Linebackers James Thomas (a senior) and Blake Antzoulatos (a junior) of No. 6 Chaminade (West Hills) display focus and intensity as their team was playing Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks on Friday. Photo: @SportsRecruits/#D1Bound.com.
For awhile on Friday night, there was the possibility of three major upsets, but none of them happened as No. 3 Centennial rocketed past Norco in the second half, No. 6 Chaminade got a pick six that helped it survive Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks and No. 14 Mission Hills stopped a two-point conversion to turn back Torrey Pines. In the end, the night wound up more as a set up for several huge showdowns next week, including Mission Viejo-San Clemente, De La Salle-San Ramon Valley, Folsom-Oak Ridge and Oakdale-Central Catholic.
Note: On Monday mornings each week, look for a brand new State Top 50 set of football rankings that won’t simply be a list. We’ll have insights and breakdowns based on more than 40 years of going to Friday night games with an overview of the state’s top teams and what’s coming up that just can’t be matched. Each new set of rankings will be for Gold Club members only. The late Friday/Weekend Scoreboards will be free posts and will provide snippets of info, comments and more for the Top 25 teams within the Top 50.
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(Rankings based on last week’s State Top 50 released last Monday)
(Through reported results of Saturday Oct. 28)
1. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 9-0
Defeated No. 21 Lutheran (Orange) 51-21. The Monarchs clinched their second straight Trinity League championship by blasting the Lancers. Junior QB JT Daniels was reported by OCVarsity with 336 yards passing (24 of 33) and five TDs.
2. St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 7-2
Defeated No. 20 Servite (Anaheim) 42-17. According to Long Beach Press-Telegram, George Holani powered up for 209 yards rushing on 20 carries while D.J. Uigalelei passed for four scores.
It was senior night at Corona Centennial where each senior had a banner created as part of the honors. Photo: @Cen10Football/Twitter.com.
3. Centennial (Corona) 7-1
Defeated Norco 63-28. After trailing in the first quarter 14-0 and then being tied at halftime, it was an explosion in the third quarter as four straight scores buried the Cougars. Centennial’s last regular season opponent is Roosevelt (Eastvale).
4. Mission Viejo 9-0
Did not play. The Diablos were on a bye and will return to action next Friday at home against 9-0 San Clemente, which also will be higher than No. 13 in next week’s state rankings. Before the game, the school and community is having a ceremony to honor retiring head coach Bob Johnson, the third winningest in California history.
5. De La Salle (Concord) 8-1
Did not play. Head coach Justin Alumbaugh’s crew was on a bye and will return next Friday at home against 9-0 San Ramon Valley, which also will be higher than No. 15 in next week’s state rankings.
6. Chaminade (West Hills) 8-1
Defeated Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 40-35. The Eagles were trailing 28-27 in the fourth quarter, but scored twice to take a 40-28 lead and then recovered an onside kick after the Knights scored to make it 40-35. Chris Rankins’ interception return TD in the fourth quarter accounted for the second of those late TDs.
7. Folsom 9-0
Defeated Rocklin 46-3. Sophomore Daniyel Ngata (who has to be one of the best soph RBs in the state) ran for two TDs and returned a punt for score. The Bulldogs play No. 16 Oak Ridge next Friday. Both are 9-0.
8. Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 8-1
Defeated Lakewood 64-0. Since Lakewood won its last game 42-6 to Compton, there was some thought this might have been close for a half. It wasn’t. Poly won its Moore League games by 335-10 margin this season, but is playing Serra of Gardena in a playoff tuneup next week.
9. Upland 9-0
Defeated Etiwanda 77-21. The Highlanders continue to look like a strong No. 1 seed for the CIFSS Division 2 playoffs. They are playing at Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga) next Friday.
10. Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 6-3
Defeated No. 12 JSerra (SJ Capistrano) 36-35. Moving up the Eagles last week after they lost by only 40-38 to St. John Bosco looked like the right move. They scored with 30 seconds left on a 3-yard run by Jake Thomas and then went for two and took lead on pass from Josiah Norwood to Jake Peters. A pick by Quentin Buchman then prevented a possible JSerra field goal.
11. Rancho Cucamonga 8-1
Defeated Damien (La Verne) 56-9. Other than the 30-23 loss to Upland earlier this month, the Cougars have been dominant in their Baseline League games as well. They are playing at home on Friday against Chino Hills in their regular season finale.
12. JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 7-2
LOST to No. 10 Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 36-35. Eli Jefferson led JSerra with more than 200 yards rushing and scored with five minutes left on a 4-yard run to give the Lions a 35-28 lead.
Marco Baldacchino of No. 16 Oak Ridge gets on the phone after team scored to take 14-0 lead against Nevada Union of Grass Valley. Photo: @ORHS_Football/Twitter.com.
13. San Clemente 9-0
Defeated Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo) 56-21. It was homecoming in San Clemente and after the Tritons took their annual stroll through downtown the hit the field and romped past the Mustangs, doing their part to set up next week’s class with No. 4 Mission Viejo for South Coast League title.
14. Mission Hills (San Marcos) 9-0
Defeated Torrey Pines (San Diego) 24-23. This ended up being the closest of the four possible upset specials we were following on Friday night. The Falcons scored on a fourth-down play from the 10-yard line with 1:01 left, then went for two that might have given them the win. The Grizzlies stopped that play, then recovered an onside kick to stay unbeaten. Barely.
15. San Ramon Valley (Danville) 9-0
Defeated Monte Vista (Danville) 42-10. Yeah, we get it that the Wolves’ faithful was excited to beat their rivals, but the way they rushed the field to celebrate beating a team they were probably going to beat by four to five TDs was a bit over the top. What will they do if they beat No. 5 De La Salle next week and become the first team north of Fresno to do that in 26 years?
16. Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 9-0
Defeated Nevada Union (Grass Valley) 40-14. San Ramon Valley isn’t the only team trying to get over the hump next week against a highly regarded opponent that it lost to last year by one point. Instead of De La Salle, though, Oak Ridge is playing No. 7 Folsom.
17. Narbonne (Harbor City) 6-3
Defeated Washington Prep (Los Angeles) 72-0. In the last three weeks, the Gauchos have outscored their Marine League competition by 180-7 margin.
18. Central (Fresno) 8-1
Defeated Clovis West(Fresno) 40-13. The lopsided nature of this game — the Grizzlies led 33-0 at one point — wasn’t expected. Clovis West was on a seven-game winning streak and was up to No. 2 in the Central Section.
19. Pittsburg 6-1
Defeated Liberty (Brentwood) 35-0. The Pirates cruised past a team that was 7-1 but hadn’t yet played them or Freedom (Oakley) in the Bay Valley Athletic League.
20. Servite (Anaheim) 6-3
LOST to No. 2 St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 42-17. The Friars have their rivalry game with No. 1 Mater Dei still on their regular season schedule.
21. Lutheran (Orange) 5-4
LOST to No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 51-21. The Lancers have St. John Bosco left on their schedule so it’s looking like they’re going to be the ones to finish 0-5 in the Trinity League. It will still probably be too hard to drop them from the next top 25.
22. Murrieta Valley (Murrieta) 7-2
Defeated Great Oak (Temecula) 49-21. The Wolfpack were only down 14-7 at the break but the Nighthawks pulled away after that. WR Marquise Spiker had one TD catch and a punt return TD in his chase of the Cal-Hi Sports state record for career TD catches.
23. Oakdale 8-1
Defeated Lathrop 62-0. Once the Mustangs followed up Central Catholic’s win over Manteca with one of their own several weeks ago, we’ve been waiting for them to play the Raiders. That game is next Friday in Modesto.
24. Central Catholic (Modesto) 8-0
Defeated Kimball (Tracy) 42-7. Head coach Roger Canepa’s squad kept pace with Oakdale with another easy win.
25. Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 7-2
Defeated St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 38-0. The Lions will now play Westlake (Westlake Village) next week to decide Marmonte League championship.
TEAMS ON THE BUBBLE
Bishop Amat (La Puente) 5-4
Defeated Alemany (Mission Hills) 42-22.
Calabasas 8-1
Defeated Thousand Oaks 40-14.
Citrus Hill (Perris) 8-1
Defeated Beaumont 30-0.
Granite Bay 7-2
Defeated Woodcreek (Roseville) 49-7.
Helix (La Mesa) 8-1
Defeated Grossmont (La Mesa) 57-3.
Heritage (Menifee) 8-1
Defeated Temescal Canyon (Lake Elsinore) 60-7.
Inderkum (Sacramento) 9-0
Did not play. Bye.
La Habra 7-2*
Defeated Buena Park 50-14.
Lawndale 7-0
Defeated Beverly Hills 55-0.
Lompoc 9-0
Defeated St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 50-6.
Los Alamitos 6-3
Defeated Huntington Beach 35-0.
Milpitas 8-0*
Defeated Los Gatos 45-7.
Norco 5-4
LOST to No. 3 Centennial (Corona) 63-28.
Paraclete (Lancaster) 7-1*
Defeated McAuliffe (Lancaster) 49-8.
Ramona 9-0
Defeated Poway 42-7.
Sacramento 7-1*
Defeated Burbank (Sacramento) 41-0 on Saturday.
Serra (San Mateo) 6-2
Defeated Valley Christian (San Jose) 35-7 on Saturday.
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 8-1
Defeated Brentwood (Los Angeles) 49-0.
St. Francis (Mountain View) 6-2
Defeated Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 35-0 on Saturday in Pacifica.
St. Mary’s (Stockton) 7-2
Defeated Lodi 56-0.
Valencia 8-1
Defeated West Ranch (Valencia) 64-13.
Valley Christian (San Jose) 6-2
LOST to Serra (San Mateo) 35-7 on Saturday.
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:
6 Comments
The fact that 10 of top 15 will be in same CIF sectional playoff bracket with one winner is insane. To be a public school powerhouse like state #4 Mission Viejo who could play/beat with any team in NorCal but know you virtually have no chance in first round of playoffs is lame.
Mission is going to go further than the first round but yes probably no chance against big three.
That’s just the system we have. Hard to change when parents are sending their talented kids in droves to Trinity League programs all across Southern California. Could go back to more regional divisions with no competitive equity but the CIFSS isn’t going to go for that. Most public schools that are not in CIFSS D1 seem to like the current format. It’s a bit of the give everybody a trophy for participating syndrome but we are seeing schools and athletes get the experience of being in playoffs, going for state titles, etc that we wouldn’t be seeing earlier.
CIFSS could easily put a D1 private section with Trinitys, Serra, Chaminade, etc. along with a D1 public section of MV, San Clemente, Poly, Centennial, RC, Murrieta Valley, etc. that would actually help keep kids at public schools as they could go to state bowl games. Would make all a lot more exciting….
Those would divide up pretty well as you describe for this season and both brackets would be exciting. We’ve just never had the publics and privates split before. Think the debate would have to be far more wide-ranging than just one football season. If it’s split up there, shouldn’t it be split up in other places as well? Could see more of a push for that in the coming years.
Are you all going to get a chance to see Folsom at OR or SRV at DLS…im interested in learning the comparison amongst the teams as those 4 are tops in Nor Cal
I’ve already seen DLS and Folsom. DLS would be able to run on them. I do think Folsom has a lot more top juniors, sophs. They really should get aggressive and try to set up a game next season to try to go for Open Division.