Monday Morning Lights: Why Campo’s win was important. WCAL play heats up this week.

Serra, St. Francis to renew their rivalry in WCAL showdown. Foothill coach emotional after huge win over rival Amador Valley. Plus, more on De La Salle’s victory at Folsom.

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CAMPO: WHY WIN OVER MONTE VISTA WAS IMPORTANT

Campolindo beat Monte Vista 38–14 on Friday night, and it could be the most important game of either team’s season.

There are 11 schools in the North Coast Section Division I that are all competing for eight spots in the playoffs.

It is a sure thing that De La Salle, San Ramon Valley, and Pittsburg will get in.

It looks like Clayton Valley will also be there.

Campo and Monte Vista are also in Division I. They are California, Liberty, James Logan, Amador Valley, Antioch, and Amador Valley.

It’s possible that there will only be two more spots available if Logan wins its league and Amador Valley wins the East Bay Athletic League Valley Division.

Big wins in non-league games will be taken into account when deciding who makes the cut. Campo’s players were well aware of this on Friday.

The safety for Campo, Luke Bonardi, said, “If we want to make the playoffs, we had to win this game tonight.”

I don’t agree with Bonardi.

The Cougars lost to Amador Valley and tied Windsor in nonleague play, but they can still go to the playoffs automatically if they win the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division.

That won’t be easy because talented teams like Acalanes (1-3 after a tough non-league schedule), Miramonte (2-0), and Las Lomas are also in the running.

The Mustangs have now lost to Amador Valley and Campolindo in back-to-back weeks after starting the season with three straight wins. Friday’s loss hurt them even more.

Their first game in the EBAL Mountain Division is at Foothill on October 6. This week, they have off. After that, California, Clayton Valley, De La Salle, and San Ramon Valley make up the last five miles of Monte Vista.

It would have been great to win on Friday.

“All we care about is league,” Monte Vista coach Johnny Millard said. “One game at a time, and we’ll make some noise in the league.”

FOOTHILL: HUGE VICTORY OVER RIVAL

During a nonleague game between Pleasanton’s two high schools on Friday night, Foothill’s coach Greg Haubner was moved and proud of his team’s performance as they went on the road and shocked Amador Valley 12–7.

As a coach, Haubner said, “This is one of the better wins I’ve had.” He is in his seventh season at Foothill. “Before the game, we were 0-3.” There has been a lot of frustration with this team and this program. Tonight, the kids played at a very high level. It was great to win.

The fact that Foothill has lost three of its best players has caused us the most anger. Four-star recruit Chris Lawson moved from another school to Riordan during the off-season. RB It was Samear Lattier who went to Tracy.

The loss of free safety Jackson Chandler hurt the most. He stayed at Foothill, but failed to play again because of an ACL injury.

“I’m so happy for our seniors,” Haubner reported. “They kept putting in their best effort for us.”

WCAL: THIS WEEK HAS TWO BIG GAMES

It was clear that Serra didn’t get any rusty during its week off before defending its West Catholic Athletic League title.

The Padres beat Sacred Heart Cathedral 61-0 on Friday. It was the second time in the history of MaxPreps (2004–present) that the San Mateo powerhouse scored 60 points against a WCAL opponent.

The other was in 2017 when they beat Archbishop Mitty 64–21. The score was 66–45 for Archbishop Riordan in 2015.

On Saturday, when St. Francis comes to town, the competition for Serra will get tougher.

This was not a good day for the home team the last time St. Francis came to Serra, which was two years ago. Viliami Teu ran 45 times for 344 yards and two touchdowns, and St. Francis won 44–21.

Serra has beaten Mountain View more often since then, beating them 16–12 to win the Central Coast Section Division I title in 2022 and 29–7 at St. Francis last year.

Valley Christian goes to Riordan on Saturday for the other big WCAL game this week.

Valley (4-0) only won one game all of last year. Three times, Riordan (3-1) won.

Valley has given up an average of 8.3 points per game this season. He has scored 37.8 points per game.

There must be a sacrifice.

DE LA SALLE: GRIT OVER FLASH

Today, when people use video games to pass the time, De La Salle has gone back in time.

They have run for 856 yards and thrown for 62 in their last three games, which they won over St. Francis, St. Mary’s-Stockton, and Folsom.

During their winning streak, they have run 147 times and tried to pass 19 times.

There are a lot of freshmen starting for DLS this year, so the coach, Justin Alumbaugh, said, “We’re really trying to get them to embrace the Spartan way.” Alumbaugh spoke after his team’s 14-7 win at Folsom on Friday. “So far this season, we’ve played five great teams, and we’re getting better.”

It’s clear that we’re better now than we were at the start of the year, and it’s because these guys believe in us. I’m happy for them. It makes me happy as a coach when they’re getting better at coaching.

Orange Lutheran (35-14) and Serra (28-0) were the first two teams DLS played and lost to. They ran 63 times for 270 yards and threw 42 times for 181 yards in loss.

“During the first two weeks, we weren’t physical at all, especially on offense,” Alumbaugh said. “I really like how active we’ve become.” A lot of physical drills have been going on. We’ve been pushing them with practices in the early morning. A lot of very old methods to get them going. They have answered really well.”

Next up is a home game against McClymonds on Friday.

DEER VALLEY: BOUNCE-BACK SEASON CONTINUES

A three-year, 18-game losing streak seems like a long time ago now that Deer Valley has a 3-2 record in the middle of the season.

After losing to Castro Valley 19–14, the Wolverines beat Dougherty Valley 34–28 on Friday.

The second-year coach at Deer Valley, Matt Mills, said he could tell the difference between this year’s team and last year’s during the loss, not the win.

“Instead of saying, ‘Oh, we’re not good enough,’ or ‘We don’t have the talent,’ the guys were mad and saying, ‘Man, we let one get away,'” Mills explained.

Mills spent last season building what he called “the foundation of a winning culture” in the locker room. Now, on the field, things are going well.

This week is a bye week for Deer Valley. On Oct. 6, they will host Pittsburg in the first game of the league season.

Mills said, “Last year was hard at times.” “But when the juniors came back, it wasn’t that we taught them what was expected of them.” We were able to focus more on the plan and how to use our skills this year.

PEEK AHEAD TO WEEK 6

Friday

Pittsburg (4-0) at Los Gatos (3-1), 7:30 p.m.: Pittsburg has narrowly won its past two games. Expect another tight one on Friday.

McClymonds (2-1) at De La Salle (3-2), 7 p.m.: DLS will try to win four in a row to finish nonleague play.

Granada (4-1) at California (3-2), 7 p.m.: Granada QB Quinn Boyd has been electric. Will California pull the plug here?

Mountain View (3-1) at Wilcox (2-2). 7 p.m.: Wilcox is 12-0-2 against Mountain View in the MaxPreps era (2004-present).

Jesuit-Carmichael (4-1) at Clayton Valley Charter (2-2), 7 p.m.: When these teams played last season at Jesuit, CVC won 35-21.

Saturday

St. Francis (2-2) at Serra (4-0), 1:30 p.m.: Serra is the clear favorite, but St. Francis will make it physical.

Valley Christian (4-0) at Archbishop Riordan (3-1), 2 p.m.: Valley’s defense vs. Riordan’s offense will be something to see.