Junior Jack Dryer and his team at Serra of San Mateo have a chance to win the CIF D1 state bowl game. His twin sister, Alexa, won a CIF state title in volleyball on Saturday as a member of the Archbishop Mitty girls team. Yes, they do go to different high schools.
Check here for teams we think will get bowl bids in next week’s Northern California regional bowls and for those that we are recommending to get picked. All divisions are now complete, led by De La Salle vs. Folsom for Open Division.
(All selections for the CIF regional bowl games – north and south – will be made on Sunday morning by a committee comprised of the 10 CIF section commissioners. The announcement of teams selected will be made at approximately 1 p.m. via the CIF Facebook and Twitter page. Watch the Time Warner Cable Selection Show online throughout the state that also begins at 1 p.m. Cal-Hi Sports editor Mark Tennis is scheduled to be on the program.)
Please check out and bookmark our new Cal-Hi Sports Insider Blog: CalHiSports.com/blog For simple updates and insights, check out our twitter page @CalHiSports and for other updates please visit our Facebook page.
For breakdowns and analysis like this every week during the school year, join our Gold Club membership. For details, CLICK HERE.
RELATED: CIF SoCal Bowl Game Breakdowns | Updated CIF Bowl Game Rankings | Week 15 Top 25 Scoreboard
OPEN DIVISION
Should be picked: De La Salle of Concord (13-0) vs. Folsom (14-0)
Will be picked: Same
Case for De La Salle: The Spartans won their 22nd straight CIF North Coast Section title on Saturday with a 49-17 win over California of San Ramon. They have won 39 straight games, four straight CIF Open Division bowl games and have been No. 1 in the state 17 times since 1992. Not much else needs to be said.
Case for Folsom: The Bulldogs were coming in after a less-than-impressive 42-35 win over Jesuit of Carmichael, but topped Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills 49-17 to win the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I crown on Saturday. They have been No. 2 behind DLS in Northern California overall since the preseason and lost to the Spartans in last year’s NorCal D1 bowl game.
DIVISION I
Should be picked: Serra of San Mateo (12-2) vs. Del Oro of Loomis (12-2).
Will be picked: Same
Case for Serra: With DLS and Folsom in the Open Division and no teams from a lower division with a case to be moved up, the next two NorCal teams for the bowl games would be the Padres along with Del Oro. Serra stamped its ticket for a bowl game by surging past Archbishop Mitty of San Jose 21-7 in Friday night’s CIF Central Coast Section Open Division championship. It is the first CCS Open Division title for Serra head coach Patrick Walsh, a member of the De La Salle Hall of Fame.
Case for Del Oro: A furious rally by the Golden Eagles pushed them past Elk Grove 20-19 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D2 championship. Del Oro, which played Helix of La Mesa in the D2 state bowl game in 2011, was trailing 19-0 in the second half. Del Oro’s two losses are two bigger schools De La Salle and Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks.
Watch Varsity Roundup at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays on Channel 354 in L.A. and on Channel 825 in San Diego.
DIVISION II
Should be picked: Enterprise of Redding (12-0) vs. Manteca (13-1).
Will be picked: Same.
Case for Enterprise: All week after the Hornets won the CIF Northern Section D1 title with a 40-14 romp past Paradise, it’s been speculated that this division could have four teams on the board all with a legitimate case to be in the game. Since two of those teams lost on Saturday, Enterprise will end up as the only undefeated team in contention for the pick and therefore will be too difficult to deny despite strength of schedule concerns. Enterprise only has a 23-22 win over Oakdale (which Manteca beat by 15) but also has a 28-3 win over West Valley of Cottonwood (strong contender for D3 North bowl) and two romps past Paradise (a perennial power in the section). All the comparisons involving Manteca, in the final analysis, may not matter because both may get in.
Case for Manteca: If St. Francis of Mountain View had won on Saturday and gotten bowl eligible, we think the Buffaloes would have been in trouble due to their loss to Wilcox of the CIF Central Coast Section. The line of argument about St. Francis having a win over CCS Open Division champ Serra and therefore being higher than Wilcox within the CCS may have really hurt. Los Gatos, though, took care of that argument with a 31-14 win over the Lancers on Saturday night. Manteca also, after all, also won by a huge margin in its section final 49-6 over a Sacramento High team that also beat Oakdale by more than one point.
