Prep football rankings: Indefensible blowout; Capital Christian punishment hurts kids
It’s become a blame game in high school sports now, and too much of it is a bad look.
We see it all across the state, including locally, where those within the Capital Christian circle continue to fault the area governing body for not being fair to their football program.
106-0 blowout?
On Friday in Los Angeles County, Inglewood beat crosstown rival Morningside 106-0 — that’s no typo — in a regular-season finale, the worst football score I’ve ever seen in this state.
Who does that? Why do that? Inglewood coaches admitted that they wanted to set records, to make a statement, including having UCLA-bound star Justyn Martin pass for 13 touchdowns. Inglewood went for two points when it was 104-0, prompting Morningside coach Brian Collins to call it a “classless move” in his conversation with Eric Sondheimer of the L.A. Times. And Inglewood folks are wondering what the big deal and fuss is all about?
Here’s the deal and the fuss: that score and the intent to get to that score is wrong. Inglewood refused to allow a running clock in the second quarter, when it was already 72-0. The running clock didn’t start until the second half. Players celebrated the last few touchdowns as if they won a section championship. Those tied to Inglewood used social media to place blame on the losing side for not being better prepared, for not being tougher. Coaches lose jobs and reputations for these sorts of scores, as they should.
On Monday afternoon, Inglewood High principal Debbie Tate and the coaching staff apologized, saying in a statement, “we did not conduct ourselves with sportsmanship and integrity and the final score was unacceptable.”
Capital Christian is out
I have never been in favor of playoff bans, as it punishes student-athletes who are not at fault for the actions of adults. That’s the case at Capital Christian, which went to court to contest the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section’s playoff ban tied to Capital’s on-campus club football team last winter, and lost, as detailed by The Bee.
Sit the adults, I say, but that mandate has to come from the school, not the CIF. Capital Christian Head of Schools Tim Wong proposed to section commissioner Mike Garrison on Sunday that football coach Saul Patu sit out a playoff game and the program not host any playoff games as fair punishment. It was too late. Garrison let Judge Laurie E. Earl decide Monday. She noted several points made by the section and said the club team was basically a Capital Christian program.
Said the judge: “To paraphrase the old saying, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.”
There are mixed reviews on this, some of it misguided. Some argue the CIF continues to target private schools, that they’re not in it for the kids. Well, the CIF is in it for the kids, but it also warned Capital Christian to not play club football with school equipment on school grounds while no one else was allowed to do so because of health guidelines tied to COVID-19. Capital folks say the CIF was unfair in its process and has not been truthful in this case and was without due process. The CIF said Capital was not entirely truthful, including the school insisting that Capital Christian only had a handful of players on the club team. The CIF found 77 percent Capital Christian’s players were on the club roster. Both can’t be true.
Some even blame the media for not doing more to shed light on this saga. The club team prohibited The Bee and any local media from attending club practices or games, making it clear that it really wasn’t any of the media’s business. Another local club team, IronSharpensIron, invited media to come to games and practices and opened its books. The CIF requested a roster of the Capital Christian club team when the investigation started but was denied. Even Wong was denied that roster from people who work for him on his campus. And now Capital Christian complains other schools aren’t being punished. Capital Christian demanded transparency in this process but there wasn’t transparency on something as simple as a roster examination.
Wong, Patu and assistant coach Aaron Garcia are good people trying to provide opportunities for their students. Kudos to that. But this mess is ultimately on the adults, not the players, and the debate continues on who is at fault: Capital coaches or Garrison.
Play on
Enough bemoaning and more action, please. Playoff bracket releases are ripe for critique, some of it fair, but too much of it laughable or ludicrous. Very few are pleased with their seeding, their opponent, their bracket, and too many hammer the mantra that “The CIF is always against us.” Every single school? That’s some broad vendetta.
Perspective: This section has nearly 200 schools. Eighty get in the playoffs. If you’re in, be in it to win it.
