WCAL FOOTBALL : Omission of WCAL's MVP from NorCal Top 50 list [??]

[jordan24]

Another sport that is on the rise is rugby. Riordan entered the NorCal Varsity league last Spring (after playing in the JV division for the past 2 years) with teams from Bellarmine, DeLaSalle, Bishop O'Dowd, Clayton and Jesuit. More than 80 participate on 3 separate teams in the Rugby program comprised of most of the O/D lineman, linebackers and fullbacks off the football team. (Riordan asst coach Ilalio is also an asst coach on the football team). What's great about the sport is everybody is eligible to touch/run with the ball. So, you're seeing 230lb+ players making plays. Rugby is very popular in Australia, Polynesia and Northern Europe as evidenced by the ethnicity of many of the kids who participate. The sport definitely enhances the skills of "heads up" tackling (no helmets or pads are worn) along with teamwork, footwork, agility and toughness as the sport is basically the origin of American football.

 

[Rmbr26]

WCAL 2015 Pre-Season Preview

Mitty Monarchs 2015 Team Preview:

Mitty Varsity 2014 Record = Overall 8-5 and WCAL League 4-3
Junior Varsity 2014 Record = 3-7 Overall and WCAL League 2-5
Frosh 2014 Record = 6-3 Overall and WCAL League 4-3

Best Game: Easily the Mitty 27-14 win over Serra in which Mitty lead throughout the game. Mitty's defense was stellar along with a solid rushing game & taking advantage of numerous Serra mistakes. Mitty simply took advantage of good field position which was helped in part by an excellent kicking game [Mitty's punter averaged 43 yards per punt while Serra's punter averaged 29 and Serra had zero yardage on KO returns]. Serra contributed to the defeat with 3 fumbles, a missed FG, an INT & a shanked punt. Serra also had no answer for Mitty's QB Brett Foley who rushed 14 times for 90 yards to help eat up clock during the 2nd 1/2 of the game.

Worst Loss: Valley Christian 15 -14 over Mitty. This was a strange game in which Mitty played poorly due to a strong defensive effort by Valley Christian yet had an opportunity to win the game which fell short. For the game Mitty had 8 yards of offense in the first 1/2 and for the game had 39 yards passing & 36 yards rushing for 75 yards total offense - yet still led VC late in the 3rd. Both Mitty scores came off a VC fumble and an INT returned for a TD. In the 4th VC drove 80 yards for what would be the winning TD.

Most Important Game: The Division II CCS Championship vs St. Francis. Mitty had a rematch & chance to even the score with the Lancers who'd beaten Mitty 15-14 during league play. During a rainy game Mitty was never able to get its offense untracked and was held to 93 yards total offense and 1 TD. SF dominated possession behind a strong rushing game putting up 290 yards rushing on 53 carries.

Mitty had high hopes after playing for the CCS Championship the year before [2013] without its injured starting QB and eventually losing to Serra. While Mitty was able to avenge that loss with the 27-14 win over Serra in 2014 league play the Monarchs were not able to close out a number of close games so common in the WCAL during 2014. Mitty lost 3 WCAL league games by a total of 5 points - losing 15-14 to SF, 20-17 to Bells & 15-14 to VC. Had Mitty been able to close out these 3 games in wins their record would have changed from 8-5 to 11-2 & likely their confidence going into the Div. II championship vs SF would have been at a much higher level.

Mitty had a huge roster in 2014 of 73 players of which they return up to 32 of those players. In terms of sheer player numbers they seem to favor Mitty, but lets look at exactly what impact players return for this season. Here are the players who had an impact in last seasons play & will be counted on heavily this season: Derek Baurle - RB/KR [5'7 - 185] who will be one of the key players on offense for Mitty this season, Blake Flovin - LB/FB [6'1-210] Jacob Dewey - O/D-lines [5'11"-210], Matt Tofano - FB/LB [6'2-215]. On the line Mitty returns a number of good size linemen so physical size doesn't appear to be a weakness. For last season the Monarch's passing game was less than intimidating with a 40% completion rate made less impressive by the number of pass attempts. The overall numbers were approx. 60 completions of 150 attempts for 1120 yards or 1/2 that of what SI's league leader Ryan Hagfeldt threw for. Mitty's pass defense was tops in the league with 16 INT's but graduated the best players in the secondary. Also difficult to replace is Mitty kicker Kris Bubic who was among the league's best & often contributed to Mitty's field position. Possible help in form of a transfer may come from QB Philip Tran from Fremont HS. Tran a 6'2 - 210 mobile & accurate thrower threw for 25 TD's as a soph with 9 wins including a league title [the type of QB MItty is desparately lacking]. Mitty laregly relied on the run in 2014 & when the run was well defensed the Mitty offense was largely ineffective. The offensive scheme for Mitty for 2015 will likely have to be less predictable and slightly more innovative if the Monarchs are to have a successful season.

Pre-Season Games: First up is Los Gatos who handed Mitty their opening game loss last season 21-13. While Los Gatos returns 11 starters they lose their 2 key components on offense in Dru Brown the QB and Joey Wood the bruising RB. Defense will again very good for Los Gatos with 7 starters returning and good size on O/D-lines. Skill players reload this season, but Los Gatos always seems to have good athletes and likely will not have too much of a drop off. Los Gatos likely will once again give Mitty all it can handle and is favored in this game. Next up in game 2 is Aptos the CCS Division III Champ for 2014. Aptos finished last season at 12-1 by beating St. Ignatius in the championship 11-8. Aptos returns a good core of players from last season with help from a 9-1 JV team & will have several new players at the skill positions. This is a road game for Mitty and they will need a very good effort on defense in order to come away with a win. The 3rd game of the pre-season is against Palo Alto at home for Mitty [Foothill College] & should provide somewhat of a breather for the Monarchs prior to start of WCAL league play. Mitty won easily last season over Paly by 55-14. Palo Alto is a better team this season and with the Monarchs in a reload mode so to speak this game should be slightly more competitive.

Conclusion: The Monarchs for the 2015 season are projected to finish in the 5th slot in league behind Bells, Serra, St. Francis & Valley Christian. While the defense looks to be stellar once again the offense is a concern due to losing most skill players such as QB Foley, Tommy Hudson TE, Dakari Monroe RB/WR/KR and kicker Chris Bubic. The coaches will need to be creative and come up with an offensive scheme that will allow them to spread their offense a bit more and perhaps use an athlete type QB using an option offense along with a short passing game.
In Mitty's 5 losses last season they scored 13, 14, 17, 14 & 8 points. Now it is all supposition, but if Mitty had scored 21 points in these 5 games they would have won 4 and tied the other changing their record from 8-5 to 12-0-1. While a strong defense is key to winning games the offense also must be capable of scoring points & a goal of 21 points per game is where Mitty needs to be for 2015. Pass attempts per game last season included games of 4, 7, 8, 10 with a high of 20 attempts vs loss to Bells [5 of 20 for 71 yards and 1 INT]. In the Pitt game Mitty had just 1 completion. The offense must find a way to be more consistent and look to complete 50% of pass attempts to compliment its run game. The lower tier of the WCAL this year projects Mitty, SI, SHC & Riordan who are all very close in team ratings. If Mitty can score some points they'll hold or increase their league position by perhaps 1-2 teams and if not they may find one of the other lower tier teams overtake them this season.

Next Up: St. Francis Lancers

 

[PAL95]

Could no

WCAL 2015 Pre-Season Preview

Mitty Monarchs 2015 Team Preview:

Mitty Varsity 2014 Record = Overall 8-5 and WCAL League 4-3
Junior Varsity 2014 Record = 3-7 Overall and WCAL League 2-5
Frosh 2014 Record = 6-3 Overall and WCAL League 4-3

Best Game: Easily the Mitty 27-14 win over Serra in which Mitty lead throughout the game. Mitty's defense was stellar along with a solid rushing game & taking advantage of numerous Serra mistakes. Mitty simply took advantage of good field position which was helped in part by an excellent kicking game [Mitty's punter averaged 43 yards per punt while Serra's punter averaged 29 and Serra had zero yardage on KO returns]. Serra contributed to the defeat with 3 fumbles, a missed FG, an INT & a shanked punt. Serra also had no answer for Mitty's QB Brett Foley who rushed 14 times for 90 yards to help eat up clock during the 2nd 1/2 of the game.

