Both Folsom and Helix will be among the top 10 in the state when they play in Friday’s CIF D1-AA state final at No. 5 and No. 7. We also will have No. 10 Narbonne taking on No. 13 Pittsburg for CIF D1-A crown this weekend plus No. 23 Serra of San Mateo meeting No. 25 Cajon of San Bernardino. Of course, the California and national season ends with Saturday’s Open Division matchup between No. 1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana and No. 3 Concord De La Salle.
For teams ranked No. 26 to No. 50 (Also Gold Club post), CLICK HERE.
Note: All State Top 50 rankings posts for the rest of the season will be for Gold Club members only. The first run-through of CIF state bowl game projections will be free, but the rest of those will be Gold Club as well. You can still sign up today for just $9.99 for three months, which by the way will carry you through most of the current season. For details, CLICK HERE.
(Last week’s ranking in parentheses)
(After games of Saturday, Dec. 9)
*Season complete.
**Losses or wins by forfeit not included.
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 14-0
Some of the individual honors are already starting to come in for the Monarchs even though they still have one big game left to play. Linebacker Solo Tuliaupupu has been named winner of the Dick Butkus Award, a national honor for that position. It also would be a shock not to hear that junior QB JT Daniels will be announced as the Gatorade State Player of the Year before the Monarchs hit the field at Sacramento State on Saturday night to play state No. 3 De La Salle of Concord for the CIF Open Division state title. JT is a national player of the year possibility and while it’s fun to debate these things he’s the leading candidate for our Mr. Football State Player of the Year honor. We doubt that any of the players will let any of those things distract them this week. All year, it’s been one game at a time and there’s no indication that will change.