No. 1 teams are De La Salle, Santa Margarita, Oakdale, Oceanside, Marin Catholic, Monrovia, Central Catholic and Sierra Canyon. Seven of those eight face difficult opponents this weekend.
Before checking out each division, please remember that the four teams that ultimately are chosen to play in the first Northern California and Southern California Open Division bowl games can come from any division.
In Northern California (with the Central Section in the south), the top six teams in Division I also would be the top six for the open division. In Southern California, the top nine teams in Division I also would be the top nine for the open division.
With assistance from Harold Abend and Paul Muyskens, here are the Week 1 rankings for each of California’s CIF bowl game divisions; preseason ranking in parentheses):
DIVISION I NORTH
1. (1) De La Salle (Concord) 0-0
2. (2) Bellarmine (San Jose) 0-0
3. (5) Elk Grove 1-0
4. (15) Grant (Sacramento) 1-0
5. (14) Nevada Union (Grass Valley) 1-0
6. (8) Vacaville 0-0
7. (4) Lincoln (Stockton) 0-1
8. (12) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 1-0
9. (9) Palma (Salinas) 0-0
10. (10) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 1-0
11. (11) Serra (San Mateo) 0-0
12. (13) James Logan (Union City) 1-0
13. (3) Del Oro (Loomis) 0-1
14. (7) Granite Bay 0-1
15. (NR) Buhach Colony (Atwater) 1-0
Drops: Previous No. 6 San Ramon Valley (Pleasanton) lost to Buhach Colony 26-23.
Bubble Teams: Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 1-0, Folsom 1-0, Foothill (Pleasanton) 1-0, Franklin (Elk Grove) 1-0, Los Gatos 0-0, Monte Vista (Danville) 1-0, Palo Alto 0-0, San Ramon Valley (Danville) 0-1, St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 0-0, Valley Christian (San Jose) 0-0.
No. 1 Team Result: De La Salle (Concord) did not play.
Race for No. 1: De La Salle and Bellarmine meet on Friday at San Jose City College. If DLS wins, Elk Grove and winner of game between Grant and Nevada Union would likely be second and third next week. If Bellarmine wins, that would be huge as it would be the first loss by DLS to a NorCal opponent (not including the Central Section) since 1991.
DIVISION I SOUTH
1. (1) Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 1-0
2. (2) Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 0-0
3. (3) Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 1-0
4. (4) Bakersfield 1-0
5. (5) Tesoro (Rancho SM) 1-0
6. (6) Alemany (Mission Hills) 1-0
7. (7) Centennial (Corona) 0-0
8. (9) Rancho Cucamonga 1-0
9. (10) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 1-0
10. (11) Mission Viejo 1-0
11. (13) Westlake (Westlake Village) 1-0
12. (12) Narbonne (Harbor City) 0-0
13. (NR) St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 1-0
14. (15) Upland 1-0
15. (NR) Bishop Amat (La Puente) 1-0
Drops: Previous No. 8 Servite (Anaheim) lost to Bishop Amat 40-23; No. 14 Edison (Fresno) lost to Clovis 27-10.
Bubble Teams: Central (Fresno) 1-0, Clovis 1-0, Eastlake (Chula Vista) 0-0, El Toro (Lake Forest) 1-0, Liberty (Bakersfield) 1-0, Loyola (Los Angeles) 1-0, Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 0-0, Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 0-1, Redlands East Valley (Redlands) 0-0., Servite (Anaheim) 0-1.
No. 1 Team Result: Santa Margarita ventured to Arizona for first game against Brophy Prep (Phoenix) and returned home with a 27-14 triumph.
Race for No. 1: The rest of Santa Margarita’s non-league schedule is not as difficult as playing the top-ranked team in Arizona. The Trinity League schedule, however, has always been difficult. Oaks Christian may not be able to move past the No. 3 spot in this division any time soon, but has the game-breaking speed that would give Santa Margarita – or any other team in the state – a lot of trouble.
