MitchMash: Leave the California Bowl Games be

CARSON, Calif. - We’ve read all the horror tales about the California state bowl playoff system the past month.

We’ve seen dozens of solutions to the problem – how to create a true state playoff like all the other states – rather than the largely arbitrary, hand-picked BCS-type system that is in place.

Here’s one, however, I haven’t read.

Leave it alone.

Judging from the final results – especially the "Cinco de Thrillers" on display Friday and Saturday at the Home Depot Center in Carson – what more could one ask?

The games weren’t just good, but as David Stern likes to say – FANtastic.

They featured:

American Idol drama. 
Four of the five were decided by five points or less and the fifth, De La Salle’s 28-14 over Crenshaw, was in the balance until Terron Ward’s third touchdown with 3:07 left.

A buzzer-beater.
OK, a cannon-finisher. OK, a storm-the-field decider. All right, a game-winner on the final play. That would be Servite’s 33-30 win over Rocklin.

A part-time, part-time hero.
Servite’s 5-foot-6, 160-pound kicker Nick Echeverry is not only dwarfed by teammates and sits around most games, but he didn’t even start the previous week. Still, he set a bowl game-record by booting four field goals, including the 23-yard chippy at the buzzer/cannon/horn to win it.

A Sacramento Kings-inspiring comeback.
Rocklin was down 30-10 late in the third quarter before the unlikely kid thwarted things. Evidently the Kings were inspired by nearby Rockin’s effort fighting back from a 35-point, third-quarter deficit two days later to beat the Chicago Bulls.

Rocket Man.
That would be the missile launched between Crenshaw’s offensive line in the form of De’Anthony Thomas, the defending state 200-meter runner-up, on his 43-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. Unofficial clocks had him at 2.78 seconds. Or just really fast.

Pinball Wizard.
That would be Serra-Gardena senior and USC-bound Robert Woods on his game-winning 30-yard TD catch and run during a much-harder-than-expected 24-20 win over a game Marin Catholic-Kentfield squad. Woods stopped and stuttered at the 28, spun to evade tacklers at the 21, then high-kicked it into gear and into the end zone. “It was kind of like playing Madden on that play or a video game,” Woods said. “I hit all the buttons.”

Battering Ram.
That would be Marin Catholic’s Chris Adams who seemed to carry half of Serra’s team on his strong back for most of his 25 carries and 117 yards. The 6-foot, 215-pound bulldozer, who finished with 2,451 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns on the year, couldn’t stop weeping after the game because he put every ounce of energy – and tears and sweat – into the game. “Chris is the kid we all strive to be,” said Marin Catholic’s 6-foot-5, 305-pound junior tackle Mike Padovese said. “He’s the perfect teammate.”

Mr. Clean.
That would be the bitterly, hard-fought Crenshaw-De La Salle game that featured just two penalties. One on each side for 15 yards. Nice.

Thunder and lightning.
Oceanside was largely outplayed in its 24-19 win over underdog Bellarmine in the Division I finals Friday night, but the Pirates took the lead with a rugged 99-yard drive then backed it up with a bolt of a 55-yard middle screen strike for another score by Rene Siluano.

Superman versus Spiderman.
The face-off between unstoppable quarterbacks Isaiah Burse, of Modesto Christian, and Parker’s Deon Randall was way better than any super hero movie. Even with TV timeouts. Burse threw for three touchdowns and rushed for 122 more leading the Crusaders to a 44-40 victory. Randall was electric with 276 yards rushing and 386 yards of total offense and he accounted for all five of his team’s touchdowns. Between the two of them we counted as many spin moves as points.

Though these were some of the best moments of the hotly-contested games from this weekend, it was really just the topper since the bowl series began four years ago.

We’ve seen all 16 games since the CIF introduced the concept following a 78-yard hiatus from any form of a state championship.

Only two have been duds.

Sure, a state playoff is of course preferable because teams can be eliminated and qualifiers decided on the field rather than in a board room by section commissioners.

But until California does away with its 10-section concept, where different rules and decisions apply, a state playoff is impossible. The CIF and sections can’t even get on the same page concerning the size of schools to put teams in the same classifications.

For instance, the Sac-Joaquin Section in its Division II playoffs had Grant-Sacramento and St. Mary’s-Stockton entered, which are by state definition Division I and III teams, respectively. Each probably would have cakewalked to section crowns and been selected into the Bowl game – and rightfully so. They entered the SJS playoffs a combined 20-0 and the class, to that point, of Northern California.

As my 7-year-old daughter says, “re-dock-ulous.”

Honestly, if the state and section could simply agree and align in classification at least, then I think everything else falls nicely into place.

Personally, I like all the banter and speculation from week-to-week concerning which teams will be picked. And I even like that some teams finish the season with a victory and championship and don't keep advancing. There's no shame or sorrow in that.

What I like best about the bowl format is that it does force teams to beef up nonleague schedules, which, for instance, De La Salle did and even lost two of three early this season.

It didn’t kill the Spartans’ season however, it simply made them tougher and prepared for a 14-0 deficit against a powerhouse like Crenshaw on Saturday night.

