lancers went unbeaten in WCAL league play at 7-0 only to lose to another WCAL team Valley Christian in the CCS Open II Championship game. So while the Lancers captured the league crown VC had a taste of sweet revenge by capturing the CCS Div II crown. The first meeting of the 2 teams had SF prevailing 7-3 while the rematch “slugfest” had VC coming out on top by 31-30 in double-overtime [so a combined 37-34 2 game score with differential of 3 points].
We may see a bit of a different landscape this season in the WCAL. Based upon pre-season rankings, graduated players and returning players the WCAL is expected to be down a bit in overall strength. There are some unanswered questions from last season that have me curious and we should have some clues soon upcoming. As we know the varsity teams are comprised of mostly juniors & seniors with a few talented soph’s thrown in the mix and therefore the talent pools among teams tend to run in 2-3 year cycles. The schools with fewer players tend to have more sophs on varsity along with 2-way players out of necessity. Those schools also have a higher degree of attrition due to injuries as the season plays out. In 2018 the 2 dominant teams were SF & VC with an unexpected gap between the 3rd team Serra. The Padres were not competitive with either suffering lopsided losses to VC and twice to SF. The 3 tiers of the league for 2018 was SF & VC at the top, Serra in the middle and then the other 5 teams who could not compete with the top 3. The SF Lancers were amazing last season losing first their 2017 All League leading rusher in Darrel Page who transferred & then losing their starting QB Jack Perry to injury early in the season. To overcome those player losses and still go undefeated in league speaks of the coaching & talent of the 2018 Lancer program. Going 11-3 SF suffered heartbreak 2 weeks in a row to end their season losing the 31-30 game to VC and then 14-13 to Del Oro in the sectional 2-AA playoff game – 2 losses by 2 points. VC also finishing 11-3 played well in the first ½, but could not stay with Liberty of Brentwood losing 33-21 in their 1-A state bowl game.
Let’s take a look at last season 2018’s varsity win-loss records to start:
SF 11-3 WCAL Champs
VC 11-3
Serra 7-5
SHC 6-6
Mitty 6-6
S.I. 3-8
Bells 2-8
ARHS 1-9
Junior Varsity
VC 7-2-1 WCAL Champs
Mitty 7-2
SF 7-2
ARHS 3-5-1
Bells 2-7
S.I. 1-6-2
Serra 0-7-1
SHC - No JV team for 2018
Freshman
Serra 8-1 WCAL Co-Champs
SF 8-1 WCAL Co-Champs
VC 8-1 WCAL Co-Champs
Mitty 2-6
SHC 4-5
Bells 4-5
ARHS 1-8
S.I. 0-9
Combined 3 Team School Win-Loss Records
SF 26-6
VC 26-6-1
Serra 15-13-1
Mitty 15-14
Bells 12-20
ARHS 5-22-1
S.I. 4-23-2
SHC 10-11
Knowing of the 2-3 year cycles of talent at each school and looking at the overall records above just how many of those 2018 varsity players are returning? Here’s a quick glimpse based upon last years’ roster:
Team Returning Varsity Players:
Valley Christian = 45
Mitty = 40
Serra = 37
SF = 36
Bells = 32
SHC = 27 * The Irish did not field a JV team in 2018 so 13 of 27 were sophs.
S.I. = 26
ARHS = 26
Of those returning varsity players here’s a quick glimpse at size differentials between teams:
* Players over 200 Lbs.
VC = 23
Serra = 17
SF = 14
Mitty = 12
Bells = 11
S.I. = 11
SHC = 11
ARHS = 8
* Of Same players those over 225 Lbs.
VC = 15
SF = 11
Serra = 8
Mitty = 5
ARHS = 4
Bells = 3
S.I. = 3
SHC = 3
* Of same players those over 250+
VC = 10
SF = 8
Serra = 7
Mitty = 4
Bells = 3
S.I. = 2
SHC = 2
ARHS = 2
Obviously the teams will get some “fresh beef” from last years’ JV & Frosh, however this is strictly to show the disparity in size of returning players with varsity experience. The 3 SF teams look to be in similar shape to other recent years’ with both lower roster numbers and lack of lineman size players. SHC in particular looks vulnerable as they had no JV team last year to draw from & therefore must rely on talent from a 4-5 Frosh team to bolster their varsity squad. From the information gathered so far it appears the WCAL league is separating into 2 tiers from what was previously 3. Roster numbers, returning players and size of linemen all favor VC, SF, Serra & Mitty while Bells and the 3 SF schools all suffer from low roster numbers, returning players and sheer physical size.
Factors of note which could alter the season: Mitty who was a bit of a disappointment last season may be poised for a run this season. The Monarchs return a large number of players including 3-year starter at QB Shamir Bey & their JV team were Co-Champs upon which to draw on this season. Serra while returning a large number of players had a last place JV team that went winless [yes 0-7-1]. This does not bode well for the Padres unless the Serra Frosh Co-Champs provide some very talented soph’s this season. Can the Padres recapture their position as an elite WCAL power? Or have coaching changes, a system which favors a weak JV team and few returning “impact players” signal a “football recession” so to speak for the Padres of San Mateo [before you say it can’t happen I will proceed with my comments regarding the “once powerhouse Bells’]. The Bells in a tailspin the last several seasons do not appear to have help on the way any time soon for similar reasons as the SF schools, despite that Bellarmine is the largest all male college preparatory high school in NorCal [puzzling?]. Low roster numbers from a large school, lack of talent for a once proud program and a “dated offense” which still features “3 yards and a cloud of dust” so to speak indicates changes are badly needed if a turn-around is to take place any time soon. While hard times have been discussed regarding the 3 SF schools the most difficult to explain is the St. Ignatius program. This program similar to the Bells has been in steady decline for the last ½ decade [at minimum]. Great facilities and coaching staffs only work with sufficient roster numbers that include talent is the dilemma. As some have speculated it would seem if you could combine the 3 SF schools teams you could then compete with the top tier teams of the WCAL. The differential between top teams and lower teams is substantial and the league is due for realignment of some type in the near future.
Current "Projected" ratings of teams:
1. Valley Christian
2. St. Francis
3. Mitty
4. Serra
5. St. Ignatius
6. Bells
7. SHC
8. ARHS
Next Up: Review of teams players who graduated & who returns..
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