DIVISION II NORTH
1. (1) Oakdale 1-0
2. (2) Placer (Auburn) 0-0
3. (3) Concord 1-0
4. (4) Casa Grande (Petaluma) 1-0
5. (6) Los Banos 1-0
6. (7) Windsor 0-0
7. (5) Paradise 0-1
8. (8) Foothill (Palo Cedro) 0-0
9. (NR) Inderkum (Sacramento) 1-0
10. (NR) Casa Roble (Orangevale) 1-0
Drops: Previous No. 9 Monterey (reclassified Division I); No. 10 Las Lomas (Walnut Creek).
Bubble Teams: Casa Roble (Orangevale) 10-3, Inderkum (Sacramento) 10-2.
No. 1 Team Result: Oakdale defeated Turlock by a 21-7 final score.
Race for No. 1: Both Oakdale and Placer face major tests this week. Oakdale meets SoCal D2 No. 1 Oceanside Friday at Westlake of Westlake Village. Placer is playing NorCal D1 No. 1 Central Catholic of Modesto. If both lose, would set up an interesting choice for the top of next week’s rankings.
Note about CIF Central Coast Section teams: Once the playoff brackets are announced, we expect several quality teams from CCS “A” leagues that are not going to be in the CCS Open Division to be placed in the section’s Division I or Division II brackets. At that point, those teams would then get placed into our D2 North bowl game rankings and it’s possible one or more of those teams will be ranked near the top.
DIVISION II SOUTH
1. (1) Oceanside 0-0
2. (3) Serra (Gardena) 1-0
3. (2) Helix (La Mesa) 0-0
4. (4) Lompoc 1-0
5. (5) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 0-0
6. (7) Hart (Newhall) 0-0
7. (9) Chaminade (West Hills) 1-0
8. (8) Edison (Huntington Beach) 0-0
9. (10) Citrus Hill (Perris) 1-0
10. (15) Tustin 1-0
11. (NR) Poway 0-0
12. (11) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 0-0
13. (12) Los Alamitos 0-0
14. (13) Garces (Bakersfield) 1-0
15. (NR) Canyon (Canyon Country) 1-0
Drops: Previous No. 6 Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) lost to Elsinore 46-42.; No. 14 Arroyo Grande lost to Lompoc 31-0.
Bubble Teams: Culver City 1-0, Heritage (Romoland) 1-0, J.W. North (Riverside) 0-0, Kaiser (Fontana) 0-1, Kingsburg 1-0, La Mirada 1-0, Mt. Whitney (Visalia) 1-0, Serrano (Phelan) 1-0, Summit (Fontana) 1-0, Villa Park 1-0, Washington (Easton) 0-0, West Covina 1-0.
No. 1 Result: Oceanside did not play.
Race for No. 1: Oceanside meets NorCal D2 No. 1 Oakdale on Friday at Westlake of Westlake Village. Serra moved up to No. 2 after notable win over Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. Helix, the defending D2 state champ, also could get back to No. 1 in this division quickly. The Highlanders were chosen No. 1 in the San Diego Union-Tribune preseason rankings ahead of Oceanside.
DIVISION III NORTH
1. (1) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 1-0
2. (2) Campolindo (Moraga) 1-0
3. (3) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 1-0
4. (4) Sutter 1-0
5. (5) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 1-0
6. (6) Salesian (Richmond) 1-0
7. (7) Carmel 0-0
8. (NR) El Cerrito 1-0
9. (9) Hilmar 1-0
10. (NR) Encinal (Alameda) 0-0
Drops: Previous No. 8 Eureka lost to Casa Grande of Petaluma 43-14; No. 10 Escalon lost to Los Banos 34-32.
Bubble Teams: Aptos 0-0, Argonaut (Jackson) 1-0, Escalon 0-1, Justin-Siena (Napa) 1-0, Menlo School (Atherton) 0-0, Orland 0-0, Seaside 0-0.
