As midnight approached, Danny Sullivan still had the joy in his voice, the thrill of a man who had won his first game as a high school head coach.

A decade ago, Sullivan threw passes for Los Gatos High under longtime and highly successful coach Butch Cattolico, then went on to play quarterback at Arizona State.

Now, he leads the only football program from the Central Coast Section to have won a state championship, Palo Alto, and Friday night Sullivan guided the Vikings to victory over a Patterson team that won 11 of its 12 games last season.

Palo Alto scored the game’s first 25 points — all before halftime — and went on to win 25-12.

Sullivan said he was not surprised that his offense performed well, noting that his team was determined to not allow its up-tempo opponent to dictate the pace of play.

But the coach raved about his defense, calling its effort “fantastic” and “amazing to watch.” Linemen Alec Cohen-Schisler and Cullen Tellez and linebacker Christian Rider were among the defensive standouts, Sullivan said.

Serra falls

For two quarters and the time it took for quarterback, defensive back, return specialist extraordinaire Sitaleki “Leki” Nunn to run back the second-half kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown Saturday, Serra matched explosive St. Mary’s-Stockton score for score.

But Nunn’s body went into severe cramp mode after the kick return, and the rest of game turned sour in a hurry for the home team as St. Mary’s cruised to a 63-35 win.

“The second half, after the kickoff, the wheels came off on both sides of the ball, really,” said coach Patrick Walsh, whose top defender, linebacker TC Lavulo, did not play at all because of injury.

The schedule does not ease for the Padres. Their next three games, all on the road, are against De La Salle on Friday, Pittsburg on Sept. 9 and Valley Christian on Sept. 23.

“Our program has been built on defense,” Walsh said. “God bless Leki and all the great players we’ve had around here. But if we play defense like that, we’ll be 0-10 this year. We’ve got to find our spirit on that side of the ball.”

East Bay

… De La Salle entered its season opener with a young team, having lost most of its starting core from last year. But the Spartans, as usual, opened on a high note, beating visiting Amador Valley 42-7.

…Tre White returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown after Amador Valley closed to within 14-7 late in the first half, cashing in on a DLS turnover.

…“I thought our kick return did a good job,” DLS coach Justin Alumbaugh said, “and Tre did a good job of returning it. That was nice to see. That was a good response.”

… Antioch scored 38 points in the first quarter in a 67-38 rout of Lincoln-Stockton. Najee Harris had 10 rushes for 219 yards and three touchdowns and added a fourth TD on a 35-yard pass reception.

… Clayton Valley Charter got two rushing touchdowns from Akeal Lalaind in its 35-21 win over Reed-Sparks, Nev.

… Running back Carlos Gomez scored three touchdowns as California breezed past visiting James Logan 43-6. Gomez, a second-year varsity athlete, carried 11 times for 172 yards.

…“I just came out and did my job, and it was really exciting,” Gomez said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had this big of a game before.”

… Jake Haener threw four touchdown passes and Shane Perry ran for three TDs to propel Monte Vista to a 49-7 victory over Deer Valley.

… Miramonte opened with a 27-23 squeaker past Vanden. Peter Stehr turned in quite a defensive performance with 13 tackles, including eight that were unassisted. He also had four tackles for loss.

… Ronnie Rivers, one of the better college prospects in the East Bay, rambled for 183 yards and three scores in Freedom’s 41-6 victory over Turlock. He had 22 carries. He also caught one pass for eight yards.

… Heritage got off to a fast start with a 42-0 win over Tokay. Nick Zell completed 10 of 26 passes for 160 yards on two scores.

… Patrick Alexander ran for 229 yards and three TDs in eight carries in Washington-Fremont’s 45-6 victory over San Lorenzo.

South Bay/Peninsula

…For one half, the season opener between St. Francis and Oak Grove seemed to follow the same script as last year’s Central Coast Section Open Division II final. This time, however, St. Francis wrote a much happier ending, defeating visiting Oak Grove 24-7 on Friday night behind a stout defense.

