In the storied tradition of Serra Padres football, the 2013 team may be its best ever.
With a CIF Division I regional bowl date at San Jose City College on Friday night against Del Oro, the Padres have an opportunity to earn even more accolades.
After several close losses in the CCS Open Division over the years, coach Patrick Walsh wasn’t going to hide his emotions after his team’s 21-7 win over Mitty in the Open title game.
"It feels real good," Walsh told Prep2Prep’s John Murphy. "There's been a lot of suffering moments - a lot of Padres who have had a lot of tough losses in this Open Division. This is a historic school win not only for this group but for all those Padres (from years past). There's nothing like the Serra Padre brotherhood. We're going to pass this along to all the brothers."
It takes a lot of humility for Walsh to completely change the offense this season after his rushing double-wing dominant attack set school scoring records each of the last two seasons. Walsh, though, hired Steven Lo as offensive coordinator before this season and it meant a change to a more spread-oriented attack that included much more passing.
The 2011 team averaged 373.6 yards and scored 505 points, both Serra records. The 2012 team’s 378.2 yards and 425 points were third and second best in school history.
This year’s team? The Padres are 40 points away from the school scoring record and the 418.1 yards average is nearly 45 yards better than the previous average. Even better, they’re doing in a season when they win their first ever school’s Open championship.
It didn’t look like the Padres would win the Open by a couple touchdowns when Dakari Monroe scampered for a 74-yard touchdown run to give Mitty a 7-0 lead in the third quarter.
Matt Fa’aita made some big throws and was 16-of-24 for a season-high 222 yards, including a touchdown pass to Hamilton Anoa’i that tied the game in the third. Fa’aita also ran for 47 yards and a score and ran for touchdowns in all three playoff wins and has 231 rushing yards in the postseason.
While Mitty was without quarterback Trent Scharrenberg, who had three screws in his broken hand, the Padres defense held Mitty to 14 points in the two wins over Monarchs.
Also, Easop Winston had nine catches for 121 yards after not having more than 57 yards receiving in any game this season and was a big part of an 18-6 first down advantage for Serra.
Serra was held to 141 yards rushing and, other than the 21-14 loss to De La Salle, this was its lowest rushing effort of the season. Junior Kava Cassidy did have 17 carries and 69 yards but was held without a score after eight touchdowns in the previous two playoff games. He also didn’t break 90 yards rushing for just the third time this season.
Mitty allowed more than 16 points just twice all season, both times were losses to Serra.
The Padres will now play 12-2 Del Oro, which rallied from a 19-0 hole in the final eight minutes for a 20-19 win against Elk Grove in the Sac-Joaquin Division II title game. The participants have one common opponent, De La Salle. Serra fell in its opener at home, 21-14, to the Spartans while the Golden Eagles suffered a 41-13 defeat in Concord two weeks later.
Speaking of De La Salle, the Spartans won their 39th straight game, 49-17, at Dublin High against California for their 22nd consecutive NCS championship.
The Spartans averaged 15.4 yards per carry against Cal for a 553-yard rushing night and leading ball-carrier John Velasco had his first 200+ yard game. Velasco tallied 176 of his career-high 234 yards in the first half and now is just 147 yards shy of 2,000.
“It feels great,” said senior running back John Velasco to Prep2Prep’s Chris Jackson. “All the blood, sweat, tears in the off-season. It’s finally paying off.”
Jevari Anderson also contributed a 57-yard touchdown run and interception, quarterback Chris Williams rushed for a career-high 94 yards and a score, and Antoine Custer, now nine yards shy of 1,000 yards, returned a punt for a score for the second straight week.
It wasn’t all positive for De La Salle as the passing game was just 2-of-8 for seven yards and Blake Bierwith became the third player this season - and second in two weeks - to run for 100+ yards against the De La Salle defense after a 24-carry, 119-yard, touchdown effort.
Also, Cal has to be pleased with the effort of Matt Lorenz as the backup quarterback passed for 213 yards and a score.
After missing the semifinals because of a minor car accident, defensive lineman Kahlil McKenzie recorded 12 tackles and one of the team’s four sacks.
De La Salle now gets another matchup with Folsom on Saturday night at Diablo Valley College at 7:30pm. Folsom has a terrific passing attack with Jake Browning at quarterback but needs to have more of a commitment to its ground game in this one. Last season, the Bulldogs ran the ball just six times in 76 snaps in a 49-15 loss at Sacramento State.
As for the controversy with the game being played at DVC instead of Sacramento State, the NCS is saying it could accommodate 8,000 fans on Saturday. Last season, there were about 7,300 tickets sold in Sacramento.
Miramonte won the NCS Division II title with another scintillating offensive performance in a 41-28 win over previously undefeated Casa Grande, a school still looking for its first NCS title.
