Folsom’s Tre Green scores one of the two TDs he had in 68-7 win last Friday over Oceanside in CIF D1 state final. The Bulldogs moved up to No. 2 in this season’s final state rankings. Photo: Phillip Walton/SportStars.
It ended up being a No. 1 and No. 2 sweep for Northern California in the final Cal-Hi Sports State 25 overall football rankings, which is unusual, but doesn’t match the 1-2-3-4 sweep that took place in the same final rankings for 2011.
For official announcement of De La Salle as the 2014 State Team of the Year, CLICK HERE.
Heading into the CIF state bowl games, De La Salle of Concord had moved into the No. 1 position after season-long leader St. John Bosco of Bellflower had lost to Centennial of Corona in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division final.
The Spartans stay there after their 63-42 win over Centennial from last Saturday in the CIF Open Division bowl game, but there was a switch at No. 2 as unbeaten Folsom did more than enough in the CIF Division I bowl game to warrant a move up from No. 3 with Centennial dropped into that third spot.
In addition to toppling previously unbeaten Oceanside 68-7 in that last game, Folsom also became the state’s highest scoring team for one season ever and will go down with QB Jake Browning as the nation’s most prolific passing team for one season ever.
Folsom’s No. 2 finish in the state matches the program’s position from 2010 when it defeated both Grant of Sacramento and Serra of Gardena to win its first CIF state title (that title came in Division II). The Bulldogs actually had a loss that season, but it was to Grant in the first game and later avenged.
That 2010 season also was the one when Centennial was heavily favored in the CIF Division I bowl game against Palo Alto and lost 15-13 to the unbeaten Vikings. Paly thus ended No. 3 in the state and Grant was still very highly regarded despite the one loss to Folsom and ended at No. 4.
Going back further into the archives, there was almost another No. 1 and No. 2 finish for Northern California for 1998 when it was De La Salle at No. 1 and Elk Grove at No. 3. That was the Thundering Herd team led by Lance Briggs (now of the Chicago Bears) that went unbeaten and is regarded along with this year’s Folsom team and Cordova of Rancho Cordova of 1975 as the best ever from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section.
Elk Grove’s 1998 team, however, was ranked behind 13-1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana, which won the CIF Southern Section’s top division, lost only to De La Salle (the first year those two monster programs played) and knocked off an unbeaten team from Long Beach Poly in its final outing.
Here is a final look at the list of this year’s State 25 football rankings:
Note: This year’s expanded final overall state rankings – 50 teams in all – plus more teams on the bubble as well as our final expanded rankings for every CIF state bowl game division north and south will be for our Gold Club members only. To get your Gold Club membership, it’s just $19.79 for one year and you can get it right now by CLICKING HERE.
(Previous ranking in parentheses; after all games played in 2014 season)
Gold Medal Excellence founder and speed coach Chris Asher (far right) worked with NFL standout Antonio Cromartie (far left) during the summer and helped Cromartie get down to 4.32 in the 40. Two others Chris worked with were Cordarol Scales and Marcus Cromartie. If you think your game needs some speed, contact Coach Asher today. You can connect with him by email at Chris.Asher@goldmedalexcellence.com, follow him on Twitter @GMEChrisAsher and Instagram at @goldmedalexcellence_chrisasher.
To see pictures and training videos, CLICK HERE.