Case for Miramonte: It doesn’t look good for the Matadors in a comparison against Manteca, but the strength of schedule argument could still come into play against Enterprise. This is a team that just knocked off Casa Grande of Petaluma, 41-28, in the NCS D2 final and Casa Grande was the team at 13-0 coming in that looked like it might potentially be the top team on the board in this division. The Matadors also beat Clayton Valley of Concord in the semifinals 44-38 when Clayton Valley also had been No. 1 in the division. The minus point for Miramonte’s case is a 45-14 loss to Marin Catholic and a 38-10 loss to Campolindo of Moraga. Both were early in the season and if we actually had state playoffs the Mats might now be better than any D2 squad in the north. Unfortunately, that’s not the situation here and those two losses are too much to overcome compared to Enterprise and Manteca.
Case for Los Gatos: The Wildcats are a lot like Miramonte and would be a hot D2 North team and no one might want to play. They heated up in their final regular season game under new head coach Mark Krail with a 59-34 win over Milpitas, which sent Milpitas out of the CCS Open Division. Los Gatos continued in the CCS D2 playoffs with a win over Menlo-Atherton (avenging an earlier loss) and then beat St. Francis 31-14 on Saturday night. Another loss, this one 42-7 to Wilcox, is the one that does them in for a bowl berth because Manteca’s loss to the Chargers in a much closer game.
DIVISION III
Should be picked: El Cerrito (11-2) vs. Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton (12-1)
Will be picked: Could see this one flipping to West Valley of Cottonwood (12-1) instead of Sacred Heart Prep.
Case for El Cerrito: Adoree’ Jackson of Gardena Serra may be out of the state bowls, but El Cerrito has a player that at least approaches Jackson as an electrifying talent and that’s UCLA commit Adarius Pickett. He scored four times and rushed for 255 yards in the Gauchos’ 54-38 win over previously unbeaten Marin Catholic of Kentfield in Friday’s NCS Division III championship. El Cerrito avenged one of its losses to Campolindo of Moraga with a win over the Cougars in the semifinals and its only other loss was to Bellarmine of San Jose.
Case for Sacred Heart Prep: The Gators were a close second as a one-loss team last year to unbeaten Sutter of the CIF Northern Section and probably shouldn’t be second again to a Northern Section team that has a loss. Their 56-21 win on Saturday against Pacific Grove came against a Breakers’ team that had just knocked off Carmel (unbeaten at the time and has a win over Palma of Salinas). SHP also has a win over Menlo-Atherton (which remember beat Los Gatos early in the season) and its only loss is to CCS Open Division member Terra Nova of Pacifica. The Gators also are now a repeat champion in their CCS division.
Case for West Valley: The Eagles and their fans were very upset to see Pacific Grove ranked above their team last week and that’s understandable. They came up with a convoluted trail of scores – El Cerrito was tied 14-14 with Sutter at halftime, Sutter lost to Central Valley of Lake Shasta 34-31, and Central Valley has two big losses to West Valley 50-13 and 56-28 – to prove their case, but the one score we like is 28-7 over Turlock, a 5-5 D1 school from the Sac-Joaquin Section. Their only loss was 28-3 to unbeaten Enterprise, not a good margin, but according to sources there were injuries involved. What we think could happen is that if Enterprise doesn’t get chosen earlier in the meeting, then when the D3 North vote comes around that West Valley may get the nod since it would be the only other team from the Northern Section with a chance to get picked. If Enterprise has already been voted in, then West Valley’s chances might not be as good.
DIVISION IV
Should be picked: Central Catholic of Modesto (13-1) vs. McClymonds of Oakland (10-2)
Will be picked: Same
Case for Central Catholic: The Raiders are the defending CIF Division IV state bowl champs – they won 66-7 in last year’s D4 state bowl over Santa Fe Christian – and won their second straight Sac-Joaquin Section D4 title on Saturday with a 24-10 victory against previously unbeaten Hilmar. They aren’t as explosive as last year but running back Matt Ringer is a powerhouse and operates behind a massive offensive line.
Case for McClymonds: It’s not any of the wins that jumps out at us about the Warriors, but that they ventured to Modesto earlier this year to take on Central Catholic and lost 38-24. That was closer than the score in last year’s NorCal D4 bowl game and with game-breaking players like Lavance Warren and Lavon Washington it’s a team that could give Central Catholic some problems. None of the other teams on the D4 North board can match them.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports
30 Comments
I understand the concern about CC playing LeGrand, but CC already beat McClymonds and LeGrand hasn’t had the opportunity to play CC. I think LeGrand has earned that right. If I where LeGrand this wouldn’t sit well with me!
