SAN RAMON VALLEY: UNLUCKIEST OF DRAWS
San Ramon Valley won the East Bay Athletic League Mountain Division championship on Friday night, beating its Danville rival Monte Vista 28-10.
But there won’t be much of a playoff run for SRV this season, unless the Wolves do something no North Coast Section team has done since Pittsburg in December 1991:
Beat De La Salle.
In the section’s competitive equity format that uses MaxPreps’ computer ratings to help divide teams into eight-team brackets, SRV drew the worst of the spots.
The Wolves, ranked eighth by MaxPreps, were seeded eighth in the NCS’s top bracket (Open/Division I) when the matchups were unveiled Sunday and will visit top-seeded De La Salle on Friday night in the opening round.
There was speculation earlier Sunday that California, ranked ninth by MaxPreps, might get the unlucky eighth spot because of its head-to-head win over SRV.
But California gladly fell to the third seed in Division II, behind top-seeded Campolindo and second-seeded Monte Vista.
- NCS football: First-round schedule in all divisions
- CCS football: First-round schedule in all divisions
In the regular season, Campo beat Monte Vista and Monte Vista defeated California.
Did we say SRV, which lost at home to DLS 56-7 on Oct. 24, was unlucky?
– Darren Sabedra
RIORDAN-SERRA: WILL THERE BE A ROUND 2?
Archbishop Riordan rallied to beat Serra 42-35 on Friday night in an epic game in San Mateo for the West Catholic Athletic League championship.
The victory clinched the No. 1 overall seed for Riordan in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
But right behind the Crusaders in the Open/Division I bracket is Serra, which will open the playoffs at home on Saturday against seventh-seeded Archbishop Mitty.
Riordan will be at home on Saturday, too, to face eighth-seeded Salinas.
If Riordan and Serra win – and they’ll be heavily favored to do so – the teams will meet the following weekend for the Open Division championship.
The winner of the Open final will advance to the NorCal regionals.
The Open loser will play for the CCS Division I title in Week 3 of the playoffs, with the winner of that game also moving on to a NorCal regional.
– Darren Sabedra
ACALANES GETS TEST AGAINST THE NCS BEST
Acalanes running back Josh Elerts said after the Dons’ win over Clayton Valley two weeks ago that he was “looking forward to” the chance to compete in the NCS Open/Division I bracket.
He’ll get his shot.
Acalanes was seeded fourth in Open/D-I and will host No. 5 Marin Catholic, a traditional North Bay power.
If the Dons advance, they’ll have a likely date with No. 3 Cardinal Newman, which has impressed in its first year under former Mater Dei coach Sean McManus.
If Acalanes survives that gauntlet, its reward will probably be a matchup with No. 2 Pittsburg.
For a relatively small public school – Acalanes’ enrollment is approximately 1,250 – it presents a tough measuring stick.
But two years after nearly winning NorCal and state championships, the Dons have a chance to break new ground at the highest level.
– Christian Babcock
LOS GATOS VS. ST. FRANCIS: BLUEBLOODS MEET AGAIN
It would be hard to imagine a more high-profile first-round matchup in the CCS.
Los Gatos and St. Francis are the two winningest programs in the CCS when it comes to section titles.
Last season, the Lancers beat the Wildcats 27-7 in the CCS Division I championship game, breaking a tie with Los Gatos by winning their 17th CCS title.
Such hardware won’t be on the line this time. Los Gatos pulled down the No. 3 seed in this year’s Open/Division I bracket and will host No. 6 St. Francis on Friday.
By virtue of their seed, the Wildcats are in line for two potential home games. Wins in both would get them back to the Division I championship game.
But St. Francis, as usual, should have plenty to say about the outcome.
– Christian Babcock
WHY BRANHAM BUT NOT LEIGH MADE PLAYOFFS
Leigh edged Branham 31-27 on Friday to finish one game in front of its neighborhood rival in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division standings.
Leigh (6-4, 2-3) was fifth in the highly competitive Mt. Hamilton., the BVAL’s top tier.
Branham (5-5, 1-4) took sixth.
The top four teams in the division received automatic bids to the CCS playoffs. The rest had to contend with everyone else for five at-large spots.
Branham received one of the at-large berths, along with St. Ignatius, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Alisal and North Salinas.
Leigh’s season is over.
Branham got the bid over Leigh because it had a stronger HSRatings.com computer rating, which led to more power points in the system the CCS uses to choose at-large teams and divide and seed its brackets.
The Bruins had more power points because they played seven “A” league teams.
Leigh faced six.
So the power points wiped out what unfolded on the field, which was a terrific game Friday in which the lead changed hands eight times before Leigh prevailed by a narrow margin.
– Darren Sabedra
HAYWARD: SPECIAL SEASON CONTINUES AS A NO. 1 SEED
Not every team that has a great regular season gets a bracket set up for them to win a section title.
But Hayward made out pretty well when the NCS playoff brackets were released Sunday.
The Farmers received the top seed in Division IV after a 7-3 regular season and undefeated league championship in the West Alameda County Conference Mission Division.
Hayward will open against Irvington, a team the Farmers routed 53-8 in league play two weeks ago.
A win lines up a matchup with No. 4 seed Granada or No. 5 seed Deer Valley.
The high seeds on the other side of the bracket are No. 2 Benicia and No. 3 Miramonte.
– Christian Babcock
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