No. 1 Team Result: Marin Catholic defeated Miramonte (Orinda) 31-14.
Race for No. 1: We’ll know just how good Marin Catholic is going to be over the next two weeks, beginning with Saturday’s game against St. Ignatius. The Wildcats then travel to play Vacaville the following week.
Note about CIF Central Coast Section teams: Once the playoff brackets are announced, we expect several quality teams from CCS “A” leagues that are not going to be in the CCS Open Division to be placed in the section’s Division III or Division IV brackets. At that point, those teams would then get placed into our D3 North bowl game rankings and it’s possible one or more of those teams will be ranked near the top.
DIVISION III SOUTH
1. (1) Monrovia 0-0
2. (5) Corona del Mar (Newport Beach) 1-0
3. (7) Torrance 1-0
4. (NR) St. Augustine (San Diego) 0-0
5. (4) Mission Oak (Tulare) 0-0
6. (6) Segerstrom (Santa Ana) 1-0
7. (3) Valley Center 0-0
8. (2) Paraclete (Lancaster) 0-1
9. (10) Wasco 1-0
10. (9) Madison (San Diego) 0-0
Drops: Previous No. 8 Citrus Valley (Redlands) lost to San Gorgonio of San Bernardino 27-9.
Bubble Teams: Beckman (Irvine) 0-0, Mt. Miguel (Spring Valley) 0-0, Ontario Christian 1-0, Rubidoux (Riverside) 1-0, San Dimas 1-0, Santana (Santee) 0-0.
No. 1 Team Result: Monrovia did not play.
Race for No. 1: There was a lot of shuffling in the order of this week’s teams to account for other, more local preseason rankings that were not available when the preseason state rankings were done. That does not impact Monrovia, which opens against Ayala of Chino Hills this week, then has to play Arcadia.
DIVISION IV NORTH
1. (1) Central Catholic (Modesto) 1-0
2. (2) Ferndale 0-0
3. (3) Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento) 1-0
4. (4) McClymonds (Oakland) 0-0
5. (5) Willows 0-0
6. (6) LeGrand 0-0
7. (7) Modoc (Alturas) 0-0
8. (9) Valley Christian (Dublin) 1-0
9. (NR) St. Vincent de Paul (Petaluma) 1-0
10. (10) Hamilton (Hamilton City) 0-0
Drops: Previous No. 8 St. Bernard (Eureka) lost to St. Vincent de Paul 34-21.
Bubble Teams: Durham 1-0, St. Bernard (Eureka) 0-1, Woodland Christian 1-0.
No. 1 Team Result: Central Catholic opened with 66-6 romp past Brookside Christian (Stockton).
Race for No. 1: Central Catholic meets D2 North No. 2 Placer of Auburn in showdown game Friday. The Raiders will likely stay No. 1 next week unless they lose by 40-0 or similar.
DIVISION IV SOUTH
1. (1) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 1-0
2. (2) Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach) 0-0
3. (3) Rio Hondo Prep (Arcadia) 1-0
4. (5) Bishop Diego (Santa Barbara) 1-0
5. (4) Francis Parker (San Diego) 0-0
6. (6) Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 1-0
7. (7) Boron 1-0
8. (NR) Grace Brethren (Simi Valley) 1-0
9. (8) St. Margaret’s (SJ Capistrano) 1-0
10. (9) Christian (El Cajon) 0-0
Drops: Previous No. 10 Bakersfield Christian lost to Ontario Christian 31-7.
Bubble Teams: Aquinas (San Bernardino) 0-1, Bakersfield Christian 0-1, Desert Christian (Lancaster) 1-0, Mojave 1-0, Saddleback Valley Christian (SJ Capistrano) 0-1.
No. 1 Team Result: Sierra Canyon silenced Bishop 36-0 for the team’s 16th straight victory.
Race for No. 1: This week could see Sierra Canyon face its strongest opponent of the year other than perhaps Paraclete in league when the Trailblazers meet El Camino Real of Woodland Hills.
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