SPIN results card reading FINAL, Sierra Canyon 24, Chaminade-Madonna 7, with the line number 14 Sierra Canyon vs number 25 Chaminade-Madonna. A Sierra Canyon ball carrier in a white jersey and a blue helmet carrying the SC monogram runs upfield under stadium lights, with the blue Sierra Canyon SC mark and the red and blue Chaminade-Madonna lion logo above the score and the SPIN Sports Idol Nation mark at bottom right.

The number that tells the story is not 24. It is zero, which is what Chaminade-Madonna scored after halftime.

This was 7-7 at the break and scoreless through a full quarter before that. Then Sierra Canyon scored the last 17 points of the football game and the Lions never answered.

## The result the West does not usually get

We wrote on Thursday morning that a Sierra Canyon win here would be worth more than the eleven spots between these two teams on our national board. That was the whole reason to care about a Thursday game in August.

A West Coast program flew across the country, played a Florida team on Florida grass at a neutral site, and controlled the second half. That result is rare, and it is the kind that gets remembered in December when somebody argues about which region travels well.

Sierra Canyon is 2-0. It opened by winning 42-21 at JSerra Catholic and has now added a road win of a very different character. The first one was a scoring performance. This one was not.

The Lions came in 1-0 and 25th in America after the biggest climb of any returning team on our board last week, up seven spots on a season-opening win over Monarch.

They found the end zone once, in the second quarter, and never got back.

Chaminade-Madonna is the program that has spent a decade proving that enrollment does not decide these games, and one loss in August to the 14th ranked team in the country does not undo that. But this was a home-state showcase in front of a South Florida crowd, and the Lions scored seven.

Seventeen unanswered points in a half is usually a story about a defense, and the quarters say that is what this was. Chaminade-Madonna managed one score across four quarters against a team that had given up 21 the week before.

We are not going to pretend to more detail than we have. This was a neutral-site game on a Thursday night in Broward County with a limited broadcast, and the box score is still filling in. What is not in doubt is the shape of it: even at half, gone by the fourth.

Sierra Canyon does not play again until Sept. 10, when it hosts St. Louis. Two weeks to sit on a win like this is a long time in a good way.

Chaminade-Madonna gets American Heritage at home on Sept. 4, which is a considerably faster route back.

Both of these teams will be on the board Monday. One of them just made its case in a way that a poll cannot argue with.

Max Fielder

Tied at seven at halftime on a neutral field in Broward County, the 14th ranked team in America scored the last 17 points and won 24-7.

Sierra Canyon Went to Florida and Did Not Let Chaminade-Madonna Score Again

SPIN results card on a dark navy background reading FINAL, Mountain Ridge 42, Davis 7, with the Mountain Ridge score in gold and a line below reading Utah Top 10, Week 3, August 27, 2026. The SPIN Sports Idol Nation mark sits at bottom right.

Three games into the season the Sentinels have scored 41, 42 and 42. That is not a hot night. That is a team that knows exactly what it is.

They led 35-0 heading into the fourth quarter here, and the number that explained the night was the zero.

Mountain Ridge came in having allowed 26 points all season, all of them to Skyridge in the opener. It shut out Lehi 42-0 a week ago. By the time the fourth quarter started it had gone seven straight quarters without giving up a point, and the last three of those came against a Davis team that had put 56 on Fremont on the road six days earlier.

## The defense was the story before the offense was

Both sides got stops early. That part looked like the game everybody wanted.

Then Mountain Ridge drove and scored on an early possession and never eased off.

Twice Davis got into territory where the night could have turned, and twice Mountain Ridge stopped it on fourth down with a touchdown sitting on the other side. Those two plays are the game. A team that converts one of them is down two scores and still breathing.

The front has been worth watching since the opener and it was again. The linebackers come downhill and they arrive with intent. There were several plays in this one the Davis sideline will feel on Friday.

## Jaxon Hunt did not have to force anything

The senior quarterback played a clean game, and clean is the right word for it.