Mack is hands down better than LeGrand and stands a better chance of beating Central Catholic. As for LG not getting the “opportunity” to play CC, call them up and put them on next years schedule. Mack did.
The only team of note Le Grand beat was Ripon Christian. They play in a weak league and have an even weaker nonleague schedule.
Correction: This is Serra’s 2nd CCS title under Coach Walsh. Two years ago they won a CCS D1 title, but this is their 1st Open title.
thanks Kevin…I corrected
What about a El Cerrito vs Miramonte matchup since Miramonte is actually a D3 school.
Miramonte is not up for the D3 game. It was in the D2 NCS playoffs and therefore would be in the D2 bowl game mix of teams.
Using that same argument then why is Central Catholic up for small school when they are in DIV-DIII?
I thought that was a great question so I looked around and found this. I’m assuming it’s accurate:
Note: If a D-III section champion is within the D-IV enrollment parameters of 1-500, they will be moved to that division for Bowl Game consideration. If there are no schools available for selection in D-IV, the two smallest remaining D-III schools will become the D-IV representatives. If only one school is available for selection in D-IV, the smallest remaining D-III school will become the other D-IV representative.
Yes, that what it says but should have had additional explanations and criteria. That’s why El Cajon Christian is going to court. Miramonte is D2 North and can’t be considered for D3. It’s not a choice that the commissioners can make today.
And Le Grand is undefeated, division champ, and sitting at home. I guess if the So-Cal school wins in court they can get a lawyer and win on precedence.
I don’t get why you choose to include a criterion that the CIF clearly states is not one. Los Gatos lost a very strange game to Wilcox. That should be considered for your rankings, but not the bowl rankings. According to the CIF rulebook, Manteca should be out.
Milpitas beat Wilcox, who beat Manteca. Milpitas > Manteca.
Los Gatos beat Milpitas. Los Gatos > Milpitas.
That’s two teams over Manteca. This is the same logic that was applied to SoCal in 2007 for the D-I game. Birmingham beat LB Poly, but lost to Crespi. Centennial beat Crespi, so the Huskies got the bid.
By your same logic:
Los Gatos > Milpitas and Milpitas > Wilcox, so then Los Gatos > Wilcox… oh wait.
The problem with rock-scissor-paper arguments is that the converse is also true. Rock>scissor, scissor>paper, does not always mean that rock>paper too.
Milpitas and Los Gatos can be hurt by your very argument just as easily as they’re helped by it. It’s a question of how you choose to frame it.
Wilcox > Los Gatos > Milpitas. Since Manteca only lost by one (on a missed two point conversion at the end of the game) and it’s Manteca’s only loss, it’s better than Los Gatos (and Milpitas based on the argument) since they lost by 35 and have a couple other losses…
Slippery Rock should def be #1!
Yes, it is the same logic as Centennial vs. Birmingham. The common opponent with Los Gatos and Manteca is Wilcox. One was a 42-7 loss, the other one point. Birmingham and Centennial also had a common opponent — Crespi — which was the team Birmingham lost to and was a team Centennial beat. All of the other results are part of strength of schedule not common opponents.
Has it been determined where these Northern California regional bowl games will be played at?
Game locations also to be announced today.
I also would like to know where the playoff games would be played. Hushes stadium for DLS and Folsum?
Guessing Sac State for that game once again. If they keep making DLS having to travel to Sac to play Sac teams every year, it’s not obviously very fair. But a second year in a row will probably be okay.
Mark,
No one in Div II played a tougher schedule than Miramonte.
12 of our 14 games were against Playoff Teams. 6 were League Champions
12 of our 14 games were against larger schools. The two smaller schools we played were private (Catholic) schools that were finalist in the NCS Div III & IV Championships.
Our two losses came to two teams that finished the regular season 20-0.
