Leading up to the most anticipated nonleague football matchup of the season, the attitudes on the respective high school campuses could not be farther apart.
At Riordan High School, where the Crusaders will host defending Academic Athletic Association champion Mission on Saturday, optimism is in high quantity.
Riordan is 2-0 and with a win over the Bears, would complete its first unbeaten nonleague season since 2003 and would equal the Crusaders’ win total of the past three seasons combined.
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What was so impressive about the Sacred Heart Cathedral girls’ volleyball team’s nonleague match on the road against University wasn’t that the Irish won, it was how they won.
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The Sacred Heart Cathedral football team’s matchup against Campolindo this week will likely be its toughest test of the nonleague season, but will also present a clash of kindred spirits.
A year ago, Campolindo was in the same spot the Irish are in now, early in the 2012 season.
Picked to finish last in the Diablo Foothill Athletic League, the Cougars went 14-0 and beat Marin Catholic in the North Coast Section Division III championship game, before falling to Washington Union of Fresno in the D-III state championship game.
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Momentum can work in mysterious ways, but for the Mission and University boys’ soccer teams, the harsh swings of their nonleague matchup Tuesday at Kezar Stadium still resulted in a scoreless tie.
In a match that had the intensity of a playoff game, the Red Devils (2-1-1) had the latest surge, amping up offensive pressure in the final 20 minutes.
As he did the entire night, though, Mission senior goalkeeper Marcos Lopez stopped the Red Devils cold.Lopez had three saves in the final 20 minutes and six overall, including a stop on a penalty kick in the 22nd minute.
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As a man of countless mantras, it’s no surprise Sacred Heart Cathedral football coach John Lee has another one ready for the 2012 season, but it’s far from a trite sports cliche.
The quote, which he has borrowed from Vince Lombardi, speaks directly to how the Irish are positioned heading into the 2012 season, as the school in The City that lost the most talent from 2011.
“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have,” Lee said, repeating Lombardi’s words. “These are the cards we’ve been dealt. We can’t hand them back. I’m not going to let it faze me.”
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Building a football program from scratch is not an easy task.
But Stuart Hall has found early success, and after two seasons, the Knights have their legs under them and now have something tangible to shoot for — a league championship.
“Because it was my first year last year and it was only the second year of the program, guys feel like they still have something to prove to themselves and others,” Stuart Hall coach Richard Robinson said.
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If momentum can be carried through the nearly nine-month-long football offseason, it would be hard to find a team that has more of it than St. Ignatius.
The Wildcats capped a whirlwind Central Coast Section playoff run with a win over eternal rival Sacred Heart Cathedral in the Division III championship game in front of an estimated 12,000 fans at AT&T Park.
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Only two players from Lincoln High School’s 2010 football team will be on this year’s squad, but that season still bothers coach Phil Ferrigno.
The Mustangs’ 0-11 record in 2010 is one of the lowest points in the program’s history and it provided a wake-up call to the most decorated Academic Athletic Association football program of the 2000s.
A 4-7 record in 2011 and a first-round playoff exit doesn’t exactly have Lincoln supporters jumping for joy, but the Mustangs have officially picked themselves up from the pavement.
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It’s hard to say just how good Zach Masoli could have been on the Riordan High School football team last season.As a sophomore, most of his athletic ability on the field was shown scrambling, but not by choice.He was running for his life.The Crusaders had the worst offensive line in the West Catholic Athletic League last season and the opponents exposed that weakness, putting Masoli under constant pressure.Protecting him and giving him time to make plays is of the utmost importance for the Crusaders this season.
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A year ago, the Mission High School football team was highly motivated.A loss to Balboa in the first round of the playoffs in 2010 — after an undefeated league season — led to Mission in 2011 claiming their first Academic Athletic Association championship in 57 years.With a key core of graduating seniors long gone, the attitude is significantly different at summer practice on 18th Street.Like the bloated, sleepy feeling after a big Thanksgiving dinner, the Bears are experiencing a Turkey Bowl hangover.
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