Best of Week 10 action

Welcome back to the Bay Area News Group’s high school football roundup.

Here, you’ll find all the details from the weekend’s action in this news organization’s coverage area, which encompasses teams that play in leagues based primarily in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Check back every Saturday during the season for scores, highlights and top performers, updated throughout the day.

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On to the roundup …

Ranked teams

No. 1 Serra 24, No. 4 Valley Christian 13

In a season filled with blowouts, Serra held just a 14-13 lead on the road against Valley Christian late in the third quarter in this West Catholic Athletic League game. Then quarterback Maealiuaki Smith threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kyon Loud, making it 21-13 with 1:27 left in the third period. That was followed by a 31-yard field goal by Thomas Gooch with 8:18 left. Serra improved 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the WCAL with one game remaining next Friday at home against St. Ignatius. Valley Christian fell to 5-4, 2-4. Mike Lefkow has more details here.   

No. 2 De La Salle 31, Monte Vista 7

Dominic Kelley rushed for a touchdown from near the goal line and Jaden Jefferson followed later in the first half with a 62-yard scoring run to put visiting De La Salle on top 14-0. The Spartans went on to a comfortable victory on the road in Danville to improve to 7-2. Monte Vista fell to 4-5. Finn Sepic’s 23-yard field goal stretched DLS’s advantage to 17-0 and Derrick Blanche’s short run made it 24-7 in the third quarter. Next Friday, De La Salle closes out the regular season at home against Clayton Valley and Monte Vista will visit San Ramon Valley. – Darren Sabedra

No. 3 San Ramon Valley 45, Foothill 14

Luke Baker threw for five touchdowns and 350-plus yards to lead SRV to a one-sided victory at home in EBAL Mountain play. Owen Scott scored on two TD receptions and Marco Jones plowed into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Dominick Camera intercepted a pass as SRV’s defense held Foothill in check for much of the game. SRV (8-1, 3-0) finishes the regular season at home on Friday against Monte Vista. Foothill (1-7, 0-3) closes its season on Friday at California. – Darren Sabedra

No. 4 Pittsburg 34, No. 17 Liberty 13

The Pirates broke open a competitive first half with three touchdowns in the third quarter. Elijah Bow ran for two scores and Noah Quesada caught a touchdown pass, one of two thrown by QB Marley Alcantara, as Pittsburg turned a 14-0 game at the half into a 34-7 rout going into the fourth quarter. The Pirates (9-0, 4-0 Bay Valley Athletic League) now have a chance to complete a perfect full regular season for the first time in decades when they host Antioch in the Big Little Game next Saturday. Pittsburg was 5-0 during the Covid-shortened 2020. Pirates coach Charlie Ramirez said he was told Pitt hasn’t been perfect during a full regular season since the 1960s. Bow ran 29 times for 174 yards, leaving him 15 yards short of 1,000 for the season. RB Jamar Searcy, a transfer from Liberty, scored in the first quarter to make it 7-0, then Alcantara connected with Jaydn Hudson to increase the lead to 14-0 at the half. In addition to a perfect regular season, the BVAL title will be at stake in the Pitt-Antioch contest. The Pirates will win the league outright with a victory, but an Antioch victory could result in a three-way tie with Liberty (6-3, 3-1). The Lions, who beat Antioch 41-40 earlier this month, won’t have it easy in their regular-season finale as they host Heritage on Friday. Sophomore RB Jaxon Bell scored one of Liberty’s touchdowns against the Pirates, giving him 22 rushing TDs for the season. – Mike Lefkow

No. 7 McClymonds 33, Oakland 0

Redmani Albert continued to thrive in his transition from wide receiver to quarterback, throwing for one touchdown and rushing for another in McClymonds’ third consecutive shutout in Oakland Athletic League play. There was a running clock starting in the second quarter. The Warriors have won by a combined score of 156-0 in its three league matchups. John “Sharky” Tamale also rushed for a touchdown, and William Puamau caught Albert’s TD pass. Markus Thomas, Dominic Davis and Adon Dent each had an interception. Dent returned his pick for a touchdown. Isaac Espinosa made a 43-yard field goal. On Friday, McClymonds (5-2, 3-0) plays at Fremont-Oakland and Oakland (5-3, 1-2) plays host to Oakland Tech. — Joseph Dycus

No. 11 St. Francis 27, No. 5 Archbishop Riordan 20

Kingston Keanaaina rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries and a defense led by the Cahoon brothers, Jackson and Chase, at linebacker, Afoa Tuua on the line and Mack Mrowka in the secondary kept visiting Riordan off the scoreboard down the stretch to win in WCAL play. Joseph Dycus has more details here.

