Jesse Osuna and Travis Tuitele both played well for Valley Christian of San Jose last season and figure to play key roles in upcoming WCAL games. Photo: Mark Tennis.
This is the expanded version from the list updates that were posted on Monday and is presented for Gold Club members. We’re going to rank CCS teams this season in the divisions they really belong in and won’t change them until those teams get taken up to the Open Division of the CCS playoffs. To join our Gold Club so you can go through these breakdowns every week, CLICK HERE.
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Note: The top 10 teams that would be ranked by CalHiSports.com for the CIF Open Division in Northern California would be:
1. De La Salle (Concord); 2. Folsom; 3. Grant (Sacramento); 4. Valley Christian (San Jose); 5. Elk Grove; 6. San Ramon Valley (Danville); 7. Pittsburg; 8. Serra (San Mateo); 9. Foothill (Pleasanton); 10. Clayton Valley (Concord).
With assistance from Harold Abend and Paul Muyskens, here are the Week 2 rankings for each of Northern California’s CIF bowl game divisions (previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Saturday, Sept. 6):
DIVISION I NORTH
1. (1) De La Salle (Concord) 2-0
2. (2) Folsom 2-0
3. (5) Grant (Sacramento) 2-0
4. (6) Valley Christian (San Jose) 1-0
5. (7) Elk Grove 1-0
6. (NR) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 2-0
7. (3) Pittsburg 1-1
8. (4) Serra (San Mateo) 0-1
9. (8) Foothill (Pleasanton) 2-0
10. (11) Granite Bay 1-0
11. (10) Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 2-0
12. (9) Del Oro (Loomis) 0-2
13. (12) California (San Ramon) 1-1
14. (NR) Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) 1-0
15. (13) Milpitas 1-0
Dropped Out: Previous No. 14 Franklin (Elk Grove); No. 15 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose).
Bubble Teams: Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 0-1, James Logan (Union City) 1-1, Rocklin 2-0, St. Francis (Mountain View) 1-0, San Benito (Hollister) 1-0, San Leandro 1-1, St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 1-0, St. Mary’s (Stockton) 1-0.
Breakdown:
There may be quite a bit of movement for the rest of the season in those positions directly behind De La Salle and Folsom.
We’re just sticking to our preseason order by having Grant, Valley Christian and Elk Grove in the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 slots this week in the aftermath of previous No. 3 Pittsburg losing in OT to San Ramon Valley and San Mateo Serra’s lopsided loss to De La Salle. Grant will play Elk Grove on Oct. 3 and has Bullard of Fresno this week while Valley Christian has Milpitas coming up in two weeks.
San Ramon Valley jumped way up into the mix after the 27-20 win over Pitt. Like Grant, the Wolves also have an early league showdown to look for coming up when they play Foothill of Pleasanton on Sept. 26.
De La Salle will have a national game this week at home against South Carolina powerhouse Byrnes (alma mater of the 49ers’ Marcus Lattimore). A close loss isn’t going to drop the Spartans behind Folsom but it gets more interesting if it’s not or if they lose as well on Sept. 27 to Servite of Anaheim. They’ll be big favorites in the rest of their games probably through the NCS playoffs.
Enterprise coach Darren Trueblood surveys field during 2013 CIF D2 bowl game. Photo: Scott Kurtz.
DIVISION II NORTH
1. (1) Clayton Valley (Concord) 2-0
2. (2) Enterprise (Redding) 1-0
3. (9) Los Gatos 0-0
4. (3) Concord 2-0
5. (4) Sacramento 1-0
6. (6) Oakdale 2-0
7. (7) Manteca 2-0
8. (10) Rio Linda 2-0
9. (5) Inderkum (Sacramento) 1-1
10. (8) Terra Nova (Pacifica) 0-1
Dropped Out: None.
Bubble Teams: Christian Brothers (Sacramento) 2-0, Northgate (Walnut Creek) 2-0, Palo Alto 1-0, Patterson 2-0, Windsor 2-0.
Breakdown:
With senior RB Joey Wood powering for 168 yards and two TDs behind a veteran offensive line, Los Gatos posted a 21-13 win last Friday over Archbishop Mitty of San Jose. It was enough of a win that it jumped the Wildcats to third in this week’s D2 North bowl game rankings. The only problem is that if the win gains more significance and if Los Gatos continues to look like it’s one of the top five teams in the CCS, then it’s much more likely the team will be taken up to the CCS Open Division and thus out of contention for the D2 North bowl game.