The Mats’ running game was held to its lowest total (48 yards) of the season but the passing game again flourished, despite the cold weather, as Drew Anderson passed for 439 yards and five touchdowns. The Mats won their first NCS title in 10 years and Anderson finished with 4,074 yards passing and 47 touchdowns on the year. Both totals led the NCS and are fourth best in the entire state.
Miramonte also overcame a 21-14 fourth-quarter deficit with 27 points in the final quarter, including the winning score when Anderson found little brother Ryan for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 2:26 left.
The Mats’ pass protection also allowed no sacks of Anderson after Casa Grande had 53 sacks in its previous 13 games.
The Gauchos hurt themselves early with two turnovers, including a fumble on 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line, and eight of their 11 penalties were in the first half. Also for Casa, it marked the end of a couple of outstanding players. John Porchivina was one of the best two-way players in the Bay Area and had 167 yards and two touchdowns in the defeat. JaJuan Lawson passed for 197 yards and ran for 117 more.
The Mats did lose leading rusher Ray Clark to injury, but not before he had a key interception late in the first half.
I’m not sure Clark would have played in a bowl game but, with the Mats not being selected over Enterprise or Manteca, we won’t get a chance to see this hot team play again in the NorCal Division II bowl game.
It’s too bad because the offense was really flourishing with Ryan Anderson joining Dominic Paoletti (171 yards, 2 TD vs. Casa) and Will Fuller as go-to receivers. Anderson had 336 yards receiving and seven touchdowns in the final three playoff wins.
El Cerrito is playing as well as anybody and the Gauchos have made big statements the last two weeks against two unbeatens, Campolindo and Marin Catholic.
Against Marin Catholic in the NCS Division III title game, the Gauchos led 27-3 at the half and 41-3 in the third quarter of a 54-38 win for the school’s first-ever NCS title.
A big difference between this year and last year’s 31-28 loss to the Wildcats is that El Cerrito has a diversified running attack. After outrushing Campolindo, 311-25, in the semifinals, the Gauchos outgained the Wildcats, 311-199, on the ground.
UCLA commit Adarius Pickett might be the best player in the entire Bay Area and, other than his normal contributions on defense, rushed for 255 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries. He also set the tone with a 69-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage and has 12 touchdowns in the playoffs.
Arizona State-bound Jalen Harvey returned a fumble 36 yards for a touchdown early in the second half to seemingly put the game away and Keilan Benjamin tossed three touchdown passes to twin brother Keith.
Marin Catholic’s Morgan Mahalak, an Oregon commit, was held to 48 yards passing in the first half and ended with 301 yards and three touchdowns. Nevada commit Andrew Celis had eight receptions for 153 yards and two touchdowns, but the Wildcats were the ones who made the miscues and committed the bad penalties after El Cerrito was that team last season.
The Gauchos are now a big favorite over Sacred Heart Prep in the Division III regional bowl game at De Anza High School on Saturday at 7:30pm.
The Gators won their third CCS Division IV title in four years, and second straight, 56-21, over Pacific Grove.
It was the highest scoring game of the season for Sacred Heart Prep as Andrew Segre had a remarkable 351 yards rushing and six touchdowns. The Gators played without backfield mate Ricky Grau, but also got another great performance from Ben Burr-Kirven on both sides of the ball.
"Our line was amazing,” Segre told Prep2Prep’s John Murphy. “There were a couple where I didn't get touched at all. It was very impressive. We all played really well today."
The Gators are allowing just nine points per game but will have their biggest test on Saturday against El Cerrito, which will be playing on a field it has already played on three times this season.
In the CCS Division II title game, Los Gatos turned the tables on St. Francis with a 31-14 win after the Lancers won 17-0 last season.
The Wildcats won nine of their final 10 games and Nick Bawden passed for 281 yards and two scores while junior Joey Wood finished just 36 yards shy of 2,000 after a 137-yard rushing effort. Wood finished with nine straight games over 100 yards.
In a very good defensive effort, Jack Jarnigan had two sacks and a fumble recovery.
We also have to give a lot of credit to first-year Los Gatos coach Mark Krail. We knew it was a good hire after his great work at Santa Clara, but taking over for a legend like Butch Cattolico isn’t easy and Krail’s team kept improving every game this season.
In CCS Division I, Milpitas avenged last season’s title game loss with a 37-23 triumph over San Benito.
Squally Canada rushed for 220 yards and four touchdowns on 33 carries and Tre Hartley delivered five receptions for 96 yards.
The Trojans scored 31 points or more in each of their final nine games and Canada finished 123 yards shy of 2,000.
San Benito’s Zach Hicks ran for three touchdowns in a losing cause.
