Bay Area Blast: Breaking down CCS and SFS football playoffs

From a hospital bed minus a gall bladder, here is a breakdown of the Central Coast Section football playoffs which get underway Friday. None of the predicted winners are too galling.

Boo.

Central Coast Section
Open Division

Top seed Terra Nova (Pacifica) (10-0) opens with eighth-seed Valley Christian (San Jose) (7-3), which just seems wrong. VC, with a trifecta of fleet powerful backs led by Kirk Johnson (1,228 yards in seven games, including 462 the last two weeks) might be the most dangerous team in the field. The Warriors are finally healthy. Third-seed Wilcox (Santa Clara) (9-1) hosts Bellarmine (San Jose) (7-3) in the best first-round game. Look for Wilcox to spoil an all-West Catholic Athletic League semifinals but for No. 2 Serra (San Mateo) (8-2) to finally win its first Open crown.



Division I

Alvarez (Salinas) (10-0) is the top seed but don't be surprised of second-seed Milpita (8-2), coming off a disappointing loss to Los Gatos, rebounds to win the whole thing. Milpitas just has too much brawn and too much Squally Canada and Tre Hartley, two of Northern California's top playmakers.

Division II

St. Francis (Mountain View) (7-3) is the top seed and probably should roll to its second straight and 16th CCS title, though a possible semifinal date with Palo Alto could be interesting. Palo Alto (5-5) can make up for a disappointing season by stringing together three straight wins, which it is capable with Stanford-bound Keller Chryst now healthy.

Division III

Burlingame (10-0) is rightfully the top seed but fifth seed St. Ignatius (San Francisco) (2-8) wrongfully ended up on its side of the bracket. SI has played one of the toughest schedules in the Bay Area and been in every game. The complicated CCS point system has remarkably advanced St. Ignatius into the playoffs, despite its record, and with game-breaker Joe Lang and career rushing leader Elijah Dale in place, we think the Wildcats will put it all together to win their second straight and fourth title. They won the Open Division last season.



Division IV

In what is probably the most balanced and wide open field, Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) (9-1) is the No. 1 seed and should get to the finals to face one of four excellent small-school opponents. We think Live Oak-Morgan Hill (9-1), with the state's leading rusher Trevor Bearden (2,593 yards, 27 touchdowns), will get to the finals setting up a terrific matchup of Beardon and SHP's stout defense, which has allowed 76 points all season. The coaching at SHP is impeccable and we think will find a way to slow down Beardon and win a second straight title. San Francisco Section

Semifinal matchups of Mission (San Francisco (5-5) at Lincoln (San Francisco (6-4) and Lowell (San Francisco) (5-5) at Galileo (San Francisco) (10-1) are Thursday at 2 p.m. with the winners facing off for the title Thanksgiving morning (11 a.m.) at Kezar Stadium. ... These teams faced off just last week, with Lincoln defeating Mission 34-0 and Galileo beating Lowell 57-30. ... We heard Mission did show much last week, perhaps playing a little possum, but look for Lincoln and Galileo to prevailed again. ... That would set up a rematch of Galileo's terrific 34-33 win over Lincoln from last month. ... Though Galileo features the most dominant offensive player since Lincoln's David Henderson in quarterback Kyle Nelson (2,777 passing yards, 41 touchdowns), the loss of two-way standout Ronzel Fox (dislocated elbow) will be too much to overcome. Besides, Lincoln possesses the Bay Area's most productive running duo of Davion Telfor(1,409 yards, 19 TDs) and Tyree Marzetta (1,161, 19). Look for Lincoln to repeat.