We’ve only got two this week because early rounds of the playoffs are almost impossible to find any possibilities due to byes and probable routs.
It’s easy to pick winners in high school football. Just a tiny bit of homework and almost anyone can hit 70 percent.
But what about trying to pick upsets? We move into another week of this new feature by taking a look at several games from around the state in which a higher ranked team or favored team is picked to take a loss. Every team we are pointing at in this post has to be at least on the bubble in the various CIF state bowl game divisions.
Here are this week’s Cal-Hi Sports Upset Alerts:
Orange Lutheran over Long Beach Poly
This one is attractive as an upset because while the Jackrabbits have been barely breaking a sweat in dominating six straight Moore League opponents the Lancers have been mixing it up in the ultra-rugged Trinity League.
Orange Lutheran’s league losses were to St. John Bosco, Servite (on a Hail Mary pass with 0:00 on the clock) and Mater Dei with wins over JSerra and Santa Margarita. The Lancer offense is coming off of a 15-0 loss to Mater Dei and is facing a Poly defense that’s probably even better.
Sometimes in these games, though, the team that hasn’t played anybody in awhile comes out rusty and makes mistakes. If Poly does in this game, OLu may be good enough to get the upset.
Pacific Grove over Carmel
With the Mission Trail League championship on the line in a battle of two unbeaten teams, we are going to go with Pacific Grove, playing at home, to stun the D3 North bowl game picture with an upset of the Padres. Besides, there are few possibilities for upsets anywhere in the state this week so why not take a 9-0 team to beat another 9-0 team?
Carmel may be better than even the 2009 team that went 12-0 because of an early-season win over Palma of Salinas. It has been a more balanced attack this season as the team as passed for 1,976 yards and has rushed for 1,953.
Pacific Grove is clearly the underdog but has shown to be strong on both sides of the ball. The Breakers barely beat King City last week 42-41 but they do have a 63-28 win over a Soledad team that lost by 48-34 last week to Carmel.
Coach Chris Morgan’s team has been balanced on offense as well. Quarterback Luke Lowell has passed for 1,662 yards and 26 TDs while running back Jason Leach has piled up 1,115 yards and 11 scores, including a 99-yarder that will get his name into the state record book.
Last week’s top upsets
1. Bullard (Fresno) 24, Edison (Fresno) 14
2. St. Vincent de Paul (Petaluma) 27, Calistoga 14
3. Loara (Anaheim) 38, Westminster 35
Upset Alerts So Far This Season: 10-12
Note: Pick your own upset alerts in the comments section below. Anybody else think Orange Lutheran has a chance to beat Poly? An upset alert contest also may be coming soon.
