St. Francis and Serra dominated over the Central Coast Part final season. However might a single athlete, maybe the perfect in California, be sufficient to vault one other crew into their unique class?
Jurrion Dickey and Menlo-Atherton could present a solution to this query.
Dickey, who transferred from Valley Christian this summer time, was unsure to play straight away. However a lot to the receiver’s delight, the inexperienced gentle flashed earlier than final week’s season opener.
CCS commissioner Dave Grissom mentioned the five-star College of Oregon commit met the necessities to be instantly eligible with out having to undergo a month-plus sit-out interval.
“We rule based mostly on the bylaws, and this was one was not a tough resolution,” Grissom instructed the Bay Space Information Group this week. “This one was straight out of the guide.”
The CCS doesn't tackle the specifics of any athlete’s switch throughout the part, together with one as high-profile as Dickey.
As soon as on the sector, Dickey instantly confirmed why he's rated among the finest highschool gamers within the nation, main the Bears from 20 factors behind to a 48-34 victory over Bellarmine. He caught six passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 69 yards and a TD in 5 carries when he wasn’t enjoying defensive again and crashing into gamers.
But it surely was the various methods coach Chris Saunders deployed his latest participant that ought to put different CCS groups on discover. Even when Dickey wasn’t catching passes, the 6-3, 185-pound star nonetheless had a warping impact on Bellarmine’s protection. M-A sometimes lined up heavy with two tight ends and two operating backs, with Dickey as the one wideout.
Underneath most circumstances, a protection would creep each obtainable participant towards the road of scrimmage to be able to cease the run. However the Bells routinely saved a security deep and shaded towards Dickey’s facet, able to make a play in case he broke deep on a play-action go. This meant operating lanes had been barely simpler to come back by with the field being one man less-crowded.
“Pitchers can’t throw fastballs all sport,” Saunders mentioned of this totally different, non-spread look. “It has that impact the place you possibly can change the tone and drive the problem to your crew to get in management.”
Dickey additionally took snaps at quarterback in an effort to become involved within the run sport, and he even ran for a 50-yard landing on a reverse.
When focused deep downfield, he made a number of defenders miss after the catch to attain one other lengthy landing. If there’s a spot Dickey can line up, Saunders will discover a strategy to put him there.
For a few of his new teammates, it looks like previous instances. They grew up with Dickey in East Palo Alto.
“Me and Jurrion, we’ve identified one another since he was 5 years previous,” Menlo-Atherton defensive again Kameron Hawkins mentioned. “All of us performed collectively as children, so it was prefer it’s Pop Warner over again.”
In opposition to powerhouses similar to Serra and St. Francis, having a bail-out choice that may make one thing out of nothing would be the distinction between a playoff exit and a CCS championship.
Final season, M-A managed to offer St. Francis a scare within the playoffs. They had been tied at 21 apiece earlier than the Lancers pulled away. Whereas wideouts Jalen Moss and Jeremiah Earby each have moved to play at D-I faculties, neither was as extremely rated as Dickey.
The Division I bracket in CCS this season may very well be loaded, crammed with groups similar to Serra, Wilcox, Bellarmine and Los Gatos, along with St. Francis.
Dickey is used to high-level competitors, having performed three seasons within the West Catholic Athletic League.
In Valley Christian’s 41-27 loss to St. Francis final October, Dickey caught 10 passes for 133 yards and a TD. Per week later in opposition to Serra, a 28-21 loss, he had 9 receptions for 102 yards and a TD.
A month after that defeat, in what turned out to be his remaining sport in a Valley uniform, Dickey had eight catches for 240 yards and two TDs and two interceptions in a 41-30 CCS playoff loss to Serra.
Ought to Dickey be believed, he expects M-A to exchange all of the heavyweights atop the CCS mountaintop by season’s finish.
“I’m anticipating a CCS championship, and also you’re going to see us there for positive,” Dickey mentioned after his monster efficiency Saturday.