Best of Week 13 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 …

CCS Open Division championship

No. 1 Serra 63, No. 7 Wilcox 27

Serra built a 49-13 halftime at San Jose City College and a running clock was in use the entire second half as the Padres won their fourth consecutive title in the Central Coast Section’s top division, earning a likely spot in the CIF Open Division championship game on Dec. 9 in Southern California. Wilcox will play Los Gatos for the CCS’s Division I title and a regional spot next week. Glenn Reeves has the game story here.

NCS Open Division championship

No. 1 De La Salle 17, No. 2 San Ramon Valley 7

Quarterback Toa Faavae scored on two keepers in the fourth quarter as De La Salle overcame what had been a four-point deficit to edge San Ramon Valley in the North Coast Section Open Division title game at Dublin High. On a night in which middle linebacker Marco Jones dominated for SRV, DLS celebrated its 31st consecutive section championship. Darren Sabedra has all the details here.

CCS Division I semifinal

No. 4 Los Gatos 21, No. 3 St. Ignatius 17

Los Gatos converted two pivotal fourth-down plays in the second half against host St. Ignatius, including Jaylen Thomas‘ 25-yard pass to Boxer Kopcsak-Yeung on a fake punt from the Los Gatos 32 with 5:11 to play, and returned to the South Bay with a ticket to the CCS Division I final next week against league rival Wilcox. Phill Jensen was in San Francisco and has the recap here.

NCS Division I semifinal

No. 3 Pittsburg 35, No. 5 California 14

Elijah Bow and Jamar Searcy combined for 349 rushing yards and four touchdowns to lead Pittsburg to a victory at home over California in an NCS Division I semifinal. The Pirates will play Open Division runner-up San Ramon Valley for the D-I title next Friday at Dublin High. Joseph Dycus has the story from Pittsburg here.

NCS Division II semifinal

No. 1 El Cerrito 55, No. 5 Heritage 17

Gauchos quarterback Michael Vanhook threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Washington State-bound Kamani Jackson. Heritage (5-7) hung with El Cerrito (11-1) until the third period, but the Gauchos reeled off the last 20 points of the game. In addition to his three touchdown catches, Jackson had a 72-yard pick-six. Gary Youngblood caught a 20-yard touchdown pass and Ziare Eastman had a 10-yard run for six points. El Cerrito will play Windsor (10-1-1) next Friday night at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill for the D-II title. Heritage scored one of its touchdowns on an option pass from running back Ilias Muhammad to quarterback Phillip Babbitt. Chia Nomeh connected on a 35-yard field goal for three more points. It was his second field goal of the season. – Mike Lefkow 

NCS Division III semifinal

No. 3 Cardinal Newman 54, No. 2 Las Lomas 28

The visiting Cardinals outscored Las Lomas 45-7 over the final two and a half periods after Las Lomas had gone ahead 21-19 on the second touchdown of the game by Sava Pouridis. Zach Homan led Cardinal Newman with four TDs and over 300 yards rushing. This figured to be a tough game for No. 2 seed Las Lomas (10-2). The Knights were a young, inexperienced team coming into the season, and not much was expected. But Las Lomas won its first eight regular season games and wound up losing only once while finishing in a three-way tie for first in the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division. On Friday night, the lead seesawed back and forth until Homan put Cardinal Newman (11-1) ahead to stay at 27-21 with a touchdown with 2:36 left in the first half. Cardinal Newman built that lead to 47-21 by the end of the third quarter. Las Lomas did score the game’s first points on a touchdown pass from Dylan Thomas to Roman Mercado. – Mike Lefkow

CCS Division IV semifinals

No. 1 Palo Alto 45, No. 5 Leigh 14

Declan Packer threw a touchdown pass and rushed for another and running backs Jeremiah Madrigal and Isaiah Phillips added a touchdown each as Palo Alto advanced to the Division IV title game with a victory at home over Leigh. Nathan Canilao has the game story here.

No. 2 Mountain View 38, No. 3 Branham 34

Mountain View jumped out to a 24-point lead and then survived a turnover-filled second half to advance past Branham and into the CCS Division IV title game next week against Palo Alto. Mountain View running back Arturo Hernandez turned 23 carries into 271 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Receiver Lex Silver caught a 46-yard touchdown from Kevin Conway, and Vilami Sekona kicked a 30-yard field goal and returned an interception for a touchdown. Branham running back Gabe Morgan rushed for three touchdowns as the Bruins took advantage of three turnovers to cut the deficit from 38-14 midway through the third to four points with under a minute to go. Jack Lewis threw a touchdown to Miles Scott and Elias Antillon ran for a TD as Branham finished its season 9-3. Mountain View improved to 6-6. – Joseph Dycus

NCS Division V semifinal

No. 1 Miramonte 34, No. 4 Alhambra 17

Miramonte advanced to the championship game thanks in large part to a stellar game from receiver Jack Quinnild, who had not played on offense for a month because of a sprained thumb. He caught three touchdowns and Andrew Bjornson chipped in a 70-yard touchdown run to give Miramonte a 24-14 lead midway through the third quarter. Alhambra had led 14-7. Miramonte coach Jack Schram said starting running back/linebacker Gabe Roman had to leave the game in the first quarter after getting “a bad cut” on his hand but added that Charlie Hwang and Gabe Savala filled his role well. Rhys Hire made a 31-yard field goal for Miramonte (8-3), which will play the winner of St. Bernard’s and Analy for the title. Alhambra finished 8-3. – Joseph Dycus

NCS Division VI semifinal

No. 3 Salesian 26, No. 2 Moreau Catholic 15