…“Defense was our main focus going in,” said St. Francis cornerback/receiver Bennett Williams, who intercepted a pass near the goal line and also caught a touchdown pass.

… All doubts about a Bellarmine College Prep team coming off a Northern California title last season might have been erased on the first offensive play as Brandon Manigo took a handoff 65 yards untouched to the end zone to begin a season-opening 34-20 win over Menlo-Atherton at San Jose City College.

…Austin Ajiake (121 yards) and Manigo (109) led the Bellarmine ground attack. “I couldn’t do it without my lineman,” Ajiake said.

… Los Gatos controlled both sides of the ball from the start on its way to a 35-7 victory at home over Pioneer. Led by Will Fordyce and Ben Grasty, Los Gatos finished with 344 total yards, including 295 rushing.

…“We wanted to control the line of scrimmage, and we did a pretty good job of that tonight,” Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said. “The first game out, you don’t really know what you have, but our players did what we asked them to.”

… Milpitas, the favorite to win the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division, trailed by a point at halftime against Homestead before rallying at home to win 27-7.

… Mountain View rushed for 330 yards in its 56-15 rout of visiting Monterey.

… Robert Najar ran for three touchdowns as Lincoln-San Jose rallied to defeat Silver Creek 33-20.

… Chase Hofmann rushed for 243 yards and Half Moon Bay stopped a late two-point conversion try in a 27-26 win at Saratoga.

… Nate Shani caught two TD passes from Ben Frame in the second quarter as Hillsdale beat Archbishop Riordan 21-12.

Correspondents Ray Hacke and Alex Crook and Prep2Prep’s Aaron Ross, Giuliano Orsi and Brendan Ogburn contributed to this report.

Bay Area Preps Top 20

1. De La Salle (1-0)

Beat Amador Valley 42-7

2. Serra (0-1)

Lost to St. Mary’s-Stockton 63-35

3. Antioch (1-0)

Beat Lincoln-Stockton 67-38

4. Clayton Valley Charter (1-0)

Beat Reed-Sparks, Nev. 35-21

5. St. Francis (1-0)

Beat Oak Grove 24-7

6. Pittsburg (1-0)

Beat Archbishop Mitty 41-14

7. Foothill (0-1)

Lost to San Leandro 38-24

8. Monte Vista (1-0)

Beat Deer Valley 49-7

9. Bellarmine (1-0)

Beat Menlo-Atherton 34-20

10. Oak Grove (0-1)

Lost to St. Francis 24-7

11. Valley Christian (1-0)

Beat Campolindo 21-7

12. Milpitas (1-0)

Beat Homestead 27-7

13 Concord (0-1)

Lost to Wood-Vacaville 27-26

14. Sacred Heart Prep (0-1)

Lost to San Benito 30-12

15. California (1-0)

Beat James Logan 43-7

16. Freedom (1-0)

Beat Turlock 41-6

17. Campolindo (0-1)

Lost to Valley Christian 21-7

18. Miramonte (1-0)

Beat Vanden-Fairfield 27-23

19. Archbishop Mitty (0-1)

Lost to Pittsburg 41-14

20. Archbishop Riordan (0-1)

Lost to Hillsdale 21-12

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High school basketball season is still months away, but that won’t stop some of the area’s top players from lacing up the high tops for a game Sunday at Contra Costa College in San Pablo.

The gathering is officially called the NorCal Clash, a showcase game intended to bring attention to the region’s elite prospects.

Tip off is scheduled for 2 p.m.

New Valley Christian (San Jose) coach Mark DeLuca, who guided Berkeley to a NorCal title last season, will lead the Class of 2018 squad.

Folsom’s Mike Wall will coach the Class of 2017 team.

Local players on the ’17 team are Bellarmine College Prep’s Angelo Athens, Oakland Tech’s Souley Boum, Monte Vista’s Austin Fadal, Dublin’s Timmy Falls, Moreau Catholic’s Damari Milstead and St. Joseph-Notre Dame’s Jade Smith.