There were a couple of throws in the first half he would want back, and there is a gunslinger in there that shows up now and then. Beyond that he made the right reads, put the ball where his receivers could catch it, and threw touchdowns without ever looking like he was pressing for them. On a night when his defense kept handing the offense the ball in good order, he did not waste any of it.

His receivers helped. They caught what came their way, which is the sentence that separates this offense from the one on the other sideline. Xander Thayer got into the end zone.

## Bode Sparrow was the one thing that worked for Davis

Davis got on the board in the fourth when Sparrow caught a long one and took it the rest of the way himself. Most of what made it a touchdown happened after the catch.

It is the second week running that Sparrow has been the best answer Davis has. He scored through the air against Fremont and took a kickoff 80 yards for another one. On a night when very little went right for his team, he was still competing in the fourth quarter of a five-score game. That counts for something, and around here it counts for a lot.

Not all of this was done to Davis. Some of it Davis did.

There were drops, and they were catchable. Against a defense playing like this one, a possession you end yourself is a possession you do not get back.

The quarterback has not settled in yet, and that is the honest read on where this team is. It will come. It has not come.

The other moment that deserved better belonged to Jaxton Itaaehau. The senior went up and pulled in a one-handed catch as good as anything we have seen in the first three weeks of this season anywhere. It was ruled out of bounds. From our seat the elbow looked like it might have been in, and it was close enough that people were still arguing about it a series later.

That was the kind of night it was for Davis. One of the best things that happened to them did not count.

## This was a measuring stick and only one team measured

Davis is sixth in Utah and the two results now look like a pattern rather than a split. It lost 51-14 to Corner Canyon and it spent Thursday getting handled by the team ranked directly above that game on our board. Against the good ones, this team has not yet found what it is.

That is not the Davis of a year ago and there is no use pretending otherwise.

This is Nick Robins in his second season, and the second year is usually where you find out whether a coach is building something or just inherited a good roster. Three games in, 41, 42 and 42, with a defense that has surrendered one touchdown since the opener. That is building something.

We watched Corner Canyon put up its explosion of points earlier this month and wrote that nobody in Utah had been within four touchdowns of the Chargers. Mountain Ridge against Corner Canyon would be a real football game right now. In August nobody was saying that.

The second ranked team in Utah beat the sixth 42-7, went seven straight quarters without allowing a point along the way, and looks like a problem for everybody above it.

Mountain Ridge Has Scored 41, 42 and 42. Davis Was Just the Latest to Find Out.

SPIN Sports Idol Nation NorCal Top 10 football rankings card for 2026. De La Salle of Concord is first, followed by Folsom, Serra of San Mateo, Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco, Central East of Fresno, Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills, Pittsburg, Grant of Sacramento, St. Mary's of Stockton and Central Catholic of Modesto. All ten are listed at 0-0 and the Last Week column is empty. A De La Salle player in a white jersey and white helmet stands at right.

## De La Salle Is First, and the Last Thing It Did Was Lose by 34

Ranking De La Salle first in Northern California is obvious right up until you look at the last game it played.

| # | Team | City | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De La Salle | Concord | North Coast |
| 2 | Folsom | Folsom | Sac-Joaquin |
| 3 | Serra | San Mateo | Central Coast |
| 4 | Archbishop Riordan | San Francisco | Central Coast |
| 5 | Central East | Fresno | Central |
| 6 | Oak Ridge | El Dorado Hills | Sac-Joaquin |
| 7 | Pittsburg | Pittsburg | North Coast |
| 8 | Grant | Sacramento | Sac-Joaquin |
| 9 | St. Mary's | Stockton | Sac-Joaquin |
| 10 | Central Catholic | Modesto | Sac-Joaquin |

The Spartans went 12-1 and won a 33rd straight North Coast Section title, beating Pittsburg 24-17 in the Open Division final on Nov. 21. Twenty-two days later they went to Saddleback College and lost the state Open Division final to Santa Margarita 47-13. They were outgained 377-180 and held to 70 yards on 34 plays in a first half that ended 35-7.

