Narbonne drops from No. 5 down to No. 9 after loss to Cathedral Catholic. The biggest question was which team to list No. 10 in place of Calabasas, a team still playing or one that has lost in a higher division?
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(After games of Saturday, Dec. 10)
(Previous ranking in parentheses)
*Season complete.
1. (1) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 12-2
Getting ready for Saturday’s CIF Open Division state final vs. De La Salle, Braves had to notice Stockton St. Mary’s (team they beat 55-16) advancing to CIF D1-AA final.
Mater Dei head coach Bruce Rollinson accepts runner-up plaque after last week’s CIF Southern Section Division I title game. Photo: Mark Tennis.
2. (2) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 13-1*
The final ranking for the Monarchs, who lost to Bosco in CIFSS D1 final after beating them earlier in the season, will either be No. 2 or No. 3.
3. (3) Centennial (Corona) 11-2*
Huskies have decided to play IMG Academy again in the next Honor Bowl.
4. (4) De La Salle (Concord) 11-1
Getting ready for Saturday’s CIF Open Division state final vs. St. John Bosco, Spartans had to notice that a Freedom team they beat 42-7 hung in there with Stockton St. Mary’s until the end of NorCal D1-AA final.
5. (6) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 14-0
Shawn Poma scored four times as the Dons beat previous No. 5 Narbonne 35-28 in CIF SoCal D1-AA title game.
6. (7) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 14-1
Despite giving up a pick six and a kickoff return TD, the Rams still won in NorCal D1-AA final 49-40 over Freedom of Oakley.
7. (8) Rancho Cucamonga 12-1*
With Narbonne no longer unbeaten, the Cougars edge back up one spot in this week’s rankings.
8. (9) Mission Viejo 11-1*
The Diablos could still move up two more spots in next week’s final rankings but would stay behind Rancho Cucamonga (head-to-head loss).
9. (5) Narbonne (Harbor City) 14-1*
QB Jalen Chatman established himself as one of the state’s top juniors during the season.
10. (12) Freedom (Oakley) 11-2
Close nature of how the Falcons played in loss to St. Mary’s allows them to move up this week with previous No. 10 Calabasas taking a huge drop and previous No. 11 Edison losing to three-loss San Clemente.
6 Comments
*note, please see my post on the Friday CIF regional scoreboard. Because I would reference some of what I said there here. I just for the life of me don’t understand how SM can lose to Bosco, without Dusty Frampton, and fall completely out of your top 25. But freedom and its 2 loses are still in the top 10. AND, rancho c & MV still have the ability to move up considering they have not played a meaningful game since what, Thanksgiving?!?! That means SM, DLS or CC will get bumped by RC & MV depending on who loses in their respective SBG. This isn’t a SM not getting respect post, it is just I don’t get the logic behind some of the rankings. Valley Christian is playing in the what, 4th best game SBG, has only one loss, co champs of one of the actual toughest leagues in the state, the WCAL, with 2 teams still playing for a SBC (SFL & Delta in SJS overrated in my opinion. SM handled top 2 teams from SFL coming from the TCAL which sent 3 teams to the offs) and will valley Christian even be ranked in the top 25? Comparative score isn’t a true indicator on who is better, because certain teams and styles/schemes match up differently and better with certain teams, schemes/styles. Head to head is probably best. Then strength of schedule. Anyways, curious to hear your thoughts. On another note, I appreciate your forum for us fans of high school football and I respect your opinion and your readiness to answer most if not all post. Hey, that’s why I paid for the subscription! You are a class act Mark. Hope to meet you Friday night in Sac State!
We knew at the time SM dropped that far that it was likely going to come back up and said so at the time. It’s early on, so a lot of teams are still in the mix. Right now, there are few teams in the mix. The same reasons we have not ranked a NorCal team ahead of DLS also will still apply even if DLS loses by 50 and SM wins by 50, not that either is likely to happen this weekend. And in my professional opinion, every team in the NCS hopes its the one to finally beat DLS. Freedom has never won a section title before so to claim that the kids quit or didn’t try to win is disrespectful of their efforts and their character. Thanks for continuing to comment.
I meant no disrespect to the Freedom program. I watched the game on game night and on hudl multiple times. Mark, the team SM played was not the same team I watched on game night and on hudl against DeLaSalle. Once the game got away early, they showed a different level of fight than what we saw. DeLaSalle isn’t THAT good man. Plus, there was no sense of urgency because a loss meant, a date with SM playing for a D1-AA SBG bid. Now, I will say, Freedom matches up better against a team like SM as opposed to DeLaSalle based on styles. Hey, what we do know and what most people thought, the top two NorCal teams, SM & DLS, will be represented in the top two SBGs.
I only have one question…
Mr Tennis can you name any other NorCal program, regardless of the league that scheduled any of your top 3 teams in the state during regular season? Can you name me any NotCal program who scheduled 3 Section champions in one season? Can you name me one NorCal program that played 5 playoff teams in all 5 non-league games….???
Last chip off my shoulder… ask Bosco or Cathedral Catholic or any SoCal team to get up at 4am… the day of there game. Get to school by 6am, leave to an airport 1 hour away… then take a delayed flight… arrive to there destination only to be another hour from the hotel… and then made to wait in a lobby until 3pm… relax for 30 minutes… have your team meeting and meal.. them leave to the biggest game of the year… another 45 minutes away… and not have 3 of your top players…. is a lot to ask from ANY team… I dont care who it is..
What Ncs Should have done was have the loser of the Ncs Open play the winner of the section for a chance at the 1A state. Made the NCS open play the SJS winner… winner goes to Open, loser goes to 1AA. Because I will alway say u til someone proves me wrong… De La Salle wanted NO PART of St Mary’s, not a scrimmage, not a non-league game nothing… they new that thenclass of 2017 beatvthere class of 2017 handidly twice before,
Guess by your reasoning we should rank Pittsburg ahead of DLS next year because Pitt is going to play Centennial. DLS by the way played two section champions and one state champion and eight teams that were in the playoffs.
And your point about the travel to Bosco should be a negative to St. Mary’s not a positive. That was poor planning on their part. When Bosco comes up next fall, are they going to fly in on the day of the game? Bet you 20 bucks they’re not. They know better. Take a bus the day before, do a walk-through practice the night before the game, get some good rest at a hotel, play the game the next night, get on the bus and go home afterward. Why should a team be given credit for bad planning?
Del Oro won a sophomore game a few years ago vs. DLS too, but when it was varsity last season not close. Who cares about freshman and JV scores? They don’t count on a school’s all-time logs. Varsity games are all that matters.
Fred,
I have to agree with Mark. The school leadership did your guys wrong by not having the team go down to southern Cal a day early. Even without the delays and missing players, it would have been tough to beat SJB arriving the same day. I do know you guys are well prepared to bring the state title back to northern California. Hopefully the injuries I read about last week were not too bad and you guys will be at full strength.