The locals on the ’18 team are Salesian’s James Akinjo, Los Gatos’ Dylan Belquist, Bishop O’Dowd’s Naseem Gaskin and Elijah Hardy, St. Francis’ Logan Johnson and Serra’s Jack Wilson.

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Welcome to the first week of the new high school season.

Before the games begin, we want to update you on some things we’ll be doing with high school sports coverage this year.

• We have partnered with Prep2Prep, a growing online high school sports site designed to give opportunities for student journalists. This partnership will allow us to spread Prep2Prep’s content to a wider audience while significantly increasing the number of games at which we will have a correspondent.
• We also have forged a partnership with MaxPreps. Coaches/team reps no longer will report their scores to us, but instead will report to MaxPreps. This partnership will enable MaxPreps to transfer its data from Bay Area schools — box scores, schedules, rosters and more — to our soon-to-be redesigned Mercury News and East Bay Times websites (launch date scheduled for Aug. 29). We also plan to use that online data to present leader-boards in print (i.e. top rushers, passers and scorers in Bay Area high school football). For us to do that, though, coaches/team reps will need to be diligent about inputting their information in a timely fashion. For any coach who does not have MaxPreps admin access, this is where he or she begins. Click here.
• Friday football scores will appear online only on Saturday, but the Sunday paper will feature a full page wrap-up of the weekend action and a peek at next week’s games. The Thursday high school page, a staple of our coverage for years, will continue.
• Until now, readers in the South Bay/Peninsula received only South Bay/Peninsula coverage and readers in the East Bay received only East Bay coverage. This season, you will get it all. As the CIF continues to expand its playoffs at the regional and state levels, this change will better serve readers and coaches, introducing them to schools their teams could eventually face in playoff action.

Change isn’t easy; we know that. But we also know these changes will allow us to continue providing coverage of high school sports.

Coming Thursday

Our two-page Bay Area high school football preview, which will include our first Bay Area Preps Top 20, is scheduled to run in the Thursday paper. The preview also will include must-see games, our new Around the Bay rail column and top players to watch.

Coming Saturday and Sunday

Our football Saturday page in the newspaper will be lighter — a couple of photos and a highlight box — but we will have a full page in Sunday’s paper to recap the football weekend.

And, as always, we will provide as much content as we can online at mercurynews.com and eastbaytimes.com.

Twitter

For high school updates, follow us on Twitter here:

@DarrenSabedra

@PrepsBayArea

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SANTA CLARA — For the second year in a row, the annual Charlie Wedemeyer high school all-star football game went big time — as in the action Saturday unfolded on the Levi’s Stadium turf.

Big certainly was the operative word as the teams traded one big play after another before the South held on for a 23-20 victory over the North.

Many of Santa Clara County’s top seniors from the Class of 2016 suited up for the 42nd midsummer game that is named in honor of a former Los Gatos coach who died six years ago after a long battle with ALS.

As it turned out, a Los Gatos player made some of the game’s most memorable plays as Jake Holton intercepted two passes for the South, returning one 89 yards for a touchdown, and recovered an onside kick.

“I have never ran that far in my life,” Holton said. “It was awesome. To be able to that, especially here on the big stage, it is something I will never forget.”

The South provided most of the highlight-reel plays, both on offense and defense, in the opening half as it took a 13-3 lead into the locker room.

Matt Adamkiewicz’s 12-yard pass over the middle to his Christopher teammate, PJ Reichert, put the South in front 7-0 late in the first quarter.

Given that Adamkiewicz is a nephew of Los Gatos’ Mark Krail, who coached the South, the touchdown was one for the family scrapbook.

“It was great,” Krail said. “He’s a great kid. He had a great high school career, so it was really fun to be able to coach him.”

The South extended the lead to 13-0 in the second quarter when Holton reeled in a pass that deflected off a receiver and raced 89 yards to the end zone.

