There is a version of Friday night in Northern California that ends with everybody home by eleven, the scores all lopsided, and the only drama down in Orange County, where Pittsburg was losing 42-35 to Mission Viejo. That is the version that happened.
One loss on the board all week, and it came against a team that is 39th in the country. So why did five of the ten spots change?
Playing beats sitting
Central East of Fresno beat Liberty of Bakersfield 54-6 and moves up one to third. Serra of San Mateo did not play and moves down one to fourth. That is the entire explanation. Central East is 4-0 and 84th on the SPIN Power 100. Serra is 2-1 and 85th. The two teams are a single spot apart nationally, and when one of them plays and wins by 48 while the other rests, the spot flips.
De La Salle went to Stockton and beat St. Mary's 44-7. First, 18th nationally, unbothered. Folsom went to Inderkum and won 56-0. Second, 24th nationally, same.
Del Oro of Loomis, up four
Del Oro beat Vanden 41-20, is 4-0, and moves from 10th to sixth. Nobody on this board played a game that said more about it than that one. Oak Ridge did not play and drops two to eighth. Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa won 45-7 at Clayton Valley Charter and still drops two to 10th, which is the least fair looking line on the board and also the most defensible: Del Oro jumped it at 4-0, Clovis stepped past it at 4-1, and a 2-2 record is a 2-2 record. Central Catholic of Modesto won 28-14 at Pleasant Valley and holds seventh. Clovis beat Bullard 41-14 and holds ninth.
Pittsburg stays fifth. Losing by a touchdown, on the road, to a team ranked 39th in the country is not a reason to drop a team below teams that have not beaten anyone like that.
| Rank | Team | Record | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De La Salle, Concord | 4-0 | Hold |
| 2 | Folsom | 4-0 | Hold |
| 3 | Central East, Fresno | 4-0 | Up 1 |
| 4 | Serra, San Mateo | 2-1 | Down 1 |
| 5 | Pittsburg | 2-2 | Hold |
| 6 | Del Oro, Loomis | 4-0 | Up 4 |
| 7 | Central Catholic, Modesto | 3-1 | Hold |
| 8 | Oak Ridge, El Dorado Hills | 2-1 | Down 2 |
| 9 | Clovis | 4-1 | Hold |
| 10 | Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa | 2-2 | Down 2 |
Home by eleven
Four NorCal teams are on the national board: De La Salle 18, Folsom 24, Central East 84, Serra 85. The quiet Friday nights are the ones where the region's best teams keep doing what they are supposed to do. The loud ones are still coming. Pittsburg found out in Orange County what a loud one costs, and it cost less than you think.