Opponents Overall Records:
Miramonte: 113-53-1 (highest in NCS including DLS)
Los Gatos: 84-66
Manteca: 83-72
Enterprise: 80-62
Milpitas: 69-74
Galileo: 49-92
Direct opponent by opponent comparison with Manteca:
Mira beats #764 CG Manteca beats #927 Inderkum Mira +1
Mira beats #1148 CV Manteca beats#2105 Sac Mira +2
Mira beats #2179 Analy Manteca beats #2401 Casa Roble Mira +3
Mira beats #2562 Northgate Manteca beats #3319 Oakdale Mira +4
Mira beats #2736 Acalanes Manteca beats #4393 Central Valley
Mira +5
Mira beats #3234 Las Lomas Manteca beats #4393 Central Valley (again) Mira +6
Mira beats ##3445 St. Mary’s Manteca beats #4539 Sierra Los Banos Mira +7
Mira beats #5692 DV Manteca beats #5646 Mira +8
Mira beats #6305 Alameda Manteca beats #6120 Sonora Mira +9
Mira beats #6811 Dublin Manteca beats #7002 Kimball Mira +10
Mira beats #7089 Tennyson Manteca beats #10094 Weston Ranch Mira +11
Mira beats #7179 Alhambra Manteca beats #10819 Lathrop Mira +12
Mira loses #657 Campo Manteca loses #1623 Wilcox Mira +13
So Mark, is Manteca victory over #11682 E. Union so much better than Mira’s loss to #516 Marin Catholic (Defending NorCal Div III Champion) that it swing the entire SOS to Manteca? If so, Mira should drop MC and play E. Union.
Only overall record and SOS are what the committee is “suppose” to look at.
Honestly, I don’t know anything about Miramonte but they’re obviously a great football team. I’m certainly not saying that Manteca is better than them, but I think you might be putting a little too much credence into wins over teams ranked over #5000…
The problem with this system is that it’s a beauty pageant at times in the end and the fact of the matter is that Miramonte was taken out behind the wood shed twice to smaller schools (albeit great ones), while Manteca barely lost once.
For me, Manteca and Miramonte should probably be the two choices. I don’t understand why Enterprise is rated so highly. Their big win was barely beating Oakdale by 1 and Manteca smoked Oakdale.
I was at the game and it was 28-0 before Manteca coasted in with a 15 point victory. It was certainly never a game. Manteca then went on to beat Sac 49-6 which beat Oakdale 41-21 a couple of weeks earlier so beating Oakdale by 1 isn’t something to hang your hat on this year like it is in most years. Manteca was beating Inderkum by 25 with only a few minutes left when they tightened up the score too…
As a Manteca fan and alum, I hope to heck we play Enterprise and avoid a team like Miramonte, but I guess my point is that I think you should have a better shot at knocking Enterprise out if you’re comparing quality wins.
Well Chris you are getting what you want enterprise is coming to Stockton you put so much in that oakdale game but that was enterprises first game of the year I think you are going to find out that Manteca is going to see a line as good or better than them you are going to see five guys on offense who can take it to the house at anytime so you go ahead and keep thinking enterprise is going to be a pushover these boys are ready and they have one hell of a coach
Yeah. It’s awesome. I may even be able to make the game since it’s so close to Manteca. Plus, I can be as overconfident as I want since I’m not playing. It’ll come down to the better team and it sounds like two good ones are playing.
Just kind of thinking about what you said and realizing that the D3 entrant would most likely crush the D2 entrant. Doesn’t look great for whichever northern teams are selected when they head down south… If you put Central Catholic into the mix instead of putting them in the small schools it’d get even more interesting in D3.
At least if they don’t choose Miramonte they can perpetuate the illusion that the D2 school is better…
Thanks, coach.
Don’t want to really get into a back-and-forth with you on this.
Your kids deserve all the consideration they can get.
If we’re wrong on our recommendations and they have chosen your team, congratulations.
We obviously don’t have time on a Saturday night to dig as deep as you did. But we have a criteria we follow as well.
Whoops. Didn’t know you were the actual coach… I thought you were just another blowhard like me. Congrats on your season, but I’m still hoping Manteca avoids you guys! haha.
Seriously, good luck!
Miramonte is a D3 team by enrollment and petitioned up to avoid Marin Catholic, El Cerrito, Campolindo and Encinal in the NCS playoffs. Congratulations on their section title but if the goal was to play in a SBG then they shot themselves in the foot. If they had stayed D3 and beat those teams, then there is no doubt that they would be in a Regional game next week.
I agree with Mike. If Mira had stayed D3, and won NCS, they’d have been guaranteed a regional bowl game appearance. Instead they chose the easier playoff bracket in the fullest Norcal division.
If you want to go off Maxpreps rankings, Enterprise is #29 in the state, Manteca is #56, Miramonte is #70 and Los Gatos is #97.
would anybody know if these games would be televised?