Worst Loss: Valley Christian 15 -14 over Mitty. This was a strange game in which Mitty played poorly due to a strong defensive effort by Valley Christian yet had an opportunity to win the game which fell short. For the game Mitty had 8 yards of offense in the first 1/2 and for the game had 39 yards passing & 36 yards rushing for 75 yards total offense - yet still led VC late in the 3rd. Both Mitty scores came off a VC fumble and an INT returned for a TD. In the 4th VC drove 80 yards for what would be the winning TD.

Most Important Game: The Division II CCS Championship vs St. Francis. Mitty had a rematch & chance to even the score with the Lancers who'd beaten Mitty 15-14 during league play. During a rainy game Mitty was never able to get its offense untracked and was held to 93 yards total offense and 1 TD. SF dominated possession behind a strong rushing game putting up 290 yards rushing on 53 carries.

Mitty had high hopes after playing for the CCS Championship the year before [2013] without its injured starting QB and eventually losing to Serra. While Mitty was able to avenge that loss with the 27-14 win over Serra in 2014 league play the Monarchs were not able to close out a number of close games so common in the WCAL during 2014. Mitty lost 3 WCAL league games by a total of 5 points - losing 15-14 to SF, 20-17 to Bells & 15-14 to VC. Had Mitty been able to close out these 3 games in wins their record would have changed from 8-5 to 11-2 & likely their confidence going into the Div. II championship vs SF would have been at a much higher level.

Mitty had a huge roster in 2014 of 73 players of which they return up to 32 of those players. In terms of sheer player numbers they seem to favor Mitty, but lets look at exactly what impact players return for this season. Here are the players who had an impact in last seasons play & will be counted on heavily this season: Derek Baurle - RB/KR [5'7 - 185] who will be one of the key players on offense for Mitty this season, Blake Flovin - LB/FB [6'1-210] Jacob Dewey - O/D-lines [5'11"-210], Matt Tofano - FB/LB [6'2-215]. On the line Mitty returns a number of good size linemen so physical size doesn't appear to be a weakness. For last season the Monarch's passing game was less than intimidating with a 40% completion rate made less impressive by the number of pass attempts. The overall numbers were approx. 60 completions of 150 attempts for 1120 yards or 1/2 that of what SI's league leader Ryan Hagfeldt threw for. Mitty's pass defense was tops in the league with 16 INT's but graduated the best players in the secondary. Also difficult to replace is Mitty kicker Kris Bubic who was among the league's best & often contributed to Mitty's field position. Possible help in form of a transfer may come from QB Philip Tran from Fremont HS. Tran a 6'2 - 210 mobile & accurate thrower threw for 25 TD's as a soph with 9 wins including a league title [the type of QB MItty is desparately lacking]. Mitty laregly relied on the run in 2014 & when the run was well defensed the Mitty offense was largely ineffective. The offensive scheme for Mitty for 2015 will likely have to be less predictable and slightly more innovative if the Monarchs are to have a successful season.

Pre-Season Games: First up is Los Gatos who handed Mitty their opening game loss last season 21-13. While Los Gatos returns 11 starters they lose their 2 key components on offense in Dru Brown the QB and Joey Wood the bruising RB. Defense will again very good for Los Gatos with 7 starters returning and good size on O/D-lines. Skill players reload this season, but Los Gatos always seems to have good athletes and likely will not have too much of a drop off. Los Gatos likely will once again give Mitty all it can handle and is favored in this game. Next up in game 2 is Aptos the CCS Division III Champ for 2014. Aptos finished last season at 12-1 by beating St. Ignatius in the championship 11-8. Aptos returns a good core of players from last season with help from a 9-1 JV team & will have several new players at the skill positions. This is a road game for Mitty and they will need a very good effort on defense in order to come away with a win. The 3rd game of the pre-season is against Palo Alto at home for Mitty [Foothill College] & should provide somewhat of a breather for the Monarchs prior to start of WCAL league play. Mitty won easily last season over Paly by 55-14. Palo Alto is a better team this season and with the Monarchs in a reload mode so to speak this game should be slightly more competitive.

Conclusion: The Monarchs for the 2015 season are projected to finish in the 5th slot in league behind Bells, Serra, St. Francis & Valley Christian. Whle the defense looks to be stellar once again the offense is a concern due to losing most skill players such as QB Foley, Tommy Hudson TE, Dakari Monroe RB/WR/KR and kicker Chris Bubic. The coaches will need to be creative and come up with an offensive scheme that will allow them to spread their offense a bit more and perhaps use an athlete type QB using an option offense along with a short passing game.
In Mitty's 5 losses last season they scored 13, 14, 17, 14 & 8 points. Now it is all supposition, but if Mitty had scored 21 points in this 5 games they would have won 4 and tied the other changing their record from 8-5 to 12-0-1. While a strong defense is key to winning games the offense also must be capable of scoring points & a goal of 21 points per game is where Mitty needs to be for 2015. Pass attempts per game last season included games of 4, 7, 8, 10 with a high of 20 attempts vs loss to Bells [5 of 20 for 71 yards and 1 INT]. In the Pitt game Mitty had just 1 completion. The offense must find a way to be more consistent and look to complete 50% of pass attempts to compliment its run game. The lower tier of the WCAL this year projects Mitty, SI, SHC & Riordan who are all very close in team ratings. If Mitty can score some points they'll hold or increase their league position by perhaps 1-2 teams and if not they may find one of the other lower tier teams overtake them this season.

Next Up: St. Francis Lancers

Couldn't have been written any better. Nice job. With their new coach I guess the plan is to speed up the offense and get more points on the board. I hear they are going Oregon style. But like you said they lost alot of athletes that would have thrived in this new system. I see them being solid, but no where near the past three years Mitty teams.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Great Mitty profile:
Will be interesting to see new offense. Mitty returns a few pretty good players including: Derek Bauerle, Sr., RB - all WCAL; Matt Tofano, Sr., MLB/RB, 6-2, 217, 4.68 40,honorable mention ; Blake Flovin, Sr, LB/FB, second team all league; Jacob Dewey, Sr, DE, honorable mention; and QB Phillip Tran, Jr., QB, 6-2, 210, transfer from Fremont HS (CCS El Camino), with over 2,000 yards passing and 25 TDs as a soph. Will be interesting if Tran starts (would think so, but will he have to sit out a few games?). The game against Los Gatos should be a very good indication of strength of this Mitty team, and I also hear Aptos may have a very good RB that transferred to the school in addition to their other star (may be just a rumor but checking). The last few years I have liked how Mitty has played defense (swarming) and they ran that ball control offense really well.This offense change will be a big move. Serra tried to change it in the past and seems they have more success with a run ball control offense. A quick scoring pass offense can also put lots of stress on a defense and will be interesting to see the impact if any.

 

[2wcats]

Great Mitty profile:
Will be interesting to see new offense. Mitty returns a few pretty good players including: Derek Bauerle, Sr., RB - all WCAL; Matt Tofano, Sr., MLB/RB, 6-2, 217, 4.68 40,honorable mention ; Blake Flovin, Sr, LB/FB, second team all league; Jacob Dewey, Sr, DE, honorable mention; and QB Phillip Tran, Jr., QB, 6-2, 210, transfer from Fremont HS (CCS El Camino), with over 2,000 yards passing and 25 TDs as a soph. Will be interesting if Tran starts (would think so, but will he have to sit out a few games?). The game against Los Gatos should be a very good indication of strength of this Mitty team, and I also hear Aptos may have a very good RB that transferred to the school in addition to their other star (may be just a rumor but checking). The last few years I have liked how Mitty has played defense (swarming) and they ran that ball control offense really well.This offense change will be a big move. Serra tried to change it in the past and seems they have more success with a run ball control offense. A quick scoring pass offense can also put lots of stress on a defense and will be interesting to see the impact if any.

