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This is the game prep football fans have been waiting for: St. Francis (8-0, 6-0) at Serra (8-0, 6-0), Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Mirror images of domination. St. Francis has scored 319 points and allowed 92. Serra has scored 305 and allowed 81.
Battle of the titans. West Catholic Athletic League title and No. 1 seed in the Central Coast Section playoffs on the line.
“It should be a pretty fun event,” St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. “You couldn’t ask for anything better.”
A great rivalry now, but at one time it wasn’t much of one. From 1972 to 2006 St. Francis defeated Serra 34 consecutive times. Since then, Serra has a 9-7 edge, including a 49-7 win last spring.
Calcagno was asked how much that game would provide additional motivation:
“That was a different season,” was his measured response. “With COVID we did some things we wouldn’t normally do.”
Serra coach Patrick Walsh had a little more to say:
“That was an anomaly of a game in the history of our rivalry, so rare in the history of their program to lose 49-7, an easy motivational tool. They will play with massive purpose and determination, which will be an issue for us.”
The Lancers, after their historic win over De La Salle in the second week of the season, have powered through WCAL play. A 41-27 win over Valley Christian was their closest margin of victory. They’ve done it with a punishing ground game. Viliami Teu has rushed for 1,398 yards and scored 18 touchdowns.
“They’re a great team that plays with a ton of purpose and enthusiasm,” Walsh said. “They have a ridiculously experienced offensive line and one of the better backs in California.”
Serra lost superbly talented WR Hassan Mahasin to a season-ending knee injury after four games. QB Dominique Lampkin has completed 74.5 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and zero interceptions and has also rushed for another eight touchdowns. RB Petelo Gi has 880 yards on 88 carries with 11 touchdowns.
“He’s a lot like the St. Francis back,” Walsh said of Gi. “He’s been running with a purpose, running like he has something to prove. The first guy usually doesn’t bring him down.”
“They’re as athletic as all heck and very well coached,” Calcagno said of the Padres. “They keep you off balance with some tricks. We’ve got to win the turnover battle and got to win up front.”
Sacred Heart Prep at Menlo School, Saturday 2 p.m.
Menlo can finish out a 10-0 regular season with a win in this rivalry contest, the Valpo Bowl.
The PAL Ocean champion Knights have played two teams from the Bay Division this season, beating The King’s Academy 49-12 and Terra Nova 15-6. Sacred Heart Prep (3-6) also has wins against those two teams, 21-14 over TKA and 14-13 over Terra Nova.
“We’re going to get their best shot,” Menlo coach Todd Smith said. “We know there’s nothing they want to do more than beat us.”
Menlo is 13-1 in Smith’s first 14 games as head coach with the one loss to SHP last spring, 28-7. The Gators have not lost to Menlo in the four meetings since Mark Grieb took over as head coach in 2017.
But Menlo has had an incredibly dominant season.scoring 431 points in nine games while allowing only 82.
“They’re good, they’ve won and won convincingly,” Grieb said. “It’s not a question of upper level-lower level. They’re just a good team. In a rivalry game you can throw out the rankings. In 2017 we were 2-6 but ended up winning by a point (25-24). We’re going to have to play well to play with those guys.”
Menlo QB Sergio Beltran has thrown 43 touchdown passes, breaking the CCS regular-season record of 41 set by Monta Vista’s Ryan Hancock in 1989.
Eight of SHP’s nine games have been decided by one score.
“Our team is getting better every week, but the hourglass is upside down and time is running out,” Grieb said.
Proceeds from admission and a percentage of proceeds from concessions will go to the Peninsula Bridge Foundation, an organization that seeks to place motivated students from low-income families in college preparatory programs.
Los Altos at Cupertino, Friday 7 p.m.
Los Altos (7-2, 5-0) can capture its first outright league or divisional championship since the 2010 team went 6-0 in El Camino play. A Cupertino victory would result in a three-way tie between Los Altos, Cupertino and Gunn for the El Camino Division title.
That the Eagles are in this position at all is a bit remarkable, considering how the season got started with two games postponed due to positive COVID tests and two others halted before conclusion, due to smoky air in one and a serious injury in the other.
They played three games in nine days after rescheduling the postponed games and won all three.
“To win six in a row says a lot about our senior leadership,” Los Altos coach Dave DeGeronimo said.
Cupertino (8-1, 4-1) has also had to deal with the uncertainties of the fall season. Two of its wins arrived by forfeit.
“It’s like playing ourselves, they do a lot of things we do,” DeGeronimo said. “I’ve told the guys, don’t make it into something too big, don’t put pressure on yourselves. It’s fun to be playing for something in Week 10.”
Cupertino’s one loss was to Gunn, a team Los Altos defeated 34-7. The Los Altos defense —– featuring John O’Sullivan and Fady Youssef on the line, sophomores Brock Bowman and Peter Very at linebacker, utility man Rafael Arce on the line or at linebacker, along with Cole Rafferty and Zach Fagin in the secondary — has been a key in the six-game winning streak.