“Give it up to my teammate,” Holton said. “He tipped that ball to me, landed right in my hands. I was gassed. After 40 yards, I was like, ‘Gosh, 40 more yards.’ But it was awesome, incredibly fun.”

Momentum changed after Holton’s TD as the North moved into South territory over the final four minutes of the second quarter, and Cesar Silva from Milpitas finished the drive off with a 47-yard field goal that split the uprights.

Milpitas’ Michael Pyle intercepted a pass three plays into the second half, setting up a 1-yard run by Piedmont Hills quarterback Marcus Romero that cut the South’s advantage to 13-10.

“I saw the receiver run between the safety and me,” Pyle said. “I saw the quarterback and connected eyes with him. I had to run over and make a play, catch the ball. I felt like my legs were going to fall off when I was running with it.”

Mountain View’s Noah Kjos recovered a fumble on the South’s next possession, and Silva evened the score 13-13 with a 34-yard field goal.

Oak Grove’s Rashaan Fontenette, last season’s Mercury News player of the year, had his number called five consecutive times late in the third quarter, the fifth a 1-yard touchdown run that put the South back in front, 20-13.

“It was beautiful,” Fontenette said. “On an NFL field, I got my touchdown. That’s all I wanted.”

Santa Teresa’s Troy Sanchez kicked a 37-yard field goal to stretch the South’s lead to 23-13 with 4:38 to play.

The North responded with an 80-yard drive that ended when Paul Majchrowicz of The King’s Academy caught a 14-yard pass in the corner of the end zone from Romero. Earlier in that series, the two connected for 24 yards on third down.

“It was a really great experience, being on the 49ers’ field.” Romero said. “I am a 49ers fan. I loved it. I just tried to throw it up in the air, made sure he caught it.”

The North had one last chance, recovering a fumble at its 28 with 52 seconds left. But the South defended four consecutive passes to seal the victory, ending a special night for both teams.

“It’s the ambiance, it’s the challenge of taking a bunch of strangers for 10 days basically and trying to make a team and get them to trust each other and love each other and play hard for each other,” Krail said. “It’s great. They’re all smart football players.”

North 0 3 10 7 — 20
South 7 6 7 3 — 23

S — Reichert 12 pass from Adamkiewicz (Sanchez kick)
S — Holton 89 interception return (kick failed)
N — Silva 47 FG
N — Romero 1 run (Silva kick)
N — Silva 34 FG
S — Fontenette 1 run (Sanchez kick)
S — Sanchez 27 FG
N — Majchrowicz 14 pass from Romero (Silva kick)

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SANTA CLARA — Mid-July no longer is too early to hype high school football. Players and coaches from 35 schools, most from the Bay Area, made their way onto a stage at Levi’s Stadium on Wednesday to discuss their outlook for a season that starts in a little more than a month.

The headliner was the team that always garners the headlines, reigning state Open Division champion De La Salle-Concord.

A program well known for streaks, the Spartans still have a big one going as the new season approaches.

This fall will mark the 25th anniversary since De La Salle last lost to a Northern California opponent. Think about that: George H.W. Bush was still in the White House when DLS fell to Pittsburg 35-27 in a North Coast Section championship game Dec. 7, 1991.

Is that unbeaten run, which has included a few close calls and a couple of ties, still important for a program best known for a 151-game winning streak that stretched from 1992 to 2003?

“We have a lot of pride behind that,” said Tre White, an all-section running back and defensive back.

“We are just excited to uphold the tradition we have at our school,” added lineman Isaia Taotua. “It’s been since 1991, a lot of us know that. We just hold in the back of our heads that we’re everybody’s red circle. Everybody that wants to play us wants to beat us.”

DLS graduated most of its starters from a team that extended the program’s run of consecutive NCS championships to 24 and won a second consecutive state title last fall. But this year’s seniors sound plenty motivated to avoid any hiccups.

They remember being called the program’s worst class in 25 years by an upperclassmen during morning announcements because they lost two freshman games.