No. 25 Clayton Valley 33, No. 8 California 24

Quarterback Tyson Lovett had a huge game for the Ugly Eagles. He scored Clayton Valley’s first touchdown on a 16-yard run, threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran in the 2-point conversion after the Uglies’ final TD. This was a back-and-forth contest, with the lead changing hands five times. Clayton Valley (5-4, 3-1 EBAL Mountain) finally took the lead for good at 25-24 with less than a minute left in the third quarter. Lovett threw a 12-yard TD pass to Logan Knapp, then Will Carranza kicked the extra point. The visitors expanded the lead to nine points with four minutes to go on Jahson Jones’ 8-yard run followed by Lovett running in the 2-point conversion. California (5-4, 1-2) now appears to be on the bubble for the postseason in the North Coast Section’s tough 11-team Division I. Because the NCS determines its divisions before the season, there’s no flexibility for a team such as the Grizzlies to drop to a lower division, even though the calpreps.com computer ranks them as the seventh-best team in the entire section, which consists of 102 schools that play football. Fifty-six NCS schools make the playoffs spread over eight seven-team brackets. Cal hosts Foothill next Friday. Clayton Valley will be on the road at De La Salle. – Mike Lefkow  

No. 9 Los Gatos 24, No. 10 Wilcox 21

Boxer Kopcsak-Yeung scored on a 7-yard run with 23.5 seconds left to cap a 79-yard, two-minute drill drive as Los Gatos edged host Wilcox to claim at least a share of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title. The Wildcats can win the championship outright with a victory next week against Menlo-Atherton. Kopcsak-Yeung also returned a blocked punt for a TD. Darren Sabedra has the complete recap here.

No. 18 Acalanes 34, No. 19 Las Lomas 14

Jack Giorgianni rushed for all 83 of his yards in the fourth quarter to key a punishing Acalanes ground game as the Dons handed Las Lomas its first loss of the season. Trevor Rogers, Jake Boselli and Gavin Bender each had one interception as Acalanes stayed unbeaten in DAL Foothill play in a game that was closer than the final score indicated. Joseph Dycus was in Walnut Creek and has the full story.

No. 21 Campolindo 41, Miramonte 21

Campolindo kept its hope for a share of the DAL Foothill Division title alive, breaking open the game against visiting Miramonte with two touchdowns in the third quarter. Sebastien Antonios-McCrea scored on a 5-yard run to make it 21-7 and Mack Fisher’s 10-yard run widened the margin to 28-7 Joe Revelos then caught a 50-yard pass to set up Jake Spencer’s 5-yard run to make it 35-7 early in the fourth quarter. Micah Parker’s 30-yard run, set up by Luke Bonardi’s interception, extended the lead to 41-7.  The game was much tighter in the first 24 minutes. After Scott Lyon scored on a 5-yard reception to give Campo a 7-0 lead, Miramonte evened the score 7-7 on a touchdown pass from Carson Blair to Gabe Roman. Campo went back on top on a 10-yard TD reception from Tim Daugherty, who set up the score with a long catch. Spencer intercepted a pass before halftime to keep the score 14-7. If Campo wins at Acalanes on Friday, the teams will share the division title among themselves or in a three-way tie with Los Lomas. Miramonte (6-2, 3-2) plays host to Las Lomas on Friday. – Darren Sabedra

No. 24 Live Oak 28, Oak Grove 10

Luke Newell threw two touchdown passes and Zach Rocha had a big game as Live Oak remained undefeated Thursday with the win over Oak Grove. Newell completed 8 of 11 passes for 144 yards. He had scoring passes of 6 yards to Austin Jennings and 66 yards to Tanner Holeman. Rocha blocked a field goal that was returned for a touchdown by Christian Hauge and also had 12 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. Josh Gagni scored on a short run for Live Oak’s other touchdown. With the win, Live Oak (8-0, 4-0 BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division) stays on track for a showdown with the Mt. Hamilton Division title at stake next Friday at Christopher, which has also yet to experience a defeat this season. “A great matchup,” Live Oak coach Mike Gemo said. “It’s always been a good, hard-fought rivalry game.” Oak Grove (3-6, 1-3) concludes its regular-season schedule on Friday at home against Santa Teresa. – Glenn Reeves

