The Pioneer’s high school football scores update, Nov. 14, 2022

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Nov. 14, 2022) — And then there were 3. Northgate, De La Salle and Clayton Valley Charter came through the first round of North Coast Section games with victories and will be back in action Friday evening.

Concord and College Park, the top two teams in the Diablo Athletic League Valley Division, were on the short end of lopsided scores as their playoff journeys ended at the first hurdle.

De La Salle defeated James Logan-Union City 40-14 to setup another NCS game against Pittsburg this Friday at Dublin High to determine the NCS Open Division winner. Pitt opened the playoffs beating their ancient East County rivals Antioch 55-22 just a week after the Pirates won the Little Big Game 48-21 over the Panthers.

The Spartans have now won five straight games but will face a high-powered Pittsburg team led by quarterback Jaden Rashada who made news before the game when he announced he was switching his college commitment from Miami to Florida. Pitt coach Victor Galli, a De La Salle grad, will try to break his personal 15-game losing streak to his alma mater in this near annual NCS showdown between the two powerhouse teams. DLS, seemingly getting healthy at the right time, will be looking for its 30^th consecutive NCS football championship. They last failed to win a Section title in 1991 when Pitt beat them in the finals at the Oakland Coliseum.

Clayton Valley scored the game’s first 21 points before California came back with 21 straight to tie the game in the third quarter. The Ugly Eagles then put three more touchdowns on the board for the final 42-21 win over the Grizzlies. Quarterback Christian Aguilar accounted for three TDs as Clayton Valley moves on to host Liberty-Brentwood (8-3) at Gonsalves Stadium Friday. The winner of that game will play the loser of the Pitt-DLS game for the NCS Division 1 championship on the Thanksgiving Weekend.

Northgate reversed a 34-7 DAL Foothill Division loss to Las Lomas by edging their Walnut Creek rivals 24-21 in Division 3. The victory moved the Broncos to the semi-finals Friday at El Cerrito against the undefeated Gauchos. For the second time in three weeks, junior placekicker Lucas Lesieur provided the margin of victory with his fourth quarter field goal as Northgate held the Knights scoreless in the second half.

‘Cheap shots’

College Park’s strange season finished in an unfortunate way as the Falcons lost to host Windsor 41-15. As Windsor was running out the clock by taking a knee, a Falcon player crashed into the defenseless ballcarrier and the officials called a halt to the game before time had expired. The Falcons also were accused of  ‘many cheap shots’ and ‘many dirty plays’ by the Windsor coaches.

College Park head coach Travis Raciti was back on the sidelines after serving a two-game suspension for his team’s actions when the Falcons routed Ygnacio Valley 84-0 last month. Athletic director Jim Keck, who was also suspended for two games, was reportedly not at the playoff game.

Concord High’s feel good season also came to an abrupt end when Acalanes shut out the Minutemen 42-0 in Division 4.

NCS Playoffs – Nov. 11

Open/Division I – De La Salle (7-3) 40, James Logan – Union City (7-3) 14

Open/Division I – Clayton Valley Charter (6-4) 42, California (5-5) 21

Division 3 –Windsor (8-2) 41, College Park (7-3) 15

Division 3 – Northgate (6-4) 24, Las Lomas (5-5) 21

Division 4 –Acalanes-Lafayette (9-1) 42, Concord (9-1) 0

NCS Playoffs – Nov. 18

Open/Division I – De La Salle (8-3) vs. Pittsburg (10-1) at Dublin High

Open/Division I – Liberty (8-3) at Clayton Valley Charter (7-4)

Division 3 – Northgate (7-4) at El Cerrito (11-0)

2022 Season Schedules

Clayton Valley Charter 7-4, 4-0 (Open Div./Div. 1) – 8/26 Salinas L 14-21, 9/2 Del Oro-Loomis L 27-31, 9/9 at Canyon Springs-North Las Vegas W 42-6, 9/16 Turlock L 35-37, 10/1 at Jesuit-Carmichael W 35-21, 10/7 at Amador Valley-Pleasanton W 47-14, 10/14 at San Ramon Valley-Danville W 42-28, 10/21 California-San Ramon W 49-14, 10/28 at Monte Vista-Danville W 55-6, 11/4 De La Salle L 6-42, 11/11 California-San Ramon W 42-21, 11/18 Liberty-Brentwood.

