Elk Grove, sitting in the No. 2 spot, is 5-0 this season and has won 15 straight regular season games.
Photo by Ralph Thompson
1. De La Salle (Concord) (1) 4-0Beat Granada (Livermore) 48-14. At Livermore on Friday. Still the class of NorCal and state, really. Emerging QB helps running game.
2. Elk Grove (2) 5-0Beat previous No. 8 Nevada Union (Grass Valley) 43-19. Host Laguna Creek on Oct. 5. Fast backs and superb offensive line play the key again for a team that has won 15 consecutive regular-season games.
3. Logan (Union City) (3) 5-0Beat Berkeley 54-5. At Del Oro (Loomis) on Friday. Skill players galore and an unyielding defense take on a Del Oro team desperate for a win.
4. Franklin (Elk Grove, Calif.) (5) 5-0Beat Jesuit 28-7. At Grant (Sacramento) on Oct. 5. Tre Lampley is a playmaker who can run, receive, play returns and defend. Scored 3 times against Jesuit.
5. Bellarmine (San Jose) (6) 2-1Idle. Vs. Riordon (San Francisco) on Friday. Lone loss was to De La Salle, and everyone loses to DLS in NorCal.
6. Serra (San Mateo) (10) 3-0Beat Buhach Colony (Atwater) 36-35. Vs. Mitty (San Jose) on Friday. Great guts and confidence to go for 2 and the win at tough Buhach Colony.
7. Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) (8) 5-0Beat Vacaville 24-21. Host No. 9 Folsom on Oct. 5. Last second win at Vacaville has Trojans off to best-ever Division I start after years of good living in D-II.
8. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) (10) 3-0Idle. Vs. No. 7 Serra on Sept. 28. Great showdown with Serra as Bay Area flexes its muscle.
9. Palo Alto (11) 2-1Beat Gunn (Palo Alto) 48-0. Host Milpitas on Friday. Only loss was a thriller to Mitty with a missed extra point late the difference.
10. Burbank (Sacramento) (13) 4-0Beat Johnson 49-0. Host Sacramento on Friday. Best Titans team since the late 1960s with wins over Grant and Del Oro.
Folsom, 5-0, continues to move up the rankings.
Photo by Derek Carroll
Beat Casa Roble (Orangevale) 56-7. At No. 7 Oak Ridge on Oct. 5. Bulldogs have added a run game to their prolific pass attack.
12. California (San Ramon) (15) 4-0Beat Amador Valley 31-21. At Foothill (Pleasanton) on Friday. Score plenty with three games over 40, but D wants to be more menacing despite forcing nine turnovers.
13. Placer (Auburn) (15) 4-0Beat Yuba City 42-33. At Woodcreek (Roseville) on Friday. Hillmen sniffing 10-0 start, but prolific Woodcreek looms in classic trap-game scenario.
14. Concord (21) 5-0Beat Heritage (Brentwood) 34-0. At Northgate (Walnut Creek) on Oct. 5. Minutemen have quietly had a machine rolling for three years now.
15. Buhach Colony (Atwater) (19) 3-2Lost to No. 6 Serra (San Mateo) 36-35. Host Pitman (Turlock) on Oct. 5. Wanted a big test against Serra and got it, earning respect from the winners and viewers.
16. Central Catholic (Modesto) (23) 3-2Beat Los Banos 35-14. At Ceres on Friday. Small-school superpower has a win over St. Mary's (Stockton) this season.
17. St. Mary's (Stockton) (24) 3-2Beat previous No. 4 Lincoln (Stockton) 51-18. Host Tokay (Lodi) on Oct. 5. Broke open tight third quarter with 44-point outburst. Lost 21-13 to DLS earlier.
18. Oak Grove (San Jose) (NR) 4-0Beat McClymonds (Oakland) 27-20. At Independence (San Jose) on Friday. Sweating past teams with wins of 1, 3 and 7 points.
19. Nevada Union (Grass Valley, Calif.) (8) 3-2Lost to No. 2 Elk Grove 43-19. Host Rocklin on Oct. 5. Miners lost to loaded Elk Grove and could still win brutal Sierra Foothill League title.
20. Granite Bay (15) 1-3Lost to Pittsburg (Antioch) 28-27. Host Lincoln (Stockton) on Friday. Hard team to figure. Bombed Vacaville then gave up big lead on Pittsburg, yet terrifically talented.
21. Vacaville (16) 3-2Lost to No. 8 Oak Ridge 24-21. At Deer Valley (Antioch) on Friday. Bulldogs have last-second win over Marin Catholic, tough loss at Vacaville and crusher home loss to Oak Ridge. Due for a reversal.
22. Lincoln (Stockton) (4) 2-2Lost to St. Mary's Stockton 51-18. At Granite Bay on Friday. Trojans have a close loss to Elk Grove, a close win over Pleasant Grove and a fourth-quarter meltdown against St. Mary's in odd early showing.
