Culver City, the Ocean League & Division 7

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While their was no week 0 action for Culver City nor any one in the Ocean League, about 2/3's of the teams in Division 7 elected to play this week.

The Millikan Rams of Long Beach came into the season as the number 1 ranked team in Division 7 according to calpreps.com, #6 in the CIFss poll. They pleasantly surprised the #2 ranked team in the LA City section, according to calpreps.com. Millikan beat the Carson Colts 7-3, in a come from behind victory on a well executed short TD pass from QB Qeanu Campbell-Caldwell to Dylan Davis. I was a little unsure of whether Campbell-Caldwell would be back as his name was missing from earlier roster postings. Campbell-Caldwell had a pretty good year for them last year throwing for over 2,500 yards, with 31 TD passes as just a sophomore.

#2 in Calpreps.com, Warren of Downey, opens next week, at home, against fellow Division 7 team, St. Anthony. Warren was ranked #1 in the CIFss D-7 preseason poll. St. Anthony currently is ranked 16th by calpreps.com and lost 24-0 to another Division 7 team, Valencia of Placentia in week 0. St. Anthony committed 4 turnovers while the stats suggests that they were very beneficial to the Valencia victory as Valencia's offense does not look particularly robust on the stat sheet. Valencia was unranked in the CIFss preseason poll and is now 9th ranked in the calpreps.com ratings for D-7.

#3 in Calpreps.com D-7 is Santa Barbara. They are unranked in the CIFss preseason poll. They came away with an impressive 42-14 victory over fellow division 7 team Buena, at Buena. Santa Barbara looks to have the services of last year's starting QB Frank Gambardella, who threw for over 2,800 yards and 24 TD's for the Don's last year.

#4 in Calpreps.com D-7 right now is the Grand Terrace Titans. They are ranked #8 in the CIFss D-7 preseason poll. They came away with a 21-0 victory over JW North of Riverside, at North. They led by 14-0 after 1 quarter and stretched the lead to 21-0 after 3 quarters. They shut down the North offense, holding them under 100 yards passing and 100 rushing along with 2 interceptions and 2 recovered fumbles. While it will get tougher against less mistake prone teams, Grand Terrace currently projects to be the champs of the once tough Sunkist League that does not appear to be as formidable as it once was.

#5 in Calpreps.com D-7 is Pacifica of Garden Grove. Pacifica is ranked #3 in the CIFss D-7 preseason poll. Pacifica played at home and crushed Norwalk, 55-6, in week 0. Most of the games will be tougher from here on, for Pacifica, but they still project as the favorites to win the Empire League.

 

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The Culver City Centaurs are rated #6 currently in the calpreps.com ratings for the CIFss Division 7 and did not play in week 0. Neither did their week 1 opponent, West Torrance. West is playing in Division 9 right now and while their preliminary rating favors the Centaurs, coach Greg Holt of West usually has his team well prepared and gives Culver City quite a challenge. The Centaurs were #7 in the CIFss preseason poll, but have been dropped from the top ten after week 0 play.

The San Jacinto Tigers are rated #7 by calpreps.com now. They were rated #4 in the CIFss D-7 preseason poll, but have hopped up to a #2 rating after an impressive week 0 victory over Division 2 Great Oak by a score of 40-6. It looks like the Tigers have a star on the rise in sophomore QB Kajiya Hollowayane who played in 11 games for San Jacinto, presumably mostly at QB as a freshman last year. He had 1300 yards passing on the varsity level last year as a freshman and got off to a good start this year going 14 of 21 for 247 yards with 3 TD's and no interceptions. It helps that he has the services of senior TE Kaleb Hervey, 6'4", 240, who had 190 of the receiving yards and 2 TD receptions, one going for 83 yards. Hollowayane can also run with the ball a bit, carrying it 13 times, with a long of 31 yards. But there were others contributing to the run game as well as the team amassed 224 yards on the ground. They also intercepted 2 passes and recovered a fumble. The game was actually close until the 4th quarter. Just 14-6 after 3 quarters, but there are still plenty of reasons why this victory stood out to the poll voters this week.

