Posted on Tuesday, 10/20/2009 - 8:24 p.m. PDT — by Bluedog2
10-20-09
Another round of hard fought football is at hand as Granada meets DLS, Calif. takes on Amador Valley and will Monte vista finally win a ball game in league play Vs. foothill....In the mean time San Ramon has a date with Livermore..
California Vs. Amador Valley....Calif. 20..Amador 14.....This is probably the game of the week for the BVAL....Amador has lost two close games and didn't quit in either one...But they face California who lost to Del Oro 28-21 at the Battle of the Capitol....The Grizzles were ahead at half time against the Golden Eagles but a fired up Del Oro team came roaring back and took the lead only to have Calif. tie the game and then Del Oro came back and won the game.....Also, Del Oro beat Granite Bay last week 27-21, so Amador Valley has its job cut out for them..
San Ramon Valley Vs. Livermore...SR 38..Livermore 13....Another bad night for the Cowboy's
Granada Vs. DLS.....DLS 28...Granada 14....The spartan's can't afford to relax as Granada is no body to fool with...Again....it will take a complete game to Stop DLS...
Foothill Vs. Monte Vista....MV 35..Foothill 26....this game could very well turn into a shootout as two top QB's meet in what could be a passing war...
Joined: Sep 2007
Current Posts: 21
Bluedog2, just to clarify a couple of things. 1. The Don's vs Grizzlies matchup is an EBAL matchup not BVAL as you wrote. 2. The Don's have only 1 loss (a close game they led in the 4th quarter) vs De LaSalle. I don't understand what the heck Del Oro and Granite Bay have at all to do with the upcoming game vs Amador for Cal?
I do agree this should/could be the game of the week in the EBAL, while the Monte Vista vs Foothill game will be nationally televised on ESPNU! With Foothills remaining schedule and a likely loss vs M.V. this Friday night. The Falcons are in serious danger of missing the NCS playoffs for the first time in a while.
My Predictions:
Cal High vs Amador Valley. A.V. 35 Cal High 17
The Don's defense has proved capable of slowing down if not completely stopping in some cases some of the best offensive weapons in the EBAL. They limited the Spartans to reasonable yardage totals. Shut down George Atkinson Jr. for minus 20 yards on 10 carries after he lit up Foothill for over 200, and were bend not break vs Monte Vista once they figured out the underneath screen game aimed at taking advantage of Amador's agressive pass rush. Some also look at Stancil and Turay as the Don's primary weapons and forget about many other playmakers on this offense, Tyler Christensen, Matt Banahan, Alex Osterholt, Danny Petros, and Carson Ewanich are all capable of making big plays on every offensive possesion. Cal's QB is improving game by game, and Reggie Davis is seemingly back at 100%. My feeling is the Don's have less weapons to stop vs Cal than Cal must stop vs Amador.
Foothill vs Monte Vista: M.V. 42 Foothill 28
This will be a great offensive display by both teams but I see M.V. having more weapons on offense and Foothill having no power running game to eat up clock and expose the Mustangs run defense.
De LaSalle vs Granada: Spartans 49 Matadors 14 The grind of the tough EBAL is going to show this game. Granada have lost thier starting QB and the Spartans seem to have settled in with Soph. Bart Houston as the starting QB.
SRV vs Livermore: SRV 38 Livermore 7
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 336
10-21-09
EBAL1......Thanks for the heads up and corrections. As for Calif./Granite Bay and Del Oro......Calif. lost a close one to Del Oro who topped Granite bay last Friday night....And granite Bay in the Battle of the Capitol beat Pittsburg 30-20.....Of course, Monte Vista whipped Pittsburg 45-25.....California has met some tough teams, but Amador's show with DLS said a lot.....Plus their 35-28 win over MV....This is the game of the week and it should be on TV for all to see...Amador's defense is one tough nut to crack, so Calif. has its work cut for them.....
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 336
10-21-09
EBAL1......The amador/Monte Vista score was 24-21 and not 35-28...another error.......
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
35-28 was the Granada score over Foothill. They all run together at some point.
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Current Posts: 47
DLS had 450 yards of total offense vs AV. 271 yards rushing.
Joined: Oct 2009
Current Posts: 2
The AV - Cal match-up will be interesting. Assuming solid run defenses from both AV and Cal, it will be interesting to see who can open up their offense. AV is a good team, but at some point they will be exposed (maybe this week). Their rep is based on 2 games, but if you look closer:
1) DLS didn't have its act together when they played and made numerous turnovers. No way AV can hang with DLS otherwise.
2) They played at home against MV coming off tough DLS game. Even so, they couldn't hang on to a 21-7 lead - and if not for a phantom fumble call, among other bad calls, would not have won that game.
