Vincent Memorial poised for final game
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of two articles previewing Saturday’s CIF State Championship games. See Friday’s edition of the Imperial Valley Press for a story on Southwest High.
CALEXICO — Win or lose, Vincent Memorial High’s football season will come to a close Saturday night.
The Scots have made it to where no other Vincent Memorial team has ventured, as they are set to compete for a CIF State Championship.
Competing in the 6-A division, the Scots will host Galileo High of San Francisco in one of two state finals that will be played in the Imperial Valley.
While Saturday’s games are an unprecedented occurrence in the Valley’s sports history, the Scots’ presence in the 6-A State final is a little less surprising, given their dominance this entire season.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Vincent Memorial
After missing the playoffs last season, the Scots entered the 2017 campaign with a clear vision for the season. The team lost just three players to graduation and returned class of hungry upperclassmen that includes nearly 30 seniors.
Meanwhile, the team’s underclassmen, while young, have proven to be able to keep up with the best of them as the Scots are 12-2 on the season and 4-0 in CIF playoff action.
This postseason, the Scots have tallied 187 points, while only allowing 29 — and their two losses on the season? They came back in September to CIF-San Diego Section Div. IV and III opponents, while the Scots are classified as a Div. V team.
Since then the team has put up an eight-game win streak that includes a 45-3 win over Crawford in the CIF-SDS Div. V final and a 40-18 triumph over Huntington Park CIF State Div. 6-A Regional final last week.
The Scots have put up 40-plus points in 11 games this season, including every game of the CIF playoffs. The Scots’ main end zone finders this season have been quarterback Eduardo Valenzuela (11 rushing and 45 passing scores), Juan Pablo Ruiz (21 receiving scores), Emilio Abizaid (six rushing and four receiving scores), Daniel Rizzo (nine rushing scores), Javier Briseño and Andres Bryan, seven rushing and seven receiving scores, respectively.
Galileo
The Lions out of north San Francisco come from one of the oldest public high schools in the city and as a result have a long-standing football history that includes an alumnus by the name of O.J. Simpson.
In other news, Galileo also heads into the contest with two losses and has an overall record of 10-2. The Lions went 5-1 in Academic League standings with its only loss coming to eventual AL champ, Mission.
The Lions fell to Mission, 40-36, to miss out on a ML title, yet made up for it in the CIF-San Francisco Section AAA title game.
Galileo faced Mission once again in the section championships and worked to come out with a 50-28 win to advance to last week’s Regional Championship.
The Lions narrowly edged Rio Vista 20-14 in a come-from-behind win to advance to face the Scots, and like their local opponent, Galileo has lit up the scoreboard this season.
Leading the Lions’ ground game is sophomore Yarvell Smith, who has more than 20 touchdowns on the season and more than 1,200 rushing yards to his name. With a 5-foot-10 and 200-pound frame, Smith could spell trouble for Vincent on Saturday.
In the air the Lions rely on senior Adrian Poot, who also has more than 20 passing scores and 1,000 passing yards on the season for the Lions.