High school notes: It’s rivalry time with Holy Bowl, Quarry Bowl

Area high school football rivalries no longer dominate the regular season. But two games still draw huge crowds.

On Friday, No. 5 Rocklin hosts No. 11 Whitney in the seventh Quarry Bowl between the Placer County teams. Rocklin leads the series 4-2. Rocklin opened in 1993 and Whitney in 2005, and the rivalry heated up with high-scoring games – Whitney won 48-34 in 2011 – and defensive slugfests – Rocklin edged Whitney 6-0 in 2012.

The 46th Holy Bowl between No. 7 Jesuit and No. 16 Christian Brothers is Saturday at Hughes Stadium. The Holy Bowl isn’t the area’s longest-running rivalry – McClatchy and Sacramento have played each other since the late 1930s – but it might be the most spirited.

At the Holy Bowl, the best action isn’t always on the field. Students paint their faces and sometimes their chests with school colors (red for Jesuit, blue for CBS), hold signs, belt out dueling chants and race around the track with team flags. A crowd of 15,000-plus is expected.

The first Holy Bowl was in 1969, six years after Jesuit opened. Christian Brothers, which dates to 1876, opened its campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in 1956. Christian Brothers started football in 1917, fielded its first good team in 1926 and rose to power in the late 1960s and ’70s under coach Dick Sperbeck.

The Falcons won Sac-Joaquin Section titles in 1981 under coach Craig Rundle and in ’83 with coach Jeff Tisdel.

Jesuit fielded its first good team in 1988, the program’s playoff breakthrough, and the Marauders won section titles in 1995 and 2002 under coach Dan Carmazzi, now coaching Christian Brothers, his alma mater.

No one has been more intimately involved in Holy Bowls than Carmazzi. This will be his 43rd, having suited up for the first two in 1969 and ’70, then coached at Jesuit for three-plus decades at Jesuit and Christian Brothers since 2014.

Jesuit leads the series 29-14-2.

“The Holy Bowl,” Jesuit quarterback Calvin Brownholtz said last week, “is always a big game, the game.”

Both teams are coming off losses. On Friday, Jesuit (1-1) fell to top-ranked Folsom 42-28 as Brownholtz threw two touchdown passes, including an 89-yarder to Jonathon Amadi on his team’s second play from scrimmage. Brownholtz missed the second half because of a foot injury not deemed serious. Backup Josh Farr played well in Brownholtz’s absence.

On Saturday, Christian Brothers opened its season with a 39-6 loss to powerhouse Manteca, though the Falcons feature a potent attack with quarterback Tyler Vander Waal, running back Jamarri Jackson and wide receiver Matt Marengo.

Miller salute – Before the Christian Brothers-Manteca game, Joe Miller was recognized for his coaching tenure at Manteca, including the 2001 Division II section champions, who were 12-0-1.

Miller, who also coached Delta to two section championships in the 1970s, died of cancer in July. His wife, Kay, flipped the coin before Saturday’s game.

Volleyball – Oak Ridge, led by Kassandra McGill and Madison Shields, is considered one of the area’s best teams. The Trojans play in the competitive Sierra Foothill League that includes Granite Bay, Del Oro and Rocklin.

Granite Bay features Daia Ernst and Amanda Prather. Lauren Gode paces Del Oro, and Abby Nash leads Rocklin.

Pleasant Grove, led by sisters Alexis and Lilana Light, is the favorite in the Delta League, which includes St. Francis, led by Aiyu Aimufua.

Christian Brothers beat St. Francis in five sets in the annual Holy Court showdown after trailing 2-0. The Falcons, led by Paloma Bowman and Ryann Thomison, will battle El Camino and Rio Americano in the Capital Athletic League. El Camino features Isabel Torrez, and Rio Americano is led by Meghan Merlino.

Roseville, led by Jessica Donahue, is the favorite in the deep Capital Valley Conference that includes Ponderosa, Cosumnes Oaks, Bella Vista, Whitney and Antelope.

This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 6:23 PM with the headline "High school notes: It’s rivalry time with Holy Bowl, Quarry Bowl."