The only two teams from last week’s top 10 that lost last week were Inderkum and Terra Nova. Due to the teams they lost to, however, neither one dropped out. Inderkum fell 29-27 to Monterey Trail of Elk Grove (which is D1 North) while Terra Nova lost to Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland (several D1 talents on the roster) 28-22.
Sutter helmet
DIVISION III NORTH
1. (1) Campolindo (Moraga) 2-0
2. (2) Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) 1-0
3. (3) Sutter 2-0
4. (NR) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 1-0
5. (4) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 0-2
6. (5) Analy (Sebastopol) 2-0
7. (8) West Valley (Cottonwood) 2-0
8. (9) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 2-0
9. (10) Sonora 1-1
10. (NR) Aptos 1-0
Dropped Out: Previous No. 6 Hilmar; No. 7 Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa).
Bubble Teams: Burlingame 1-0, Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 1-1, Hilmar 1-1, Hughson 2-0, Lincoln (San Francisco) 1-0, Orland 2-0, Pacific Grove 1-0, Pinole Valley (Pinole) 1-1.
Breakdown:
Despite giving up 428 yards passing to QB Anthony Gordon, Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland hung on to beat Terra Nova of Pacifica 28-22 in its first game and jumped to No. 4 in this week’s rankings. Terra Nova was a 10-1 team last season that played in the CCS Open Division. Chris Hagmaier threw a pair of TD passes to Curtis Owens and found DeShawn Watson for another for O’Dowd. It was the first game for new Dragons’ head coach Napoleon Kaufman, the former Oakland Raider and 1990 Mr. Football State Player of the Year from Lompoc. We even traveled to Lompoc once to do a cover shoot with Kaufman when he was in high school.
Terra Nova also was the champion last year in the Bay Division of the Peninsula Athletic League with Sacred Heart Prep finishing second. SHP then went on to win the CCS D4 title and eventually won the NorCal D3 crown before losing to Corona del Mar in the D3 state bowl game. If Terra Nova isn’t as strong and the Gators win the PAL Bay Division this year, it becomes more likely they will be a team to get pulled up into the CCS Open Division instead of Terra Nova (which is also what happened last year). If that were to happen, we’d then drop SHP from the D3 North rankings and would have to list them in D1 North since that’s where the eventual CCS Open Division winner goes for bowl game consideration. Even without injured star Ben Burr-Kirven, the Gators beat Leland of San Jose last week 32-20.
Sacramento Capital Christian’s Justice Sheldon-Mosley shows good hands in both grid and hoop. Photo: Student Sports.
DIVISION IV NORTH
1. (1) Central Catholic (Modesto) 1-0
2. (2) McClymonds (Oakland) 2-0
3. (3) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 2-0
4. (4) Salesian (Richmond) 1-0
5. (6) Modesto Christian 0-1
6. (10) Winters 1-0
7. (NR) St. Helena 1-0
8. (5) Valley Christian (Dublin) 1-1
9. (NR) Golden Sierra (Garden Valley) 2-0
10. (7) Ferndale 1-1
Dropped Out: Previous No. 8 Le Grand; No. 9 St. Bernard’s (Eureka).
Bubble Teams: Hamilton (Hamilton City) 2-0, Le Grand 0-1, Middletown 0-1, St. Bernard’s (Eureka) 1-1.
Breakdown:
No. 1 Central Catholic has a huge test this week against St. Mary’s of Stockton. St. Mary’s (which is D1 North for the bowl games) won its opener 35-7 over Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa while the Raiders beat Atwater 62-13. A loss in this game is not going to cost Central Catholic any rankings points within this division. Neither would one later on to a strong Valley Oak League opponent like Oakdale or Manteca. None of the other D4 North teams will be playing any opponents like that this season.
A bigger game this week for this division could be No. 2 McClymonds against No. 4 Salesian. It’s no guarantee that Central Catholic is going to win its section title and get bowl eligible again, but it is a guarantee that if the Raiders do then they’re getting a bowl bid. That makes this game more important because Mack and Salesian also could eventually be section champions (Mack in the Oakland Section and Salesian in NCS D5) and we all know that head-to-head results are what the bowl game selection committee looks at first. The Warriors clobbered Ferndale 48-0 last week while Salesian pummeled Middletown 33-7. These two have played each other in recent years, but Salesian’s enrollment has now dropped enough so that it is below 500 and thus now eligible for D4 North instead of D3 North.
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
One Comment
How come Escalon isnt atleast a bubble team,for D-III