The unit will need to continue playing well against Cupertino and its dual-threat QB Jayden Hall.
“We’ll need to put pressure on the quarterback, not let him scramble and stop their Iso,” DeGeronimo said. “The key for us will be to execute, get first downs and keep their offense on the sideline.”
Palo Alto at Wilcox, Friday 7 p.m.
Palo Alto (5-4, 3-2) clinched a spot in the CCS playoffs with a 20-17 win over Milpitas last week. Coach Nelson Gifford said he expects Paly to be placed in the middle of the Division III bracket, possibly at No. 5.
Being seeded in one of the top four spots and getting a first-round home game would be desirable. Paly could achieve that with a win over Wilcox, but beating the Chargers won’t be easy.
Wilcox (5-4, 4-1) has won four in a row since losing to Los Gatos in its divisional opener. The Chargers are averaging 261 yards rushing per game out of their veer option offense. Luther Glenn has 1,303 yards rushing, second in the CCS behind Teu, and 17 touchdowns.
“It’s a matter of going out there and tackling,” Gifford said. “We have to be super disciplined on defense. But even when guys are in position, he makes them miss. He wins the athletic, one-on-one battle. We’ll try to be there in groups, try to get two or three bodies there.”
Injuries have been a huge issue for Paly this season.
“We had 11 guys out versus Milpitas,” Gifford said. “That’s a record for me.”
Josh Butler, expected to provide a rushing complement to the team’s passing game as a third-year starter at running back, has missed most of the season with injuries. He came back against Milpitas only to go out again with a hamstring injury that will likely end his season.
“We will line up and play as hard as we can for as long as we can and not worry about things we can’t control,” Gifford said.
Menlo-Atherton at The King’s Academy, Friday 7 p.m.
M-A clinched the PAL Bay title last Friday, but coach Chris Saunders said that even with the CCS playoffs approaching there will be no letup against TKA.
“We’ve got to play good football, that’s our top priority,” Saunders said. “We’ve got to keep things consistent. We can’t take our foot off the gas.”
TKA (3-6, 1-3) is coming off a 49-35 win over Terra Nova in which it passed only four times, completing two for 27 yards, but ran the ball 54 times for 381 yards.
“To score 49 points on the ground against anybody is testament to their attitude and toughness,” Saunders said. “Running an offense like the fly or the double wing takes a lot of buy-in, kids willing to run through walls. Once they get it going it’s tough to stop. TKA is starting to feel its mojo.”
Senior QB Matt MacLeod has thrown for 2,505 yards with 28 touchdowns and only two interceptions for M-A. Jalen Moss is the leading receiver with 47 catches for 919 yards and 13 touchdowns. Dane Fifita, who doubles as a defensive lineman, has rushed for 550 yards and another nine TDs.
Saunders said he expects M-A to be a possible No.4 seed, pending the outcome of a couple games this weekend, in the upcoming CCS Division I playoffs.
Sequoia at Carlmont, Friday 7 p.m.
The Sequoia team that beat Woodside 53-0 last week bears scant resemblance to the one that began the season with a 63-6 loss to Menlo.
“We’re making strides,” Sequoia coach Rob Poulos said. “We’re a lot cleaner on offense. It was a struggle early in the year. Our inconsistency on offense was really getting exposed.”
Jack Kern had a game for the ages against Woodside, touching the ball five times and scoring five touchdowns, three on pass receptions and two on interception returns.
With a win over Carlmont in the traditional Terremere Trophy game, the Ravens (4-5, 3-1) would finish 5-5 for the fifth time in the last nine seasons.
Carlmont (1-8, 0-5), which moved up from the PAL Lake to the PAL Ocean after last spring, has lost eight in a row after opening the season with a 40-7 win over El Camino.
“I’m tipping my hat to them,” Poulos said. “That’s a rough year and they’re battling on every snap. It would’ve been easy to cash it in. They line up in everything from the spread to two tight ends and three running backs, so they put a lot of stress on you.”
Sequoia is in second place in the PAL Lake. Only first-place San Mateo will advance to the CCS playoffs.
“It’s frustrating not being in the playoffs after watching this team come together the last couple weeks,” Poulos said. “That’s the reality of being in the Lake. If we beat Carlmont we’ll be talked about moving to the Ocean. But losing to Menlo, Hillsdale and San Mateo shows we still have some work to do.”
Woodside at Jefferson, Friday 7 p.m.
Coming off that 53-0 loss to Sequoia, Woodside (3-5, 2-2) will try to finish its season on a positive note.
“Sequoia was really able to apply pressure with the intensity they brought and we couldn’t respond,” Woodside coach Justin Andrews said.
Jefferson (3-5, 1-4) is a member of the PAL Ocean, but has played Woodside several times in recent years when both were in the same division.
“They’ve got talent and size on the line,” Andrews said. “But we’ve competed well with them in the past and I expect us to do so Friday with no distractions from a rivalry, like with Sequoia.”
