Cardinal Newman done after coin flip
A flipped coin, not a bouncing football, brought Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa’s season to an end Sunday.
Players on the Division 3 top-seed Cardinals had decided last week that if they reached the final — which they did Friday with a 38-0 defeat of El Cerrito — they would opt for a coin flip with Eureka to decide which team would advance to the CIF Northern California title game.
They could have chosen to play for an NCS title — which teams in Divisions 2, 4, and 5 did — and have that game be the end of their season, win or lose.
So, on the direction of the team, Cardinal Newman athletic director Jeff Nielson called “tails” during Sunday’s conference call with NCS Commissioner Gil Lemmon. It was heads. Eureka will host Central Coast Section Division 1 champion Menlo-Atherton in a NorCal game Friday. Cardinal Newman’s season ends at 11-1. There will be no NCS Division 3 champion this season.
“We made the decision (to flip), and when you make decision you have to live with the results,” Cardinal Newman coach Paul Cronin said Sunday morning. “The kids never wavered in their decision. They knew this was a possibility. It’s cool they stuck together during the entire process and will live with the results. I’m proud of them and their season.”
NCS finalists in Divisions 2-5 were put in the unprecedented position because the section playoffs were delayed two weeks by poor air quality caused by the Camp Fire in Butte County. Even with the CIF, the state governing board, agreeing to push back the NorCal title games one week, the NCS could not complete the postseason in time for regionals.
“It’s been a strange situation, that’s for sure,” Cronin said. “It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just how it played out.”
With three NCS slots missing from the NorCals, three NorCal teams received byes into the state finals, including San Francisco Section champion Lincoln, which beat Mission 53-0 on Friday to win the SFS title.
Lincoln will host SoCal champion Orange GlenEscondido (San Diego County) at noon on Dec. 15 at Washington for the State 6-A Bowl championship.
Asked about missing out on a regional game, Lincoln coach Phil Ferrigno said: “It is what it is. It’s the whole year. What are you going to do? We have another game, and that’s all that matters. We’re going to represent San Francisco and all those champions who never had an opportunity before us.”
As expected, De La Salle-Concord, coming off its 27th consecutive NCS Open Division title with a 41-7 win over Liberty-Brentwood, will play for the state Open title at 8 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk against Mater Dei-Santa Ana, which beat the Spartans last season in the same game, 52-21.
The rest of the state championships will be held Dec. 14-15.
Five other local teams in four other divisions will play regionals this weekend, with Division 1-A featuring Liberty at CCS Divison 2 champion Valley Christian at 6 p.m. Saturday.