Prep football roundtable: Upsets in the air? Why the push to Thursday games?
It’s all downhill running from here, with the Sac-Joaquin Section football playoffs barreling into the second round.
That’s the quarterfinals for divisions 1-6, each with 12-team fields reduced to eight. Division VII has eight teams and kicks off this week.
This week’s roundtable chatter with The Bee’s coverage crew of Chris Biderman, Jim Patrick, Cameron Salerno and yours truly breaks down more talking-point subjects. We dive in:
When do the upsets start to jolt the brackets?
JoeD: Well, how about now? Last week, some of the “upsets” included Roseville beating Oakdale on the road in D-III, Yuba City doing the same at Vista del Lago in D-III and Center topping host Pioneer in D-IV. This week in D-I, if Elk Grove beats No. 3 Oak Ridge in El Dorado Hills, is that really an upset? It’s a toss-up, though the losers will surely be upset. If there’s an upset brewing, it’ll happen in Placer County and in Modesto. It wouldn’t be a shocker if No. 9-seeded Woodcreek bounced 10-0 and top-seeded Placer in D-III, and I fully expect No. 6 D-II seed Granite Bay to eliminate 10-0 and No. 3 Downey in Modesto. And maybe Roseville topples No. 2 Patterson, which happens if QB ace Brandon Graydon does his thing.
Biderman: It’s unfair to compare high school football teams and players to their counterparts in pros and college, but we see upsets in all levels of football all the time. There are always human elements to these things that we don’t know about beyond stats, rankings and X’s and O’s. I remember getting dumped by my first high school girlfriend and trying to play baseball with a pit in my stomach — and there were times where it felt like I forgot how to play the sport entirely (It was a great learning experience and I’m far better off for it now. Thanks, Emily!). Which is all a roundabout way of saying, yes, maybe there’s an upset or two we don’t see coming via factors we can’t account for. These are high schoolers, after all.
Patrick: I remain skeptical we’ll see mayhem in the brackets. The top teams are seeded higher because they are better, generally speaking. Looking at Division VI, No. 7 Twelve Bridges is still my darkhorse pick, but the Raging Rhinos have their work cut out for them with No. 2 Hughson. They have one common opponent. Twelve Bridges beat Modesto Christian by four points last week; Hughson thumped Modesto Christian by 36 points. I’m rooting for something crazy to happen somewhere, in some bracket, and this is my only hope.
Salerno: Roseville pulled off an upset on the road vs. Oakdale and Yuba City went into Folsom and beat No. 6 Vista del Lago. Upsets are what make this tournament fun. I agree with Chris’ assessment. These are teenagers we are talking about. Even the best-of-the-best players in the area have off nights. I think more upsets are bound to happen.
Are Thursday-night games a good thing?
JoeD: Blame the holiday. Friday is Veteran’s Day, no school, and that means a scramble to find staffing to run games. Also this: Holidays often dull the Friday-night crowds as there isn’t the day to host a rally, to remind and rally the troops to show out. A number of No. 1 and 2 seeds asked/pleaded opponents to play this Thursday instead of Friday, and it only works if both sides agree. But why should a team like Sheldon play top-seeded Folsom on Thursday when the Huskies played last Friday, while the Bulldogs had a bye and watched the Huskies compete live? They won’t. Folsom is so good that it requires as much prep time as possible.
Biderman: Yes. We get to cover twice the amount of games and better serve our readers! Our bosses read this, right? At some point we’ll be getting Wednesday games following the NFL model of having games every night of the freakin’ week. Who’s ready for Tuesday night football streamed around the world live on SnapFace?
Patrick: I don’t know if anybody noticed, but we covered the heck out of Thursday night games. Why? Because we have an e-edition to fill and Thursday night games allow us to cover more contests with the same number of staffers. In other words, it’s more work for Joe, Cameron and Chris, which I wholeheartedly endorse.
Salerno: I honestly like and dislike Thursday games. It’s good for us because we are able to go to more games! The downside is hosting on a Thursday draws a smaller crowd. Everyone deserves to play on Friday nights because that’s when the environment is the best. After this week, I doubt we have another Thursday game the rest of the way.
Are the higher seeds clear-cut winners in D-I this week?
