Lincoln willing to take on bigger test
Lincoln football coach Phil Ferrigno has heard it all before.
“We don't have the players in San Francisco,” he said, “but we have athletes.”
Interesting concept, he said. As if the athletes can't be meshed into a cohesive unit.
Forgive the season, but “humbug,” said Ferrigno, whose team crushed Crenshaw-Los Angeles 54-6 at Kezar Stadium on Saturday to win the Division 7-A state title.
This is the fifth consecutive season in which a San Francisco Section/Academic Athletic Association school has won a state championship. Three of them belong to the Mustangs, who didn't throw a single pass while piling up 437 rushing yards Saturday.
Ricky Underwood set the tone with a 37-yard touchdown run just more than two minutes into the game. He finished with 171 yards and three TDs; 158 of the yards came in the first half before he gave way to Jamelle Newman. And Newman kept it going, gaining 115 yards and scoring twice on just eight carries.
“Hey, our guys lift weights, they run track, they play other sports,” Ferrigno told SBLive correspondent Will Reisman. “They know how to play this game.”
There's speculation that the Mustangs, the next time they win a section title, will be moved up from 7-A, which is the lowest of the CIF's 15 divisions.
“We will gladly do that,” Ferrigno said. “We aren't afraid to play anyone.”
San Marin repeats: After eight Metro teams won state titles last season, the only other one to do so Friday or Saturday was San Marin-Novato (13-2), which won a second straight crown with a 32-8 Division 4-A victory over Granada Hills.
With starting quarterback Dominic Ingrassia out (broken humerus), Jimmy Hughes went 7-for-11 passing for 143 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another 77 yards.
“Jimmy Hughes — what a game,” San Marin coach Dominic DiMare told Harold Abend of Prep2Prep. “He's been waiting for this opportunity from Day 1.”
San Marin allowed just 125 yards rushing to a team that had piled up nearly 6,000 yards in 14 games. The Mustangs got big plays early as Wesley Timmel took a screen pass 53 yards for a touchdown and Jonah Lozano broke several tackles on a 72yard TD run.
Shut out at Saddleback: For the first time, Metro teams played in all of the state's top five divisions, which this year were at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo (Orange County). All came up short.
Three of the games were competitive, but Pittsburg (12-3) lost 48-20 to Liberty-Bakersfield (13-2) in Division 1-A and Serra (13-1) was defeated 45-0 in the Open Division by St. John BoscoBellflower (13-1), which figures to finish No. 1 in the country.
It was the second straight year that Northern California's No. 1 team got swamped by the national No. 1 (Serra lost 44-7 to Mater Dei-Santa Ana in 2021). Bosco and Mater Dei have combined to win the past six Open titles and the games haven't been close (average margin of victory: 28.5 points). Bosco took the field Saturday with 43 players who are either committed to or have received offers from FBS schools.
After the game, Serra coach Patrick Walsh was asked about the playoff system and the discrepancy of talent between those two schools and the rest of the state.
“Whoever comes out of the North is behind the 8-ball,” Walsh said. “I don't want this to come across as sour grapes ... I love (Bosco) coach Jason Negro. But the reality of the situation is that Mater Dei and Bosco are built differently than the rest of us.
“I said before this game that our players and coaches couldn't get into any better position spiritually or emotionally than we were for this game. We were 13-0. We had overcome things. Our players believed. Our fans believed. We believed. And we lost by 45 points.”
And as for a possible third straight trip next year?
“Do I want to be back here again next year against a team like this?” Walsh said before continuing after a long pause. “I mean truthfully, I want to be in a game where we are underdogs potentially with a chance to win, but it appears after doing this two years in a row, it's almost like we have no chance.
“Yes I felt a level of frustration. I felt like I was living the same thing we lived 365 days before. It's an epic collusion of unique talent, incredible work ethic, fantastic coaching. … There are no holes.”
Big Stage Baker: San Ramon Valley-Danville (12-3) showed well in its first state-title game, especially after halftime of its 3124 Division 2-Aovertime loss to Granite Hills-El Cajon (13-2). After a shaky start, quarterback Luke Baker seemed to will the Wolves back, throwing for 185 yards and two touchdowns and adding 42 yards and another score on the ground. He ended his junior season with 3,733 passing yards and 46 touchdowns.
“He's been doing it all year,” San Ramon Valley coach Aaron Becker said after the game. “He plays best on the biggest stage.”