East Bay

Berkeley 76, Mt. Eden 6

Berkeley scored 42 points in the first quarter in an MVAL/WACC Mission Division game that its coach, David Perry, said had a running clock for the entire second half. Deontae Faison threw for five touchdowns and rushed for another and Cahlil Snead caught two TD passes to help lead the way. Jalen Harris hauled in one touchdown and Kamren Bell ran for a TD and was on the receiving end of another. Adonis Cunningham-Wheeler, Nate Garland and Drew Henderson rushed for one TD each, and PJ Jataafa returned a punt for a score. Jin Jones had three sacks and defensive backs Robbie Jones and Leon McDaniels anchored a secondary that did not allow a completed pass. Berkeley (6-3, 4-0) plays host to Irvington on Friday, and Mt. Eden (0-9, 0-4) will visit Encinal on Saturday. — Joseph Dycus

James Logan 33, Bishop O’Dowd 29

Danzel Mercado caught two touchdown passes, including the game-winner with under a minute left in the fourth quarter. QB Jonathan Craft had a big game for the Colts, throwing three TD passes and running for one more. Logan (5-4, 4-0 MVAL/WACC Foothill) has won five in a row but likely will be in a must-win situation next Friday when it visits Moreau Catholic. A victory means an outright title and an invitation to the North Coast Section Open/Division I playoffs. Losing to the Mariners will cause the Foothill Division to end in a two- or three-way tie and probably eliminate Logan from the postseason. Bishop O’Dowd and Moreau Catholic are both 3-1 in the league, one game behind Logan, but are in good shape for the playoffs because they play in lower divisions. The Colts led 19-6 in the second quarter, but the Dragons (5-4) roared back to go in front 23-19 heading into the final period. It stayed that way until the teams combined for three touchdowns in the final four minutes. Logan scored to take a 26-23 lead, Bishop O’Dowd answered to make it 29-26, then Marcado grabbed a short pass from Craft for the game-winner. “One of the best high school games I’ve seen,” Logan coach Eddie Smith said. O’Dowd QB Devin Wilson threw four TD passes, two apiece to Miles Dixon and Deji Ajose. The Dragons play their regular-season final against San Leandro on Friday. – Mike Lefkow  

Livermore 17, Dougherty Valley 7

Kamarri Robinson followed up last week’s 534-yard rushing performance with 115 yards and two TDs on the ground against Dougherty Valley in an EBAL Valley victory. Robinson has 1,917 rushing yards this season. Livermore coach John Wade said the stars Friday were on defense, led by lineman Xavier Thorpe and defensive back Nate Moniz, who was exceptional at both cornerback and safety. Next Friday, Livermore (5-4, 2-1) closes out the regular season by playing host to Granada and Dougherty Valley (2-7, 0-3) will travel to Dublin. — Joseph Dycus

Moreau Catholic 42, Tennyson 12

Jeremiah Charles threw three touchdown passes, to Jalen Arnold, Lance Mitchell and Donovan Edwards, and Jayden Bryant scored two TDs to lead Moreau Catholic to a victory on the road over Tennyson in MVAL/WACC Foothill Division play. The Mariners also got two field goals from Julio Ramos, including one from 43 yards. Moreau improved to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in the division. They are tied with Bishop O’Dowd for second place, one game behind James Logan. Moreau plays host to Logan to close out the regular season on Friday. Tennyson (2-7, 1-3) visits Castro Valley on Friday. – Darren Sabedra

South Bay/Peninsula

Branham 35, Silver Creek 28

Jack Lewis completed 20 of 28 passes for 235 yards as Branham clinched a CCS playoff spot and no worse than a tie for the BVAL Santa Teresa-Valley Division title with a victory on the road over Silver Creek. Lewis threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Glenn Reeves has the game story here.

