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SERRA VS. RIORDAN: WCAL CHAMPIONSHIP AT STAKE
The game of the year in the West Catholic Athletic League is here.
Archbishop Riordan and Serra established themselves as the top teams in the WCAL early this season and have charted a collision course by winning week after week.
Now, the schools will meet for the league championship on Friday in San Mateo.
Adding to the buildup, the game is Serra’s lone home night matchup of the season. The Padres will bring in lights to create a unique atmosphere on a field that typically hosts home games on Saturday afternoons.
Serra picked the right time to play under the lights and understands the challenge that awaits.
“That quarterback over there is just, he’s so good,” Serra coach Patrick Walsh said of Riordan’s Michael Mitchell Jr., who has accounted for 38 touchdowns this season. “And in a land of riches, basically – there’s a lot of things going well over there, but he stands out as the orchestrator of that whole thing. He’s been the starter there for four years, and he’s just fantastic.”
Riordan has shredded the WCAL record books this season. Mitchell, who crossed 100 career TDs along the way, has already broken his own league mark for passing touchdowns in a season.
The Crusaders have already set a new benchmark for points scored in a regular season (395), surpassing their previous best of 380 in 2023 with a game to spare.
But most of all, the streak Riordan wants to snap is a league title drought that dates back a quarter century. The Crusaders last won the WCAL in 2000, going 5-0 in league play under coach Ken Peralta.
With six league victories already, current Riordan coach Adhir Ravipati has broken the Crusaders’ school record for WCAL wins in a season, surpassing a tie with Peralta and Bob Toledo, who went 5-1 in 1971.
But there’s no doubt that Riordan is aiming for seven this time around in what could be the first of two meetings with Serra in the next couple of weeks.
After Friday, the CCS playoffs are next.
– Christian Babcock
ACALANES: SMALL-SCHOOL DONS WILL BE IN TOP DIVISION
Acalanes did more than wrap up the Diablo Athletic League’s Foothill Division on Friday night with its 31-14 win over Clayton Valley Charter.
The Halloween night victory also almost assuredly secured the Dons’ spot in the North Coast Section’s top playoff division, competing with perennial powerhouse De La Salle.
“We’re the only small school that’s slotted to be in that,” Acalanes coach Joel Isaac said. “I think everyone else is D1, D2 or private schools. We’re neither. We can only control what we can control, so however the cards are dealt, we’ve got to play them.”
The undefeated Dons wrapped up the league title in Isaac’s first year leading the program, and senior running back Josh Elerts said of the sunglasses-wearing coach, “Oh, my God. He’s amazing.
“His game plan is like nothing I’ve ever seen. He has such a way with words. He knows what to say and the right time to say it.”
The tragic loss of their teammate, Amin Noroozi, last spring gave the team a rallying cry in Isaac’s first season. With one game left to play in the regular season — this Friday at Las Lomas — Isaac and his staff preached a different message.
Last year, Las Lomas dealt the Dons their only loss in league play.
“Last year, we beat some good teams — Campo and Clayton,” Elerts said. “We came to Lomas and thought we were hot (expletive) and we weren’t. So we’re looking to not make the same mistake again.”
A potential playoff matchup with De La Salle or second-ranked Pittsburg looms down the road. Both schools compete in Division I, four levels higher than Acalanes, but Clayton Valley coach Nick Tisa didn’t believe the Dons would be overmatched after witnessing them up close.
“They deserve it,” Tisa said. “It kind of stinks because if they were in Division III, they would win Division III, but I think that’s kind of the whole point of competitive equity. It gives kids like this an opportunity to go see what it’s like. If you picked the top eight teams in the East Bay or NCS, they’re one of them. They’ll be fine. When it gets down to those teams, it really comes down to the offensive and defensive line, and they have the guys.”
Elerts, for one, relished the chance to possibly go up against private school power De La Salle, currently ranked 19th nationally by MaxPreps.
“We’re looking forward to it,” he said. “That’s where we want to be as a team. We want to be able to compete with those great teams and (ring in) a new era of Acalanes football.”
– Evan Webeck
AMADOR VALLEY: COACH’S LAST RIDE IN PLEASANTON
Danny Jones is trying to stay locked in on the task at hand.
Despite starting the season 0-4 due to a myriad of injuries, Jones believes that Amador Valley still has a deep playoff run in store. The Dons’ decisive 35-14 victory over Monte Vista provided validity to that sentiment.
Still, Jones is aware that the next couple weeks will mark the end of a chapter in his life.
Following 10 seasons as the head coach of his alma mater, Jones and his family will be moving to Star, Idaho, a small-yet-growing town about 25 miles west of Boise.
“It’s been a special 10 years here: being back at my alma mater, bringing the first NCS championship in school history, a NorCal title, going to a state championship. Those are all great memories and things I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Jones said. “It’s been special, but I still feel like we have a lot of games left to play this year and I feel like we’re going to sneak into the playoffs.”
Jones won’t be stepping away from holding the clipboard entirely, but following this season, he’ll have to wait a couple years before coaching another high school football game.
