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PITTSBURG: COACH KNOWS PLENTY ABOUT DLS
Charlie Ramirez is no stranger to Pittsburg’s history with De La Salle.
As a sophomore in December 1991, he was a linebacker on the Pittsburg team that famously beat De La Salle 35-27 to capture a North Coast Section championship at the Oakland Coliseum.
Fast forward three-plus decades.
Ramirez is now in his second season as Pittsburg’s head coach after numerous years coordinating the team’s defense. His team is 10-1, its only loss coming at the hands of national powerhouse St. John Bosco-Bellflower in September.
That game, it seems, was part of a season-long crescendo, building toward what will unfold Friday night at Diablo Valley College when Pittsburg takes another shot at De La Salle.
The NCS Open Division championship will be on the line.
So will De La Salle’s unbeaten streak within the section, a run that began in the first game of the 1992 season and stretched to 276-0-1 when the Spartans routed San Marin in the first round of the playoffs Friday.
Pittsburg has accounted for 33 of the 276 wins, most recently in the Open Division title game in 2022 when De La Salle held off the Pirates 30-23. That result was the tightest margin between the teams since a 26-21 DLS win in 1993.
“We know how De La Salle usually does,” Ramirez said Saturday, the day after his team advanced with a 35-14 victory over Clayton Valley. “They get better. They get more in tune as the season goes on. We’re pretty much on that same pace right now. We’re jelling. We’re getting better as a defense every week. The offense has been doing well. We’re healthy. Everything is in line for a good matchup.”
And what about that game in 1991? Have Ramirez’s players asked about it?
“The game is actually on YouTube,” Ramirez said. “They were watching it last year. Getting a good laugh at the size of the shoulder pads and the uniforms. I am sure it’s going to be coming up throughout the week.”
– Darren Sabedra
LOS GATOS: WILDCATS WAKE UP THE ECHOES OF 2014
Matthew Ludeman (74), Mason Wend (27) of Los Gatos celebrate their team’s 14-7 victory over Serra on Saturday in the CCS Open/Division I playoffs. (Douglas Zimmerman for the Bay Area News Group)
It had been almost exactly 10 years since the last time Los Gatos played at Serra in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
The serendipity of the moment was not lost on Los Gatos coach Mark Krail, who noted the text messages he received from members of the 2014 team before this year’s matchup.
“We harkened back to 2014 when we did the same thing on this field,” Krail said. “I was texting with the quarterback on that team today, saying, ‘Hey, send me some 2014 vibes.’ And he did.
“And he said, ‘Coach, that was the best memory.’ And this guy plays pro football in Canada, says that’s my best football memory in my life. So I told these guys, ‘I want you to text me in 10 years and remind me about this game today.’ They give it everything they got, man. We’re not the biggest, we’re not the fastest, but we’ve got heart that is hard to overcome.”
Dru Brown, the quarterback of the 2014 Los Gatos team, currently plies his trade for the Ottawa Redblacks of the CFL. Who knows if Scotty Brennan will one day do something similar.
But for all of Los Gatos’ players, the memories of Saturday’s 14-7 win over Serra will stand the test of time. And Krail wants to make sure that they refresh his memory when the time comes.
“Text me in 10 years!” was the battle cry that led off his postgame speech to the team.
– Christian Babcock
SERRA: WALSH MAINTAINS PERSPECTIVE AFTER DISAPPOINTING SEASON
Serra did not set out to go 5-6 this season.
But that’s the reality the Padres woke up to Sunday morning after losing to Los Gatos in the opening round of the CCS playoffs.
The loss ended a dominant stretch by Serra in the postseason. The Padres had not lost a CCS playoff game in six years and had represented Northern California three years in a row in the CIF Open Division Championship game.
A loss at home wasn’t how Serra envisioned finishing out its season, especially after starting the year with a stirring road win over Folsom. But Serra coach Patrick Walsh looked beyond the scoreboard after the clock struck zero, noting that his goals for the Padres extend far beyond what they accomplish on the gridiron.
“We had a group of guys come back for their 20th anniversary, 2004 to now,” Walsh said. “And I said, ‘The only thing that matters to me is you come back in 20 years.’ The scoreboard shouldn’t dent that. If we’re true about who we are and what we do, we create meaningful relationships that last forever.
“Scoreboards can cause great elation, great pain. But what should never change is the fact that we build our program around love for one another, and I’m pretty sure we succeeded with that this year. Really good group of kids.”
