The Central Coast Section prep football season is chugging toward December and more realizations are coming to mind each weekend.
Here's what we learned during the first weekend of the CCS playoffs:
THE WCAL IS GOOD
A message board maven on a recruiting web site opined that the West Catholic Athletic League is not among the Top 10 leagues in the state. Uh, yeah, right.
Last weekend all six WCAL playoff entrants -- Bellarmine, St. Francis, Archbishop Mitty, Valley Christian, Serra and St. Ignatius -- won in Central Coast Section play.
Serra defeated Pioneer 59-7, prompting Mustangs coach Eric Perry to tell the San Jose Mercury: "It was like playing a college team. They were everything that's been written about them and then some."
In other opening round games involving WCAL teams, Archbishop Mitty defeated Palma 28-0, St. Francis defeated Andrew Hill 41-6, SI downed Christopher 24-0, Bellarmine got by Wilcox 31-19 and Valley Christian topped Open Division top seed Terra Nova 26-7.
Consider that St. Ignatius (3-8) finished sixth in the WCAL and may well win Division III.
If the WCAL isn't among the Top 10 leagues in the state, I'd like to hear who those 10 leagues are.
GORDON ONE OF CCS' BEST
Despite Valley Christian's victory against Terra Nova on Friday night, the Tigers' Anthony Gordon was still among the top quarterbacks we saw during the 2013 season.
Yeah, Gordon threw for only 148 yards and one touchdown on 9 of 17 passes against the Warriors, but that's a superior defense he was going against. Gordon, for the season, threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 32 touchdowns and displayed a strong, accurate arm. He doesn't have any scholarship offers yet, but at 6-foot-2 and with those impressive attributes, they'll be coming.
Said Terra Nova coach Bill Gray in response to some praise of Menlo's Jack Heneghan: "Our guy (Gordon) is pretty good too."
BOTTOM NO MORE
Alvarez went 0-10 in 2012 but -- ta-da! -- is 11-0 this season under coach Dave Bottom. The Eagles are the first Monterey County team since North Monterey County in 1979 to go from a winless regular season to a perfect one.
North County's coach in 1978 when it went winless? That would be Mark Speckman, elevated from the freshman team to varsity when the varsity coach was fired in an eligibility scandal. North County, then a new school, also didn't have seniors in '78.
After North County's winless campaign, Speckman handed the reins to Phil Maas who came from the Coachella Valley with his offensive coordinator Roger Sugimoto to install the fly offense. North County went 9-1 in '79 and ran off a long string of league titles under Maas and later Sonny Stupek with Sumimoto remaining as offensive coordinator. Sugimoto has never gotten the credit he deserves as a guru of the fly offense.
Speckman went on to have great success in the high school and college ranks as a head coach running the fly. Now we'll see what the future holds for Bottom, whose team is still going strong in the DI playoffs after a 24-10 opening victory against Monta Vista.
JOEY WOOD IS A BEAST
Los Gatos' Joey Wood is a force on the football field and looks like a lumberjack off of it, what with a healthy beard coming in despite the fact he's only a junior.
Friday night Wood ran for 310 yards and six touchdowns -- he also had a TD reception -- as the Wildcats defeated North Salinas 59-35 in a DII playoff game.
On the scoring reception, Wood took a simple screen pass on the right side, got a big block from offensive lineman Jack Jarnigan and exploded past the Viking defense for a 60-yard score.
"That was a great call by the coach and I got some great blocks," a modest Wood said.
ATTENDING PLAYOFFS? BRING A COAT
Actually, Terra Nova coach Gray suggested this before the Valley Christian against Terra Nova game on the coastline.
But you didn't have to be in Pacifica to feel the cold snap on Friday night. It was probably in the mid-50s in Los Gatos for the Wildcats' game against North Salinas.
A few adult fans at that game seemed to have warmed themselves up with some adult beverages before that one, but we think a down jacket or Naval pea coat is a more prudent option.