Absolutely agree that LG game will be a bellwether for both of these teams. It's going to be a Foothill this year, right?

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

The Mitty v LG schedule says the game is at Foothill College (Mitty's home field)

 

[2wcats]

The Mitty v LG schedule says the game is at Foothill College (Mitty's home field)

Thanks!

 

[Rmbr26]

Looking at the calendar of WCAL pre-season games it appears the best games will be:

Week 1: Sept. 4th - Friday nite - Mitty hosting Los Gatos

Week 2: Sept. 11th - Friday nite - Take your pick as too hard to choose: Mitty at Aptos, Bells at Del Oro, SF at Palma
Sept. 12th - Saturday - Serra hosts Notre Dame [Sherman Oaks] or SI hosts Marin Catholic [5 great games]
Week 3: Sept. 18th - Friday nite - Bells at Aptos, VC at Milpitas

One of the better [as in tougher] WCAL pre-season schedules in quite a few years - should be good!

* Should have St. Francis team preview available Thursday 8/6 for those following.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

All great games. By the way- Palma is playing at St Francis. They played in Salinas last season. Very intrigued by Bells v Del Oro and Serra versus ND.

 

[Rmbr26]

All great games. By the way- Palma is playing at St Francis. They played in Salinas last season. Very intrigued by Bells v Del Oro and Serra versus ND.

Thanks NorCal - are you sure regarding venue of SF-Palma game? I took it off the WCAL Composite Football Schedule - same as posted here on another thread, shows "SF @ Palma" Friday nite Sept. 11th

http://wcalsports.org/docs/schedules/FB Composit.pdf

* wouldn't want fans driving to Palma to find there is no game that nite

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Yes. The game is at St Francis. I went to the game last year and was at Rabobank stadium in Salinas. actually have gone to all SF v Palma games over the last 30 + years. Calpreps also lists the game at St Francis. Wcal site is wrong. Palma site also lists it at St Francis.

 

[Rmbr26]

Yes. The game is at St Francis. I went to the game last year and was at Rabobank stadium in Salinas. actually have gone to all SF v Palma games over the last 30 + years. Calpreps also lists the game at St Francis. Wcal site is wrong. Palma site also lists it at St Francis.

Thanks for the clarification NorCalSportsFan - that is quite a string of games you've got going on there!

Also, I will be doing team previews on both Palma & SHP as they are both highly relevant to the WCAL picture.

 

[colhenrylives]

Would it be fair to say that Serra hosting the No.1 prep football team in the U.S. in a night game in San Mateo on Sept. 4 might merit at least a footnote here? Just wondering.

 

[Rmbr26]

WCAL 2015 Pre-Season Preview

St. Francis Lancer's 2015 Team Preview

SF Lancer's 2014 Record = Overall 9-4 and WCAL League 4-3
Junior Varsity 2014 Record = Overall 8-2 and WCAL League = 6-1
Frosh 2014 Record = Overall 4-4 and WCAL League = 3-4

Best Game: 17-7 domination of Mitty in CCS Div. II Championship game. Rematch of regular season league game in which SF edged the Monarch's by 15-14. Mitty had all the incentive in this game to avenge their rivals previous win and win a CCS crown. Instead SF shut down Mitty's run offense while the Lancer's piled up 297 yards rushing and controlled both the game clock & tempo.

Worst Loss: SF played highly competitive all season & really only had 2 decisive losses by more than a single TD, which were an early loss to Palma by 21-12 and regular season loss to Serra by 14-2 [while losing to VC 21-14 in double O/T]. The Serra game based upon stats was the Lancer's low-point at least on offense. SF was 7/22 passing for 53 yards and 32 rushes for 84 yards [2.6 avg] with a QB rating of 1.5. SF's defense played solid throughout & SF led 2-0 at the 1/2 through the 3rd quarter. The Lancer's D though finally started to wear down and in the 4th Serra went on to score 2 TD's for the win.

Most Important Game: Likely the 17-14 loss to Bellarmine in league. Had SF won this game the 2 teams would have switched positions in league standings with SF finishing 3rd and the Bells 4th, likely sending the Lancer's to the Open Division instead of D-II. While nothing is wrong with the D-II crown the Lancer's took home, everyone knows the heavyweights go to the Open and the rest go to II, III & IV.

Lots of questions for the 2015 SF team and for this season St. Francis is my dark horse choice to possibly surprise & move up in CCS standings.
The Lancer's for '14 were the 4th rated offense for WCAL overall, but in league play tied for 6th place in offense numbers. The SF defense overall tied for first among WCAL teams and in league was 3rd. Looking ahead SF again looks solid on D, but will they improve their average of 16 PPG in the WCAL?

SF had one of the largest rosters last season with 78 players of which it returns up to 47 players from that team [a number equivalent to the entire rosters of SHC & Riordan]. With a JV team that went 8-2 which should add further depth & talent the coaching staff should have plenty to work with. The Lancer's lost some top quality players to graduation such as Steve Dineen - MVP Lineman of the Year, Devon Hurtado - solid 2 way player at RB/LB first team WCAL, Trill Hebert - DB first team WCAL, Dennis Green - RB, Riley Quinn - DB, Thomas Toki - O/D-line, and a number of starters on O/DL.
The Lancer's return the key piece of the offense in QB Kamalii Akina [5'11- 165] along with their top RB Lutoviko Ahoia [5'9 - 195], Darious Thomas - WR [6'1-160] their deep threat from last season, Kevin Glajchen - TE/LB [6'2-220] who is their best returning defensive player,
Bennett Williams - DB [5'11-180] a soph last season who will be worth watching. SF returns 15 players over 200 of which 5 are 230 or larger and looks to have a very athletic team.
QB Akina was outstanding once you look at his numbers and was possibly the most efficient QB in the WCAL game to game throughout the season. Akina was 71/127 passing with a completion rate of 56% for 1246 yards, 11 TD's and only 5 INT's with an 18 YPC avg.
SF as with Mitty & VC relied heavily on the run & when the run game didn't produce - neither did the SF offense in scoring much. SF averaged 95 yards passing & 195 rushing per game. When you take a closer look at Akina's stats while they are very good they could have been much better had the coaches simply used his talents more. Akina completed 56% of his passes compared to 40% for Mitty for example. Akina had a number of games where he had impressive pass games for the number of passes thrown: 7/8 vs Oak Grove, 9/9 vs Skyline, 9/12 vs Bells, 9/15 vs SI, 4/4 vs Mt. Pleasant, 5/8 vs Leland. If I have a HS QB with that kind of accuracy I'd likely increase his pass attempts per game to get him into a rythem and keep the opponent off balance. Through 13 games SF averaged less than 10 pass attempts per game. In the Div. II game vs Mitty SF's rush game worked & is what they stick to on a rainy evening, in which Akina was 1/5 passing for 2 yards.

Pre-Season Games: First up is Oak Grove who returns 15 starters including their primary RB and their best O/DL player in Dillan Missalefua [6'4-270]. Rated slightly better in 2015 OG may go with their rotating 2 QB system again which is a big question mark. OG did not fare well in 2014 in lopsided losses to SF, VC & SHP. In the first game SF looks like the solid pick once again.
SF then hosts Palma is which should be an excellent game and gauge just how solid these 2 projected Top 10 CCS teams are. SF went down to Palma in Salinas last season 21-12. Palma returns 10 starters including their QB and one of the best RB's in the CCS in Emilio Martinez [5'9-190]. If SF can stop or least manage to stop Martinez the Lancer's should likely pull the win out, however if QB Jack Richardson is able to find holes in SF's inexperienced secondary and Martinez gets going then Palma will be tough to stop.
Next up for the 3rd game is Atascadero an unfamiliar opponent for St. Francis from SoCal's PAC-5 League. Atascadero went 10-3 in 2014 and returns 11 starters. The team should be solid and is rated as "even" with SF. While SF has an edge with a returning QB Atascadero returns their 2 top RB's in M. Martin [1400 yards - 7.6 avg] and R. Reusche [969 yards - 8.9 avg]. Atascadero may have a slight edge in size, while SF has the biggest edge in QB talent and Atascadero at the RB position. 2 similar teams on paper & should make for a close competitive game.

