San Francisco Bay Area Top 25 high school football rankings

MaxPreps San Francisco Bay Area Top 25 Football Rankings

1. De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 4-0
Beat Granada 48-14 last week, travels to Livermore Friday. WR/DB Andrew Buckley unsung star.

View the MaxPreps 2012 California Bowl Game Rankings

2. Logan (Union City) 5-0
Beat Berkeley 54-5. Travels to Del Oro (Loomis) Friday. Has allowed 22 points last four games.

3. Serra (San Mateo) 3-0
Beat Buhach Colony 36-35. Travels to Foothill College to play Mitty Friday. Diversifying offense definitely has worked.



4. Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 4-1
Beat San Marin 30-7. Hosts Redwood Saturday. Jared Goff went 27-32 for 300 yards against San Marin. 

5. Bellarmine (San Jose) 2-1
Idle. Hosts Riordan Friday. Two-time defending WCAL champs still No. 1 until someone knocks off.

View the latest California football photo galleries

6. St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 2-1
Idle. Travels to Valley Christian Saturday night. New RB Elijah Dale has been outstanding. 

7. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 3-0
Idle. Hosts Serra Friday at Foothill College. Sophomore RB Dakari Monroe is the real deal.

8. Concord 5-0
Beat Heritage 34-0. Has bye. Record of 28-4 over last 32 amazing, especially considering in shadow of DLS.



9. Palo Alto 2-1
Beat Gunn 48-0. Hosts Milpitas Friday. RB Matt Tolbert 513 total yards, seven touchdowns.

10. Valley Christian (San Jose) 2-1
Beat Milpitas 54-22. Hosts St. Ignatius Saturday. Jay MacIntyre's return to QB from head injury a good one.

11. California (San Ramon) 4-0
Beat Amador Valley 41-21. At Foothill Friday. RB Karris Johnson 489 total yards, nine touchdowns.

12. Oak Grove (San Jose) 3-0
Beat McClymonds 27-20. At Independence Friday. Knows how to win close ones: By 1, 3 and 7 points over St. Francis, Los Gatos and McClymonds.

13. Foothill (Pleasanton) 3-1
Beat Monte Vista 21-14. Hosts California Friday. FB-LB Griffith Gates ruined Monte Vista Friday.

14. Monte Vista (Danville) 3-1
Lost to Foothill 21-14. Hosts Granada Friday. Special teams not so special versus Foothill.



15. El Cerrito 5-0
Beat Valley Christian-Dublin 54-0. Hosts Salesian on Friday. Tries to end Salesian's NorCal best 26-game win streak.

View the California football stat leaders

16. Seaside 3-0
Pulled off the stunner of the week with a decisive 25-15 home win over Palma. Hosts North Monterey County Friday. Seaside became just the third Monterey County team in 29 years to defeat Palma, the last being Salinas in 2002.

17. Freedom (Oakley) 3-2
Beat Castro Valley 55-27. Hosts Heritage Friday. Washington-bound Darrell Daniels is star, but RB Joe Mixon (23-188-4 TDs) last week is stout.

18. Campolindo (Moraga) 4-1
Its 40-39 win over Acalanes was an instant classic. At Miramonte Friday. QB Brett Stephens scores on game's last play.

19. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 4-0
Beat Ukiah 53-0. At Montgomery Friday. Should breeze until Week 9 when it gets Rancho Cotate and Casa Grande back-to-back.



20. Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 2-2
Four turnovers keyed 31-21 loss to California. Hosts San Ramon Valley Friday.

21. Los Gatos 1-2
Idle. Hosts Homestead Friday. Two losses to 3-0 teams Mitty, Oak Grove.

22. Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) 3-1
Idle. Plays at Arroyo Saturday. Record of next 6 opponents: 9-18.

23. Antioch 4-0
Idle. Plays at Mt. Diablo Friday. QB Hunter Karnthong 906 total yards, 11 TDs.

24. Monterey 3-0
Beat Pacific Grove 42-14. Hosts Palma Friday. Outscored foes 145-21 thus far but will find out a lot Friday against angry Palma squad.

