The Prep2Prep caravan will be at the StubHub Center in Carson (Los Angeles County) on Friday and Saturday where yours truly along with John Murphy will report on all the action.
Our record last week on the NorCal predictions was 4-0, and although we weren’t right on with the forecasted scores, we weren’t far off.
In Division I, the prediction was Folsom beating Grant-Sacramento 35-14, and the actual result was a 52-21 Folsom victory. The Division II conjecture was Clayton Valley-Concord beating Oakdale 42-28, and it turned out we gave both offenses a little more credit than they showed on the field in a 28-7 Ugly Eagles victory over the Mustangs.
We liked the chances of Sutter and felt if they won it would not be an upset, but after spotting the boys from the Northern Section a 14-0 lead, Campolindo-Moraga came storming back with 35 unanswered points to take a 35-14 victory. The predicted score was a 42-28 Campo win.
A lot of folks felt the Division IV game would be a blowout, and although Capital Christian-Sacramento kept it close early on, Central Catholic-Modesto broke open a 7-7 first quarter tie to take a 35-14 victory. The prediction was 42-14.
Now three CIF North Coast Section teams from Contra Costa County – including two from Concord - out of five Northern California representatives are Carson-bound this weekend. Two of the three - De La Salle-Concord and Campolindo-Moraga - have been to Carson before, but only the Spartans have been victorious. Clayton Valley-Concord makes its first appearance. In fact, De La Salle is the only team from the CIF-NCS to win a CIF Bowl game.
The other two teams, Folsom and Central Catholic-Modesto have both been to Carson before, and each has tasted victory.
The predictions are a little biased toward the Northern California teams but frankly the only real favorite amongst the various statewide high school football experts in any game is Central Catholic.
Open Division
De La Salle-Concord (13-0) versus Corona-Centennial (12-2) – Saturday at 8:00 p.m.
No two teams have met more times in Carson than De La Salle and Centennial, and coincidentally no teams have made more appearances in what will be the ninth year since the CIF re-instituted state championships in football after a 79-year hiatus.
In case you didn’t know it already, the Spartans have made all eight previous marches to Carson and have been victorious on five occasions, including twice against Centennial with one defeat.
The teams first met in the 2007 CIF Division I Bowl game with De La Salle taking a 37-31 victory. The following year Centennial evened the score with a D1 21-16 victory. It wasn’t until 2012 that the teams met again and this time the Spartans took a 48-28 victory to complete a string of four straight Open Division titles.
Centennial had a fourth appearance in 2010 when it suffered a 15-13 Division I Bowl game defeat to Palo Alto.
In the battle of Cal-Hi Sports No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the state, De La Salle will look to go to 6-3 in Bowl games while Centennial will try to improve to 2-3.
Obviously with the familiarity the two teams have for each other the game should be no different than the other times these rivals have met.
De La Salle is going to try to run the ball and keep the high-powered, quick strike Centennial offense off the field.
Head coach Justin Alumbaugh has a bevy of running backs at his disposal, but the bulk of the work will fall on the junior duo of Antoine Custer and Andrew Hernandez.
Custer, who was injured in the early going of last year’s Open Division 20-14 loss to St. John Bosco-Bellflower, has rushed for 1,679 yards and 20 touchdowns. Hernandez has 1,632 and has found the end zone 27 times.
Quarterback Chris Vanderklugt, who was banged up in the CIF North Coast Section playoffs, is “completely healthy” according to a text from Alumbaugh earlier this week. Vanderklugt has only passed for four touchdowns since taking over for injured Anthony Sweeney, but he’s run for nine scores.
The extra week off by not having a Regional Bowl game has not only benefitted De La Salle but Centennial as well. By kickoff time, junior running back JJ Taylor will have missed almost a month after an appendectomy. The Huskies have been winning without him as junior Sammonte Bonner (647 yards, eight TDs) has taken over as the lead back.
“Both of them are little guys that are quick,” said Cal-Hi Sports Editor Mark Tennis. “Taylor is more of a breakaway runner but they weren’t missing much with Bonner.”
The difference is now they have both available but De La Salle has the defense that has proven to be the difference in most past Spartans Bowl game victories.
Prediction: De La Salle 42, Centennial 35
Division I
Folsom (15-0) versus Oceanside (14-0) – Friday at 8:00 p.m.
For everyone that will be waiting for the big matchup in the Open Division on Saturday night, they shouldn’t overlook the Division I title tilt between two teams that are 3-0 in Bowl games combined.