Conclusion: The story of the 2014 season was a strong defense plagued by a somewhat inconsistent & low scoring offense [as is consistent with the defense oriented WCAL]. In 4 SF losses the Lancer's scored 12, 2, 14, 14 points. The goal for the '15 season is to score 17-21 per game in order to have a chance to win their toughest games. The SF coaches have their primary RB returning & will need a few capable WR's or RB's to spread Akina's passes around. With an accurate passer such as Akina capable of completing possibly 60% or more of his passes this year the coaches should utilize him to make the most of his capabilities. St. Francis is rated slightly higher than VC and slightly lower than Bells & Serra [both of whom scored more points of offense in 2014 than SF]. The biggest single question: Can the Lancer's improve their 6th place offense in the WCAL in 2015? That will depend on the approach the coaching staff takes in regards to their offensive scheme and ratio of passes to run. If I have a QB capable of completing close to 2 of every 3 passes thrown I would turn him loose. Short high percentage pass plays with mixed run & option plays since Akina can also run. SF's coaches are not newcomer's and they'll likely have the Lancer's ready to go and make a run this season in WCAL.

Up Next: Valley Christian Warrior's

 

[Rmbr26]

Would it be fair to say that Serra hosting the No.1 prep football team in the U.S. in a night game in San Mateo on Sept. 4 might merit at least a footnote here? Just wondering.

Sorry ColHenry - I'd touched on this on 2 other thread posts which maybe you'd missed & will break down the game in Serra's preview as well upcoming.
Here are the excerpts off the other 2 threads:

De La Salle is ranked #1 in nation by MaxPreps pre-season top 25 announced yesterday. Other top CA schools ranked in the top 25 are Centennial-Corona #6 [lost to DLS in state title game last season 63-42], St. John Bosco-Bellflower #15 & Bishop Amat-La Puente #24. DLS also ranked #1 from highschoolfootballamerica.com.
DLS vs Serra might be interesting although this looks to be one of DLS better teams and there is no established RB returning for Serra- as in an every down back for short/tough yardage situations. Serra does have a very good & speedy RB in Kelepi Lataimua, however he is used primarily on outside sweeps & short passes. There is another RB who saw limited action last season & not sure about anyone upcoming up from JV/Frosh. Am pretty sure though that DLS is set at RB [JK!].

You may find other comments under the "WCAL Composite Game Schedule" post.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Good review of St Francis. I think St Francis will have some very good skill players. Ahoia is a very good RB, and juniors have lots of speed - Darius Thomas, Jr, 6-1, 170, WR/DB; Cyrus Habibi-Likio, Jr, 6-1, 190, RB/SS, fast, 4.5 40; Tre'Sean Bishop, Jr, 5-10, 160, RB/DB, fast; Brandon Bains, Jr., RB/Slot, 5-9, 180, fast 10.97 100M. Bains is one to watch. I was very impressed with him in the JV game against Palma - even though they lost. Bains has a very high upside and could develop into a D1 prospect as well as Habibi-Likio.

The question mark with St Francis will be defense. They lose players that made them extremely tough up the middle and Dineen was a nightmare as a rusher due to his height and wing span and quickness. They return Kevin Glajchen - TE/LB (6-2, 220) who is a very impressive linebacker. He is a FBS prospect. Their HC coaches a very good defense, so will be interesting to see if they reload as well as last season. I think they should be good, but would be surprised if as stout as last season, but could be very good.

I could see them placing higher than VC, but think VC is going to have some special skill players and the line is going to be huge. VC QB is the big question mark which is a big thing. The have very good candidates, but could see picking SF over them due to SF having Akina. SF definately could be in the mix, but think it will be next season where they have a shot very strong shot at winning the WCAL. Could be close this year.

 

[colhenrylives]

Was referring to other post persons and their early September highlight ballgames. The work of the gifted Rambling Individual is always stellar and rarely flawed.

 

[Rmbr26]

WCAL 2015 Pre-Season Preview

Valley Christian Warrior's 2015 Team Preview

Valley Christian 2014 Varsity Record = Overall 9-3 and WCAL League 6-1
Junior Varsity 2014 record = 9-1 and WCAL League 6-1
Frosh 2014 record = 8-1 and WCAL League 6-1

Best Game: 42-17 blow-out of Bellarmine. VC was 5/5 passing for 95 yards, 50 carries for 375 yards rushing [7.5 YPC] and thoroughly dominated the Bells in their worst defeat by far of the season.

Worst Loss: Easily the Milpitas game cast a shadow on the rest of VC's season after losing 31-17. VC went into the game as the favorite after 2 blowout wins against Pioneer & Oak Grove possibly underestimating just how good Milpitas was. VC had passing of 6/11 for 43 yards and could only muster 83 yards rushing on 19 carries [4.4 YPC] for a total of 126 yards offense. On the passing side other than 1 pass for 36 yards VC could only complete 5 other passes for 5 yards. It would be VC's lowest offensive output of the season & if not for a 99 yard KO return the score could have very well been 31-10.

Most Important: The OPen Division semi-final game loss of 21-18 to the Bells. The scrappy Bells took it to VC and battled them all evening long to finally pull out the win and avenge the regular season blow-out to VC. VC had its most yards passing of the season strangely going 13/25 for 185 yards with 1 INT. Just as strange the smaller Bells were able to fully contain VC's daunted run game holding VC to 32 rushes for 118 yards [3.7 YPC] with the longest run being 13 yards.

VC once again had ultra high expectations for 2014 and was considered by many to be the league favorite and continue to a possible Open Championship round. Opening the season with a 55-0 annihilation of Pioneer followed by a blowout 44-14 win over Oak Grove it looked like VC was unstoppable. Entering the Milpitas game as the favorite VC could never quite get untracked & Milpitas dominated the line of scrimmage in winning 31-17. The following week VC dropped a 2nd consecutive game by 2 TD's to the Serra Padres on their home turf by 24-10. In both games the VC offense was only capable of putting up 10 points [excl. KO return]. VC then went on a roll winning its next 7 games before possibly overlooking the Bells and dropping the CCS playoff game by 21-18. AT 9-3 VC had a successful season yet did not seem so for most of its fans. Injuries specifically to several RB's incl. Kirk Johnson slowed down the Warrior's offense during the season, but the problems with VC's offense went much deeper than the injuries reflected.

VC had a roster of 56 for 2014 of which 1/2 the team or 28 players returns. The good news is the JV went 9-1 and Frosh 8-1 so evidently there is lots of potential there to draw off of for this season. The Warrior's need to reload at QB & of course lose both Kirk Johnson & Mark Quinby & McCloud to graduation. Returning players of impact are Collin Johnson WR [6'5-210] who can catch anything thrown his way, Levi Johnson T-OL/DL [6'1-277], Morian Walker [6'1-205] who will take a lead roll playing both sides as RB & DB, Travis Tuitele RB [5'8 - 190], Akil JOnes RB/LB [6'1-210] & Brett Batey LB [5'10-230].
AT 6'5 Collin Johnson is difficult for most DB's Safeties to defend and VC counted heavily on him last season with 49 passes caught for 921 yards. The problem with VC's passing unfortunately was that they did not throw to anyone else. The 2nd WR in catches was their tight end Cameron Woodard with 5 catches for 47 yards. BTW Cameron Woodard is 6'4 - 260 which at the HS level if Woodard can catch at all then VC should be throwing in his direction on a regular basis. A positive note is that VC returns its soph kicker from last season in Bailey Schroeder who was very dependable in both punting, kickoffs & FG's.

