End of the year...

Well, the "state championships" are over and the talk has now turned to recruiting. Not a lot happens at Division IV, but if anyone hears of a player at this level being recruited, post it here.

Aside from that, I'll do periodic updates until it picks up again next fall.

California State Championships

There is a lot of buzz out there about this year's selection of teams competing for the state championship. Of note is the open game between the "best" teams from north and south. Many feel that De la Salle is the top team, but the selection committee picked Grant from Sacramento instead. The committee said that strength of schedule was the determining factor. That is almost laughable.

One other slight of note is in the small school division. 2-loss Hamilton was chosen as the north representative over undefeated Modoc and one loss St. Vincent. Were it not for the "must win section" criteria, Ferndale would have been considered as well. I think everyone can agree -- especially fans and players from Justin Siena, that Ferndale is the best small school in the north.

Some are also complaining about 2-loss St. Marys from Stockton getting in over undefeated Encinal.

As it ends up, here are the matches for this Friday and Saturday:

Small School: Hamilton v. St. Margaret's

Div. III: Cardinal Newman v. St. Bonaventure

Div. II: St. Mary's v. Cathedral

Div. I: De la Salle v. Centennial

Open: Grant v. Poly

If you think about it, the NCS is represented by two teams and many would argue should have been represented by an additional two teams.


The selection process is like the BCS, only worse. The ballots cast by the 10 member selection committee are secret and are based on inaccurate information and tainted with bias. The south gets to field larger schools for each division than the north, the south hosts the games, everything is tilted for the southern teams. I really love small school football, and though I don't think they deserve to be there, I'll root like heck for Hamilton. I will root for all the teams up north.

I hope this process goes through a serious overhaul next year -- and that they add a Division IV championship. There's little chance Justin Siena, Salesian, Middletown, Fort Bragg, or any other Div. IV team that wins the section can make it to the championship game with the likes of Cardinal Newman out there. Once they have all five divisions set, then we can begin to work on a true state championship...

North Coast Section Div. IV

There doesn't seem to be as much interest in the defense as there was the offense. I think it comes down to the nomination process and the voting. The problem is, most of us only have first person knowledge of our own teams. It's hard to break down how players match up when they play different defenses. That's why a lot of the players we nominated and voted for are on all four teams in the semi-finals: Justin Siena, Salesian, Ferndale, and Middletown. Maybe I should just give everyone the opportunity to introduce us to some of the players they feel made a difference on their team, and to even highlight those players on other teams that made life hell for the teams they played.

I would also like to acknowledge those players that have either garnered Div. I attention, or those who we all feel should.

Number one is Justin Clayton of Justin Siena who is on his way to Washington State. Last year it was Javid best who went to Cal. Most kids from small schools like us don't get offers to BCS schools. That's why I think most of the kids who are overlooked should actively pursue being recruited by non-BCS Div. 1 schools. The WAC, MWC, MAC, C-USA, and Sun Belt all desire top players, but often lose out to the BCS conference schools. There are many diamonds in the rough who go to small schools who are overlooked by the larger universities. I say they should actively pursue their dreams because a lot of these smaller conferences don't have the time or money to recruit as actively as BCS conferences. They all, however, have websites where they can input all their data and we can help by contacting these schools ourselves and passing info on. All we need to do is help them get a small spotlight cast their way, and the rest is up to them.

I'll post about the Calif. State Championship games this Sunday after the participants are announced. Please post your comments about the terrific players you've seen this year to this post.

Defense

I'm going to get the defensive players up soon for voting.

Offensive All Division IV Team

MVP:
Ching, Salesian


QB (tie):
Aguayo, Justin Siena
Outen, Middltown


RB (Ching is MVP):
Cimolino, Fort Bragg
Delbiaggio, Ferndale
Tomko, Middletown


WR (tie):
Galusha, Middletown
Woolsey, Salesian
Slade, Ferndale
Reinell, Justin Siena

TE:
Marchini, Salesian


OL:
Raine, Salesian
Clayton, Justin Siena
Sarvinski, Ferndale
House, Fort Bragg
Mornig, Justin Siena


K:
Grubbs, Justin Siena


Honorable Mention:

QB:
Robertson, Ferndale

RB:
Pardini, Justin Siena
Owen, Middletown
Matyshock, Ferndale

WR:
Wheeler, Salesian
Hennig, Upper Lake


TE:
Stainer, Justin Siena


OL:
Slinson, Justin Siena
Harmyk, Middletown
Renteria, Fort Bragg
Mitchell, Fort Bragg
Gonzalez, Salesian


K:
Beckwith, Middletown

Defense

I think I'm going to give it one more day to get in the nominations for Defense...we still need a lot more DBs and so far have only one punter. So the new deadline is Friday at 2:00 pm for defense.

Defense

We need more nominations or defense. We have until 2:00 pm Friday.