1. (1) DE LA SALLE (CONCORD) 14-0
2. (3) FOLSOM 16-0
3. (2) CENTENNIAL (CORONA) 12-3
4. (4) ST. JOHN BOSCO (BELLFLOWER) 12-2
5. (6) LONG BEACH POLY (LONG BEACH) 11-2
6. (7) BISHOP AMAT (LA PUENTE) 9-4
7. (8) JSERRA (SJ CAPISTRANO) 10-2
8. (9) MATER DEI (SANTA ANA) 9-3
9. (10) SERRA (GARDENA) 8-3
10. (5) OCEANSIDE 14-1
11. (12) MISSION VIEJO 12-2
12. (14) GRANT (SACRAMENTO) 14-1
13. (13) CRESPI (ENCINO) 9-2
14. (15) SACRED HEART PREP (ATHERTON) 13-0
15. (20) REDLANDS EAST VALLEY (REDLANDS) 15-1
16. (11) CLAYTON VALLEY (CONCORD) 15-1
17. (21) CAMPOLINDO (MORAGA) 16-0
18. (18) WESTLAKE (WESTLAKE VILLAGE) 8-3
19. (23) ALEMANY (MISSION HILLS) 7-3
20. (24) ST. MARY’S (STOCKTON) 12-2
21. (19) SANTA MARGARITA (RANCHO SM) 6-5
22. (16) EL CAPITAN (LAKESIDE) 14-1
23. (22) HELIX (LA MESA) 10-3
24. (17) EDISON (FRESNO) 12-2
25. (25) CATHEDRAL CATHOLIC (SAN DIEGO) 10-2
Dropped Out:
None.Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
5 Comments
Mark, some final thoughts and observations.
1. The 49ers have faltered, but Northern California has high school football.
2. De La Salle is ready for Bishop Gorman. Folsom was ready for De La Salle. It’s just a shame that the State CIF acted to take that game away. On the other hand, Folsom got their state title.
3. MaxPreps has little credibility. I couldn’t believe it when I saw their rankings on
t.v. prior to the state finals.They had Centennial at No. 1 and St. John Bosco at No.2, with DLS only No. 3, and Folsom way down in the top 10. Yet the television media continues to quote them and show their rankings instead of Cal Hi’s.
4. The San Diego Section is not quite as strong as some believe.
5. By placing it’s best teams in a single outrageous monster division, and continuing to feed it, the Southern Section is preventing it’s own schools from competing for state championships. (By this I mean that there are a number of schools in the Pac5, highly ranked by Cal Hi, with D2 and D3 enrollments, such as Alemany, Crespi, Bishop Amat, Serra). It just seems unfair to me in a way. I understand they want to level their own competition, but this is reducing the overall strength of teams representing the south.
6. If Centennial is not moved to the Pac5 this year, staying where they were, they could have played Folsom after beating Oceanside in the regional. That would have made a much more competitive game than what we got in D1. Then Bosco would have come from the Pac5 and had a competitive rematch with DLS.
7. Folsom and DLS still win.
Congrats on another year of great football coverage.
Happy Holidays.
Thanks, Phil, for your contributions in our comments section all season. Wish more would join you. Unfortunately as I have learned in last few years, the TV media and high school fans in general don’t give a rat’s ass who is compiling ratings and about credibility. MaxPreps pays the CIF, gets promoted by the CIF. We at least have many in the newspaper media who routinely mention our rankings (some more than MaxPreps) and we are just myself and a couple of part-timers. Not exactly 40-50 people like they have in Cameron Park.
I like most of your points and I would have loved to see Folsom vs. DLS or Folsom vs. Centennial with SJB vs. DLS..or better yet, the round robin top 4. However 3 comments,
1) MaxPreps Computer rankings I have discovered are indeed rediculous as they had Folsom dropping a ton after a win over Tracy and Grant. However, it does seem to even out at the end of the season.
2) They do have the Xcellent 25 which is based upon people and this I tend to see much more value in and it compares well to the Cal-Hi but also includes non-CA schools
3) I also and still have the belief that CalHi has a bias toward DLS. DLS has been incredible and they deserve upmost respect. However, MaxPreps always has DLS as #1 in Norcal but they give a lot more credit to the SJS than does CalHi and it never comes across as DLS bias as I always see that from CalHi. CalHi did a better job this year with Folsom and Grant gettig more respect but their reviews of DLS are almost always overthe top as if they are God’s gift to HS Football. In this I absolutely believe MaxPreps is more fair.
Mark, thanks for another great year of coverage.
Mark, your HS sports coverage is always the best!!!
your friend, Gabe