— Christian Babcock
AMADOR VALLEY: TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE
Amador Valley’s Tristan Tia throws the ball against Las Lomas in the first round of the NCS Division II playoffs on Friday. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Opposing teams know not to send out their special teams unit after Amador Valley scores a touchdown.
That’s because the Dons always go for two.
Earlier in the season, Amador Valley lost its kicker, forcing the Pleasanton school to attempt two-point conversions out of necessity.
But after looking at the analytics, head coach Danny Jones is all in on keeping his offense out on the field after a score.
“If you think about it, if you put the ball in the best player’s hands, it’s only two yards,” he said. “Right now we’re like 83% on the season (on 2-point tries). If we’re anywhere over 50%, we’re going.”
– Nathan Canilao
WILCOX: ROSA GUARDS AGAINST COMPLACENCY
Wilcox players celebrate their 36-3 win against Santa Teresa in the first round of the CCS Division II playoffs on Friday. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Wilcox didn’t have much trouble against Santa Teresa in the opening round of the CCS Division II playoffs.
The Chargers blitzed the Saints 36-3 behind long runs from Elijah Vallejo and Brayden Rosa. But afterward, Wilcox coach Paul Rosa took great pains to ensure his team wasn’t taking too much overconfidence away from the win.
“It’s hard, man,” Rosa said. “They’re teenage kids. You can say all you want to. We did better in the second half. We were definitely more focused, but we still made a lot of mistakes. Some of it was cadence things, because it’s a new quarterback, and when you’re playing two quarterbacks, it changes it a little bit. But I thought we were better, and we focused a little bit more later on.”
Wilcox was playing without starting quarterback Kai Imahara, who suffered a separated AC joint against Menlo-Atherton on Nov. 8. Imahara’s status is unknown for the Chargers’ rematch against M-A this Friday in the semifinals – Rosa described him as week-to-week.
Imahara is scheduled to visit with a doctor on Monday, and Wilcox is hoping for good news. But until then, the Chargers will have to make do with Brayden Rosa or backup Adrian Garcia taking the snaps, as they did against Santa Teresa.
“That’s gonna be a war,” Paul Rosa said of the matchup with M-A. “We always have wars with them. We seem to play them a ton. Even when we weren’t in their league, we played them all the time. So now it’s two times a year. That should be a tough one.”
Imahara left the last battle before halftime with Wilcox holding a 21-7 lead at the break. Menlo-Atherton rallied to a 21-21 tie in the third quarter before Wilcox closed out a 30-21 win with two scores late in the fourth.
– Christian Babcock
GRANADA: TOWN BRAGGING RIGHTS
Granada has staked its claim to being the best football team in town, a case made ironclad by two victories over rival Livermore in back-to-back weeks. The second of those came in the first round of the NCS Division IV playoffs.
During the pregame coin toss, at least one Livermore player could be heard jokingly saying, “Wow, I haven’t seen you in forever,” to each Granada player as he shook hands.
Granada quarterback Jack Badger pointed out that his opponent had a point. In a town like Livermore, it’s hard to avoid players from the other side.
“We see those dudes if we go get ice cream or get food,” Badger said. “We see them around, so there was definitely bragging rights to go around. We’ve played against them in peewee and all the other sports.”
– Joseph Dycus
SANTA TERESA: PAPIN PAYS TRIBUTE TO DEPARTING SENIORS
It’s always difficult when a football team’s season comes to an end.
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But that’s especially the case when saying goodbye to a special group of seniors. For Santa Teresa, which finished the season 9-2, this group is unique.
Not only did some current seniors contribute on the Saints’ NorCal championship team in 2022, they were the first Santa Teresa group to be coached by Steve Papin for all four years.
“I remember four years ago when I got the job,” Papin recounted. “We had a team meeting in the auditorium, and some guys waited and stood in line as freshmen to come up and talk to me and say, ‘Coach, I’m going to be playing for you in two years or four years.’ And (starting quarterback) Brenton Gaches was the first one to come up and shake my hand and look me in the eyes and say that he can’t wait to play for me.
“And I told him his group was gonna lead us to big things. Everybody looks at our 2022 championship as the culmination. But to me, we were in Division IV. It means something. But this group here, these seniors, are the ones that set the foundation. They’re building something. For a Santa Teresa team to be in Division II and go 9-1, it’s phenomenal.”
– Christian Babcock