Jared Goff and No. 23 Marin Catholic are 4-1 on the season.
Photo by Dennis Lee
Beat San Marin (Novato) 30-7. Host Redwood (Larkspur) on Friday. As good a QB as there is in NorCal in Jared Goff.
24. Oakdale (23) 3-1Beat Sierra (Manteca) 49-0. Host Kimball (Tracy) on Friday. Lost only to San Diego-area No. 1 Oceanside in SoCal showcase; run game is dominant.
25. Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) (22) 3-2Beat Roseville 48-14. Host Sheldon (Sacramento) on Oct. 5. Has a win over Nevada Union but stunner loss to Inderkum.
NorCal football news and notes...
* With De La Salle owning the top spot here — and in NorCal for the better part of 28 years — the Bay Area is standing a bit higher than the Sac-Joaquin Section of late. Bay Area teams occupy 6 of the 9 top spots here, 8 of 14 and 10 of 25. The Bay Area sections have more total teams than the SJS - 331 to 197 — but the overall depth is stronger in the SJS. Though the best league in NorCal appears to be the West Catholic Athletic League that includes Mitty, Serra,
St. Ignatius (San Francisco), Bellarmine and St. Francis, among others.
* Serra and Mitty play Friday at Foothill College in a WCAL opener where something has to give. Both are unbeaten, both have scouted each other. Mitty is well rested after a week off and still sky-high from beating Palo Alto, 28-27, when Paly missed a late extra point.
* St. Ignatius (San Francisco) and
Valley Christian (San Jose) is the capper show for the week in another WCAL opener. A lot of other NorCal heavies have a bye. St. Ignatius has lost only to Marin Catholic.
* The Sac-Joaquin Section and Bay Area teams have faced off to some good showdowns this fall, with the SJS inching ahead in head-to-head meetings 17-12. This week's intrigue games include Logan at Del Oro, though Del Oro is 0-4 with close losses to Westlake (16-13), Burbank (28-25) and Grant (31-30) and is without hobbled tailback star Brandon Monroe (knee). Logan is loaded. Its starting defense has allowed no touchdowns in the last four weeks, and the Colts can run or throw.
* Last week, two-point conversions on the road secured gutsy efforts for Bay Area teams against SJS heavies. On Thursday,
Eric Redwood of Serra slithered in for the two-point winner for a 36-35 triumph against Buhach Colony. He rushed for 172 yards and four scores. Buhach had a 28-24 win at San Ramon Valley (Danville) in an opener.
* On Friday, defending SJS Division I champion Granite Bay led
Pittsburg 21-7 in Placer County but lost 28-27 in overtime on a
Jamal Lockett TD run and conversion. Pittsburg coach Vic Galli called it a milestone moment for his program, which was hammered in previous meetings with Granite Bay.
* Elk Grove beat Nevada Union in a SJS showdown of Sacramento Bee top 3 teams, 43-19. The Thundering Herd remains No. 2 here thanks to two of the best speed backs in NorCal in
Robert Frazier (303 yards, 3 touchdowns against NU) and
Wadus Parker. Here's a
Sacramento Bee story on how area coaches, even fierce rivals, come together amid crisis...
* California (San Ramon) bolts into these rankings on the strength of its 4-0 start, which includes an earlier win over Pittsburg, which just beat Granite Bay. California will get a shot against De La Salle soon.
* Palma went from a team of great early promise to an outfit struggling to make sense of the season.
Seaside beat Palma 25-15 to become just the third team in Monterey County in 29 years to pull such a feat and the first since 2002.
Michael Turner passed for 303 yards and three touchdowns for Seaside, two to brother
Ronnie Turner for a 25-0 lead after three quarters. Palma plays at 3-0 Monterey on Friday.
* Two teams ready to break into these rankings play with
Salesian (Richmond) pitting its 5-0 mark against
El Cerrito. Salesian has a hefty winning streak as proof that this isn't just a basketball school. El Cerrito is coming off a 54-0 win over previously unbeaten Valley Christian (Dublin), forcing five turnovers.
* Grant broke in a new kicker on Friday amid pressure of a trying and emotional week.
Jorge Vega kicked a 32-yard field goal with a second to play to beat Del Oro 31-30 in Del Paso Heights, and then fans stormed the field. Earlier in the week, the Pacers were crushed to learn that their beloved assistant coach and former star player at the school was involved in a murder-suicide with his girlfriend. Grant players and the community asked for and received a moment of silence from all parties before the kickoff for Ed Coleman and his girlfriend Luv Land.
Joe Davidson has covered high schools with The Sacramento Bee since 1988. Follow him on Twitter: @SacBee_JoeD; on Facebook: sacbeepreps; and online: sacbee.com/preps; and radio podcasts: ESPN1320.net.
