Matchups are set for regionals
Serra paired up Friday with Tulare Union; Pittsburg has Saturday date at Granite Bay
Serra is returning to the heart of the Central Valley, where it will face another steep challenge Friday night. Pittsburg is traveling Saturday to the Sacramento region, where it will reacquaint with a familiar foe.
Campolindo and Milpitas are set for a rematch, and Half Moon Bay — one day after it improved to 13-0 with a rout of rival Terra Nova — got a nice reward from the California Interscholastic Federation: a home game Saturday against Sutter.
In all, seven teams from this publication’s coverage area will play regional games this weekend and an eighth, De La Salle, was placed directly into the state Open Division championship game against Southern California power Mater Dei-Santa Ana on Dec. 16 at Sacramento State.
The regional winners also will play for state championships Dec. 15-16 as the CIF’s 13-division format enters its third season.
Pittsburg and Half Moon Bay are new to the dance.
Serra, St. Francis, Campolindo, Milpitas, McClymonds and obviously De La Salle are not.
Experience helps. Last season, Serra coach Patrick Walsh paid close attention to the mock matchup boards, only to draw an opponent that was not on his radar. The Padres went to Sanger and survived 49-36.
This time around, Walsh kept his eyes on the prize his team won Saturday, a 31-30 victory over St. Francis in the Central Coast Section Open Division II final.
“It took every ounce of my energy and our staff and team’s energy to win by one point last night,” Walsh said. “We had no maps, no governance. We had no idea.”
The Padres ended up with a similar draw as last year. They will travel some 230 miles Friday to play Tulare Union and its UCLAbound running back, Kazmeir Allen, who has scored a single-season state-record 70 touchdowns this fall.
As a North Coast Section Open Division finalist, Pittsburg was eligible to keep playing beyond its loss this weekend to De La Salle. The Pirates will visit Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champion Granite Bay on Saturday night, an opponent they played every season from 2009-2013.
“We’re no strangers,” Pittsburg coach Victor Galli said. “We have a little bit of history between us. It’s a good program. It will be fun.”
Half Moon Bay coach Keith Holden could feel the buzz around his town — and in his phone — the day after his team won the CCS Open Division III crown.
“Half Moon Bay is a good place to be right now,” Holden said Sunday. “All morning, my phone has been blowing up, people want to talk, congratulate. I was with my kids. We went out to get a Christmas tree. All these locals at the tree farm are all excited. Smalltown stuff. It’s pretty cool.
“For us to go to a regional game is super exciting. For us to get a home game, it’s icing on the cake.”
Campolindo received a home game, too, after winning the NCS Division II title. The Cougars will play Milpitas, one of the Bay Area’s largest schools, in a rematch of a regional that Campolindo won in 2015.
But as he was then, Campolindo coach Kevin Macy was not pleased with the pairing, questioning why the CIF would place a small school like his against such a large school like Milpitas.
“It’s too much of a leap,” Macy told the Bay Area News Group’s Mike Lefkow. “You saw how small we are. They’ve been a power all year. They had the one game where penalties and touchdowns called back cost them. They got it out of their system.”