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YGNACIO VALLEY: WOLVES REVITALIZING COMMUNITY
During his team’s 44-0 victory at Richmond on Friday, Ygnacio Valley’s Rae Jackson Sr. noticed something he hadn’t seen in his three seasons as head coach. Looking into the stands, he saw coaches from his league scouting his team.
“In the past I’ve never seen any high school coaches from other schools at our games watching what we’re doing,” Jackson said. “Our whole valley is waking up and everybody is trying to figure out what is going on at YV.”
Just a month ago, the Wolves lost their 35th straight game, 73-0 defeat to Alameda They held the longest active losing streak in the state, which spanned five seasons. But since then, YV has won three of its last four, which includes a 20-15 victory over Pinole Valley last week.
YV has gone from aiming to win a single game this season to possibly finishing .500, or better, for the first time since 2019.
“It’s just a lot of positive things that we’ve been working on over the years that are now just starting to shine,” Jackson said. “This is going to be the start of what is probably going to be a resurgence of Ygnacio Valley football.”
Ygnacio Valley players suit up in their home locker room before playing Terra Linda in a scrimmage game on Aug. 24, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Freshman quarterback Jalen Fayad has been sensational for YV, totaling seven touchdowns in the team’s last two games. Seniors Fred Fine and Dalton Gates have provided leadership for the young team. Transfers Jacari Gibson and Kiminuao Knox add dynamic playmakers to a group that struggled to match up with any team during the long losing streak.
For Jackson, this season has been three years in the making. Taking the head coaching job at YV before the 2022 season, he knew changing the culture was going to be a heavy lift.
But after finally breaking the losing streak in a Week 2 win against Redwood Christian, which is in its first season of varsity football, and rattling off back-to-back victories the last two weeks, Jackson said he feels more at ease than he did at the beginning of the season.
“It seems like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Jackson said. “I think it’s going to get better. It’s amazing to set goals, watch the goals be accomplished.”
Since the Bay Area News Group first reported on YV’s quest to break the longest losing streak in the state, the team has gotten the most attention it has received in years. But Jackson said the team has reveled in the fact that people outside the program care about the team’s journey this fall.
According to Jackson, both home games this season were packed and he has gotten positive feedback from local residents about how well the Wolves have started to play.
“We’re revitalizing the community and giving them a team,” he said. “We got the A’s gone, the Warriors gone, the Raiders gone. People can come on and be a YV fan.”
– Nathan Canilao
ST. IGNATIUS: HOGAN SILENCES THE DOUBTERS
A lot of people doubted that St. Ignatius would beat Serra on Friday night in San Francisco. And for most of the teams’ West Catholic Athletic League opener, it looked like they were right.
But St. Ignatius was having none of it. Despite going down 20-7 in the third quarter, the Wildcats scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to steal a 21-20 win.
The winning TD was scored by running back Jarious Hogan, who took a backhanded handoff from quarterback Soren Hummel and evaded a Serra tackler near the line of scrimmage before scampering 30 yards to the end zone.
After the game, Hogan noted that not many would have pegged SI as a title contender in the WCAL this year. He begs to differ.
“I’ve been saying this since preseason,” Hogan said. “We need to be on everybody’s radar. Our team’s coming different this year. We’re excellent this year, and we can take it all the way.”
Though St. Ignatius never stopped believing in itself, that doesn’t mean the win wasn’t validating for the Wildcats. It’s one thing to believe you can beat a team like Serra, the three-time defending CCS Open Division champions. It’s quite another to do it.
“This feels really excellent,” Hogan said. “I can’t explain how excited me and my teammates are. We deserved it, man. We put work into this too, even off the bye week. We just kept working and working, and we got what we wanted.”
– Christian Babcock
RIORDAN, ST. IGNATIUS: CLASH IN THE CITY
The Archbishop Riordan first-team offense scored touchdowns on nine consecutive drives on Saturday as the Crusaders routed Sacred Heart Cathedral 63-34. Jeremiah Jones rushed for three touchdowns and Vanderbilt commit Mike Mitchell threw for three scores.
Riordan’s next test against another WCAL rival from San Francisco will be much tougher.
The Crusaders will make the short drive on Friday to face St. Ignatius, which is coming off victories over reigning WCAL champ Serra and San Diego powerhouse Cathedral.
The Wildcats’ win over Serra this past weekend was their first against the Padres since 2019. St. Ignatius has already made a statement in WCAL play. Can it do it again?
— Joseph Dycus
CLAYTON VALLEY: FRESHMAN QB PLAYS FOR LATE MOTHER
Clayton Valley quarterback Javale Jones scrambles while being pursued by Liberty’s Brady Whitaker in the fourth quarter on Friday. (Anda Chu for the Bay Area News Group)
Clayton Valley freshman quarterback Javale Jones plays for more than himself on game days.