“We’ve had a chip on our shoulder for a long time now,” Taotua said. “Now that we’re seniors, this is our team. This is our season. The last class was great, but we’re going to try to do something better. We don’t have big, dual athletes like we had last year. We don’t have guys that are all over the media. We have guys that work hard.”

Peninsula

Serra-San Mateo is one team eager for another crack at De La Salle. Postseason eligible again after a one-year ban by the Central Coast Section for forfeiting a consolation playoff game in 2014, the Padres will get their shot when they visit DLS on Sept. 2.

“I am definitely excited,” quarterback Sitaleki Nunn said. “Just the thought of playing a No. 1 team, it’s a great feeling to know that you’re going to be playing against the best of the best.”

Nunn, the West Catholic Athletic League’s player of the year last season, is also hungry for a return to the playoffs.

“It feels good that we can actually compete for a title,” he said.

T.C. Lavulo, a running back and linebacker, said preparation for this season began as last season ended.

“I was watching (the playoffs), but it was pretty hard,” he said. “We were all mad, watching everyone play. While people were getting ready to go into the first week of CCS, we were starting our first week of offseason workouts. We’ve been working pretty hard to get ready for this season.”

Peninsula, Part II

Sacred Heart Prep, the tiny private school from Atherton, has become a football power, with the likes of linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven, quarterback Mason Randall and tight end Andrew Daschbach leading the charge.

But the program is in new hands now, with Randall and Daschbach graduating from a team that won CCS and NorCal championships last season before losing in a state bowl game. Burr-Kirven graduated two years ago.

“I don’t think you replace guys like Mason and Daschbach,” coach Pete Lavorato said, noting that new quarterback Thomas Wine is a very good athlete. “We’re going to adjust our offense a little bit, run a little more option. Maybe on pass-run situations, we’ll have Thomas run the ball a little more than throw the ball like Mason last year.

“In terms of Daschbach at the tight end position, we have a couple of guys that are going to be pretty good there. I am not sure if they’ll be able to replace Daschbach.”

As for the season, Lavorato said, “I think we’re going to be OK. We’ll be competitive.”

South Bay

Oak Grove-San Jose ended an eight-year CCS championship drought last season with a dramatic win over St. Francis-Mountain View in the Open Division II final.

The Eagles’ best player from last year, running back Rashaan Fontenette, has moved on. But the team has added touted transfer Maurice Washington III from the The King’s Academy-Sunnyvale.

Coach Jay Braun said he has not heard when Washington will be declared eligible by the CCS, but hopes it is in time for the season opener Aug. 26 at St. Francis.

“Right now there are things pending,” Braun said. “We’re kind of in a standstill. We’re waiting to hear for him and a few other guys who have transferred over.”

Washington called Oak Grove his home school and that he wanted to come home.

“I was supposed to go here from the start,” Washington said. “I feel like it was a perfect fit for me from the beginning. It took me a little longer to get here. But now that I am here, I feel a lot more comfortable.”

South Bay, Part II

New Palo Alto coach Danny Sullivan, a former quarterback at Los Gatos and Arizona State who spent the past few seasons as an assistant at Los Gatos, wasn’t ready to reveal any tips when he and four of his players took their seats on the stage.

Asked what system he plans to run, Sullivan said, “We’ll be running our system, how ’bout that?”

Quarterback Jordan Schilling said he has already learned a ton from Sullivan but conceded that he didn’t know much about him before the hiring in the spring.

“I Google searched,” Schilling said.

East Bay

Campolindo-Moraga has become a little school that could under coach Kevin Macy, winning a state bowl game in 2014 and beating Milpitas, with its much larger enrollment, in a NorCal bowl game last season en route to playing in another state title game.

But the price of success is stronger competition.

Despite returning only three starters on defense and two on offense, Campolindo is now playing with the big boys — i.e. a league that includes Clayton Valley Charter, which beat Oak Grove in a NorCal bowl game last season.

