Pick your favorite cliche, and it can be used to describe action from around the North Coast Section this past weekend. History repeats itself, records are made to be broken, and all things must come to an end. Yes, it was an interesting weekend around the section, so we present you with the information you need to know, as fast as we possibly can.
- 24 years ago, on Liberty's Homecoming night, the Lions' defense lined up to block a game-winning field-goal attempt by visiting Northgate on the final play of the game. The block attempt was successful, and Liberty's players began celebrating wildly, while I (a freshman at the time) began to watch in horror as Northgate's Matt Harden, who would go on to play for Navy, scooped up the live ball and ran about 40 yards down the sideline for the game-winning touchdown.
This Friday night, Gavin West got to play the hero for the Broncos in the same exact scenario against Berean Christian, only from about 10 yards away, as Northgate pulled out the improbable 19-14 victory. The Northgate win leaves them in a three-way tie for second place in the DAL-Foothill with Berean Christian and Alhambra, a game behind College Park, who faces both Berean Christian and Alhambra in the final two weeks.
- 33 years of frustration came to end for unbeaten Kennedy-Fremont on Saturday night, as they beat visiting James Logan, 34-16. Those years of frustration represent the last time the Titans beat the Colts, and provided them with huge back-to-back wins over Moreau and Logan, as Kennedy bears down on the post-season.
- Pittsburg running back Montaz Thompson was, at one point, on track to threaten Harris Ross' single-season school record for rushing yards, having accumulated 1,170 in the first five games. After missing the previous two games with injury, and being severely limited in Friday's 56-7 win over Liberty, that no longer appears likely, but he did put his name atop the record book in one category this weekend.
Thompson reached the end zone for the 31st time in his career at Pittsburg (regular season games only), breaking a tie for most rushing touchdowns in a career. He was previously tied with Brian Robinson and former Oregon State standout Ken Simonton. And after running for 42 yards against the Lions, Thompson needs just 36 more yards this Friday against Freedom to break Ross' record for rushing yards in a career.
- Casa Grande coach Trent Herzog might want to start referring to this year's team as the cardiac kids. The Gauchos picked up their third win of the season on Friday, scoring on a two-point conversion with less than a minute remaining to beat Montgomery, 25-24. Their other wins came by two points over San Marin, and in overtime against Maria Carrillo. They also have a one-point loss to Ukiah. That is four games decided by a total of seven points this season for the Gauchos.
- The TCAL-Rock broke its six-team logjam in the standings this weekend, but we don't feel too comfortable predicting any results for next week. El Cerrito won handily over Pinole Valley, but Saint Mary's needed an interception in the final minute to make Ryan Jenkins' four touchdown passes hold up in a 30-27 win over St. Patrick-St. Vincent, and Salesian had to come back from a 20-7 deficit to beat Swett, 21-20. The Pride also enjoyed the return of Dalonnie Crater, who tore his ACL last season, giving them four lethal weapons at running back.
The three leaders do not play each other this week, but Salesian and El Cerrito conclude the regular season against each other. Considering that Saint Mary's beat Salesian and lost to the Gauchos, it's pretty likely to assume who the Panthers will be rooting for in that game as long as they take care of business against Swett and Pinole Valley. But again, nothing is a given in this league.
- The same goes for the WACC-Shoreline, which saw both of its unbeaten league leaders fall on Friday. Encinal bounced back from its loss to Hayward with an emphatic 48-0 win over Arroyo, and Hayward was stunned by Mt. Eden, who was coming off a loss to Alameda. After holding Encinal to six points the previous game, and scoring on both defense and special teams, the Farmers inexplicably gave up 50 points to the Monarchs in a dramatic one-week turnaround for both programs.
- Cardinal Newman and Rancho Cotate remain on a collision course for the final regular season game to determine the NBL title, but barely. Rancho Cotate stayed unbeaten in league play by the slimmest of margins, thanks to an explosive Santa Rosa offense. Santa Rosa led 47-35 at the end of three quarters before the Cougars rallied with 20 straight points. The Panthers then scored with 3:59 left in the game, but the two-point conversion was stopped at the one-yard line, and Rancho Cotate held on for the 55-53 victory, on its 50th Homecoming celebration.
- From the land of eight-man football in the NCS, Branson stayed unbeaten, and scored 50 or more points again. The Bulls have reached the half-century mark in all five of their games this season, including 80 points in late September against Upper Lake, which formerly played 11-man football.
- We will be talking about this one a lot more in the coming week, but the basic numbers behind the pending Pittsburg at Freedom game are amazing. Freedom set a record for best start in school history by beating Heritage on Friday, improving to 8-0. In 2008, when it started 7-0, its only regular season loss came to Pittsburg. In 2011, when it started 5-0, Pittsburg ended that streak.
The last time two BVAL teams met this late in the season without a loss? You would have to go all the way back to 1993, when De La Salle beat previously unbeaten Pinole Valley in the last game of the regular season. The last time two teams from the BVAL finished 10-0 and 9-1? That would be 1995, when Pittsburg's only regular season loss came to De La Salle. In other words, it has been a while.