JoeD: Not necessarily. Who’s asking these questions? Oh. Never mind. Folsom and St. Mary’s are understandable heavy favorites to beat Sheldon and Turlock, respectively, but the other games are toss-ups. That’s No. 5 Central Catholic at No. 4 Monterey Trail and No. 6 Elk Grove at No. 3 Oak Ridge.
Biderman: I’m just stunned Joe hasn’t pulled a tidbit about some Div. I upset from 1982. I hope everything’s okay, Joe. To answer the question, I’m not expecting any major upsets in Div. I this week. But as a wise friend keeps telling me: never say never when it comes to football. Weird things can always happen. It’s why we love it so much.
Patrick: To be clear, Joe is the one asking these questions. Nobody’s touching Folsom and St. Mary’s. Sorry, coach Chris Nixon at Sheldon. Can we still text? I’d love to be proven wrong. The Elk Grove/Oak Ridge tilt is the game of the night, and it’s going to be streamed live.
Salerno: I agree with Jim. No one is beating Folsom or St. Mary’s until the final. Use that as bulletin board material, coaches. Elk Grove-Oak Ridge should be good, but I still think the Trojans survive and move on. If an upset does happen, how cool would a Oak Ridge-Folsom final be?
Who should be the Bee’s coach of the year?
JoeD: It’s easy to go with Paul Doherty of Folsom, Joey Montoya of Placer, Ryan Reynolds of Sutter, Chris Horner of Casa Roble and others who were projected to have powerhouse teams. How about Carl Reed of Grant, which went 1-9 and 0-9 and are now 7-2? Or Larry Morla, who led Christian Brothers to the Capital Athletic League championship with one of the youngest teams around? How about Jason Tenner of second-year program West Park, or Chris Bean of first-year varsity program Twelve Bridges? At this hour, I’ll go with Warren Schroeder of Liberty Ranch, which is 10-0 for the first time.
Biderman: My vote would be for Reed. The Grant job has to be one of the most difficult in the area given where the program was to where it fell last season. Nobody’s had bigger shoes to fill after the departure of legendary coach Mike Alberghini. The Grant “rebirth” feels real and they have the talent to make a run in Div. III. But Joe correctly pointed out there are a lot of deserving candidates. I’ll throw one more in here: T.J. Ewing of Monterey Trail.
Patrick: Joe named every varsity coach in our area. Tough act to follow. I can make a strong pitch for Esparto’s Chris Carr, who took a program that hadn’t won more than two games in the previous five seasons and has now made two playoff runs. But what about Placer’s Joey Montoya, who has the Hillmen unbeaten and looking like the top dog in Division III? I’m glad I don’t have to make this pick.
Salerno: My pick for coach of the year (that no one has mentioned) is Casey Taylor. Taylor took an Oak Ridge program that went 3-7 last year to a team in the mix for a section title. Joe also went first and listed all the good coaches in the area, so I wanted to go with someone new.
Is Jim Patrick really giving up this gig? Is he a loon?
Joe D: The nerve, the gall and the audacity of Jim to pursue new challenges, away from sports and in the heart of the section football playoffs, right? Right! Who does that? Seriously, we appreciate Jim’s passion for preps. He’s a Minnesota native who knew nothing of the regional scene but jumped right in, saying regularly, “Send me anywhere!” He’s a fan of Pioneer, Esparto, Delta, East Nicolaus, Casa Roble and any number of programs who make prep sports a hoot.
Biderman: I, for one, am shocked anyone would leave the lucrative sports journalism business for anything other than retirement. I can only assume Jim’s stepping away from newspaper life to play pickleball and golf full time while spending his fortune deciding which French wines to spit out on his yacht in the Caribbean. Is that life really better than editing our copy at midnight on Fridays and reminding us our weekly prep football picks are due in 15 minutes? I guess he’ll find out the hard way.
Patrick: In that the Minnesota state bird is a loon, I guess I’m a loon? But seriously, I’m hoping to figure out a way to stay involved with The Bee’s prep sports coverage. It’s a meaningful way to stay connected with my community. I’m not going anywhere. This is home, not Minnesota. I hope to keep getting texts and Facebook notes from coaches and parents for a long time to come.
Salerno: This is my Jim appreciation post. He’s been a great editor and friend. He’s our glue at The Bee. It’s like trading away a future All-Star. Jim should have a lot more free time in his life, which his wife and dog will appreciate.
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.