Prep2Prep NCS Rankings
THROUGH WEEK 3
The first set of NCS rankings has the usual suspects over the past few years at Nos. 1 and 2, but after that there’s a pretty significant dropoff, although many of those second-tier teams will be competing for NCS championships.
Note: Last week's rankings in parentheses
There may be a chink in the Spartans armor but the crack wasn’t caused by a team from the NCS. De La Salle still hasn’t lost to an NCS school since 1991 when Pittsburg turned the trick in the NCS large school title game. Cathedral Catholic is next in San Diego. Last season in Concord, the Spartans fell behind 14-0 before taking over with four second-quarter TDs in a 48-21 victory. Should De La Salle fall behind by two TDs on the road, it could be a real problem.
The Pirates followed up their 30-2 Honor Bowl victory in San Diego over Nevada No. 3 Liberty-Henderson with a solid 34-14 victory over a decent California on the road in San Ramon. Five-star Miami commit Jaden Rashada carved up the Grizzlies’ defense, as the senior quarterback was 21-for-30 for 360 yards passing and three touchdowns. His two main targets were Washington-committed Rashid Williams and Nevada-commit Khai Taylor. Next up is Folsom at home and a win would put head coach Vic Galli and his Pirates right in the thick of the discussion as a potential CIF NorCal Open Division representative.
The big news out of Kentfield is senior quarterback Joey Cook has been declared eligible by the NCS after missing the first two games even though he moved into the area before transferring from San Marin to Marin Catholic. In his first game for the Wildcats, he passed for 204 yards and two TDs in less than three quarters of work to help lead the team to a 45-0 rout of Casa Grande. Junior standout Charles Williams ran for three touchdowns. Next up is James Logan at home.
It’s hard to tell at this early stage of the season, but it appears the Wolves are for real and they have a quarterback who can air it out in junior Luke Baker. In his first varsity start, he passed for 208 yards and two TDs in a 41-7 rout of Vintage. Last week, in a 35-28 victory over Elk Grove, he passed for 426 yards and four TDs with two picks, but it took a 12-yard run from Caleb Padrid with two minutes left to secure the victory. Las Lomas is next and the Wolves will be a solid favorite.
An argument can be made for Campolindo to be ahead of San Ramon Valley but they don’t have as tough a schedule ahead of them in the Diablo-Foothill League. Last week head coach Kevin Macy pulled a rabbit out of his hat when he orchestrated a late drive with less than a minute left that culminated in a 28-26 victory that came on the last play of the game on an 18-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Dashiell Weaver to junior wide receiver Scott Lyon. A San Leandro team coming off a loss to Bellarmine is next on the road.
The Cougars have rolled in their first three games with 40-plus point outputs in each contest, including a 49-6 thrashing of Sacramento last week where the visitors didn’t score until the final play of the game. Rancho Cotate has now outscored its first three opponents 133-36 combined, and senior quarterback Liam Keaney is among the leading passers in the NCS with 926 yards and 11 TDs with two interceptions. We’ll see what Keaney and his two favorite targets, Cal-bound senior Sai Vadrawale and junior speedster Ananias Walker can do this week on the road in Fairfield at Vanden.
After an 0-2 start with a 21-14 loss to Salinas and a 31-27 loss to Del Oro-Loomis, the Ugly Eagled bounced back to thrash Nevada Canyon Springs-North La Vegas, 42-6. Some dropped the Uglies off their radar screens but Salinas and Del Oro are state-ranked teams and they were both far from blowouts. Next up is Turlock at home and then Jesuit in Carmichael before an EBAL-Mountain Division opener at Amador Valley.
The competition has not been as difficult for the Patriots as some of the other ranked teams around them, but there most recent win was an impressive 30-13 win over their most difficult opponent so far this season, visiting Whitney-Rocklin. Fresno State-committed senior running back Devon Rivers has been over 200 yards rushing in each game and his best game was against Whitney where he had 280 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Rivers’ 720 yards rushing and nine TDs is the No.1 reported mark in the NCS and No. 7 in the state but No. 2 for players with less than four games. Next up is Vintage and Rivers could have another big game.
El Cerrito is off to another solid start and stayed unbeaten with a 28-0 drubbing of Bishop O’Dowd. The biggest win, however, came in week one when the Gauchos slipped past Amador Valley, 7-3. Up next are two more tests on the road at Foothill and Vacaville.
We like the Grizzlies’ strength of schedule a little more than some other teams in the East Bay Area of the NCS. After decisive wins over James Logan and Milpitas, they gave Pittsburg a better game than Nevada No. 3 Liberty-Henderson in a 31-14 loss. Next up is an interesting matchup with Antioch and then comes a bye before they face Granada in Livermore.
Some have the Dons ranked higher, but most of the teams above them have a tougher road to hoe as non-league and league play progresses. The Dons had a similar win to El Cerrito ( beating Bishop O’Dowd 28-7), but the 21-14 home victory over San Marin was not decisive. And Sheldon-Sacramento is a solid but somewhat untested team when they were 3-0 and hosting Acalanes, and it took the Dons three fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull out the victory. A 55-yard run by Ellis Burger sealed the 42-35 win.
The Dons had a bye last week after opening with a 7-3 loss to El Cerrito and following that up with a close win over Bear Creek. Some have Amador Valley a little higher likely based on the closeness of the El Cerrito loss, but we see things a bit different for now. Next up is Granada at home.
It looked like the Jaguars had Campolindo on the ropes with a 26-22 lead with under a minute to go, but instead of going for a first down that would have sealed the game they made an ill-fated decision to give the ball back to the Cougars and ended up losing on the last play of the game, 28-26. The other loss is 49-35 on the road to state-ranked small school power Escalon. Had Windsor hung on against Campolindo they could likely be right behind Rancho Cotate. Next up is visiting Lincoln-San Francisco.
The Cardinals opened with a solid 34-7 win at San Leandro in a game star senior running back Santino Acevedo coasted to 120 yards rushing and two TDs. But in a 14-7 loss at Vacaville, he went down with a reported ankle injury after only gaining 12 yards on six carries and in last week’s 27-8 win over Vintage he didn’t play. Junior Kaize Steverson led Newman in both of those games running the ball and had 98 yards and a TD against Vintage. Until we learn more about Acevedo, the Cardinals have to fall in behind fellow Redwood Empire power Windsor.
The third of three Redwood Empire teams in a row at this stage of the rankings opened on the road at Acalanes where they lost by seven. Then they got a tough game from Analy in a 37-34 road win before besting Moreau Catholic at home last week, 28-14. Against Moreau, junior quarterback Dominic Ingrassia did throw an interception but that was his lone mistake after going a pinpoint 18-for-22 passing for 204 yards and two TDs. Plus he rushed for 56 yards and two more scores. After a bye, the Mustangs open Marin County Athletic League action on the road at Archie Williams.
The Colts showed they are at the same level as some of the second-tier teams in the EBAL-Mountain Division with a 32-19 victory over Monte Vista last week. They did lose decisively to host California to open the season and then got a game from Las Lomas before posting a 35-26 win. The real non-league test comes on Saturday afternoon at Marin Catholic.
The Falcons opened with a rout of Castro Valley and then they posted a 28-12 victory over visiting College Park. Then last week they traveled to Fairfield to meet defending CIF state Division 3-AA Bowl Game champion Vanden, but suffered a 23-14 loss. We should know more about where Foothill sits in the pecking order with matchup at home with El Cerrito while Rancho Cotate travels to Vanden.
Just like last season, the Lancers have opened with three wins. Last year, they went on to win 10 straight before losing to Cardinal Newman in the NCS Division 4 playoffs. The schedule has not been extremely tough with a win over Castlemont to open the and another win over defending state CIF Division 6-A Bowl Game champion Salesian, but both were close. Last week Tennyson trounced Mt. Eden, 48-6, behind a record-setting performance by senior wide receiver Taeshaun Lyons. Lyons, who currently holds 20 Division I offers including several from the Pac-12 with the warmest offers coming from Notre Dame and Washington according to 247sports.com, had 293 yards receiving and three TDs. That total is good enough to make the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book Most Yards (Game) list in the Single-Game Receiving section, and is also the No. 5 highest total NCS history.
The Crushers have played a tough non-league schedule so far and have a season-opening 41-7 loss to San Ramon Valley and last week they lost 27-8 to Cardinal Newman, but sandwiched in the middle is a 28-22 overtime win at Antioch. This week they travel to Heritage and what should be a very interesting matchup.
The Panthers got blasted by Rocklin last week, 41-0 at home, and Rocklin has a lone loss to a Turlock team that visits Clayton Valley on Friday night. Antioch has a solid 58-28 win at Monte Vista, but the Mustangs look down this year. The other loss was a heartbreaking 28-22 loss at home to Vintage.
It hasn’t been the most difficult non-league schedule so far for the Cowboys, but it looks like their toughest game is coming up when they host American Canyon. The first three wins are against Livingston, Alhambra and Gregori with only the Livingston win being close (35-27).
Another of the unbeaten teams with only so-so competition so far this season has posted easy victories over Deer Valley and Ukiah before a 9-0 win last week at home against Fremont-Oakland. Winless Jesse Bethel is next in Vallejo before Diablo-Foothill League play begins in two weeks at home against College Park.
Another undefeated Diablo-Foothill League team sees it string of three so-so opponents comes to an end when the Mats host perennial Sac-Joaquin Section power Oakdale. Miramonte has beaten Berkeley, Encinal and Skyline-Oakland, 48-20, 41-14 and 21-10, respectively.
The Panthers haven’t really been tested in their two wins, 47-8 over nearby Fairfield, and 25-14 on the road in Santa Rosa at Maria Carrillo. Next up is a road game with Moreau Catholic, but Benicia might not be tested until they open Diablo-Foothill League play at home against Campolindo.
How good is the top team from the far north Behind the Redwood Curtain? The Warriors blasted Kelseyville, 71-13, shut out Piedmont 42-0, and then last week they lost to Oregon top 15 South Medford, 21-7 in Medford. Next up is winless West Valley-Cottonwood of the Northern Section, at home.