Folsom won the 2010 CIF Division II Bowl game with a 48-20 shellacking of Serra-Gardena. Oceanside was victorious in 2007 with a 28-14 victory over Novato in the CIF Division II Bowl game and then again in 2009 when it defeated Bellarmine-San Jose, 24-19, in the CIF Division I contest.
For Cal-Hi Sports No. 3-ranked Folsom, the Bulldogs won’t look much different than the 2010 team that featured record-breaking quarterback (at the time) Dano Graves.
This year’s quarterback Jake Browning is the latest record-breaker. The Washington-committed Browning comes into Carson with national records for touchdown passes in a season and career with 85 and 223, respectively. His favorite target, Cole Browning, had two touchdown receptions in the NorCal D1 victory over Grant and according to the Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book he is now tied with 33 TD receptions for the most ever in a season.
Oceanside has a team and a head coach that has a history of winning. Coach John Carroll comes into Carson seeking career win No. 249 and a third Bowl game triumph since starting at Oceanside in 1989.
Like almost all of Carroll’s teams, the No. 5-ranked Pirates can get it done in the air or on the ground. Senior quarterback Matthew Romero has passed for 3,001 yards and 26 touchdowns. The bulk of the 2,360 yards and 33 touchdowns rushing have come from Josh Bernard. The 5-10, 195-pound senior has 1,491 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns.
An interesting twist is one of the Oceanside defensive backs that will be defending against Browning, is Washington-bound Jordan Miller. Next fall they will be Huskies teammates.
Both teams have good size and neither has anyone with blinding speed. This game is more than likely going to come down to defense and whether Carroll can come up with a way to muzzle the spread offense employed by Folsom co-head coaches Kris Richardson and Troy Taylor, and whether Folsom can snuff Oceanside like it did against Grant in the NorCal game. Oceanside is a better team than Grant but Folsom is relentless.
Prediction: Folsom 35, Oceanside 27
Division II
Clayton Valley-Concord (15-0) versus East Valley-Redlands (14-1) – Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
The juggernaut known as the Clayton Valley Ugly Eagles fly into Carson where they meet a team that has more size and speed in what should be an interesting matchup featuring a contrast of styles.
Cal-Hi Sports No. 11 Clayton Valley will want to get running back Miles Harrison (2,380 yards, 29 TDs despite missing two-plus games) as many carries as possible and control the ball and the clock. Harrison will get support from five other running backs, including Devin Banks (773 yards, 11 TDs) and Justin Zapanta (604 yards, 12 TDs), that have rushed for at least 500 yards this season.
Third-year head coach Tim Murphy had his 2006 CIF Central Section Division I champion Clovis East team on the board but it was edged out in the selection process by a Canyon Country-Canyon team that went on the beat De La Salle in the first CIF Division I Bowl game. Murphy is experienced in big games and is one of Northern California’s top, bright young coaches.
No. 20-ranked East Valley on the other hand is explosive, as it showed in a 59-42 victory over Ridgeview-Bakersfield in the SoCal D2 Bowl game.
The Wildcats are led by head coach Kurt Bruich, the son of legendary Coach Dick Bruich, the 1989 Cal-Hi Sports state Coach of the Year who amassed 292 wins from 1977-2008 at Fontana and Kaiser-Fontana. The winning bloodlines are certainly there. The younger Bruich also knows what it’s like to be on top. Before there were bowl games, he played on his father’s 1987 team at Fontana that was the Cal-Hi Sports No. 1 team in the state.
The most explosive of the Wildcats is 5-foot-11, 188-pound Malik Lovette. The Oregon-bound slotback has rushed for 955 yards and 21 touchdowns and caught 61 passes for 990 yards and eight more scores. Junior Joey Harmon is the leading rusher with 1,488 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Sophomore quarterback Armando Herrera has passed for 3,576 yards and 40 touchdowns, and with Lovette and the junior duo of Khris Vaughn (59 receptions, 1,202 yards, 15 TDs) and CJ Harris (58 receptions, 859 yards, 10 TDs) the Wildcats can strike at any time and from anywhere on the field.
“They’re a big play team and their skill guys can flat out fly,” Murphy told Prep2Prep. “We’ll be OK if we don’t give up the big plays. We have to take great angles, gang tackle and not let them get outside. No doubt about it this will be the best team we’ve played all season.”
Prediction: Clayton Valley 28, East Valley 20
