December 16th has finally arrived and that means it's time for the last predictions of the 2006 Maxpreps USA Football Road Tour. Except today we will be making 3 predictions for all three state championship games!
We will start with the DIII game between Oaks Christian and Cardinal Newman. Simply said, Oaks Christian is unstoppable, we have been all around the country and seen just about every single top team in the country and if we had to pick the strongest of the bunch we would go with Oaks. While losing one of the nation's top backs and linebackers in Marc Tyler would devastate most teams, Cardinal Newman will still have their hands full with Jimmy Clausen spreading the ball around to his choice of college bound receivers and USC bound Marshall Jones carrying to ball. If Cardinal Newman has any prayer, it will be by getting past the monster Oaks line and in the face of Clausen. Cardinal Newman defensive standout Kyle Young will have to lead his D and play the game of their lives to stay in this one.
In the end we've got to call for another Oaks blowout with a score of 45-17
The DII game is one of the more interesting games of the day with Palo Alto coming out of nowhere and through some quality opponents to earn a game against powerhouse Orange Lutheran. Orange Lutheran is led by USC bound Aaron Corp and have fought their way through one of the strongest leagues and sections in the nation. Palo Alto will need leading rusher Will Frazier and monster 260 pound fullback Simone Mataele to dominate the pace of the game to stay in this one. In the end we've got to go with Orange Lutheran by a score 28-17.
The DI game features one of the nation's most famous programs in De La Salle who earned the bid by clinching their 15th consecutive CIF section title last Saturday. Standing in DLS's way is a Canyon program that battled their way through a buzzsaw playoff schedule in the Southern Section to clinch their own championship. Canyon will need the legs of J.J. Diluigi, who has ran for 2021 yards thus far, to carry them to victory. However, they will not be able to simply pound the ball against leading tackler Albert Rosetti and his fellow defensive standouts. Canyon QB Ben Longshore will have to soften up De La Salle secondary to have any chance of putting enough points on the scoreboard to come out on top. Unfortunately for Canyon, they have not ran into anything like De La Salle this year. Look for RB Tim Maupin to put up points on the scoreboard and lead his team to a DI state title and another to trophy for the Spartans. DLS by a score of 35-21.