In CCS Division III, 4-9 St. Ignatius was denied its third straight CCS title with a 41-35 loss versus Aptos.
After St. Ignatius scored two late touchdowns, Dalton Weitzel of Aptos sealed the game with his second interception of the game and his 10th of the season.
Alex Joh tossed four touchdown passes and 186 yards despite a modest 6-of-11 passing line.
“It’s something that we always know we have the option to go to, if the game plan asks for it,” Joh spoke about the Mariners passing game to Prep2Prep’s Jack Sheedy . “Our receivers did a good job of getting into space throughout the game, and we just did our jobs from there.”
Only one WCAL team scored more points against SI this season than Aptos tallied on Friday.
Louie Demicell ran for 60 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries for the Mariners, while Elijah Dale ran for four touchdowns and 157 yards on 29 carries for SI.
The NCS Division IV title game between St. Mary’s and Fortuna was supposed to be played on Saturday at 1pm at Humboldt State but poor road conditions forced postponement. No makeup date has been announced.
McClymonds (10-2) will play defending state champ and Central Catholic (13-1) once again in the Division IV regional bowl game at Lincoln High in Stockton on Friday at 7:30pm. Mack lost last season, 42-12, to the Red Raiders but were more competitive in a 38-24 loss at Modesto this season.
Players of the Week
Offense: Adarius Pickett, El Cerrito. In the biggest win in school history, Pickett set the tone with long touchdown runs and a career best 255 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries against Marin Catholic.
Defense: Vince Camp, Serra. Camp had an interception and two other pass breakups for the Padres in a CCS Open title win over Mitty.
Special Teams: Logan Chapman, Los Gatos. Chapman, also the team’s punter, converted his four extra points and also booted a 41-yard field goal in the CCS Division II title win over St. Francis.
Recruiting News and Other Tidbits
It was big news this week when Earl Hansen stepped down at Palo Alto after 28 seasons, including a 2010 CCS Open and CIF Division I State championships.
Our John Murphy had the report.
"It's been a fantastic run," Hansen said. "I wouldn't trade (my experience) for anything."
In recruiting, Freedom’s Joe Mixon narrowed his final four to Cal, UCLA, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, but was reporting that Alabama, a favorite of his, has shown interest in the last week.
Junior Falcons lineman teammate Dominic Fredrickson was offered by Cal.
Awful news surfaced on Sunday when it was learned that Palma athletic director Steve Clayton passed away. Clayton had been a math teacher and the school’s athletic director for 23 years and was the CIF State Athletic Director of the Year in 2012.
They Said It
“There was an opportunity for them to make a pick when it was 7-0. Whewww! I guess tonight God is a Padre.” –Serra coach Patrick Walsh to the Mercury News after a potential Mitty pick-six was batted down at the line of scrimmage.
"I knew we couldn't just keep what we were doing. I'm just so proud of these guys." –Walsh to MaxPreps on this season’s change in offensive philosophy.
“Great W!! s/o to the o-line!! couldn't have done it without them!” –Tweet from De La Salle’s John Velasco.
"It doesn't really matter if you're an assistant or head (coach), you're all working toward the same thing. Don't get me wrong, it's a great feeling, but I wouldn't say it's starkly different." –De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh to the Contra Costa Times.
“Just a dropback and throw derp down the left side from Keilan. Very well thrown ball and Keith got separation. EC in control.” –SportStars Magazine Tweet.
"Our seniors that graduated, we promised them that we were going to win a championship for them next year." –Adarius Pickett to the Contra Costa Times.
“MC sophomore RB Darius Peterson looks like a definite Division I college prospect. Big, strong and elusive.” –Mitch Stephens tweet on the Marin Catholic sophomore.
"I can't even explain it. We've been working so hard for four years. I'm just so proud of all these guys. It means a lot to the coaches, the former players too." –Miramonte quarterback Drew Anderson to the Contra Costa Times.
"Maybe in Madden. Not in real life.'' –Sacred Heart Prep running back Andrew Segre to Prep2Prep after being asked if he ever had a game like this before.
"Hopefully we'll play soon and put this to bed. We've been waiting 14 years to play for an NCS title, another three days ain't going to kill us. ... You know what, all good things come to those who wait." – St. Mary’s coach Keith Minor to the Contra Costa Times after the postponement of his team’s NCS Division IV championship game.
“Hey Joe...there you go again, hating on us Bay Areans..all I can say is ‘come on down’” –Tweet from Harold Abend to the Sacramento Bee’s Joe Davidson.
“It’s not hating, Harold. Great football,but the venues are not in same class as Sac State. DVC may turn fans away so small” –Tweet from Joe Davidson in response.
We’re looking forward to more good quotes from the regional bowls this week.