“We’re a unique little community,” Macy said. “Most people don’t know where we are. Our name has grown a little bit big over the past couple of years. Coming into next year, with this new group of kids, they have the challenge that I don’t think any other team has had to face, in terms of new league, being pushed up to so many different levels. Our name is much bigger than our boys are. But there is no hiding from it.”

East Bay, Part II

Encinal-Alameda, with a list of alums that includes Jimmy Rollins and Dontrelle Willis, seems headed in an upward trend under third-year coach Ricky Rodriguez.

Winless two seasons ago, Encinal went 4-7 last year and is aiming for more wins this fall.

Rodriguez noted that his guys don’t have the “high-profile rankings and are just kids that play football together their whole childhood. Our kids are very unique in the fact that to some of them football is all they’ve got.

“This outlet that they have with academics and sports in general, this is their opportunity.”

Akil Francisco, a wide receiver and defensive back, has gone from not playing for the high school as a freshman to making a commitment to play for the University of Hawaii.

“He’s an inspiration to this coaching staff as well,” Rodriguez said.

East Bay, Part III

The last NorCal program to beat De La Salle, tradition-rich Pittsburg, took the stage late in the day and was asked about its ultra-heavyweight Concord neighbor.

Is this the year to beat DLS?

“We can’t underestimate them no matter what,” lineman Sergio Vargas Jr. said. “No matter if they have the best four linemen in the nation or people you’ve never heard of, you’ve got to take them serious every year.”

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SAN JOSE — With the tying run at second base and his team one strike from the championship Saturday night, St. Francis catcher Johnny Mendoza made a quick trip to the mound.

He told pitcher Jeremy Ydens to relax and asked what he wanted to throw.

“Fastball,” Ydens responded.

Mendoza hustled back to his spot behind the plate, and Ydens cut loose one last time.

He fired a high fastball that struck out the batter and caused a mass celebration on the field at Municipal Stadium.

St. Francis edged San Benito 1-0 for the Central Coast Section Open Division championship as the UCLA-bound Ydens completed a sensational high school career with another gem.

“He’s just unbelievable,” coach Mike Oakland said. “I think he is going to go down as one of the best, if not the best, players in St. Francis history.”

St. Francis scored the game’s only run when Mack Cheli got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth.

It took everything Ydens had to shut down San Benito, which put runners in scoring position in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings but could not crack the code that has locked up so many opponents the St. Francis ace has faced.

San Benito seemed ready to break through in the sixth when Mason Marquez opened with a single to right and Davonte Butler just beat out a ground ball to shortstop for an infield single.

Diego Fisher tried to advance the runners, but Ydens threw out Marquez at third.

Drew Williams then blasted a line drive speeding toward Ydens’ head.

The pitcher somehow deflected the ball with his glove, chased it down and threw out Williams at first.

“It was coming out really hard,” Ydens said. “It was coming at my head. I was trying to block it. I was able to put a glove on it and get the guy out. I was just happy I didn’t get hurt there.”

Ydens struck out Matthew Hill to end the inning.

Two one-out singles in the seventh put Ydens in another tense spot. But a pop up to second and then the strikeout clinched St. Francis’ third section title in four seasons and seventh CCS title overall.

“It’s pretty amazing, to be able to go out on top,” Ydens said. “It’s pretty hard to say that you are CCS champs back-to-back. Not a lot of people have done it. We faced a lot of adversity earlier in the year. To come back and kind of go on a roll and do it at the end of the year, win CCS, it’s surreal.”

Mendoza never had a doubt that Ydens would lead the way Saturday night.

“I always had a lot of confidence,” Mendoza said. “I told him I have no nerves, and he said I have the same. We’ve been in big games. We played in the CCS Open last year against Los Gatos. We’ve been here before. It wasn’t a surprise to us.”

And just like last season, the outcome ended with a St. Francis celebration.

###

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By Ray Hacke

DUBLIN – Perseverance was the key to Bellarmine College Prep’s four-set victory over Granite Bay in Saturday’s CIF NorCal Division I boys volleyball final at Dublin High.

