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Visiting participant’s mom applauses McClymonds
At a time when some East Bay colleges, significantly in Oakland, are going by means of a heightened interval of violence or destructive notion, there was a constructive story over the weekend.
It unfolded on the soccer discipline at McClymond’s Excessive Faculty in Oakland.
The visiting crew was San Ramon Valley. The Wolves, from prosperous Danville, had been undefeated. McClymonds had just one loss, the earlier week at powerhouse Pittsburg.
The sport Friday night time was a thriller.
San Ramon Valley quarterback Luke Baker handed for greater than 500 yards.
McClymonds received 45-42.
A day later, the mom of San Ramon Valley operating again Jon Pau Mendoza despatched the Bay Space Information Group a heartfelt e-mail concerning the expertise.
“I wish to nominate all the McClymonds crew, gamers, coaches and neighborhood for participant of the week as a result of they're wonderful,” Doris Pau Mendoza wrote. “The refs did the perfect they may as a result of they're human, however that neighborhood was welcoming, the gamers and coaches performed to the perfect of their talents, and they're actually a really gifted group.”
Given what has been occurring in some elements of the East Bay, and the Sacramento space, in latest weeks, the e-mail was the antithesis of that.
Final month, Galileo forfeited its sport towards Richmond after some dad and mom from the San Francisco college cited security issues for now permitting their children to play throughout the bay. Days after a college taking pictures in Oakland left two in essential situation, Skyline forfeited its sport towards Windsor after a battle in school.
McClymonds coach Michael Peters needs to alter the notion groups might need about taking part in at his West Oakland college.
This season, storied San Jose personal college Bellarmine misplaced at McClymonds in additional time. In earlier seasons, Tamalpais, Marin Catholic and Campolindo have visited.
“We wish to do one thing for our metropolis, and folks aren’t scared to come back down anymore as a result of it’s a good time and nice environment,” stated Peters, whose program has captured 5 state titles since 2016. “I admire them for coming down as a result of again within the day, no one would come by means of the Caldecott tunnel to play right here.”
Peters famous a latest name he obtained from legendary Oakland soccer coach John Beam, who led a powerhouse program at Skyline and now coaches at Laney Faculty. Beam’s Laney program was featured within the Netflix sequence “Final Likelihood U.”
“John Beam known as me and stated he was pleased with me for getting Bellarmine and Campolindo and San Ramon Valley and Marin over right here to play,” Peters stated. “To have the ability to invite individuals to our home for a pleasant night time, it’s good for our college, our district, and for the town of Oakland.”
— Joseph Dycus
How SHP surged again from season-opening loss
It’s simple to see how the season may have spun off the rails somewhat rapidly for Sacred Coronary heart Prep.
However after a season-opening one-point loss to Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral at Kezar Stadium, the Gators have buckled down on protection and are getting the look of being one of many high contenders in all of CCS.
“I believe it’s a testomony to our crew by no means taking a step again, at all times taking a step ahead,” stated senior Andrew Rocha.
Rocha made a highlight-reel play on protection Saturday, grabbing a go that Anthony Noto tipped and racing 64 yards for a pick-six that helped Sacred Coronary heart Prep knock off Half Moon Bay 17-7 on Saturday. The hassle now provides the Gators 4 wins in a row the place they held their opponents — Mountain View, Riordan, Los Gatos and Half Moon Bay — to precisely seven factors.
“Our protection has been strong all yr,” Sacred Coronary heart Prep coach Mark Grieb stated.
They’ve needed to do it with some banged-up gamers, too, particularly when function again Andrew Latu went out within the first half on Saturday and didn’t return. However dealing with some high CCS groups like Los Gatos and Half Moon Bay requires everybody on the roster to be ready to play.
“This sport, we knew it was going to be a battle,” Noto stated. “Earlier than the sport, we stated, ‘Be in and go 100%. As quickly as you begin to really feel your self going 80, 85%, sub out and get another person 100% in. We’ve bought to maintain pounding them each single play.’”
They usually embodied that on Saturday. Noto and Conrad Wilbur — who was taking part in in his first sport after an ACL harm in final yr’s Valparaiso Bowl — cut up dashing duties in Latu’s absence to assist the Gators drive down the sphere for the game-winning rating.
The win could make Sacred Coronary heart Prep the favourite to win the PAL/SCVAL Bay Division title now and will have the Gators taking part in within the Central Coast Part’s Division I playoffs subsequent month. In the event that they do, Rocha feels just like the Gators could have that loss to the Irish to thank for his or her tenacious turnaround.
“We got here into that Cathedral sport possibly just a little too excessive, in order that was a great expertise, to have that one to start with of the season,” Rocha stated. “We have now nice leaders on our crew, nice player-leaders who're actually pushing us to do large issues right here and go away a extremely sturdy legacy.”