Listen in
Winners of seven section and four CIF State championships since 2010, Folsom heads into the D-I field having lost three of its last four, but no one weeps for the mighty.
Coach Paul Doherty told his group that after Granite Bay handed them a 31-21 setback Friday, dropping the Bulldogs to 7-3 and a No. 3 seed, that they can still win this thing, saying, “A lot of you haven’t faced much adversity on the football field but you are now. That’s life. Get used to it. The hard facts are, right now, we’re not good enough. We’ve got to get better. No one is going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to pull ourselves out of this hole. No one is going to do it for us. We’ve got a lot of opportunities ahead for us to stick together, do some good things, help each other out and cheer up a teammate. Keep your heads up.”
Rest up, Eli
The most moving scene of the season may have played out in Citrus Heights on Saturday night, the last regular-season game of the regional campaign. Facing Woodland, Mesa Verde junior fullback/linebacker/punter Eli Hernandez Jr. suffered a broken leg when he took off out of punt formation, going down hard when a knee cracked his leg. He was carted off the field on a stretcher. The entire Mavericks team — some 50 strong — raced over to help escort him, offering support through words and pats on the chest.
“Definitely brought a tear to my eye,” Mesa Verde coach Leonard Casillas said. “It showed me how each of my players truly care for each other. Football is more than a game, and I always stress to the boys that they’re making some lifelong bonds and relationships . It’s brotherhood. He’s a good kid.”
And there was a good pop on hand. Hernandez’s father, Eli Sr., cracked his son up by reminding him, “Hey, you got the first down!”
Quick hits
▪ Burbank is in the D-III playoffs with Capital Christian out, and hats off to the work of coach Eddie Elder, an alum of the school. He’s worked tirelessly to get the Titans to stand tall again. They are in the postseason for the 10th time since 2010.
▪ McClatchy edged out Hiram Johnson for the final D-I playoff spot, and kudos to Cuda, as in Lions first-year coach Zach Cuda. McClatchy is in the playoffs for the first time since 1996, last winning a postseason game in 1984.
▪ Hiram Johnson went 9-1 but didn’t get into the D-I field, undone by a poor league standing and no victories over any winning teams. It’s still Johnson’s best season since 2001, a credit to alum coach Alex Gome-Coelho.
▪ Curron Borders is the regular-season section rushing champion, the Antelope junior going for 1,987 yards in nine games.
▪ Lamar Radcliffe of Sacramento, a sophomore, had 1,882 yards, and Lavelle Davis of Placer had 1,677, Tyler Petersen of Vista del Lago 1,477 and Anthony Tornatore of Bradshaw Christian 1,402.
THE BEE’S TOP 25
1. Rocklin 10-0
2. Jesuit 9-1
3. Granite Bay 8-2
4. Folsom 7-3
5. Vacaville 8-2
6. Antelope 9-0
7. Elk Grove 6-3
8. Lincoln 7-2
9. Sheldon 7-3
10. Vanden 8-2
11. Yuba City 7-3
12. Monterey Trail 5-5
13. Whitney 5-5
14. Del Oro 6-4
15. Cap Christian 7-3
16. Vista del Lago 7-3
17. Sacramento 8-2
18. Inderkum 5-4
19. Woodcreek 7-2
20. Christian Bros 6-4
21. Union Mine 8-1
22. Dixon 6-3
23. Pioneer 8-1
24. Bradshaw Christian 8-1
25. Colfax 7-2
Bubble teams (alphabetical order): Burbank 6-4; Cosumnes Oaks 5-5; Foresthill 7-2; Laguna Creek 5-4; Liberty Ranch 5-3; McClatchy 6-3; Nevada Union 6-4, Placer 4-5; Ponderosa 4-4; Rodriguez 7-3; Roseville 6-4; Rosemont 8-2; Sutter 7-1; West Park 5-4; Wood 7-3; Woodland, 8-2, Woodland Christian 7-0. - Compiled by Joe Davidson