In a match where the teams frequently matched each other point for point and either team fell behind by more than three at its peril, the Bells dropped an epic first set 35-33. However, although Bellarmine lost that battle after rallying from a six-point deficit, it ultimately won the proverbial war, wearing Granite Bay down in the next three sets 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 to claim the first NorCal title in school history.

“Any time a game’s going into 30 points like we did, you’re doing something right,” Bellarmine middle blocker Will Smith said. “We didn’t come out with a win, but it definitely gave us some great momentum.”

Bells coach Tyler Hinz agreed.

“We had to fight the whole set,” Hinz said. “We didn’t come out strong, but (the way Bellarmine battled back) set the tone for the whole match. It was a hard fight in sets two, three and four.”

A number of Bellarmine players contributed to the victory. Senior outside hitter Eliot Smullen led the Bells (33-9) with 12 points, followed by Sean Staskus with 11 and Smith with nine. Senior outside hitter Jacques Abi-Hanna also had several kills, including the match-clincher.

Senior setter Stephen Kaufman dished out 41 assists, and senior libero C.J. Roey led the Bells with 23 digs.
“We have such a well-rounded team,” Smith said. “We don’t have one player who stands out and can crush the ball. When everybody’s one, we do really, really well.”

If one Bellarmine player who did stand out in pivotal moments against Granite Bay (38-4), it was Smith. In both the third and fourth sets the junior strung together a series of kills that either broke ties or widened one-point Bellarmine leads.

Each time, Bellarmine went up by three points or more, and even if Granite Bay did manage to narrow the gap at times, the Bells stayed firmly in control the rest of the way.

“Will was a huge contributor for us,” Hinz said. “Granite Bay focused a lot on him and couldn’t stop him. He was so effective that we were able to get a lot out of our outside hitters when they put one blocker up.”

Not that Smith is willing to take all the credit.

“The people in the stands see me getting the kill,” he said. “What I see is Staskus playing great defense or Kaufman giving me great sets.”

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By Ray Hacke

DUBLIN – Saratoga’s Joel Schneidmiller didn’t merely dominate Saturday’s CIF NorCal Division II boys volleyball final at Dublin High.

As if to put an exclamation point – three of them, actually – on his 23-kill performance, the 6-foot-5 junior scored the winning point in each set of the Falcons’ 25-20, 25-17, 25-17 victory over Leigh.

“In high-pressure situations I usually ask for the ball,” Schneidmiller said. “I don’t really demand it, but I like to take the pressure off my teammates.”

Schneidmiller did that in a variety of ways – in some cases with kills that thundered off the court, in others with short, well-placed shots that found open holes. The outside hitter’s array of skills was especially apparent in the second set, when he followed a smash just inside the back line with a set-ending block.

His biggest kill came at the end of the third set, sealing the title for Saratoga (33-9).

“That was the perfect way to go out – a big kill to send our seniors off with a championship,” Schneidmiller said.
Saratoga coach Jason Cardoso could not agree more.

“This was a long time coming,” Cardoso said. “I’ve been with a lot of these guys for four years. It was a great way to end it.”

Leigh finished with a 29-5 record. Four of its five losses this season came against Saratoga, and Longhorns assistant coach Joe Maguire said Schneidmiller had a lot to do with that.

“Joel’s not just a tall player — a he’s very cerebral,” Maguire said. “He knows where to put the ball.”

Gabriel Fong, Alex Li and Spencer Yen had five kills apiece for Saratoga. Fellow senior Chester Leung had 38 assists and four aces for the Falcons, and Yen had a team-high seven digs.

Junior outside hitter Quinton Barrett led Leigh (29-5) with seven kills. The Longhorns struggled after their top hitter, senior Ben VanDerLuit, was moved to the setter position.

“We were looking for a spark,” Maguire said.

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SAN JOSE — For the second time in three years, Leland celebrated a Central Coast Section baseball championship.

Two years after Josh Nashed led the Chargers to an Open Division crown, Jake Dermer pitched and hit Leland to the Division I title Saturday with an 8-2 victory over Leigh at Municipal Stadium.