Pre-Season: Starting the season the Warrior's travel to Pioneer. Pioneer finished 2014 at 9-3 and returns 12 starters including its top RB & top WR. Pioneer has a similar team rating as 2014 & VC will be the highest rated team they'll face in 2015. Remembering last season's bitter loss of 55-0 Pioneer will be motivated to come out quick & make this a competitive game.
Next up is another repeat of last season in Oak Grove who returns 15 starters yet is slim at the skill positions. Similar also in team rating from last season this is likely to be VC's 2nd win. With Milpitas as the 3rd game it essentially makes the first 2 games meaningless unless VC can come up with a win. Milpitas returns 11 starters, but replaces the QB and several key players who made huge impacts in 2014. Milpitas is rated down from last season, but is still ranked pre-season above VC. VC must be able to control the line of scrimmage and be able to run the ball to win the game, period. The projection says that is not likely and Milpitas is the projected winner.

Conclusion: VC is in need of a makeover on offense. 2 years in a row VC has fallen below expectations in overall season results and losing games they were expected or favored to win. Both years VC had excellent athletes and perhaps the 3 best RB's of any team in NorCal. So what was the problem? VC relied almost completely on its run game and when desperate threw to Collin Johnson approx. 5-8 times per game.
Once injuries to several of the RB's occurred it made the situation much worse without an established passing system integrated using 3-4 WR's [or RB's to throw to]. Simply put VC lost to both Milpitas & Serra because they could only score 1 TD & a FG in both games. In the Milpitas game VC's D gave up a season high of 31 points due to Milpitas dominating the line of scrimmage. For the season VC averaged 26 points and for WCAL league averaged 24 points. Milpitas averaged 37 points for the entire season except for the loss to Bellarmine in the semi-final by 9-6 in OT. The Bells were by far a smaller team than VC or Milpitas yet Bellarmine was able to defeat much larger Milpitas based on execution and few mistakes. VC might want to watch film of the Bells/Milpitas game so as not to have a repeat of their 31-17 loss last season. That and a new offensive scheme with an athletic QB who can run and 3 WR' to throw to on a regular basis. VC will again be an interesting team to watch. If VC meets expectations they will battle St. Francis for 3rd place in WCAL or perhaps even 2nd. If the offense operates similar to 2014 without Kirk Johnson, Quinby & McCloud then VC will be facing an uphill battle and could slip into the lower tier of the WCAL. Milpitas is possibly the game of the year for VC.

Next Up: Serra Padres

 

[Rmbr26]

WCAL 2015 Pre-Season Preview

Serra Padres 2015 Team Preview

Serra Varsity 2014 Varsity Record = Overall 7-4 and WCAL League 6-1
Junior Varsity 2014 record = 3-7 Overall and WCAL League 2-5
Frosh 2014 record = 6-3 and WCAL League 5-2

Best Game: Hard to choose between Serra's 2 best wins over Valley Christian & Bellarmine both by 14 points, however the 24-14 win over the Bells later in the season stands out statistically as the better win. I chose this game as well as the Bells beat VC the following week & went on to play SHP for the CCS Open Title. The win over the Bells had the Padres with 344 yards offense in the game [all purpose] while dominating the Bells on defense. It was not to say the game was without mistakes by Serra. Serra was 15/28 passing for 161 yards, 1-TD & 1-INT and rushed 46/183 [4.6 APC] with 2 fumbles lost. So in beating a very good Bells team Serra was able to overcome 3 turnovers and still win by 2 TD's.

Worst Loss & Most Important Game: The Open Div. opening round shut-out loss to Los Gatos by 28-0. This is a loss which will be remembered for quite some time having taken place on Serra's own home turf. Serra picked this game to play their worst game of the year while Los Gatos played perhaps their best game of the year. Serra had a dismal day on offense while committing numerous turnovers once again [4]. Serra had passing of 11/29 for 68 yards, 0-TD's and 3-INT's along with 27/83 rushing [3.1 APC], 0-TD's & 1 fumble. Serra had 151 yards total offense, their lowest of the season with their next lowest total being 224 yards. Los Gatos clearly had the best QB & RB in this game in which QB Dru Brown was excellent on the passing side with 13/20 for 186 yards, 2-TD's & 0-INT's and RB Joey Wood had some big plays including a screen pass which fooled the Padre defense and resulted in a long TD to go up quickly 14-0 early in the game. LG had rushing of 48/145 [3.0 APC] which showed the Padre D largely contained the LG run. The story in this game were the several big plays by LG's offense and the 4 turn-overs by the Serra offense.

The Serra Padres had a roller coaster ride season for 2014 in which they were exciting to watch at times with a big play offense and stingy defense. When the offense was good it was very good and other times committed needless turn-overs in the form of fumbles and interceptions, which plagued Serra throughout the season. Serra started a 15-year old soph QB Siteleki Nunn in the first big game at De La Salle which resulted in a 41-13 loss. Turnovers should be expected in such a situation & Serra gave up 2 INT's, yet had no fumbles in this game. The DLS game is important for a number of reasons & possibly why Serra should have stayed with the young QB rather than making a major offense switch to another QB after the first 5 games [transfer Hunter Bishop from SF]. The Serra soph QB "Leki Nunn" threw 2 TD passes in the game vs DLS making him only 1 of 2 QB's to do so against DLS during their 14 win season. Serra's pass numbers were 14/31 for 156 yards [11.1 avg], 2-TD's & 2 INT's. DLS passing numbers were 7/15 for 78 yards [also 11.1 avg]. The big difference was the DLS rush game which no team has been able to stop and was 60/422 yards & 5 TD's [7.0 APC]. Remarkably the 7.0 APC allowed by Serra was the 2nd lowest of the year for DLS which averaged in the double digits rushing in 5 of its games. In some ways this might have been Serra's best game and therefore should concentrate on what worked and didn't work against the best team Serra played in 2014.

The Serra roster should be a good one for 2015 and from last season's roster of 59 players returns up to 40 of those players including most of its skill players. In this respect both Serra & Bellarmine should be the most talented 2 teams in the WCAL. Returning players for Serra include:
WCAL Soph of the Year Siteleki Nunn, 5'10-170, QB,RB,WR,DB, KR a multi-talented player who is good at all the positions shown, WCAL Junior of the Year Kelepi Lataimua 5'8-190, RB,DB,Punter an explosive RB who is Serra's fastest player, Brandon Monroe 6'1-170, WR, KR, Hunter Bishop 6'4-180 - WR moved from QB who is tall & athletic & should provide another good target, Rory Uniacke 6'1-200, WR,LB and that is just on offense. Serra returns several key players on defense incl. Billy Tuitavake 6'2-230, DL/DE, Kwame Jones 6'2-210, OL/DE, TC Lavulo 5'10-195, RB,LB. Serra returns 16 players over 200 lbs, and of these 11 are 225+ [with 5 players 250+].

Pre-Season: if anyone wasn't already aware Serra plays the #1 ranked team in the U.S. in hosting De La Salle Friday nite, Sept. 4th at Serra 7:00 p.m. under the lights.This team could likely be better than last season's 14-0 team with returning players that are athletic, fast & have size on the lines. Although DLS will likely be projected as a 5-6 TD favorite the media attention and fan interest to see them play is simply too much for any true football junkie to pass up [I will be there early for a good seat!]. DLS returns plenty of talent from last season's state champion team incl. important skill players such as RB Hernandez who ran for 1800+ yards with an 11.4 YPC average in '14. DLS does not pass much averaging about 9 attempts per game although their QB Vanderklugt has a year under his belt & completed just over 50% of his passes [which are almost entirely short-medium passes of 6-15 yards]. With DLS it will be all about the run game & defense in wearing down Serra. A key will be the kicking game & field postion of which Serra needs to improve on its weak kicking game from last season.
Next up in another replay of last season is Notre Dame [Sherman Oaks] again at Serra Notre Dame will not provide much of a breather for Serra it appears from a quick look at their roster. ND returns 14 starters including their QB & top RB and overall has a very large roster with speed & size. ND is again rated highly and plays in the very tough "Mission League" in SoCal & plays a brutal schedule this season with Serra being one of the lowest ranked teams Notre Dame will play.
The following week Serra travels to SSF which should provide a bit of a needed brake for the Padres prior to starting league play. Last season's game resulted in a 50-0 Serra win and this season SSF is projected as slightly lower than 2014. Pre-season projections are complicated guesswork so Serra should be ready and try to play an error free game.