College Park 7-4, 5-0 (Div. 3) – 9/2 at Foothill-Pleasanton L 12-28, 9/9 Oakmont-Roseville W 21-13, 9/16 Hercules W 44-6, 9/23 at Northgate L 14-28, 9/30 at Livermore L 8-35, 10/7 Concord W 34-28, 10/15 at Berean Christian W 42-25, 10/21 Ygnacio Valley W 84-0, 10/28 Mt. Diablo W 54-6, 11/4 at Alhambra W 47-6, 11/11 at Windsor L 15-41.

Concord 9-2, 4-1 (Div. 4) – 8/26 Newark Memorial-Newark W 14-7, 9/2 Alameda W 30-8, 9/9 at San Lorenzo W 37-0, 9/16 at Richmond W 2-0, 9/23 Arroyo-San Lorenzo W 28-6, 10/7 at College Park L 28-34, 10/14 Ygnacio Valley W 54-8, 10/21 at Alhambra W 14-7, 10/28 Berean Christian W 34-12, 11/4 at Mt. Diablo W 42-7, 11/11 at Acalanes – Lafayette L 0-42.

De La Salle 8-3 (Open Div./Div. 1) – 8/26 at Monterey Trail-Elk Grove W 36-20, 9/2 Serra-San Mateo L 21-24, 9/9 Saint Francis-Mountain View W 35-3, 9/16 at Cathedral Catholic-San Diego W 28-20, 9/23 Folsom L 20-24, 10/7 at St. Mary’s-Stockton L 35-45, 10/14 at California-San Ramon W 41-7, 10/21 Monte Vista–Danville W 41-3, 10/28 at Amador Valley-Pleasanton W 27-7, 11/4 at Clayton Valley Charter W 42-6, 11/11 James Logan-Union City W 40-14, 11/18 Pittsburg at Dublin High.

Mt. Diablo 3-7, 1-4 (Div. 4) – 8/26 Lathrop L 0-56, 9/9 at American-Fremont L 0-48, 9/17 at Arroyo-San Lorenzo L 0-28, 9/24 at San Lorenzo W 27-6, 9/30 at Richmond W 35-14, 10/7 at Ygnacio Valley W 35-28, 10/14 Alhambra L 0-35, 10/21 Berean Christian L 20-49, 10/28 at College Park L 6-54, 11/4 Concord L 7-42.

Northgate 7-4, 1-4 (Div. 3) – 8/26 Deer Valley W 29-8, 9/2 at Ukiah W 28-6, 9/9 Fremont-Oakland W 9-0, 9/16 at Bethel-Vallejo W 38-0, 9/23 College Park W 28-14, 10/7 Miramonte-Orinda L 35-43, 10/14 Las Lomas L 7-34, 10/21 at Campolindo-Moraga L 7-50, 10/28 at Benicia W 9-7, 11/4 Acalanes-Lafayette L 14-33, 11/11 at Las Lomas W 24-21, 11/18 at El Cerrito.

Ygnacio Valley 0-10, 0-5 (Div. 6) – 8/27 at Washington-San Francisco L 14-49, 9/9 Justin-Siena – Napa L 0-42, 9/16 at Kennedy-Fremont L 12-50, 9/23 Bradshaw Christian-Sacramento L 0-48, 9/30 Stone Ridge Christian-Merced L 6-38, 10/7 Mt. Diablo L 28-35, 10/14 at Concord L 8-54, 10/21 at College Park L 0-84, 10/28 Alhambra L 12-31, 11/5 at Berean Christian L 6-47.