Recruiting

After we have picked out All Division IV Team, the next thing we should work on is recruiting. We should keep track as best we can of all the players in Div. IV who get offers from colleges of all sizes. We may also help draw more attention to deserving players who risk being overlooked because they play for a small school.

Defensive Players -- Nominations

Here's what I have so far:

DL (which includes DE):

Clayton, JS
Sarvinski, FN
Mournig, JS
Olivero, SL
Rylance, MT
Garcia, MT
House, FB
Harmyk, MT
Carrington, FB
Dunbar, JS
Tompkins, JS


LB:

Pardini, JS
Delbiaggio, FN
Tomko, MT
Meekins, SPSV
Marchini, SL
O'Neil, SL
Stainer, JS
Essy, BC
Owen, MT
Lowe, FB
Castillo, SL
Davis, MT
Applegate, FB


DB:

Richardson, CL
Walsh, FB
Zagajowski, MT
Tillman, SL
Cybuski, JS
Galusha, MT


P:

Cybuski, JS
Walsh, Fort Bragg

Defensive MVP:

Clayton, JS
Marchini, SL
Tomko, MT
Sarvinski, FN

Coach:

Bob Spain, DV
Chad Nightingale, SL


Please post your nominations as a comment to this post. I am also taking nominations for Defensive MVP and Coach of the Year. You have until Friday, 2:00 pm to get your nominations to me.

We will pick 4 DL, 4 LB, and 4 DB, 1 P, and 1 Coach. I know that adds up to 12 players, but that's what a lot of all league selections do.

Some Stats

QB

Outen, MT: 1,195 yds, 15 TD, 4 int
Gupta, HK: 1419 yds, 9 TD (rushed for 352 yds, 8 TDs)
McKay, FN: 739 yds, 10 TDs, 4 INT (rushed for 305 yds, 8 TDs)
Robertson, FN: 488 yds, 7 TDs, 0 INT (rushed for 82 yds 1 TD) (Does not include Justin Siena game -- 2 additional TDs)

RB

Delbiaggio, FN: 1192 yds, 20 TDs (doesn't include Justin Siena game)
Tomko, MT: 1207 yds, 16 TDs
Owen, MT: 988 yds, 14 TDs
Barnes, UL: 1059 yds, 6 TDs
Ching, SL: 1760 yards 21 TDS (only 7 games at RB)
Cimolino, FB: 2,091 yards 27 TDS

WR

Galusha, MT: 792 yds, 10 TDs
Hennig, UL: 485 yds, 2 TD


If anyone has any other stats, please post them as a comment.

Polls

It wouldn't let me post all of them on the right side, so the OL and Kicker had to be placed in the regular posting section.

Nominations

Nominations for positions on offense are now closed. I'll get the polls up asap. We will continue nominations for offensive MVP until 7:30.

So far, for MVP we have Ching and Pardini.

MVP

Someone had a great suggestion, we should vote on an offensive and defensive MVP. I will give you all until 7:30 to come up with nominees for Offensive MVP (we'll do defense when I post those on Wednesday). If you pick a QB for MVP, that QB will not be considered for all Div. IV -- in other words, if they are the top vote getter for All Division, then the all div. title will go to the second place vote-getter.

All Div. IV Offense

Please look at all the posts below and let me know of any other players we should consider for the All Div. IV team. I will need any updates by 6:00 so I can start to put them on polls. Once I have them on a poll, I can't add another name.

TE & K

TE

Marchini, SL
Stainer, JS
Berry, CD (Cloverdale)
Beckwith, MT



K

Grubbs, JS
Beckwith, MT
Stroemme, FB
Castenada, SL

OL

OL

Raine, SL
Clayton, JS
Sarvinski, FN
Slinsen, JS
Mornig, JS
House, FB
Harmyk, MT
Lopez, MT
Renteria, FB
Mitchell, FB
Paupard, SL
Gonzalez, SL
Perales, SL
Sagastume, SL

WR

WR

Galusha, MT
Slade, FN
Reinell, JS
Wheeler, SL
Woolsey, SL
Hennig, UL


We're a little short of WR -- if anyone can think of another to add...

RB

RB

Ching, SL
Delbioggio, FN
Pardini, JS
Owen, MT
Tomko, MT
Cimolino, FB (Fort Bragg)
Matyshock, FN
Barnes, UL (Upper Lake)

All Division IV QB

I'm going to post position by position here before I put it up on the poll. If anyone notices we are missing a top player, please let me know so I can add them.

QB

Outen, MT
Aguayo, JS
Robertson, FN
McKay, FN
Wallace, SPSV
Richardson, CL
Densberger, SH
Woolsey, SL
Henderson, EM
Gupta, HK


MT=Middletown
JS=Justin Siena
FN=Ferndale
SPSV=St. Patrick-St. Vincent
CL=Clear Lake
SH=St. Helena
SL=Salesian
EM=Emery
HK=Harker

Public Vs. Private Schools

A lot has been written in the comment section regarding private schools and a perceived unfairness. I think any discussion about enrollment and leveling the field for all is a healthy discussion as long as people try to treat each other with respect.