Nobody in the north has been better since, because nobody in the north has played. Duece Jones-Drew is back for a senior year after committing to UCLA in May, where his father Maurice was an All-American. Jaden Jefferson is not. The sprinter who scored both De La Salle touchdowns in that final, and who ran 10.01 to break the California 100 meter record, is a freshman at North Carolina now.

The schedule is the interesting part. De La Salle opens Friday at Serra of San Mateo, third on this board. Cardinal Newman comes to Concord on Sept. 4 and St. Mary's of Stockton hosts on Sept. 18. On Sept. 26 the Spartans play Corona Centennial at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley at two in the afternoon, in a doubleheader De La Salle is calling the 151 Football Showcase after the win streak.

## Folsom Is Second and Has the Best Argument Against That

Folsom went 14-1 and won the state Division 1-AA championship, beating Cathedral Catholic 42-28 at Saddleback on the Friday night before De La Salle lost on the same field. It was Folsom's sixth state title in seven trips to a state final, and the only loss in that set came to this same Cathedral Catholic program in 2021. Brody Rudnicki accounted for all six touchdowns in the final, four of them running, and the quarterback is back for a senior year with a Cal commitment in hand.

The Bulldogs also own the two results that shaped the bottom half of this board. They beat Grant 51-13 on ESPN to open last August, and they beat Archbishop Riordan 42-38 in the Northern California Division 1-AA final in December, which is the game that gave Riordan its only loss.

De La Salle and Folsom do not play this year. Both are on our national board, De La Salle 37th and Folsom 44th, and the only place that argument can be settled on grass is December.

## Serra at Three Is the Number We Have to Answer For

It gets worse before it gets better. Two of the teams below Serra on this board beat Serra last fall, and one of them did it twice. Archbishop Riordan, fourth here, won in the West Catholic Athletic League 42-35 and then took the Central Coast Section Open Division final 33-13 on Nov. 21. St. Mary's of Stockton, ninth here, beat Serra 31-24 in the Northern California Division 2-AA final on Dec. 5. Serra's own trophy from the fall is the Central Coast Division 1 title, a tier below Riordan's, won 28-21 over Los Gatos a week after the Open loss.

That is the case against, all of it, and we are not going to pretend it is smaller than it is.

The case for is the roster. Serra started six juniors last fall who are seniors now: Caleb Bandel at quarterback, Jeovanni Henley at running back, Jace Cannon at tight end, Charlie Walsh at receiver, Malakai Taufoou at safety and Dylan Modena at linebacker. Patrick Walsh has coached all six into a third varsity season. Riordan is going the other way. Mike Mitchell Jr. is a freshman quarterback at Stanford, and there is no version of the Crusaders that does not feel that.

We think the team that returns is better than the team that beat it. Friday is the fastest possible test, because De La Salle comes to San Mateo.

## Riordan at Four Goes to Salt Lake City

Riordan went 12-1 and won the Central Coast Section Open Division for the first time in school history. The one loss is Folsom, 42-38, in a regional final in December. The Crusaders also went and beat Pittsburg 42-35 in September, which is the seventh team here. Adonyae Brown is back at running back.

The Crusaders open Friday at West of Salt Lake City, which is fifth on our Utah board and has outscored two opponents 80-14, a 20-14 win over Arbor View and a 60-0 shutout of East. It is the only game this week that puts two SPIN regional boards on the same field.

## Central East at Five Plays Two Teams From This Board Inside Eight Days

Central East went 14-1 and won its second state championship, beating an unbeaten Pacifica of Oxnard 42-28 in the Division 1-A final. On the way there the Bengals beat Pittsburg 55-36 in the Northern California final, and Pittsburg is seventh here.