— Alex Simon
St. Francis provides lengthy bombs to ground-and-pound assault
St. Francis head coach Greg Calcagno is now in his tenth season teaching at his alma mater, within the stadium together with his father’s title on it. And for more often than not that he’s been in cost, the offensive philosophy has been fairly constant.
The Lancers run the “energy” operating offense to attempt to open lanes for operating backs to undergo. It’s helped win two NorCal titles and one state crown and persistently battling on the high of the West Catholic Athletic League.
However what St. Francis has in 2022 that it hasn’t often had in Calcagno’s tenure is a quarterback who can air it out deep. And when two of their three operating backs had been out on Friday night time, quarterback Matthew Dougherty let it fly — and received the sport towards Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral by means of the air.
Dougherty picked up 201 yards on simply 10-of-19 passing, throwing it excessive of the protection for a number of completions. Contemplate yardage pickup on the touchdowns alone: 19, 31 and 25, with all three caught deep in the long run zone.
In six video games, Dougherty is averaging 150 passing yards per sport and has thrown for 11 touchdowns. The passing common could be probably the most by a St. Francis quarterback beneath Calcagno by greater than 20 yards.
The Lancers nonetheless favor to run the ball and their offense beneath Calcagno, with their lone accessible operating again Keala Keanaaina getting 30 carries for 103 yards on Friday. However there’s no denying that throwing the ball downfield is opening up St. Francis’ offense.
“It actually adjustments loads,” Calcagno stated. “We will keep forward of the chains. With play motion, it actually helps us — we’ll get guys nonetheless leaning as a result of we're going to hand it to our guys 30 occasions.”
— Alex Simon
Onerous-fought loss … a great factor for Half Moon Bay?
Contemporary off of a detailed loss at Sacred Coronary heart Prep within the PAL/SCVAL Bay Division — the primary of the crew’s season — Half Moon Bay coach Keith Holden made fairly the admission.
“I hate to say this, however I'll say it as a result of it’s completely true: in the case of playoffs and the way they seed you, shedding truly helps you — and that’s unhappy,” Holden stated on Saturday. “Sacred Coronary heart Prep, they received state final yr. However they received state as a result of they had been a reasonably low seed.
“Shedding form of helps these groups out. And to me, that’s a system that’s damaged.”
Since CCS modified its playoff seeding system for the 2019 season, going to a full aggressive fairness system with out contemplating college measurement, Half Moon Bay has felt the change fairly readily itself.
The Cougars have twice had undefeated common seasons previously six years. In 2017, Half Moon Bay received Open Division III that yr and received a NorCal title earlier than shedding in a state title sport.
The opposite time, in 2019?
The Cougars “received” a tiebreaker with two different groups to get the No. 8 seed in Division I and misplaced to top-seed Serra 42-14 within the first spherical. One of many groups they had been tied with, Los Gatos, was the No. 1 seed in Division II and received the part title.
When requested what the 2019 crew would have carried out with out being up in Division I, Holden stated: “We roll. That’s precisely what we’d do. It’s form of arduous to roll towards Serra, however I like our possibilities towards different groups.”
Half Moon Bay had back-to-back groups go 4-1 in division play in 2015 and 2016, lacking out on a shot on an outright division title. However each of these groups went on to win CCS crowns.
“Rapidly, nobody’s speaking about that [division] championship loss,” Holden stated. “That loss form of goes away.”
No crew ever needs to lose, in fact. However there will be tangential advantages to the loss. And whereas there are different components that go into how CCS seeds groups, the Calpreps’ scores system is the third tiebreaker used — which the Cougars know fairly nicely. Half Moon Bay is at the moment twelfth amongst CCS groups, in line with Calpreps.
— Alex Simon
Peek forward to Week 8
Friday
Acalanes (6-0) at Campolindo (6-0), 7 p.m.: Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division title might be on the road on this one.
Archbishop Mitty (5-1) vs. Bellarmine (3-3) at San Jose Metropolis Faculty, 7 p.m.: The winner maintains the within observe for second place within the WCAL behind Serra.
De La Salle (3-3) at California (5-1), 7 p.m.: Throughout its beautiful freefall from No. 1 in NorCal, De La Salle nonetheless has not misplaced inside its part in 31 years. Might it occur Friday?
Clayton Valley Constitution (3-3) at San Ramon Valley (5-1), 7 p.m.: Not a foul matchup to open East Bay Athletic League Mountain Division play.
St. Ignatius (2-4) vs. Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral (3-3) at Kezar Stadium, 7 p.m.: As at all times, throw out the information when these rivals collide within the Bruce-Mahoney sport.
Foothill (3-4) at Livermore (6-0), 7 p.m.: Foothill ended Dougherty Valley’s excellent season Friday. Will it do the identical to Livermore this week?
— Darren Sabedra