Conclusion: looking at Serra's season it is no mystery as to what they need to concentrate on which is eliminating turn-overs/mistakes. This is easy to say, but a much more difficult task when facing very good opponents such as DLS & Notre Dame [not to mention Bells, VC & SF]. Teams like DLS & SHP were so successful last season due to execution and minimizing mistakes in form of turnovers and penalties.
Serra had 7 TD's passing in 2014 while having 22 INT's [so 3 INT's for every TD pass thrown]. Its a clear disparity in that Serra's defense accounted for 10 INT's for the season or a minus 12 INT differential. On the rushing side Serra had 28 fumbles, so limiting costly turnovers is the goal for 2015. Serra's other priority is in improving its kicking game in order to improve its overall field position in games. Serra's punting average for the season was 30.0 and for over 1/2 its games under that figure in the mid-high 20-yard range. Serra attempted & converted just 1 FG of 15 yards for the season [Serra better take a close look at its soccer team]. Since Serra returns a good portion of its 2014 roster the first 2 games should provide a good glimpse of what to expect from Serra for the rest of its 2015 season.

Next Up: Bellarmine Bells

 

[paul_johnson884]

Serra would match up very well with every team on ND's schedule except CC and Amat.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Nice Serra profile. If Serra stays healthy, I could see them running the table in the WCAL. Injuries which are always a part of a season seemed to slow them down. They were very physical and fast and will be the same this year with more experience. They have two very strong classes with their seniors and juniors. The physicality is where I think they will be a tough matchup for Bellarmine and even VC and St Francis. Unfortunately they won't qualify for playoffs, but with exception of DLS won't count them as an underdog in any game.

 

[PAL95]

Nice Serra profile. If Serra stays healthy, I could see them running the table in the WCAL. Injuries which are always a part of a season seemed to slow them down. They were very physical and fast and will be the same this year with more experience. They have two very strong classes with their seniors and juniors. The physicality is where I think they will be a tough matchup for Bellarmine and even VC and St Francis. Unfortunately they won't qualify for playoffs, but with exception of DLS won't count them as an underdog in any game.

I actually think this years Bells team could matchup well against Serra. The Bells will have very few weaknesses this year and I see them going undefeated in league. I said it first!

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Bells line play a question mark as far as physicality. Skill positions will be fast.

 

[colhenrylives]

Serra also will get some help from a strong 2014 freshman team. Look for 3-5 sophs on the 2015 varsity. Serra also can treat its regular season as playoffs since the Padres are currently banned from the CCS post-season in 2015 and 2016. At least so far.

 

[farmair3]

So the new powers to be are upholding the playoff suspensions??? If so, boy did calling their bluff turn out to be a fatal blow to this program as far as playoffs go. Ouch!!!

 

[Rmbr26]

So the new powers to be are upholding the playoff suspensions??? If so, boy did calling their bluff turn out to be a fatal blow to this program as far as playoffs go. Ouch!!!

fairmar - you're possibly over-reacting to the sanctions against Serra as a "fatal blow". The Serra program is highly recognized & respected, whether you hate 'em or luv em [the WCAL & Serra that is]. Despite the CCS majority board of public school coaches of which a group supported the punishment sanctions, most fans & media are in Serra's corner on this one. I posted on another forum the deletion of Serra from CCS playoffs only waters down the the playoffs & overall fan interest, thus lessening CCS fan income which was the intent of the consolation bracket .
Ex-Commish Nancy Lazenby-Blaser had many blunders of excessive punishment of schools/teams during her tenure & this one quite possibly gets the trophy for biggest debacle. Serra is a highly recognized program in NorCal & will undoubtebly survive Commish Nancy's misapplication of her CCS position authority. Wouldn't it be sumthin' if Serra did beat DLS?? Season over..

 

[Rmbr26]

WCAL 2015 Pre-Season Preview

Bellarmine 2015 Team Preview

Bellarmine Varsity 2014 Varsity Record = Overall 10-3 and WCAL League 5-2
Junior Varsity 2014 record = 9-1 Overall and WCAL League 6-1
Frosh 2014 record = 7-2 and WCAL League 5-2

Best Game of 2014: Overtime win over Milpitas in the CCS Open semi-final by 9-6. Milpitas had an overwhelming size advantage over the Bells, yet Bellarmine was able to contain Milpitas offense to just 3 points in regulation. Bellarmine also had trouble getting points on the board though and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. Going into O/T the Bells held Milpitas to a FG on offense from the 10 yard line. Now with Bellarmine on offense from the 10 coach Janda didn't waste any time throwing on first down into the end zone for a TD & the win 9-6 before a stunned Milpitas crowd.

Worst Loss: 42-17 lost to Valley Christian during league play in which VC's run game dominated throughout the game.

Most important game: CCS Open loss in championship game to SHP by 14-0. Many fans thought this game to be a toss-up of 2 very similar teams which shared the same trademarks: excellent coaching, good play execution and few mistakes. The game was competitive however SHP slowly pulled away in the 2nd 1/2 as the Bell's offense could not get untracked & was shutout for the only time in 2014. In contrast SHP's offense performed as usual putting up 191 passing & 53/204 rushing for 395 yards offense [close to its season averages]. Its interesting that the Bells held SHP to its 2nd lowest rushing avg of the season at 3.8 YPC. More interesting that Riordan in pre-season held SHP to its lowest APC of the season at 2.6 in a 14-7 loss to SHP [also SHP's lowest points scored for 2014].

2015 Season: Bellarmine entered the 2014 season with few returning starters and not a lot of size on its line. Of the 57 player roster the Bells had 34 soph's & junior's on the squad and were in a classic "reload" scenario that projected them to finish mid-pack in the WCAL. That the Bells would finish 10-3 and ranked 2nd in CCS overall is a statement of the level of their coaching and an over-achieving team of players. The Bells opened with an impressive come from behind win over Franklin-Elk Grove and then 2 solid wins over San Leandro & Piedmont Hills. Entering WCAL league play the Bells escaped SI with a 31-28 win before suffering a wake up call the following week in a 42-17 loss to Valley Christian. Bellarmine won its next 4 games incl. 2 more 3-point wins over St. Francis & Mitty, before a 28-14 loss to Serra. Next up was undefeated Milpitas who to their and their fans own disbelief the Bells tied and in one play on offense in O/T had beaten them. The Bells with new life then shocked VC the following week by 21-18 in a rematch of VC's 42-17 win in league play. With most starters & skill players back for 2015 Bellarmine is the odds on favorite to take the WCAL.

With 34 players returning to varsity and JV & Frosh team's that were a combined 16-3 there should be plenty of talent on this year's Bells roster. First lets take a look at who Bellarmine lost to graduation: Anthony Guttaduaro one of the mainstays of last years roster & a 2-way player at RB/CB, Curt Calomeni another excellent 2-way player at FB/LB, Charles Garza - O/L, Logan Wilson- DL, William Bowes - DL, Joe Goode - Center, Griffin Quinn - QB [1 of 2 used throughout the season until injured].
Now for a look at all the players returning who had an impact in 2014: WCAL MV-Utility Player in Kyle Macauley - 5'10-175, WR/RB/SS/KR and fastest player in the WCAL, Troy Martig - QB who is possibly the 2nd fastest in WCAL and likely the best QB in WCAL for 2015, Josh Bringuel 6'3-210, TE/LB, Jacob Bergstrom 6'3-225, OL/LB, Wolfie Rehbock 6'3-240, OL/DL, Devon Buenrostro 5'9-175, WR/DB, Cole Bunce 5'9-150 Kicker, Will Crummey 5'9-180 TE/LB, Antonio Garcia 5'8-160, RB/DB. With an additional 20-25+ players from the 2 lower class teams the Bells look to have one of their bigger rosters in a number of years at around 60 players +.