Jelani Dippel is back at quarterback after throwing for 4,583 yards and 58 touchdowns as a junior, the most of any returning junior in California. Bayon Harris is back after 1,768 receiving yards and has committed to Fresno State. Kyle Biggs has 15 starters back and added a running back who went for 1,732 yards and 24 touchdowns at Roosevelt in Ehis Idoni, a Fresno State receiver commit in Relando Jefferson out of Clovis West, and a defensive back in Cameron Smith from San Joaquin Memorial. Biggs told the Fresno Bee in July that the title means the Bengals have a bigger bull's-eye on their back.

Fifth is not a safe number. Central East hosts Grant on Friday and goes to Oak Ridge on Sept. 4, and both are on this board, at eighth and sixth. We have ranked a team above two opponents it plays inside eight days. There is nowhere to hide in that.

The honest part cuts against us. Central East's only loss last year was 42-26 at Grant in the second week, and the Pacers had been beaten 51-13 by Folsom on ESPN six days earlier. Grant led 28-0 early in the second quarter and was never caught. Nearly all of that Grant team is back. Home field has flipped and Fresno hosts this time.

One thing to settle before somebody sends it to us. Central East is 0-0. The Bengals were at Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon in Nevada on Aug. 14 and the game was called in the first half for lightning with Sloan Canyon ahead 14-7. It does not count, no matter what the recap that is still sitting on the internet says.

## Oak Ridge at Six Beat Three Teams From This Board and Lost to the Same One Twice

Oak Ridge went 9-4 and won nothing, and that undersells it badly. The Trojans beat Central Catholic 14-13 in the Sac-Joaquin Division 1 quarterfinal, Grant 9-7 in the semifinal, and St. Mary's of Stockton 56-35 back in September. Those are the tenth, eighth and ninth teams on this board.

Then they lost the section final to Folsom 21-14, which was the second time Folsom beat them last fall. Folsom has now won 25 straight in that series across 19 seasons, and that streak is the only thing standing between Oak Ridge and a much bigger number here.

Oak Ridge opens Friday in Argyle, Texas, then hosts Central East on Sept. 4.

## Pittsburg at Seven Is the Other Number We Have to Defend

Moving Central East up meant moving somebody down, and it was Pittsburg.

The Pirates are 57-13 over five years. Last fall they lost the North Coast Section Open Division final to De La Salle 24-17, dropped into the Division 1 bracket and beat Cardinal Newman 42-17 for that title, then lost the Northern California Division 1-A final to Central East 55-36.

Both teams that beat Pittsburg are ranked above Pittsburg here. That is the whole argument for seven, and it is a full season old. Monterey Trail comes to Pittsburg on Friday.

## Cardinal Newman Is Not on This Board and Plays Our Top Two in Eight Days

Cardinal Newman is not in our ten and we do not have a tidy argument for that.

What we have instead is a schedule. The Cardinals open Friday at Folsom and then go to De La Salle on Sept. 4. They play the two teams at the top of this board inside eight days, with a staff that has been together since April. Frank McManus stepped down after one season and Kenny McMillan took over in Santa Rosa, with Sean Embree as associate head coach.

If Cardinal Newman belongs on this board, we will know by Sept. 5, and they will be on it before October.

## The Rest, and Why the Whole Board Plays Friday

Grant is eighth and went 7-5 with nearly all of it back, 17 or 18 starters depending on who is counting. It is at Central East on Friday. De La Salle beat the Pacers 47-20 last September.

St. Mary's of Stockton is ninth and went 13-2, winning the Division 2-AA state title 27-24 over Bakersfield Christian, the first state championship in school history after two losing trips to the final. Tony Franks takes the Rams to Bishop Manogue of Reno on Friday. Manogue is 0-2 and came off our Nevada board this week. De La Salle comes to Stockton on Sept. 18, a year after beating St. Mary's 36-7 in Concord.

Central Catholic of Modesto is tenth and opens in Homedale, Idaho.

Northern California does not start in waves. All ten of these teams are 0-0 and all ten play Friday. Four of them leave the state to do it, one of those into Utah against a team we also rank, and two of the games are teams from this board against each other. The whole thing gets priced in a single night.