Del Mar 39, Gunderson 25

Del Mar rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit on Thursday to stay perfect in BVAL West Valley play. The outcome sets up a win-or-go-home matchup against Prospect next week for the division’s one automatic CCS playoff spot. Andrew Fernandez’s 85-yard TD pass to Terreon Hunt and Marquise Hall’s 11-yard rushing touchdown helped build Gunderson’s lead. But in the second half, Del Mar’s senior quarterback Andre Latimore rushed for five touchdowns and the majority of his 267 yards to author a comeback. Bradley Tavish ran for 157 yards and a TD and Maarcus Hogans ran for 84 yards for Del Mar (6-3, 6-0). After allowing 25 unanswered points, Gunderson briefly tied the score with another Fernandez touchdown pass to Hunt late in the third quarter. Latimore put Gunderson away in the fourth with two rushing TDs. Gunderson (4-5, 4-2), which is eliminated from playoff contention, visits Yerba Buena on Friday. — Joseph Dycus

Menlo-Atherton 38, Burlingame 7

Sophomore Teddy Dacey, in his second start at quarterback after being called up from the junior varsity, threw two touchdown passes on jump balls to 6-foot-7 receiver Alek Marshall as M-A rolled at home. Jordan Masuisui scored two rushing touchdowns and sophomore Evaimalo Ama added another on a 45-yard run. Aiden Mulcahy kicked a 24-yard field goal. Safety James Gray had an interception. DE Khayri Jett “provided a spark with his physicality” and Devin Hyde was “in the backfield disrupting everything,” M-A coach Chris Saunders said. “He’s one of the best edge players in the Bay Area, if not in all of Northern California.” M-A (4-5, 2-2 PAL Bay) plays at Los Gatos on Friday. Burlingame (3-6, 1-4) is at San Mateo on Saturday in the Little Big Game. — Glenn Reeves

Overfelt 68, Mt. Pleasant 0

It was all Overfelt in this BVAL Santa Teresa-Valley Division matchup on Thursday as the host Royals got a huge game from QB Gabe Martinez, who completed 14 of 19 passes for 465 yards and six touchdowns. Walter Smith reeled in eight receptions for 263 yards and five TDs. He also intercepted a pass and returned a fumble 90 yards for a TD. John Stowers carried 10 times for 111 yards and a touchdown and Taylor Gordon had two receptions for 110 yards and a TD. Jeremiah Lara led the defense with four sacks. Overfelt improved to 5-4, 2-2. The Royals finish their regular-season schedule at home Friday against Sobrato. Mt. Pleasant (3-6, 0-4) wraps up its season at home Thursday against Willow Glen. – Darren Sabedra

Piedmont Hills 33, Independence 15

Dylan Blank scored three touchdowns to lead Piedmont Hills to an upset win over Independence in a game between rivals from Northeast San Jose. The Pirates built a 26-0 lead on two TDs by Blank and two touchdown passes from Alex Tran to Alonzo Johnson and to Blank. Independence got on the scoreboard on an 11-yard pass from John Figueroa to Solomon Bocage and on a 9-yard pass from Myles Pagaduan to Minh Vu. Piedmont Hills (3-5, 1-3 BVAL Santa Teresa-Valley) plays at Gilroy on Thursday. Independence (4-5, 2-2), which is tied for third place with Pioneer, hosts Silver Creek on Thursday. — Glenn Reeves

San Mateo 21, Sequoia 7

San Mateo’s domination of time of possession was the deciding factor in the PAL Ocean victory. The Bearcats limited Sequoia to six plays in the first half and had the ball for 34 of the 48 minutes overall. Emmanuel Fitzgerald rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown. QB Cameron Palma ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Logan Davis stood out on defense with seven tackles and a sack. Sequoia scored its touchdown on a third-quarter pass from Brody McKenna to Luke Rowell. San Mateo will attempt to break a 13-year losing streak in the Little Big Game when it hosts Burlingame on Saturday. Sequoia (3-6. 2-2) is at Carlmont on Friday. — Glenn Reeves

Santa Teresa 27, Lincoln-San Jose 7

Santa Teresa is closing in on a CCS playoff berth after winning at home over Lincoln. The top four teams in the BVAL Mt. Hamilton automatically qualify. With one week to play, Santa Teresa is alone in third, one game ahead of Leland and Oak Grove. Next Friday, Santa Teresa visits archrival Oak Grove and Leland travels to Lincoln. Santa Teresa won on Friday behind a stout defense, led by Jacob Soria (12 tackles) and 10 tackles each from freshman middle linebacker Richard Arechiga and strong safety Sebastian Romo. Jaikob Wright’s 25-yard run opened the scoring for Santa Teresa and Robert Estrada added two TDs for the Saints, one on a 35-yard catch from Joseph Tapia and another on a 60-yard run off an option from Tapia. Ezariah Sofeni scored for Lincoln on a 6-yard run. Santa Teresa improved to 4-5, 2-2. Lincoln fell to 3-6, 0-4. – Darren Sabedra