Foothill has had its problems, but is still a wild card. You can never overlook them.
Joined: Sep 2007
Current Posts: 21
Come on BigO,
AV's rep should be based on at least 3 games! They led the Spartans in the middle of the 4th quarter of the game. The next week they held George Atkinson II to MINUS 20 yards rushing just 1 week after he had 200 on only 11 carries vs Foothill. Then they then follow that by beating Monte Vista who were fired up big time after feeling like they were going to beat DeLa for the 1st time. Please don't make excuses like MV was coming off of a tough DLS game, if anything that would have had the opposite effect as they would want to prove they are the 2nd best team in NCS? I also don't understand why you are calling it a "phantom" fumble. The MV O-line was trying to push thier RB into the end zone and Dalton Turay stripped the ball! The refs seemed to take thier time getting together to make the call to ensure that they were all on the same page.
You don't seem to like AV (your perogative), but to say they will eventually be "exposed" says maybe you just don't care for the Don's. After 6 games there's not much left to "expose". Your further comment might explain alot when you defend that "Foothill has had its problems, but is still a wildcard". I'm guessing you just might be a disgruntled Foothill fan who's a bit angry that Amador is having a fine season.....
Joined: Oct 2009
Current Posts: 2
The whole pile of players was in the endzone = TD. The refs blew the whistle way late and AV eventually came up with the ball (in the endzone). The refs did not see a fumble and made up the call. MV pushed them around in second half.
AV holds Atkinson to -20, but only wins 13 to 3?
Foothill has been up and down, but they're well coached. That's why I call them a wildcard - you don't which team will show up.
I'm not saying AV is not one of the top teams, but when it's all said and done, I don't think they'll be in top 5.
We'll see. There's still a lot of football left.
Joined: Oct 2009
Current Posts: 1
Why is it when DLS loses it’s always: they had an off day, TO’s hurt them, (with sometimes bad officiating by calling the famous 'rolling start' thrown in), etc. . .
AV also suffered from TO’s as well, which you could likewise say cost them the game. Still, DLS won and no excuses.
I read where attendance at the MV/DLS game was close to 7000. With limited visitor side seating capacity at Amador, the (visitor) stands weren’t even half full (maybe a couple hundred people?). Maybe the MV fans should get out and travel a little to negate some of that home field advantage.
Nottingham is indeed a big time QB (rated top 15 nationally) with an excellent receiving corp. Putting down a team because they can’t hold a two touchdown lead against the highest powered offense in EBAL is not as big a discredit as you’d like it to be.
For a ‘phantom’ fumble call that the refs just made up - I’m sure Dalton Turay felt that was a REAL football that ended up in his arms! You can see the replay on Cal Hi Sports and the running back definitely did not make it into the endzone. In fact, one of the MV players (#77) who is ahead of the pile at the goal line can be seen reaching back as if trying to recover the ball. (I suppose some might argue he is trying to pull the ball carrier from underneath the pile across the goal line!) MV had 48 minutes of football to “push” Amador around and not even be in position where one call with a minute left is going to matter.
I have no idea what all the other “bad calls” were that your closer look should enlighten everyone to. I’m sure Coach Bergman has taken note though and is now consoling his team with some of your excuses.
With only four games left and DLS and MV already out of the way – saying Amador is heading for a 6th place finish shows a lot more hate for a team that football analysis credibility.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
I don't think BigO was saying AV won't be in the top 5 in the EBAL, as they have already pretty much sewn that one up and still play Livermore. More likely, he meant they wouldn't stay in the East Bay top 5, which is entirely possible, as 1 loss to either Cal, SRV or Foothill would probably knock them out of the top 5. They will still get a high seed at NCS unless they lose 2 or more of those games.
Tomorrow night should be a good game between Cal and AV. Both teams were able to control Granada's running attack, and that has been their only common opponent thus far. Granada beat them 13-3 in a defensive battle while Cal won 17-14 the following week. These two teams went toe to toe last year, in a game won by Cal in OT, and don't think the players and coaches at AV have forgotten about that one. AV gets Cal at home this year and with the way they have been playing, I would expect a huge crowd rooting them on. AV has to be the favorite for this one, but Cal is certainly capable of an upset on the road.
Joined: Sep 2007
Current Posts: 21
Unfortunately I'm out of town, but I just read the stories on the AV/Cal and MV/Foothill games. Looks like both were absolute barn burners. Anyone at either game have any detailed comments. I guess you have to consider the Don's for real! And what about Foothill stepping up and handing M.V. a 3rd consecutive loss! I still think the Mustangs are a potential to win NCS....... They will have to do it as a likely low seed at this point. I expected DLS to handle Granada after the Mats lost thier starting QB to a season ending injury last week.