CIF Bowl Selections: And the Winners Are ...

2008 CIF Bowl Game Selections

All Games at the Home Depot Center

Open Division: Grant (Sacramento) 13-0 vs. Long Beach Poly 14-0, Saturday, 8 p.m.

Division I: De La Salle (Concord) 12-1 vs. Centennial (Corona) 14-0, Friday, 8 p.m.

Division II: St. Mary’s (Stockton) 12-2 vs. Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 13-0, Saturday, 4 p.m.

Division III: Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 13-0 vs.. St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 13-1, Saturday, noon

Small Schools: Hamilton (Hamilton-City) 10-2 vs. St. Margaret’s (San Juan Capistrano) 14-0, Friday, 4:30 p.m.

By Mitch Stephens

MaxPreps.com

This time, to the surprise of many, Grant was picked ahead of De La Salle.

In the one big surprise of the CIF California Football Bowl Championships selections, 10 sections commissioners picked the Sacramento public powerhouse over the six-time mythical national champions for the Open Division game.

Grant, which was bypassed in favor of De La Salle for a Division I spot two years ago, will play 18-time Southern Section champion Long Beach Poly in the top of five division games pitting Southern and Northern California section champions.

De La Salle was picked as Northern California’s Division I squad and will have a rematch with Centennial (Corona), which it beat in last year’s D1 title game 37-31.

All four teams are ranked among the top 50 in every national poll. In the MaxPreps/National Guard computer rankings updated today, Poly is No. 4, De La Salle No. 10, Centennial No. 18 and Grant No. 48.

The one eligible team with a strong case left out was Northern California’s Bellarmine Prep (San Jose), ranked No. 19 nationally.

The Open and Division I discussion took up the majority of the 2 hour and 45 minute meeting, said Bowl Game Event Director Ken Gunn.

“It was the closest pick and took multiple votes,” Gunn said. “We had to wait for the white smoke to clear.”

The other teams and games selected were St. Mary’s (Stockton) against Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) in Div. II, Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) versus St. Bonaventure (Ventura) in Div. III and Hamilton (Hamilton City) against St. Margaret’s (San Juan Capistrano) in the Small School Division.

According to Gunn, strength of schedule played a major role in almost every selection. The other three major criteria for selection are overall record, head-to-head competition and common opponents.  

Strength of schedule was the only explanation why St. Mary’s (12-2) was picked over unbeaten teams like Casa Roble (Orangevale), Whitney (Rocklin) and Encinal (Alameda). St. Mary's won the Sac-Joaquin Section large school Division I tournament with ease, taking Pleasant Grove 36-14 in the finals.

The same rationale applied in small schools North where Hamilton (10-2) got the nod over unbeaten Modoc (Alturas) and once-beaten St. Vincent (Petaluma).

"Hate to sound like a broken record, but strength of schedule, strength of schedule, strength of schedule," Gunn said.

Westlake Village powerhouse Oaks Christian (14-0) couldn't have done any more with its season, but unfortantely for the Lions St. Bonaventure(13-1) played one of the toughest schedules in the state, getting nonleague wins over Santa Margarita, Crespi and Jordan. Yes, the Seraphs lost but it was a 12-7 slugfest to Long Beach Poly, ranked fourth in the country.

Gunn said there was little discussion picking St. Bonaventure over Oaks Christian.

“I think what we’re seeing is that people are upgrading their schedules and that’s great for high school football,” Gunn said.

That was the one knock on Grant’s team two seasons ago when coach Mike Alberghini thought he had arguably his most talented team.

This season Grant went out of state and defeated two state champions which Gunn said impressed the selection committee. The two state champions were Highlands (Pocatello, Idaho) and Alta (Utah).

By many accounts, De La Salle’s schedule was considerably tougher, including its one loss to three-time defending New Jersey state champion Don Bosco Prep, 23-21.

All things being equal, that loss probably cost De La Salle the Open Division bid.

De La Salle defensive coordinator Terry Eidson was at first surprised by the decision and defended his team’s rigorous schedule, noting only three of its foes did not reach the postseason.

But Eidson said the Spartans were just grateful to be playing in a Bowl game.

“You can’t be disappointed, it’s a state bowl game,” he said. “Frankly, if there were no Open Division game we wouldn’t be playing at all, so we feel very happy for the opportunity.”

The Friday game does present logistical problems for De La Salle. The school has finals this week and with the travel day moved up to Thursday, there’s adjustments.

“That’s the biggest thing for us,” Eidson said. “But what are you going to do?”

It surely beats Bellarmine’s plight.

The Bells were nearly perfect while playing in one of the state's toughest leagues, the West Catholic Athletic League.  They outscored three nonleague opponents 134-12, including D2 pick St. Mary's 35-6, and closed the season outscoring three Central Coast Section Open Division teams by a combined 80-14 count.

Bellarmine has at least five Div. I players but endured one loss, 31-23 WCAL game at Serra (San Mateo), the same team that was edged by De La Salle 29-28 in Week 2. Bellarmine avenged its one hiccup with a 25-7 win over Serra in the playoffs.

"It's extremely disappointing," Bellarmine senior running back and Stanford-bound Usua Amanam told the San Francisco Chronicle. "I wanted to suit up in blue and white one more time. But they chose Grant for a reason."

Eidson had empathy for Bellarmine and all those in an imperfect process.

“Two years ago Grant felt like it got shafted,” Eidson said. “Look at the BCS presently. Oklahoma is ahead of Texas even though Texas beat them. It’s not a playoff so it’s not perfect. Every team can make a case. We just feel fortunate to get the chance to play.”

As far as facing Centennial: “Arthur Buns is a stud, the quarterback is really good, so are the receivers. Last year it was impossible to stop everything and it’s the same this year. It’s a difficult matchup for any one, but then so would Poly. These are all great teams.”

NOTES: Gunn surmised that one slight blemish - a 33-33 regular-season ending tie with Ramona - probably cost defending state Division II Bowl champion Oceanside (12-0-1) a return visit to Carson. The committee picked San Diego rival Cathedral over Oceanside because it had no blemishes. Gunn said the two teams had four common opponents with similar results. ... Cathedral will try to win the school's second state title in two weeks after its girls volleyball squad was crowned D3 champion Dec. 6 in Irvine. ... Six of the 10 selected teams are new to the third annual Bowl Games. De La Salle (three times), Centennial (two), St. Bonaventure (two) and Cardinal Newman (two) are all returners. ... St. Margaret's Harry Welch is the first to coach two different teams. He led Canyon Country to the D1 title over De La Salle in 2006. ... St. Margaret's enters with an Orange County-record 42 straight wins. ... On the private/public front, four selections were public: Poly, Centennial, Grant and Hamilton. ... Hamilton is the first Northern Section team selected to the Bowl Games. Because the Northern Section is so small and starts its games earlier to beat harsh weather, Hamilton hasn't played a game since Thanksgiving. ...The section selection breakdown of the 10 teams: Southern 4 (Poly, Centennial, St. Bonaventure, St. Margaret's), Sac-Joaquin (Grant, St. Mary's), North Coast (De La Salle, Cardinal Newman), San Diego (Cathedral) and Northern (Hamilton). 

What do you think of the selections? E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.