25. Palma (Salinas) 1-2
Lost at Seaside 25-15. We have suspicion loss will wake up Chieftains.

With a pair of gritty two-point tries and determined conversion runs last week, Bay Area football cut into the edge held by Sac-Joaquin Section teams in intersectional play this season.

Serra's Eric Redwood (22 carries, 172 yards) rushed for four touchdowns, then added the game-winning two-point conversion with 14 seconds left in a 36-35 win at Buhach Colony-Atwater on Thursday. Buhach was a combined 24-2 the past two-plus seasons and opened with a 28-24 win at San Ramon Valley-Danville.

"It was a combination of heroic efforts and a little divine intervention," Serra coach Patrick Walsh said. "We overcame a lot of obstacles."

The next night, Pittsburg used an overtime touchdown and conversion runs by Jamal Lockett to defeat perennial SJS power and host Granite Bay 28-27. Pittsburg had lost three straight to Granite Bay by a combined score of 102-34.

"Big win for our program," Pittsburg coach Vic Galli said. "Huge."

And a big one for the bay region, which had only nine teams in the latest MaxPreps Top 25 Northern California rankings. The rest were teams from the 190-school SJS. The four Bay Area sections combine for 331 schools.

The SJS owns a 17-12 lead over the Bay Area in cross-sectional games this season, and though the Bay Area had a 25-23 edge last year, a majority of games between ranked teams went to the SJS.

This weekend's premier matchup will be in Loomis on Friday when No. 2 Logan travels to Del Oro, which lost in last year's State Division II Bowl game.

"It's cyclical," said Calhisports.com editor Mark Tennis, who has ranked the state's best for more than three decades. "I wouldn't say (the SJS) is better, but I'd say its depth is a lot better than the Bay Area. There's a lot more good teams overall. Twenty years ago, I'd say it was the other way around."

Tennis thinks there is greater coaching continuity in the SJS, and high school football in general is a bigger deal in small communities like Manteca and Patterson.

Such debate is more relevant this year because for the first time the two regions will go head-to-head in the postseason. The CIF has implemented regional championship games with the winners advancing to the state bowl games in Carson (Los Angeles County).

Instead of picking the 10 State Bowl participants in its five-division format — as they have since 2006 — the state's commissioners will choose 20 regional finalists, 10 each in the south and north.

Evaluating strength of specific areas will definitely come into play when the decision comes to pick regional finalists.

"The regional games are nothing but good," Tennis said. "It's going to build excitement each week, the games will be more attended and it should even help with the state games and TV ratings."

Swinging the Bay Area's power rating is obviously De La Salle, which has won the last three state open bowl games and hasn't lost to a Northern California team since 1991.

GAME OF THE WEEK: El Cerrito has one of its best teams in more than a decade and if last week's 54-0 win over then undefeated Valley Christian-Dublin wasn't proof, the Gauchos will have a chance to stake a claim to a regional bid with a win at home over Salesian on Friday.



Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) (5-0) has Northern California's longest win streak at 26 games (not counting Truckee which competes in Nevada's NIAA. Truckee has won 39 straight.) and features outstanding tailback Michael Page. Salesian's defense has been most impressive, having allowed just 36 points (7.2 per game).

Salesian should be able to match El Cerrito's vast speed, but can it match the Gauchos' physical nature. El Cerrito has at least four Division I players, including senior defensive back Marcellus Pippins and junior linebacker Derik Calhoun. 

UPSET OF THE WEEK: The talk of the region was Seaside's victory. From this terrific gamer from Monterey Herald sports editor John Devine, Seaside quarterback Michael Turner threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns, two of those to his younger brother Ronnie Turner.

The defense, led by 285-pound defensive lineman Jonathan Tuiolosega and linebackers Samson Tonga and Matt Lualemana, Seaside took a shutout into the fourth quarter, leading 25-0.

"I don't know what to feel right now,'' Seaside coach Al Avila told Devine after the game. "Maybe it'll hit me tomorrow. But I told the kids before the game this isn't going to make or break our season.'' 

Bay Area Rankings include all schools in the Central Coast, North Coast, San Francisco and Oakland Sections. You can contact Mitch Stephens by email at mstephens@maxpreps.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchMashMax.