After no playoffs last season because of the pandemic, high school football in California is back to normal.
Section championships were held this weekend across the state and on Sunday the California Interscholastic Federation’s 10 section commissioners met to choose the matchups for next weekend’s regional championship games and the state Open Division title game on Dec. 11 at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
Did they get it right?
Serra — not De La Salle — was chosen to play Mater Dei for the state’s Open Division title.
De La Salle was slotted in the next tier, ending a streak of 11 consecutive appearances in the Open game for the Concord powerhouse.
Here are some quick thoughts:
Was De La Salle the better choice for Mater Dei?
There was a lot of debate from the outside about which Northern California team would be placed in the Open Division game against Southern Section Division I champion Mater Dei.
The committee chose Serra because it beat St. Francis and De La Salle lost to St. Francis, Brian Seymour, the CIF’s associate executive director, told the Bay Area News Group.
“There really wasn’t much discussion,” Seymour said. “We brought up the merits of both. We knew that regardless of the two that were selected, we would be right. It really came down to the fact that Serra played St. Francis and won and De La Salle played St. Francis and lost.
“There’s a lot of other points and counterpoints amongst that. But this has been what we’ve looked at from Day 1 and Serra won, so they play.”
Did the committee consider that Serra lost at home to St. Francis by 23 points three weeks ago?
“Absolutely,” Seymour said. “Discussed it and the merits of that and the whole thing. It might have been different if Serra had additional losses and things of that nature.”
Here were the factors we thought favored De La Salle for the Open:
1) De La Salle won soundly on the road over Sac-Joaquin Section Division I champion Folsom — the Spartans’ opponent at home Friday in a regional, by the way — and blasted San Diego Section Open Division champion Cathedral Catholic at home in Concord. (Cathedral Catholic could be DLS’s opponent in the 1-AA state title game if the Spartans win Friday).
2) De La Salle’s only other loss in a 10-2 season was to national powerhouse St. Frances Academy of Baltimore, 42-28.
3) Serra’s season opener against Pittsburg, which would have beefed up the Padres’ schedule, was canceled because of poor air quality from summer wildfires. The Padres beat Half Moon Bay and Palo Alto in their other two non-league games.
4) De La Salle has a better computer rating than Serra, according to calpreps.com.
No matter which team the committee chose, this much was obvious: They were going to be an overwhelming underdog against Mater Dei, which is undefeated and ranked No. 1 nationally.
Serra will be the first CCS team to play in the state Open Division game.
De La Salle had played in 11 in a row.
The Spartans are 6-5 in the Open championship game but haven’t won one since 2015. DLS is 8-6 overall in state title games since the CIF added them to the schedule in 2006.
DLS-Folsom: Really?
If you’re looking for something new, this matchup isn’t it. De La Salle beat Folsom 31-10 on Oct. 8, its fifth victory over the Sac-Joaquin Section powerhouse without a defeat since 2012.
Folsom has gotten back on track after losing two games while quarterback Tyler Tremain recovered from an injury he suffered in the first game against De La Salle.
We’ve got to believe Tremain and the Bulldogs didn’t expect to see De La Salle again.
Folsom is 3-3 in the regionals but 0-3 against Bay Area schools, having lost twice badly to De La Salle when there was an Open Division regional and once to Bellarmine.
Serra-Folsom: Now that would’ve been must-see
The thought here was that the CIF would match up Folsom against Serra, which had a “wow” factor written all over it.
Instead, we get a DLS-Folsom rematch.
We write this not trying to diminish anything that Serra has accomplished and the incredible job coach Patrick Walsh has done over two decades leading the Padres.
Serra has elevated its play dramatically since losing to St. Francis on Nov. 6 and committing five turnovers in a 41-30 victory over Valley Christian in the opening round of the CCS playoffs.
The Padres routed Bellarmine 41-0 in the semifinals and were masterful in beating St. Francis for the CCS Division I title Friday.
Plus, it’s an incredible honor for Walsh to take the Padres to the top of the NorCal mountain, which we will address in another story.
But Serra seemed a better fit to play Folsom for the 1-AA regional title, which would have been Serra’s first appearance at the 1-AA level.
When Serra won a NorCal title two years ago, it was in Division 1-A.
Pittsburg’s long trip South
As a Bakersfield College alum, I hold a special fondness for Memorial Stadium, the double-deck facility that holds more than 20,000.
But I didn’t see Pittsburg having to make the trip South to play Liberty-Bakersfield at BC on Saturday night in the 1-A NorCal regional after beating Clayton Valley Charter on Friday night for the North Coast Section Division I championship.
Liberty lost to Clayton Valley in October.
Pittsburg has two losses this season, on the road against Folsom and De La Salle.
Other notes
Campolindo will travel to McClymonds on Saturday night in the 3-A game. When the teams played in 2019, McClymonds won 41-21. … Wilcox, fresh from routing Menlo School for the CCS Division II title, will play host to Manteca in the 2-A game, with the winner advancing to Saddleback College for a state title game. … Aragon will travel to Salesian for 6-A regional championship Saturday. Both won section titles Saturday.
Source: www.mercurynews.com