The brand-new Star High School is currently under construction and will not be open until 2029. In the meantime, Jones will teach and coach at Star Middle School. Jones also plans on spending plenty of time with his three children and his wife, Lanni, who is expecting a fourth child.
“I’m going to be sharpening my sword,” Jones said.
“We want to make it special,” said wide receiver Anthony Harrington, who had 215 receiving yards in Friday’s win. “We are a big family and we have the best culture in the world. We have everything we need to be great and we want to make it special for coach Jones in his last season. We want to go make a state run and go win state. That’s our goal. We’re going to do everything we can to not only make coach proud, but we’re going to make our city proud.”
– Justice delos Santos
LIBERTY: AD WANTS COMPENSATION FOR LOST HOME GAME
One aspect of Antioch’s forfeit of its game against Liberty has flown under the radar in the midst of the serious nature of the behavior that led to the contest being called off.
While it’s understandable that Antioch’s administration opted not to play the game given the severity of the misconduct in question, Liberty – which found out about the forfeit on the day the game was scheduled to be played – was left without the ability to schedule another game and replace the revenue it could generate from one of its five home matchups this season.
“We got news about noon that this was gonna get canceled today,” Liberty athletic director Jon Heinz said. “I got a heads-up a little bit earlier that it might get canceled. It’s like, ‘I can’t have a might. I need to know,’ because I have so many moving parts. It’s not just football. It’s band, it’s cheer, it’s dance. It’s everybody.”
Heinz said home football games generate about two-thirds of the Lions’ operating costs for athletics, putting them at a significant disadvantage without being able to schedule a game with another team.
“If we had days’ notice, it’d be nice,” Heinz said. “We could maybe try to find a game or whatever. But the financial hit, even just going from five home games to four home games is a killer on our budget for something that we didn’t do.”
Liberty has proposed having Antioch move next year’s game to Brentwood, but Heinz is waiting to hear back on that proposal.
A similar situation, though for very different reasons, unfolded in 2014 when Serra forfeited a Central Coast Section consolation game at Milpitas and was ordered by the section to pay restitution to Milpitas totaling $6,073.05 for the loss of a home game.
“It’s not fair to cancel on us and then not agree to come back the following year to make it right,” Heinz said. “That’s what we are hoping for.”
– Christian Babcock
JAMES LOGAN: ALUM BRINGING PRIDE BACK TO COLTS
There’s a different love when a former player comes back to coach his alma mater.
Immanuel Pride graduated from James Logan in 2015 and returned this year as its head coach, aiming to bring back a championship standard to the Colts.
He’s one game away from accomplishing that mission.
Pride’s team beat Bishop O’Dowd 17-0 on Thursday, putting itself a win over Berkeley this week from its second West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division title in three years.
Last year, the Colts had a disappointing season by their standards, going 4-7 overall, finishing third in the WACC Foothill and losing 34-0 to Heritage in the first round of the North Coast Section playoffs.
So far, the good vibes are back in Union City this season. But it wasn’t always that way.
“There’s definitely been a lot of days that have tried me,” Pride admitted. “Going from being on that field of grass out there with only 14 kids for our strength and conditioning program when I first got hired to having three levels fully functioning and everybody thriving, and us cleaning up academics, cleaning up attitude.
“Nothing would have gotten me through this if it weren’t for that Logan pride, having that pride in my alma mater. Having that faith that trusting in the brand and trusting in the process and trusting in God’s plan was going to put us in this position in which we are now reaping the blessings.”
One could say that this Logan team is a reflection of its new coach, who has a last name well-suited to the values he wants to represent.
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“While we may not have the same numbers as some of these other teams, we got the right guys in the room,” Pride said. “We got guys who want to build. We got guys who are in it for a purpose bigger than themselves, and I think they showed it out there tonight.”
– Christian Babcock
PEEK AHEAD TO WEEK 11
Friday
Archbishop Riordan (9-0, 6-0) at Serra (6-3, 6-0), 7 p.m.: When Riordan visited Serra in 2023, the hosts won 53-7.
Monte Vista (5-4, 1-1) at San Ramon Valley (5-4, 1-1), 7:15 p.m.: Both in contention for EBAL Mountain title.
Amador Valley (3-6, 1-1) at California (7-2, 1-1), 7:15 p.m.: These teams also alive in EBAL Mountain race.
Sobrato (6-3, 4-0) at Willow Glen (7-2, 4-0), 7:15 p.m.: BVAL Santa Teresa-Valley title at stake.
Mt. Pleasant (2-6, 2-4) at San Jose (6-3, 5-1), 7:15 p.m.: SJ captures BVAL West Valley, clinches first CCS berth with win.
St. Ignatius (3-6, 2-4) vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral (4-5, 2-5) at Kezar Stadium, 6 p.m.: Bruce-Mahoney bragging rights on line.
Saturday
Antioch (7-2, 3-1) at Pittsburg (8-1, 3-1), 1:30 p.m.: Bay Valley title on line in 107th Big Little Game.
Burlingame (6-3, 3-1) at San Mateo (6-3, 3-1), 11 a.m.: The 98th Little Big Game will be for second place in PAL De Anza.