Here are 10 more takes from the Frantic Five Bowl Games of 2009.

1. Best game. If a Gatorade bucket was held over my head and I had to rate them: 1. Servite 33, Rocklin 30; 2. Modesto Christian 44, Parker 40; 3. De La Salle 28, Crenshaw 14; 4. Serra 24, Marin Catholic 19; 5. Oceanside 24, Bellarmine 20.

2. The most vocal fans. Interestingly that the school that had to travel furthest, traveled best. The Rocklin fans – from Placer County, 30 miles east of Sacramento, simply would not allow their Thunder let down. Even down 30-10 late in the third against MaxPreps’ No. 2 in the nation. “Our fans wouldn’t let us get down on ourselves,” Sorenson said. “They kept us in and we couldn’t let them down. I don’t think we did.”

3. Prettiest play. So many under the “memorable” category, but the “prettiest” from my vantage point was a simple drop back, rock and bomb by Servite Division I quarterback Cody Fajardo to Rudy Guerrero for a 60-yard touchdown in the second quarter. There was nothing fancy or particular spectacular, but just majestic. Perfect route, perfect pass, stride-for-stride – Guerrero separated from the pack at the last minute to haul it in. Pretty.

4. Most spectacular play. The entire Modesto Christian-Parker game was a dance party and hard to pick out just one play. De’Anthony Thomas’ 43-yard burst up the middle in about 3.2 seconds was dumbfounding, My favorite was Woods’ 30-yard stop, stutter, spin and sprint touchdown move to give Serra a 24-19 win over Marin Catholic and big networks nostaligic footage for when Woods plays on Sundays.

5. Most impressive pre-game. Though the aerial display with “The Perfect Storm – Go Rocklin Thunder” was very impressive, the (Servite) Friars’ hand-in-hand march with bagpipes blaring had a strong, powerful, international feel. Especially clad in all black – all 97 strong.

6. More pregame. Perhaps the best part about all the pre-game was there was none of that machismo, stare down, fake WWF-I’m-gonna-kick-your-fanny shenanigans that seems to be running rampant around the college fields. In fact, as hokey as it sounds, we saw loads of the good stuff.

7. Cool cats. The game celebrations were also subdued, which was also impressive. Rocklin receiver Holden Huff was particularly cool after TD catches of 29 and 8 yards. Not sure if it’s a Rocklin tradition, but no one even came over to congratulate him. The two mainstay small-school quarterbacks Burse and Randall were also very nonchalant and subdued after scores, but then again, they have each been in the end zone so much in their careers, it was indeed like a walk on the beach. Coolest, of all – and almost too cool – was Ward on his second TD, a go-ahead 26-yard jaunt where he wasn’t touched in the third quarter. He dropped the ball perhaps a yard into the end zone – a little too close to a possible touchback rather than touchdown. 

8. Top 10 individual performances. 1. Burse (Modesto Christian QB; 122 rushing yards, three TD passes, victory); 2. Randall (Parker QB, 386 total yards, 5 TDs accounted for, but a loss, no fault of his own); 3. Ward (De La Salle RB/CB, 161 yards rushing, 3 TDs, 7 tackles); 4. Woods (Serra WR/S, eight catches, 180 yards, 2 TDs, 1 punt return for TD nullified), 5. Echeverry (Servite kicker, four FGs, including game-winner); 6. Cummings (Rocklin RB, 29 carries, 159 yards, 2 fourth-quarter TDs); 7. Jake Fely (Oceanside safety, 13 tackles); 8. Fajardo (Servite QB, 264 totals yards, 2 TDs); 9. Preston (Serra QB 14 of 25, 240 yards, 3 TDs); 10. Tyler Anderson (De La Salle RB/CB, 89 yards rushing, TD, 6 tackles, interception).

9. Honorable top performances. Huff (Rocklin WR, six catches, 100 yards, two TDs); Tiger Sorenson (Rocklin QB, 241 yards passing, two TDs); Chris Adams (Marin Catholic RB, 25 carries, 117 hard-earned yards); Padovese (Marin Catholic OL, dominating line play); Mike McGovern (Bellarmine QB, 183 total yards, two TDs); Keaton Engle (Modesto Christian RB, 11 carries, 157 yards, 2 TDs); Thomas (Crenshaw RB/S, 73 yards, 2 TDS, one half); Blake Reynaud (DLS LB, 10 tackles, 1 interception); Dylan Wynn (DLS DL, nine tackles, sack, 3 others for loss).

10. The game most likely to repeat next year. That would be Crenshaw versus De La Salle. Besides Thomas, the best underclass prospect among the 10 teams, Crenshaw returns other Div. I talent like dual QB Marquis Thompson, RB/LB Qujuan Floyd, WR/DB Joseph Pullard, FB/LB Marcus Dillard, FB/LB Ronald Stovall, among others. De La Salle returns starting QB Bart Houston, a load of receivers, LB Michael Barton, DBs Antoine Pickett and Mister M-Cotton along with Renaud and Wynn, two of the program’s most recruited defensive players in years.