High school football across the Bay Area continues with a Week 2 slate headlined by a matchup between the region’s top two teams.
De La Salle, ranked No. 1 by the Bay Area News Group, will be at home in Concord on Friday to take on No. 2 Serra. The visiting Padres are coming off an upset win at Folsom.
In the South Bay, St. Francis will play host to McClymonds as the Oakland powerhouse faces a West Catholic Athletic League juggernaut for the second week in a row.
Also in the South Bay, Los Gatos will take on Liberty for the fourth consecutive year. In one of the East Bay’s top matchups, Monte Vista should face a strong test when it plays host to Bishop O’Dowd.
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Here are this week’s top matchups:
Thursday
No. 24 Santa Teresa (1-0) at Milpitas (1-0), 7 p.m.: Is this the week the magic runs out for Santa Teresa? The Saints, who entered the Bay Area News Group Top 25 after walloping Fremont-Sunnyvale 48-7 last week at home, are riding a unique high as they surf the wave of community support that helped turn their stadium lights back on. Now, they’ll travel to Milpitas, which had its own impressive Week 1 win. The Trojans went on the road and waxed Oak Grove 35-0. Jaylon Malcolm, AJ Rangel, Brian Caldwell and Robert Estrada scored touchdowns last week for Santa Teresa. Milpitas is one of the contenders in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division and is led by returning starting quarterback Adrian Chavez. –Christian Babcock
Friday
No. 2 Serra (1-0) at No. 1 De La Salle (1-0), 7 p.m.: This is the biggest game of the regular season in the Bay Area. The winner between these regional superpowers will have the inside track to reach the Open Division state championship game in December. This marks the third consecutive season that Serra and De La Salle have played each other. Serra has won the previous two games, 24-21 in 2022 and 28-0 in 2023. After graduating the majority of the core that led the Padres to the last three Open state title games, new-look Serra went on the road to open the season and upset Folsom 22-21 when Brody Smith kicked a 38-yard field goal with 10 seconds left. Serra coach Patrick Walsh, a De La Salle alum, had his team rely on a powerful offensive line led by Jonah Alapati to open holes and protect new QB Andrew Heneghan. The Padres will need another big game from RB Nano Latu (164 yards vs. Folsom) to have a shot against De La Salle, which is 10-2 all-time against Walsh’s Padres. Malakai Taufoou had an interception for a rugged Serra defense last week, but the San Mateo school probably won’t have many chances to pick …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
