The official start of fall was Monday, yet it still feels like summer. And raise your hand or helmet if you remember when high school football in California kicked off after Labor Day, in September, and not in the heat of August.
DLS beats GrantTop-ranked in the MaxPreps Northern California rankings,
De La Salle (Concord) showed that it is indeed human, allowing three touchdown passes to
Tavio Rios after not surrendering any offensive touchdowns in a 3-0 start with wins over Lakeland, Serra and Saint Francis.
DLS stretched a 34-20 lead into a 47-20 victory behind gamebreakers.
Brayden Knight passed for 159 yards on 13 of 17 passing and had a 36-yard touchdown run for DLS,
Jaden Jefferson ran for two first-half scores and
Duece Jones-Drew sprinted for two second-half TDs.
De La Salle this week plays another Sac-Joaquin Section power in St. Mary's.

Judge Nash has helped Archbishop Riordan to a 3-0 record to start the season. (PHOTO: Ernie Abrea)
Folsom DE stands tallIn a Sierra Foothill League opener pitting the top ranked teams by The Sacramento Bee,
Folsom defeated
Rocklin 34-21 in Placer County.
Rocklin led 14-13 at the half. Five-star quarterback
Ryder Lyons returned to action after missing the previous week with an ankle injury and ran for two scores and passed for one.
The game-changing play was Folsom defensive end
Lua Deberry raising his long arms to snare a pass and rumbling in two yards to break it open early in the fourth quarter. He insisted that had he picked off a pass at midfield, he would have stiff-armed his way into the end zone.
Manteca passing TDs?The
Manteca Buffaloes have steamrolled their way to nine Sac-Joaquin Section championships since 2001, including six since 2013, by mostly running the ball with power and authority.
So here they go passing for five touchdowns in their last effort as they prepare for the rigors of the Valley Oak League. How can this be?
Owen Gully is that good. The quarterback hit five different receivers for scoring strikes to key a 51-14 rivalry won over Lincoln.
East Union rollingManteca isn't the only red-hot football team within the city limits.
East Union (Manteca) is off to one of their most resounding starts since the school opened in 1966, storming to a 5-0 record.
That's the best start since 1989, and it makes East Union a dark-horse threat in the loaded VOL.
The team is led by RB
Brayden Camara, who has 14 total touchdowns, and QB
Kirk Simoni, who has 16 TD passes.
Seeking to end a streakOroville in the Northern Section are eager to end a bad run of football misfortune, because the only joy in losing steaks is ending them.
Oroville is on a 44-game skid, starting this season 0-3 after. The Tigers endured an 0-8 season in 2021, an 0-10 campaign in 2022, an 0-10 showing in 2023 and an 0-10 record in 2024.
The Tigers last won on April 1, 2020 at Wheatland, 40-36, and that is no typo. That was the spring season for prep football as the fall season was wiped out across the state due to the pandemic.
According to Cal-Hi Sports, the longest losing streak in state history is 49 games by
Ganesha (Pomona) of Los Angeles County from 20023-2008.
Oroville has the Northern Section record for futility, followed by the 38-game skid by
Central Valley (Shasta Lake) from 1996-2000 and the 38-game skid by
Anderson from 2001-04.
NorCal Top 20
1.
De La Salle (Concord), 4-0
2.
Folsom, 4-1
3.
Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco), 3-0
4.
Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills), 3-1
5.
Pittsburg, 2-1
6.
Manteca, 4-0
7.
Rocklin, 3-1
8.
Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa), 3-1
9.
Grant (Sacramento), 2-3
10.
Central East (Fresno), 4-1
11.
St. Mary's (Stockton), 3-1
12.
Clovis East (Clovis), 4-1
13.
Granite Bay (Granite Bay), 4-1
14.
Junipero Serra (San Mateo), 0-3
15.
Soquel, 4-0
16.
California (San Ramon), 4-0
17.
Clovis (Clovis), 4-1
18.
Los Gatos, 2-2
19.
Clovis North (Fresno), 4-0
20.
Acalanes (Lafayette), 4-0
Joe Davidson has covered high school sports since 1984, including since 1989 with The Sacramento Bee. He is part of the weekly 3 Stooges Podcast that breaks down CIF Northern California sports. In 2024, he was named the National Sports Media Association Sports Writer of the Year for California. In that same year, he was inducted into the California High School Football Hall of Fame at the Rose Bowl. He is a 14-time award winner from the California Prep Sports Writer Association and has been honored with the CIF Distinguished Service award and was in 2025 presented the Legacy Award for years of football contribution by the National Football Foundation, Sacramento Chapter.