Amador Valley climbs the ladder eight spots in anticipation of rivalry game vs. No. 3 Foothill. California also gets props after knocking off Monte Vista while this week’s only newcomer is Los Gatos.
Note: For this week’s Gold Club post highlighting the State Top 25 overall rankings, CLICK HERE.
With section playoffs coming up shortly and the North Coast Section using strictly enrollment and not “competitive equity” for its playoff structure, this is the week the larger school teams that must either play and/or face a bracket with De La Salle in it make upward movement and pass the smaller schools albeit if only temporarily.
Justin Locklear has been the leading rusher this season for California of San Ramon. Photo: Paul Muyskens.
The biggest examples are Amador Valley, California and Freedom. Amador Valley is in a position to get a piece of the East Bay Athletic League title if the Dons can upset Foothill this week so moving them ahead of Marin Catholic and Cardinal Newman made perfect sense, particularly if you look at the Dons’ losses compared to the losses of the two smaller schools. They even get to go ahead of the Freedom team that beat them but that will be temporary too unless Amador Valley pulls it off against its crosstown arch rival.
For Freedom, it gets a bump because of strength of schedule and the fact the team has a win over Amador Valley. If you examine the Falcons’ record, you’ll see they have some solid wins and their losses are all to teams ranked ahead of them.
California gets to come up with last week’s upset of Monte Vista and the fact its losses are to Foothill, Amador Valley and Pittsburg, and this week the Grizzlies face De La Salle and will have them in their playoff bracket as will Freedom and Amador Valley.
Marin Catholic and Cardinal Newman fans won’t be happy this week, but if their teams get to the NCS Division IV title game like most everyone has it handicapped they will be back in front of just about all the larger schools that passed them by then.
Also of note this week is that after the couple of close, comeback wins by Valley Christian and St. Francis and the blowout win by Bellarmine, the pecking order in the West Catholic Athletic League stayed the same for the first time five weeks.
(Previous ranking in parentheses)
(Through games of Saturday, Oct. 31)
(Includes all Central Coast Section schools but no North Coast Section schools north of the Santa Rosa Metro area)
Linebacker Colt Doughty is one of the top players for newcomer Los Gatos, which has quality wins over St. Mary’s of Stockton and Wilcox. Photo: StudentSports.com.
1. (1) De La Salle (Concord) 8-1
2. (2) Clayton Valley (Concord) 8-1
3. (3) Foothill (Pleasanton) 9-0
4. (4) Bellarmine (San Jose) 7-1
5. (6) Pittsburg 8-1
6. (7) Antioch 9-0
7. (8) St. Francis (Mountain View) 6-1
8. (9) Valley Christian (San Jose) 7-1
9. (12) Campolindo (Moraga) 8-1
10. (5) Monte Vista (Danville) 6-3
11. (10) Archbishop Riordan (SF) 6-2
12. (11) Serra (San Mateo) 4-4
13. (21) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 7-2
14. (16) Milpitas 6-2
15. (23) California (San Ramon) 6-3
16. (13) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 8-1
17. (14) Palma (Salinas) 7-1
18. (20) Freedom (Oakley) 5-4
19. (18) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 4-3
20. (17) James Logan (Union City) 6-3
21. (19) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 7-2
22. (22) Analy (Sebastopol) 9-0
23. (24) Oak Grove (San Jose) 6-2
24. (NR) Los Gatos 5-3
25. (25) Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 8-1
Dropped Out: Previous No. 15 Miramonte (Orinda).
Teams On the Bubble
(Alphabetical order)
Aptos 4-4, Burlingame 7-1, Dublin 7-2, Justin-Siena (Napa) 7-2, Live Oak (Morgan Hill) 7-1, Miramonte (Orinda) 8-1, McClymonds (Oakland) 9-0, Menlo-Atherton (Atherton) 5-3, Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville) 7-1, Piedmont 7-2, Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) 5-3, Salinas 6-3, San Benito (Hollister) 6-2, San Ramon Valley (Danville) 3-6, Tennyson (Hayward) 8-1, Wilcox (Santa Clara) 6-2.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