Following a clutch performance on Friday in which he led his team on a 10-play, 78-yard drive that ended with him throwing the game-winning touchdown pass in a 21-17 victory over Liberty, Jones put on a gold chain that featured a picture of his late mother in the center.
“She passed away in 2021,” Jones said. “It was hard, but I have to overcome things. I’m here now though.”
– Nathan Canilao
DE LA SALLE: SPARTANS SET FOR LONDON TRIP
De La Salle heads into its bye week with a 5-0 record following a 35-14 win over El Cerrito, and given where the Spartans’ next game is located, they’ll need all the rest they can get.
On Oct. 8, De La Salle will play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London against the NFL Academy, the NFL’s player development program for athletes in the United Kingdom.
“There’s been a lot of work that went into it,” coach Justin Alumbaugh said. “It’s one of those things that’s worth it. We knew the work that was going in when we agreed to do the game — I’m not bemoaning it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
– Justice delos Santos
OAKLAND TECH: SAVORING FIRST WIN
Oakland Tech coach Anthony McCrady knows a thing or two about winning at his alma mater. He was on the legendary 2003 team that, led by Marshawn Lynch, Josh Johnson and Virdell Larkins III, beat John Beam’s last great Skyline team in the Silver Bowl.
So McCrady hopes that his first victory as Tech’s head coach, a 23-14 victory over Pinole Valley last week, is just a sign of things to come.
The coach also hopes that Caleb Rollins continues to have big games like he did against the Spartans, when the state title-winning basketball player scored two touchdowns.
“A lot of the guys on the team look up to him,” McCrady told the Bay Area News Group on Saturday. “He’s a champ, man. He knows how to get it done.”
The win was also Tech’s first game at home since the team had to stop and later forfeit a matchup against El Cerrito in the second quarter after spectators invaded the field on Sept. 13.
McCrady said the players have put that that ugly episode behind them and are looking forward to getting wins in the Oakland Athletic League.
“Ultimately, we’re just looking to just move past that,” McCrady said.
– Joseph Dycus
BVAL MT. HAMILTON RACE CHOCK FULL OF CONTENDERS
The Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mt. Hamilton Division should be a fight to the finish this season.
Live Oak, Christopher, Santa Teresa, Leigh and Branham all look like they could contend for the league crown. Christopher and Branham kicked off the Mt. Hamilton slate with a competitive 45-28 win by Christopher in San Jose.
Afterward, both coaches noted how wide-open the BVAL’s top league could be this year. Christopher pulled away late on Thursday, but Branham was deadlocked 28-28 with the Cougars at the half.
“Every week’s going to be a tough week,” Christopher coach Adam Hazel said. “I know that much. No matter who we play from here on to the rest of the year, every week is going to be a dog fight. So we’ve got to bring our A-game.”
Branham coach Stephen Johnson wanted to know if his team was ready for the challenge of playing in the top division after moving up from the second-tier Santa Teresa-Foothill Division. He came away impressed with what he saw.
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“I always feel like there’s a transition going from the C to the B league, B to the A,” Johnson said. “And we’ve done that. Started in the C league, got to the B, won the B a couple times. Now, we’re in the A. There’s always the speed of play, the physicality of it, and everything that comes with better play, right? And it was cool to go into that game and play a good program tough for four quarters. I’m proud of my guys.”
– Christian Babcock
PEEK AHEAD TO WEEK 6
Friday
Archbishop Riordan (2-2) at St. Ignatius (3-1), 5 p.m.: This battle of San Francisco schools should play a big role in deciding the WCAL title.
Los Gatos (4-0) at Pittsburg (3-1), 7 p.m.: Both teams should be ready coming off byes. The Pirates beat Los Gatos 37-27 in the South Bay last season.
St. Francis (3-1) at Archbishop Mitty (3-1), 7 p.m.: Can Mitty bounce back from a blowout loss to Valley Christian? St. Francis presents an even bigger test.
Christopher (4-1) at Santa Teresa (4-0), 7 p.m.: The favorites to win the BVAL Mt. Hamilton meet in San Jose.
Amador Valley (2-3) at Foothill (3-2), 7 p.m.: Foothill won only one game last season. It was a victory over archrival Amador Valley in the battle of Pleasanton.
Berkeley (3-2) vs. San Leandro (2-2) at Burrell Field in San Leandro, 7 p.m.: Explosive offenses that have been productive in non-league play will see if the firepower translates to MVAL/WACC Foothill Division action.
California (5-0) at Livermore (3-2), 7:15 p.m.: Between California’s Jhadis Luckey and Livermore’s Kamarri Robinson, there may not be a better matchup of RBs this week.
— Joseph Dycus