Serra at three, Central East at five and Pittsburg at seven are the three we will hear about. All three start getting answered Friday.

SPIN opens its Northern California board with De La Salle on top and Folsom second. Serra is third on a roster read that three head to head results argue against, and Central East debuts fifth above two teams it plays inside eight days.

NorCal Top 10: De La Salle First, Central East Fifth, and All Ten Open Friday

SPIN Nevada Top 10 card for Week 3, listing ten Nevada schools with logos, records and movement on blue and black plates. Bishop Gorman is first at 2-0, Churchill County second, Spanish Springs third, and Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon enters at fourth. At right, a Churchill County player in a white and green uniform wearing number four. The SPIN Sports Idol Nation mark is at bottom right.

Three of these ten played in California last weekend and two of them lost. One of the two lost by 34, and that is the team that comes off.

**In:** Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon. **Out:** Bishop Manogue, was 7.

| # | Team | Rec | Last week | Move | Title elig. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bishop Gorman | 2-0 | 1 | hold | Yes |
| 2 | Churchill County | 2-0 | 5 | UP 3 | Yes |
| 3 | Spanish Springs | 1-0 | 4 | UP 1 | Yes |
| 4 | Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon | 1-0 | NR | NEW | Yes |
| 5 | Palo Verde | 2-0 | 10 | UP 5 | No |
| 6 | Mater Academy East Las Vegas | 1-0 | 6 | hold | Yes |
| 7 | Liberty (Henderson) | 0-1 | 2 | DOWN 5 | No |
| 8 | Faith Lutheran | 1-1 | 8 | hold | Yes |
| 9 | Arbor View | 0-2 | 3 | DOWN 6 | No |
| 10 | Reed | 0-1 | 9 | DOWN 1 | Yes |

The best win in America this month. Columbus of Florida, 1-0 and ranked 25th in its state, on Saturday.

It is 2-0 with wins over two 5A programs, 32-30 over Bishop Manogue and 14-13 at Reed, both on the road and both by a field goal or less.

The defending 3A champion is beating bigger schools, and it is title eligible, which two of the three teams it passed are not.

## Spanish Springs to 3, Sloan Canyon in at 4

Spanish Springs spent the preseason ranked on a 5A title and no snaps. It has now played once and beat a Carson team that had won its opener, 35-7.

Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon enters at fourth. It beat McQueen 28-21 at Mackay Stadium, which reverses last season's 4A title game, on a neutral field in McQueen's own city. Jermaine Wilson ran for 228 yards.

It goes to Bishop Gorman on Oct 9 and hosts Faith Lutheran on Oct 23, so this number gets two hard tests without leaving the board.

The biggest riser on this board, and the only other 2-0 team here. A 34-18 opener, then a defensive stop to hold on 28-26 against Legacy.

It cannot play for a title. It is also winning, and the alternative was leaving one-loss and two-loss teams above it.

Mater Academy East Las Vegas holds at 6 at 1-0 and idle. Victor Valley of California visits Friday.

Liberty of Henderson did not play either, and falls to 7. The Mililani loss is two weeks old and unanswered, and three teams beneath it won while it sat. Tafuna of American Samoa visits Friday.

Faith Lutheran holds at 8 on a one point road win in California.

## Manogue comes off, Arbor View does not

Arbor View falls to 9. It is 0-2, but both losses are by one score and both came out of state, 17-24 at Carlsbad and 14-20 to West of Salt Lake City. Reed falls one to 10 after losing 14-13 at home to the team now ranked second.

Bishop Manogue comes off at 0-2 with a 48-14 loss at Clovis West. Arbor View is also 0-2 and stays, because Arbor View's two losses are by a combined 13 points and Manogue's second was by 34.

Sierra Canyon Went to Florida and Did Not Let Chaminade-Madonna Score Again

The result the West does not usually get

Chaminade-Madonna scored seven points

What actually decided it

What happens next