The Crescenta Valley Falcons are rated #8 by calpreps.com. They were unrated in the CIFss preseason poll and are #10 this week. They had a somewhat impressive victory also, beating Division 4 Redondo 28-7. Redondo played a freshmen, Kaden Martin at QB and he did reasonably well, for a freshmen. But on the other side of the ball, the Falcons had their senior QB Cole Koyle and he was most of the offense, throwing for 137 yards and a TD with 1 pic, but also carrying the ball 19 times for 142 yards & 2 TD's. Sophomore Sebastian Deleon was his main receiving target, catching 5 balls for 71 yards and a TD. This win means that the Falcons are likely to get to their league games undefeated as the next two teams look less challenging than Redondo. But they start league play with a challenging game against Muir, who won their opener against Division 3 Charter Oak by a score of 35-24. There will be 4 teams capable of getting to the playoffs in the 8 team Pacific League which should mean that only 3 are guaranteed a playoff spot. This could come down to the last game of the league & regular season for the Falcons, against Arcadia, a good Division 9 team. Arcadia smoked D-7 opponent La Salle of Pasadena by a score of 64-0 in week 0.

#9 in the calpreps.com ratings is Valencia of Placentia. They achieved a 24-0 week 0 victory over Div.7 team, St. Anthony. I was not so impressed with the Valencia Tigers as I was disappointed with St. Anthony. St. Anthony did not look like a team ready to challenge for the D-7 playoffs. The best things I can say for Valencia is that they do not appear to be a team that will beat themselves. They will take what their opponent gives them and wait for their opportunities. They had a nice ball control RB and a QB who could do enough to keep opponents honest. Valencia might have a tougher opponent this week in Yorba Linda, a Division 4 team, then they should cruise to victories until the second week of league when they face the first of 3 remaining tough contests to determine which 3 Empire League teams will get guaranteed playoff berths. Valencia was unranked in the CIFss preseason poll but jumped up to #3 in the post week 0 poll.

 

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#10 in the calpreps.com Division 7 ratings is Citrus Valley of Redlands. They did not play in week zero. They have not been in the CIFss top ten poll for the preseason or post week zero. But reputation precedes itself and well known coach Kurt Bruich is embarking on his inaugural season at Citrus Valley. Expectations may be high, but so are the challenges to even reach the playoffs in the tough Citrus Belt League. They will open against Division 6 Valley View which got smoked by a good team from Nevada 60-13 in week zero. Jacob Barlage, son of head coach, Daniel Barlage, returns for his senior year at QB, but Valley View does not look quite as physically big as they did a couple of years ago when they won a divison 11 championship, and the overall roster quantity is modest.

 

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Warren of Downey has dropped from #1 in the CIFss D-7 poll, to #7 in post week 0.
Santa Ynez was #2 in the preseason CIF poll, but has fallen to #8 in the post week 0 poll. They are rated #14 by calpreps.com. They lost in week 0 to Nipomo by a score of 17-14. I believe Nipomo is one of the schools that elected to move to the Central Section of the CIF. Things might get a little easier for the rest of the preseason and they might as well enjoy it because they face Lompoc when the open Channel league play. Santa Ynez does not project to locking down a playoff spot in the newly revamped Channel League. They will have their work cut out for them just to get to the playoffs. Pacifica of Garden Grove went from #3 in preseason CIFss poll, to the #1 team in D-7 after the week 0 games. The CIF poll voters may have taken too much from the victory over lowly Norwalk, but Pacifica still projects to be the favorites in the Empire League.

La Salle of Pasadena was rated #5 in the preseason D-7 CIF poll, but they have been dropped from the top ten after they were smoked 64-0 by Arcadia. Arcadia may be better than people are giving them credit for just yet. La Salle is currently 17th in the calpreps.com ratings for D-7. Things might get better, at least for 1 week, as La Salle faces Salesian who lost their week 0 game to St. Bernard by a score of 17-9.

Northview was #9 in the CIFss D-7 preseason poll and has moved up to #6 after their week 0 victory over El Rancho, of Pico Rivera, by 48-14. El Rancho is a lightly regarded Division 10 team and I am not sure how much stock the CIF voters should put into that win. Things will get a little tougher for the next 4 weeks culminating in a non-league game against Los Altos, but Northview does project to be good enough to finish 2cnd or third in their Valle Vista league.

El Segundo was #10 in the preseason poll for the CIFss D-7, but was dropped by no fault of its own as they did not play in week 0. El Segundo is rated #11 in the calpreps.com ratings. The Eagles will open their season this week against Peninsula of Rolling Hills Estates. Peninsula did beat Oak Park in week 0 42-21, but Oak Park is lightly regarded this year.