Pre-Season: Bellarmine hosts Franklin-Elk Grove in a rematch of last year's exciting season opener. Franklin which went 7-4 last season is projected to go 8-2 this season and is rated just about even with Bellarmine's ranking and the opening game is rated as a "toss-up". Franklin's QB Lopez does not throw a lot, but is accurate completing 60% 0f his passes in 2014. Franklin will rely heavily on its best player Lamar Jackson [6'3-210] a 2-way player at RB/DB. Franklin losses its best DL players to graduation so should be more susceptible to the run in this game. In last year's game Franklin rushed 37/225 yards for 6.1 APC which the Bells should be able to improve upon. If you saw last year's game Franklin is a fast athletic team who got out to an early lead before wearing down in the 2nd 1/2.
Game 2 for Bells will be the real deal against Del Oro & the top team they will face all season & on Del Oro's home turf before an always strong home team crowd. Del Oro returns 16 starters and though replacing at QB has a strong set of skill players returning incl their top RB and 3 best WR's. Del Oro likes to mix up its offense quite a bit and throws more than anyone Bells will face this season [last season attempted over 200 passes]. Del Oro last season averaged 168 passing & 95 rushing per game. Del Oro's D should be stout and return 3 good DB's who accounted for 9 INT's in 2014 [so secondary coverage will be tight]. A difficult game to predict at this stage and again Bells cannot let Del Oro get in front early and then control the ball. QB Martig and Kyle Macauley give Bells an excellent shot in this game which will be a good indicator of how solid Bellarmine is.
The 3rd game is against Aptos of the Santa Cruz League and should be another competitive game. Aptos the CCS Div. III winner last season returns 11 starters but reloads at all the top skill positions [edge Bellarmine]. Finishing 12-1 last season Aptos is projected to go 8-2 in '15 and Bells will be the highest ranked team they will face [so obviously the Bells are favored in this game]. After 2 very tough first games this would be an easy game for the Bells to overlook going into league, however I doubt coach Janda will let that happen.

Conclusion: in contrast to the 2014 season the expectations are ultra high for Bellarmine this season. Rather than being picked to finish 4-5-6 just in league they are a consensus pick to not only win the WCAL, but to sweep it by going 7-0 and then deep into CCS play as the favorite.
At this point Serra would be the strongest projected challenger, but doesn't factor in post-season play. There are a few things to remember though before anointing Bellarmine as the WCAL's best team. The biggest concern is that of the Bells 10 wins last season 5 were by 3 points - that's correct 5 wins by a total of 15 points [SI, Mitty, SF, VC & Milpitas]. It again says a lot for the coaching in that they know how to stay within striking distance & pull out the close wins, while on the flip side Bells scored more than 21 points only once against the 8 best teams they faced. Other than Franklin in the first game, when the Bells fell behind they did not show they could overcome a deficit of more than 7 points falling to VC 42-17, Serra 28-14 and SHP 14-0. Bellarmine is traditionally a grind it out offense and gang-tackling defense. Martig & Macauley give the Bells big play capability and they'll certainly need it this season with their schedule. If the Bells can avoid injuries to the key returning players and again win the close games they'll stand a good chance of meeting expectations. It will be interesting to see what changes if any coach Janda makes on offense based upon the season ending shut-out to SHP looking ahead to Franklin & Del Oro.

Next Up: Sneak peak at Palma & SHP

 

[farmair3]

fairmar - you're possibly over-reacting to the sanctions against Serra as a "fatal blow". The Serra program is highly recognized & respected, whether you hate 'em or luv em [the WCAL & Serra that is]. Despite the CCS majority board of public school coaches of which a group supported the punishment sanctions, most fans & media are in Serra's corner on this one. I posted on another forum the deletion of Serra from CCS playoffs only waters down the the playoffs & overall fan interest, thus lessening CCS fan income which was the intent of the consolation bracket .
Ex-Commish Nancy Lazenby-Blaser had many blunders of excessive punishment of schools/teams during her tenure & this one quite possibly gets the trophy for biggest debacle. Serra is a highly recognized program in NorCal & will undoubtebly survive Commish Nancy's misapplication of her CCS position authority. Wouldn't it be sumthin' if Serra did beat DLS?? Season over..

I was only simply commenting on these next 2 years should the sanctions hold. I have absolutely nothing against Serra. In fact I think the sanctions are rubbish and the new commish should make his own decision on this matter. Whether you are a great program or not, to lose 2 years of playoffs is tragic.

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Nice preview of Bellarmine. Regarding Aptos - they lose a very good QB that ran their Wing T offense to perfection. They do do return one of their top players in RB/LB Ben Sherrifs. I actually think Bellarmine will defeat Atps pretty soundly. I just don't think Aptos will match up at all with the Bells speed or be able to stop the Bells Big play capabilities. Aptos line isn't very big so they won't have a physical advantage. They will be a good D3 team that runs the Wing T really well. I hear they have a RB transfer (may be a rumor), but even so they won't matchup with Bellarmine.

I watched the VC v Milpitas game last season and VC had the fumbleroosky problem whenever they started rolling and killed their momentum. Milpitas was a formidable team, but it should have been much closer. VC will have a couples special RBs....Morian Walker II, Sr, RB/DB, 6-2, 210, should have a big year at RB. He and C. Johnson were the difference in the 14-7 playoff win over Palma. VC's skill players will have size and speed like a D1 college team next year and a line close to it. I think they will be similar to last season and possibly better.

I do think the Bells could be a very explosive offense. Not many high schools will have as much speed as they will have. Overall though there is lots of speed in the WCAL between Bells, St Francis, Serra and VC. Could be a strong year in the WCAL at least at the top.

 

[Rmbr26]

I was only simply commenting on these next 2 years should the sanctions hold. I have absolutely nothing against Serra. In fact I think the sanctions are rubbish and the new commish should make his own decision on this matter. Whether you are a great program or not, to lose 2 years of playoffs is tragic.

farmair3 - I did not take your post as anything negative towards Serra & simply voicing my on-going displeasure with Nancy & the public school members who acted as her cheerleaders. I agree the sanctions are "rubbish" and literally only punish the kids who the CCS should be representing first. Encapsulated we're talking about "scrimmage games" whose outcome and stats were not recognized by anyone or entered into any record books as "official games" counting towards anything - ie: meaningless. Now you have kids at Serra this year & next who will never get to experience a post season game - something taken away that can never be given back AND they had nothing to do with the situation. Tragic.

OK back to actual football games & players. NorCal do you know who will be the starting QB for Aptos? They certainly had a solid team last season including their win over St. Ignatius [whom the Bells only beat by 3 points 31-28]. What do think will possibly be the point spread for the Bells [up slightly from last season] versus Aptos [down slightly from last season]? As for fast, Macauley & Martig of Bellarmine are both faster than most fans realize [I follow track as well as NorCal who posted top track times previously]. Bellarmine's multi-position player Kyle Macauley had the fastest 100M time in CCS last season at 10.69 while Martig was in the top 10 at 11.00 which is quite unusal for a HS QB. Bells also have Devon Buenrostro another RB who is 3rd fastest on the Bells team and clocked an 11.05 in the 100M [11th fastest in CCS].

Will be curious to see who is QB for VC and what changes have been made on offense.

 

[jordan24]

OK back to actual football games & players. NorCal do you know who will be the starting QB for Aptos? They certainly had a solid team last season including their win over St. Ignatius [whom the Bells only beat by 3 points 31-28]. What do think will possibly be the point spread for the Bells [up slightly from last season] versus Aptos [down slightly from last season]? As for fast, Macauley & Martig of Bellarmine are both faster than most fans realize [I follow track as well as NorCal who posted top track times previously]. Bellarmine's multi-position player Kyle Macauley had the fastest 100M time in CCS last season at 10.69 while Martig was in the top 10 at 11.00 which is quite unusal for a HS QB. Bells also have Devon Buenrostro another RB who is 3rd fastest on the Bells team and clocked an 11.05 in the 100M [11th fastest in CCS].

