With all action for Week 1 in the books, it’s time for a quick look at the weekend that was around the Central Coast Section.
- Even with two of its top teams idle in the first week of play, the Monterey Bay League-Gabilan Division kicked things off with an impressive showing. With no Palma or Salinas taking the field, the league went 5-1, highlighted by key wins for San Benito and Seaside.
The Balers survived a strong effort from Sacred Heart Prep to start 1-0, while Seaside rolled past defending CCS Division IV champion Soledad, 31-12.
- Harbor, Marina, and Soquel combined for three wins in 2016. All three won this weekend, with the Pirates posting their first win since October 18, 2014. Senior Bailey Schantz ran for 253 yards and three touchdowns in Harbor’s 26-20 win over Yerba Buena.
- As usual, there was a slew of blowouts in the first week of action, but the most stunning was easily Half Moon Bay’s 63-7 win over Saratoga. It is one thing for teams from ‘A’ leagues to rout teams from lower divisions, but the Cougars have just been moved up to the PAL-Bay, while Saratoga is in another ‘A’ league, the SCVAL-De Anza.
- Milpitas should be among the top teams in the De Anza, and in the CCS, but don’t expect the Trojans to get a challenge until mid-September. The Trojans blanked American, 62-0, now face a Dublin team which had to come from behind to beat Castro Valley, and then face a Brookside Christian team which allowed 80 points to Rio Vista in the opener. After that, it is finally a date with Salinas on September 15.
- Not all the results were positive ones, but true to form, the West Catholic teams scheduled challenges in the first week of play. St. Francis was dominant in its win over Oak Grove, but the league as a whole had to be pleased to see victories from Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. Ignatius. SHC’s victory came over a Fernley-Nevada team which has reached the state playoffs in four of the last six seasons, and made a winner of head coach Barry McLaughlin in his debut.
- Feeling Gilroy-good: Christopher and Gilroy both opened the season with dominant performances, and did so against teams both expected to compete for a league title. Christopher blanked Sobrato, one of the favorites in the BVAL-West Valley, while Gilroy took care of Overfelt, the team many expect to give Sobrato its biggest challenge.
- On paper, the match-up between Scotts Valley and Los Altos should have been a close one. Los Altos is up to the SCVAL-De Anza this year, while Scotts Valley has a veteran team in the Mission Trail. Instead, though, Scotts Valley dominated for a 35-7 victory, sending a message to the rest of the MTAL, while Los Altos must regroup quickly for the big challenges ahead.
- The Ocean Division in the PAL is a notch above the Lake Division in the pecking order. Just don’t tell that to San Mateo, who look primed for a good year in the Lake after dispatching Ocean foe South San Francisco, 33-15.
- The same goes for Leland and Silver Creek. Both members of the BVAL-Santa Teresa notched wins over Mount Hamilton teams, beating Santa Teresa and Lincoln, respectively. The 30-13 win for Leland represented a huge turnaround from last year’s 35-14 loss to Santa Teresa, and could be a signal of things to come for a program that went 2-8 last year but has 15 starters back this season.
- We don’t cover much eight-man football, but a player worth watching would be Woodside Priory’s Keyshawn Ashford. Ashford, who has been invited to the Blue-Grey All-American game, opened his season with a five-touchdown performance against Cornerstone Christian, though he had very limited touches in the rout.
