Fall sports teams wrap up season with section, state competition this month
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Nov. 14, 2022) — North Coast Section and CIF NorCal and State playoffs headline the sports calendar this month as high school’s fall season comes to a climax this month.
And is the case every year, one season ends, and another gets underway with basketball, soccer and wrestling beginning the winter sports schedule in November.
Cross Country – Both the East Bay and Diablo athletic leagues had their cross country championships last weekend with the NCS Meet of Champions coming up Nov. 19 at Hayward High School and the CIF State Meet Nov. 26 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Campolindo continued its dominance of DAL cross county, easing to victories in both the boys and girls varsity races. Alexander Lodewick won the boys race and his Cougar team took four of the top seven places. The Campo girls did even better with five of the first seven runners across the finish line at Hidden Valley Park.
Sophomore Jack Rattary of College Park was second in the DAL boys varsity race with junior Daniel Messer of Clayton Valley Charter fourth, Alex Lamoureux of College Park sixth and Daniel Martine from CVCHS eighth for a strong local showing.
In the boys team standings, Clayton Valley Charter was second, one point ahead of College Park.
Northgate was a distant second to Campo in the girls standings with College Park further back in third and CVCHS fifth.
Isabelle Ruff of Clayton Valley was fifth, Grace Redd of College Park eighth and Northgate’s Megan Malloy took 10th in the DAL girls varsity race.
De La Salle sophomore Trey Caldwell was second at the EBAL meet when he finished .57 of a second behind Roland Ruckmann-Barnes of team champion Granada-Livermore in the three-mile race to champion.
Junior Kendall Foxworthy of Carondelet took 10th in the EBAL girls varsity race.
Water Polo – De La Salle (Open division boys) and Northgate (Division 2 girls) will compete for NCS championships this Saturday.
De La Salle is top seed in the boys open division and drew a first-round bye. In Wednesday’s semi-finals the Spartans defeated No. 5 Campolindo 16-8. The Cougars eliminated Northgate (23-3) in the first round 9-5. The Broncos were two-time division 2 champs who were placed in the open division tournament this year.
Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. championship game at Acalanes will pit EBAL titlist DLS (18-7) against Miramonte (15-10) in a rematch of last year’s finale when the Spartans won 15-12. This will be the 3rd NCS matchup in a row after the Orinda school won a first-round match in 2019 15-4 over the Spartans.
De La Salle outscored host Miramonte in an Oct. 15 tournament game 10-6
The two schools have accounted for 20 NCS championships since water polo joined the section playoff schedule. The Matadors have 15 NCS titles and from the first year of the NCS playoffs until 2009 those two schools were the only ones to win the division I tournament.
In division 1, College Park defeated Heritage 14-9 in its opening game but was eliminated by No. 1 San Ramon Valley 14-3 in the quarterfinals.
Clayton Valley Charter boys got a first-round bye as No. 4 seed in Division 2. The Ugly Eagles beat American – Fremont 15-6 in the quarterfinals but lost to top seeded Terra Linda 9-7 in the semi-finals at Marin Academy.
Northgate girls in D-2 finals
No. 2 seed Northgate girls (19-7) won their division 2 quarterfinal over Alhambra 15-6 and edged No. 3 seed Terra Linda 10-8 in the semi-finals.
The Bronco girls matchup with top seed Marin Catholic (15-7) at 3:30 Saturday afternoon in the Marin Academy pool in the division 2 championship game.
Carondelet (21-4) was the third local defending NCS water polo champion and the Cougars were also moved into the open division after winning Division 2 a year ago. Carondelet won its quarterfinal 12-3 over Archie Williams – San Anselmo and lost to undefeated Miramonte in the semifinals 18-7 Wednesday.
College Park lost 13-4 in its division 1 opener to Liberty.
Girls Volleyball – North Coast Section ended last weekend with the NorCal Championships running through Nov. 15 and the CIF State finals Nov. 18-19.
Carondelet was seeded fourth in division 2 and they lost in the semi-finals to No.1 Campolindo in three tightly contested sets. That performance got the Cougars a spot in the NorCal tournament as 11th seed in Division 2. They lost a five-set thriller to No. 6 De Oro in the opening round.
College Park and Northgate were also both in Division 2 at NCS. The Falcons lost to Windsor 3-1 in the first round. The Broncos beat Alameda 3-0 in the opening round but lost to No. 2 Redwood in the quarterfinals 3-0.
Girls Golf – Carondelet took third at NCS to qualify for the Northern California Championships, Kate Keith, Sam Reyes and Sammie Miller led the way for the Cougars at section. Northgate and College Park teams also qualified for the NCS tournament. Ellexis Mingming posted a strong score for the Broncos.
The Cougars season ended when they placed seventh at the NorCal tournament.
Winter sports schedules
Basketball
DAL League Jan. 4 – Feb. 9
EBAL League De. 20 – Feb. 7
EBAL Boys Tournament Feb. 6-11
EBAL Girls Tournament Feb. 10-11
NCS Championships Feb. 14-25
NorCal Championships Feb. 28 – Mar. 7
CIF State Championships Mar. 10-11
Soccer
DAL Foothill Season Dec. 13 – Feb. 9
DAL Valley Season Jan. 3 – Feb. 9
EBAL League Jan. 3 – Feb. 9
NCS Championships Feb. 14-25
Norcal Championships Feb. 28 – Mar. 4
Wrestling
DAL Matches Jan. 11 – Feb. 2
EBAL League Matches Jan. 5 – 25
NCS Dual Team Championships Feb. 4
DAL Championships Feb. 11 (Clayton Valley Charter)
NCS Championships Feb. 17-18
CIF State Championships Feb. 23-25 (Bakersfield)
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.