Macauley and Martig are blurs. Riordan also has some pretty good speed this season as well as proven breakaway threats in QB Luavasa, RB/WR/KR Sanders and WR/KR/ PR Verba-Hamilton. ARHS placed 3rd in the WCAL Track Finals. Riordan's Verba-Hamilton placed 6th (3 higher finishers were football players) and 3rd respectively in the WCAL finals in the 100M and 200M dashes. Sanders did not run track last season. Sr's Raymone Sanders RB, Isaiah Davis LB and Stanton Thomas are clocked at sub 4.6 in the 40yd dash.

 

[Rmbr26]

jordan - Riordan I'd noticed has some good speed as well as you've mentioned several times last season & above. I think things are looking up for Riordan this season and they could surprise some teams. Of note I noticed another team though not WCAL has a lot of speed of the top 10 teams listed for CCS, which is Palma. I did not realize that Palma's Emilio Martinez was a sprinter in the 100M and clocked 11.15 in CCS. Martinez had a big year last season as a soph and is 5'9-180 as a junior. Palma also has another "burner" in Kevin Telford who clocked a 11.16 in 100M CCS track. St. Francis travels to Palma for their final pre-season game on Sept. 11th & will likely have their hands full with one Mr. Emilio Martinez [not sure what position Kevin Telford plays for Palma who is also a junior if perhaps NorCalSportsFan could give us some insight]. NorCal - any insight on the SF-Palma game?

 

[TedSmithers]

Macauley and Martig are blurs. Riordan also has some pretty good speed this season as well as proven breakaway threats in QB Luavasa, RB/WR/KR Sanders and WR/KR/ PR Verba-Hamilton. ARHS placed 3rd in the WCAL Track Finals. Riordan's Verba-Hamilton placed 6th (3 higher finishers were football players) and 3rd respectively in the WCAL finals in the 100M and 200M dashes. Sanders did not run track last season. Sr's Raymone Sanders RB, Isaiah Davis LB and Stanton Thomas are clocked at sub 4.6 in the 40yd dash.

How nice...We're back to jackrabbit talk after 2 weeks of talking about REAL WCAL teams. So your boys have some decent jackrabbit speed this year...but, the real question is....Do you have any THUMPERS this year????...I miss the thumpers...

Is it safe to assume that this is another subtle, dropped note for the upcoming jackrabbit domination of WCAL?

 

[jordan24]

How nice...We're back to jackrabbit talk after 2 weeks of talking about REAL WCAL teams. So your boys have some decent jackrabbit speed this year...but, the real question is....Do you have any THUMPERS this year????...I miss the thumpers...

Is it safe to assume that this is another subtle, dropped note for the upcoming jackrabbit domination of WCAL?

Not even close to boasting of a "jackrabbit domination" Ted...They had the speed last year, but it was grossly underused in the previous coach's offensive scheme. It will be interesting how Coach Fordon uses his skill players this year. He may be the new head coach, but he does have one year under his belt being the DC.
Rmbr, Yes. I would include Palma, Serra, VC and SF along with Bellarmine as having very good speed this season.
On another note, it looks like the Crusaders are looking at CCSF and/or Terra Nova as home field sites for its Varsity and JV this season as funding still has not been secured for the field renovation. Makes sense to provide a suitable playing field for the players...
http://www.prep2prep.com/feature.aspx?ArticleID=4468

 

[NorCalSportsFan]

Other Palma speed on football team...my nephew, a junior, who also plays on the football team is the fastest player on the team. He will probably be a kickoff and punt returner. He had a hamstring issue the later part of the track season that kind of hurt his peak, but he is a top 10 in CCS for his class. Probably will also play some CB and slot. Telford, mentioned above, had a hammy problem as well that slowed him down and he is still recovering, but he is the type of RB that can get 1,000+ yards as well. He is a RB to watch as well...very quick and finds holes, and also a very good defender. They also have a WR in the class that has good sized, hands, and started excelling in the 200M and 400M last season in track that will at least rotate at WR as well and maybe defense . They should be very strong in the 400x100 relay next year and could be a favorite the following year.

Palma and SF should be a good game. Palma's offense should be better than last year and defense as good. Overall I think this is a physically stronger team and the will have balance on offense. Martinez at RB will open more eyes (very strong- benches aroun 300lbs)....he is at another level physically and faster than last season. I will provide a profile on Palma and matchup analysis before they play. If SF defense isn't as good as last season, Palma offense may be a tough matchup. I think SF offense though could be very good. Palma shut down SF last season, but I think their offense this season will have more speed and a QB with another year experience.Should be a great game to see.

I believe Aptos QB between: Kyle Marks, Sr, QB/RB - runs Wing T well as far as fakes and mobile. Passes some, but more play action short to intermediate. Looks pretty mobile; Gavin Glaum, Jr, 6-1, 170, mobile but not super fast. Joey Riccabona, Jr, runs Wing T well. Short pass accurate. Mobile. On film Marks looks like he might be the better, but not sure. Last years QB is a level above athletically than this year it seems. Aptos runs the Wing T really well, but line is very small. They are scrappy though but I don't think they will be as good as last season. Have to play real disciplined on defense and their RBs are good - Sherrif is very good.

 

[colhenrylives]

Another prep website is reporting that Riordan may play its home games away from Phelan Avenue in 2015. Anyone have more info on that?

 

[jordan24]

Another prep website is reporting that Riordan may play its home games away from Phelan Avenue in 2015. Anyone have more info on that?

ColHenry, I posted the link in my earlier post today. Here you go:
http://www.prep2prep.com/feature.aspx?ArticleID=4468

 

[FUBO]

Can't get the link to work, does it say why or if it is for sure?

 

[jordan24]

Can't get the link to work, does it say why or if it is for sure?

Here's the article:
By JOHN MURPHY
Prep2Prep.com
August 13, 2015
Riordan athletic director Mike Gilleran said there is a “very good” chance the Crusaders will play their home football games at either City College of San Francisco or Terra Nova High in Pacifica or a combination of both.

The Crusaders normally play on the Riordan campus.

“There is nothing finalized, but we’re concerned about the sprinkler system which is ancient” Gilleran said. “We can’t properly water the field and with El Nino coming, when it hits the field could be in bad shape. I don’t think we can wait around until the rain comes on a Thursday and we play Saturday. We have to act now.”

The recent drought has also made things dicey for the Crusaders.

Gilleran said the move is “not 100 percent” but he is talking to both CCSF and Terra Nova and said those schools have been cooperative. No matter what the varsity and junior varsity teams do (they play double-headers), the freshman team will probably continue to play at Riordan, Gilleran said.

Riordan associated athletic director Bob Greene further illuminated the situation:

"We are currently in talks with both City College of San Francisco and Terra Nova High School about moving home games to those respective sites for this coming season," Greene said via email. "Though not all details are confirmed as of now, it appears we will be using both of these sites to host our respective JV and varsity home games. At this time, our four freshman level home dates, along with practices for all three levels of our football program, will remain on our campus, at Crusader Field. That may change depending on the condition of the field going forward.

"The bottom line is that though the field remains playable, we do not feel that the current quality of the field allows us to compete, specifically at the varsity level, in the fashion that we hope to. Furthermore, the possibility of large amounts of rain leaving our field unplayable and forcing last minute changes to WCAL varsity contests was something that we wanted to avoid and moving the games to the aforementioned sites ensures that we will have a suitable site to host these most critical contests.

"As for the long term plans for our field, the goal remains to raise the needed funds to upgrade the facility with a modern turf playing surface, though the timeline of this project has not been finalized."

If Riordan moves its home game, it would be the second San Francisco WCAL school in as many years to do so. Last year Sacred Heart Cathedral moved its home games mostly to Terra Nova due to a new running track and other improvements that went in at Kezar Stadium. The Fightin’ Irish also played one home game at Westmoor High in Daly City. The Irish return to Kezar this season for their home games.

One bright note for Riordan is it is scheduled to play its first four games on the road this season anyway.

 

[FUBO]

thanks