Monte Vista-Danville 35, Foothill-Pleasanton 29
This East Bay Athletic League – Mountain Division matchup was expected to help determine the pecking order behind De La Salle and the Prep2Prep CIF North Coast Section No. 4 ranked Mustangs proved their prowess but it was anything but easy in a home victory that gets Monte Vista to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in league.
The difference make was senior Jacob Oliphant who had two special teams TDs after scoring on an 85-yard kickoff return and a punt he returned 74-yards to the house for a score.
Monte Vista fell behind 10-0 with just over a minute left in the first quarter, but the hosts Mustangs responded with three TDs in a little over a six minute stretch in the second quarter on TD passes from senior quarterback Jack Stewardson to star D1 prospect Nate Rutchena on a 39-yarder, a 5-yard pass to Connor Shay that gave Monte Vista a lead it never relinquished, and then a 31- yards pass Nah Rivas that followed a long punt return by Oliphant. Although that gave Monte Vista a 21-10 lead, it did not seal the deal or put away an underrated group of Falcons.
Foothill (5-2, 1-1) closed to 21-16 on 22-yard TD pass from Bryce Lombardi to D1 prospect Peter Montini with under a minute left in the first half, but Oliphant took the ensuing kickoff to the house and it was 28-16 at halftime.
Foothill got the ball to begin the second half but after a three and out Oliphant had his punt return to give Monte Vista a 35-16 lead, but the Falcons still would not fold. Lombardi found Montini for a second TD pass and the 15yarder made it 35-23. Then, with just over a minute remaining Montini caught his third TD pass and after a missed PAT it was down to the 35-29 final score, but not before Foothill attempted an onside kick that was touched by both team and eventually secured by Monte Vista although officials ruled it did not go 10 yards.
Oliphant finished with the one kickoff return of 85 yards and two punt returns for 100 yards. Stewardson finished 14-of-22 passing for 210 yards and three TDs to three different wide receivers of the five Mustangs that had multiple receptions.
“Our offense has so many weapons so I wasn’t worried,” Stewardson said. “We just knew we had to stay in the game and focus on the next most important thing. And Jacob (Oliphant) can make plays everywhere on the field.”
Lombardi completed 25-of-45 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns, but he threw two interceptions.
Besides the two interceptions the Monte Vista defense also forced two fumbles to give them a 4-0 turnover ratio.
Prep2Prep CIF North Coast Section No. 12 Foothill now meets a reeling Clayton Valley-Concord (4-3, 0-2) that is coming off a 23-16 home loss to San Ramon Valley-Danville in an almost must win game form Clayton Valley.
P2P NCS No. 4 Monte Vista is now in a four way tie at in the EBAL – Mountain at 1-1 with Foothill, San Ramon Valley and the California-San Ramon team they meet this Friday at home. Coach Matt Russi and his Mustangs would seem to have the inside track on the league title (De La Salle can’t win) if they can beat California and then Clayton Valley and San Ramon Valley since the Mustangs and California are the two teams De La Salle has already beaten with the Grizzlies coming off a 70-7 shellacking last week against the Spartans.
Palma-Salinas 41, Carmel 22
With Palma looking like its ticketed for Division 2 in the newly aligned CIF Central Coast Section playoffs along with the Salinas team that beat them 38-35 in a heartbreaker three weeks ago, a win over Carmel was a must in the Chieftains drive towards a reasonable seeding, and that’s exactly what they got.
It took the hosts and Prep2Prep CIFCCS No. 8 Palma a bit to get going but after the game was tied 7-7 after the first quarter and it was 21-14 at the half after Palma couldn’t shake off P2P CCS No. 17 Carmel, the hosts finally took control near the end of the third quarter on a 3-yard TD run by Anthony Villegas that made it 27-14 after three quarters. Villegas scored again on a 6-yard run in the early fourth quarter. Then, after Carmel had closed to 34-22, Villegas closed out the scoring midway through the fourth quarter on a 6-yard TD run.
Villegas, a 5-9, 175-pound senior running back whom we predicted would see a lot of carries since no one, even Salinas, could stop, rushed 25 times for 157 yards and five touchdowns.
Quarterback Luke Rossi was an efficient 6-for-9 for 91 yards and one TD on a pass to Micah Olivas.