Dermer threw a complete game — and had to work extra hard because the defense made an uncharacteristic five errors — and broke the game open with a three-run triple in the fourth.

“The stuff he does on the field is certainly one thing,” coach Mike Sparrer said. “He leads by example. But he is one of the most impressive leaders of young men, as a peer, that I have ever been around. It is just incredible.”

When the big moment arrived Saturday, Dermer did not disappoint.

With Leland leading 4-2 and the bases loaded with one out, he ripped into a pitch and sent the ball sailing through the gap and to the wall in left-center.

His teammates sped around the bases, as did Dermer, who finished with three hits and scored twice.

When Dermer approached third, he slid head first, rose to his feet and stared into his jubilant dugout. He then tapped his elbow several times to flex his muscle, something the Leland players like to do in a moment of celebration, an inside joke, Dermer called it.

“The dugout was going nuts,” he said. “That’s such a great feeling. It was a two-run game at that point. That was a big hit right there to kind of separate us and go on to close it out.”

Dermer did not have his best stuff on the mound but managed to work through it and all the troubles his defenders had behind him.

“He didn’t have outstanding, electric stuff,” Sparrer said. “But he did enough to win. How we go how Dermer goes. It’s kind of been the case all year long.”

Leland scored three in the first, getting RBIs singles from Ryan McCahan and Dominic Flocchini.

An error led to a Leigh run in the second and three consecutive errors led to another Leigh run in the third.

But one big blast from Leland’s top player propelled the Chargers to another championship.

“Everyone of them is sweet for a different reason, a different group of guys,” Sparrer said of the titles. “It helps to have Dermer around.”

Two years ago, Dermer was a starting sophomore on the Open champs.

Saturday, he got the job done with his arm and big swings.

The post CCS baseball: Jake Dermer leads Leland to Division I championship appeared first on Varsity Extra.

SAN JOSE — For the third year in a row it was Archbishop Mitty and Pioneer in the Central Coast Section Division II softball championship game. And for the third straight year Mitty defeated Pioneer, this time coming back from a 3-0 deficit to post a 4-3 victory at PAL Stadium.

How to explain Mitty’s domination?

“Mentally they are a stronger team than us,” Pioneer’s standout pitcher Holly Azevedo said.

Pioneer (25-3) scored three runs in the third inning after two were out. Eternity Guzman started it with an infield single. MacKenzie Drake singled to center and the first run scored on an error. A bunt single by Kelsey Fager kept the inning going and then Lauren Garcia and Azevedo hit RBI singles.

A three-run lead seemed like plenty with Azevedo, last year’s Mercury News player of the year, in the circle.

But first-year Mitty coach Joe Gron had no doubt his team could come back.

“I felt confident,” Gron said. “We’ve had games where we fell behind. I told them to battle pitch by pitch. I felt it was just a matter of time before we would string three or four hits together.”

Mitty (21-4) got two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Kaylin Stewart and Rebecca Ortiz hit back-to-back singles to start the fifth-inning uprising. Lauren Lozano moved them along with a bunt. Alyssa Valdez singled to bring in Mitty’s first run of the game and a sacrifice fly by Hannah Edwards made it 3-2.

Speedy leadoff hitter Lauren Lopez got the winning rally started in the sixth with a single. McKinsey Thorpe reached on an error with Lopez going to third.

Azevedo struck out the next batter but the Monarchs pulled a double steal to tie the game. Thorpe scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Julia Lucas.

“I really thought we had it, that this was the year,” Pioneer coach Ernie Garcia said. “We outhit them and outplayed them, but they made runs when it counted. They kept pecking away.”

Garcia has Azevedo back for one more year as well as several other key players.

“We accomplished a lot and have a lot to look forward to next year,” Garcia said. “Hopefully that will be our year.”

The post CCS softball: Mitty rallies for 4-3 win over Pioneer in Division II final appeared first on Varsity Extra.