Palma (3-2, 1-1 Pacific Coast – Gabilan League) now travels to a Christopher-Gilroy team that is 0-6 this season.
Carmel (3-3, 1-2) now must face P2P CCS No. 6 Salinas with the Padres now needing to notch some wins in their drive towards the playoffs.
Placer-Auburn 24, Rio Linda 7
Based on the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section rankings done by veteran Sacramento Bee prep sports scribe Joe Davidson, defending CIFSJS Division IV and CIF state Division 5-AA Bowl Game champion Rio Linda at No. 15 in the rankings was a slight favorite over No. 18 Placer, but the rankings will be changing this week after the Hillmen were a solid winner at home.
The Placer running game took over and the defense forced three turnovers, two by senior Nathan Russell on pass interceptions, and on one of two forced fumbles recovered by senior lineman Jaden Desrochers.
As for the running game the wing-T worked perfectly and while no on Placer running back racked up huge yards individually, five running backs had carries totaling 263 yards, and the three that scored TDs all had double-digit carries. Senior Hans Grassmann had 15 carries for 90 yards and a score, junior Dylan Logelin had 15 carries for 83 yards and a TD, and senior4 Jesse Whigam scored on one of his 12 carries and finished with 60 yards.
Kicker Alex Bohn closed out the scoring with a 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and after the Placer defense held Rio Linda scoreless in the second half.
Placer (5-2, 2-0) now takes charge of the Foothill Valley League going into a Friday night game with an Oakmont-Roseville team that is 6-1 overall and 1-1 in league after a loss two weeks to Lincoln.
Rio Linda (5-2, 1-1) now must regroup and face a 4-3 Lincoln team that is also 1-1 in league.
Branham-San Jose 42, Willow Glen-San Jose 27
This game was not originally one of the three top featured games but because it was a battle for bragging rights as the top public school in San Jose it got moved up from Best of the Rest in last week’s NorCal Regional featured games to a final game featured in the NorCal Regional Games of the Week Recap.
After all was said and done the bragging rights for now went to Branham (6-0, 3-0) after the Prep2Prep CIFCCS No. 18 Bruins were a solid winner over previously undefeated Willow Glen (5-1, 2-1) behind five TD passes by junior quarterback Nick Bandanza.
Branham is now tied for first place in the Blossom Valley Athletic League – Santa Teresa Division with a 4-2 Overfelt team that has losses to Clayton Valley-Concord and Palo Alto. The teams now meet this Saturday evening at Overfelt for sole possession of first place in the league and this should be another big test for Branham if the Bruins want to stay atop the San Jose public schools pecking order.
Best of the Rest
Prep2Prep CIF Central Coast Section No. 1 Serra-San Mateo got all it could handle in what Padres Coach Patrick Walsh called “a very chaotic game but WCAL football at its finest” after the hosts won their one and only game this year under the portable lights, 35-29 over P2P CCS No. 7 Archbishop Mitty-San Jose. After falling behind 21-7 with 8:34 left in the second quarter Serra scored 28 unanswered points but still had to survive an onside kick after Mitty scored the game’s final points with 1:16 left. With the win Serra goes to 6-0 for the fitrst time since 2004 and 3-0 in the West Catholic Athletic League for the second straight season.
Previous Prep2Prep CIFNCS No. 15 San Ramon Valley (5-2, 1-1 EBAL – Mountain) will be moving ahead of previous P2P NCS No. 6 Clayton Valley after the Wolves sent the Uglies reeling a 23-16 victory on the road in Concord. Clayton Valley (4-3, 0-2) must now in one of its last three EBAL – Mountain games to make the playoffs, and that starts this week at Foothill, and then next week at home against Monte Vista, but they better win one of those two because they close out league at De La Salle and needing that win to make the playoffs will be futile against a Spartans team that just trounced California, 70-7.
Sacramento Bee CIF Sac-Joaquin Section No. 4 Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills (5-2, 2-2) needed a win over the Bee’s CIFSJS No. 11 ranked Del Oro-Loomis (4-3, 1-2) and the Trojans got it behind a huge performance by Avant Jacobs and a defense that forced six turnovers in a 38-15 victory. Jacobs, a 5-9 senior wide receiver and defensive back returned a fumble 86 yards for a touchdown, rushed for two touchdowns and intercepted two passes. Ryan Enney also recovered two fumbles and Mujahid Samad had an interception.