My thoughts:

It doesn't matter at all if a school is public or private, they each play according to the rules set out by CIF, the NCS, and their particular conference or league. I think the only time there should be a question about enrollment and a team's division is when a private school is unisex. Outside of that, the enrollment figures for private and public schools are the same when it comes to alignment in a division. For division IV, it's 400 to 699 students. Period.

Part of the allure of the playoffs is facing up against teams you hadn't seen and don't know that well. And should these games really be cake-walks? Do you want a number one or two seed to always, always reach the championship game? For those of you who don't want any private school in the division IV playoffs, try to imagine what the playoffs would look like. If you are in the NCL I North, your playoffs would look like this: 6 teams from the NCL I, John Swett, and Ferndale. And that's assuming John Swett has a .500 season or better.

I don't know about you, but that sounds boring and not very challenging (aside from having to face Ferndale, of course!). The playoffs are supposed to be difficult. Long gone are the years when an undefeated Laytonville with a pass-happy offense and a number 8 seed landed in places like Lower Lake to be chewed up and spit out by the second and third string. Today, the 8th seed can be dangerous -- and an 8th seed has won the championship before.

Of Justin Siena's 4 Division IV (Class A) section championships, 3 had to go through Ferndale. They beat Ferndale 16-14 and 13-0 in the championship game, and recently beat them 22-15 in this year's semi-final game. One of Ferndale's 11 section titles (since 1975) had to go through Justin Siena, winning that one 28-6. The biggest rout was Ferndale beating Justin Siena, a public school beating a private school. Last year, Ferndale and St. Patrick-St. Vincent had two epic battles. The Bruins won the regular season game 27-21, with Ferndale in scoring position as time ran out, but Ferndale won the section title 6-0 over the same St. Patrick-St. Vincent team.

Those were great games. What about this year? Salesian beat Middletown 22-21 by kicking a field goal with just under 3 minutes left. Salesian's defense kept Middletown's running backs bottled up, but the Mustangs still had a passing game. Middletown had a 21-13 lead when the 4th quarter began. In fact, some people have speculated that if Middletown had thrown the ball more than 16 times, the game might have ended differently.

Justin Siena was losing to Ferndale at halftime 15-14 before finally getting on top in the second half. That game may have ended differently were it not for two great plays by the Brave's punter. Middletown and Ferndale were not blown out. They struggled, yes, but they were both in the game and each could have won.

All in all, I think it was a great season and each team deserved their spot in the playoffs. But, those are just my thoughts.

Division IV Championship

Justin Siena 28, Salesian 14

A great season has come to an end. We'll work on the all Division IV team this weekend and next week. Then we'll take a look at the Division IV players who will, or may, go on to play at the college level.

Halftime

Justin Siena 21, Salesian 14

Tonight's game

The game will be streamed live on KVYN radio beginning with a pre-game segment at 6:45.

Division IV Championship

Justin Siena (8-4) Vs. Salesian (9-2) Tonight at 7:00 pm at Alhambra High School

The big game is finally here. Both the Braves and the Pride faced tough opponents in last week's semi-final game and each scrapped out a win in the fourth quarter. One thing that was common in both games was that each controlled the line of scrimmage. Both teams have quick, mobile quarterbacks who can throw and each has talented running backs. I think the game will be as close and as hard fought as last week's games. Will it come down to another field goal? Or will one team pull away at the last? I give Salesian running back Ching the edge over Justin Siena's Pardini.

My Prediction: Salesian wins 28-21.

All Division IV Nominations

I think from now on, I'll let everyone post their nominations in the comments section and let everyone read them there. On Saturday, I will put the QBs, RBs, WRs, TE, K, and OL on the main board. I'll give everyone until Sunday at 6:00 PM to add any names to either list. By 8:00 PM, I'll have all of them listed in a poll for us to vote on. We will be able to vote for one QB, RB, WR, and TE. You can vote for multiple OL. I will also post what stats we have for each person on the list.

On Tuesday, I'll post the defense: DL, LB, DB, and P. I will fold in defensive ends with defensive linemen. If anyone wants to add a defensive player, they will have until 6:00 PM Wednesday.

On Wednesday at 8:00 PM I will take down the polls for offense and put up the polls for defense. The defensive poll will run through Saturday 8:00 PM. By 10:00 PM, I will post the all Division IV team as we have voted. I encourage everyone to vote as subjectively as they can.

All Division IV Team

We should have all the requests in by Saturday, December 13. Then I will set up a poll for offense then defense. By the 20th, we should have our team. We need a lot more nominations -- especially for defense and the offensive line.

More Nominations

LB
Tyler Owen, Middletown
Eric Tomko, Middletown
Jourdan Delbioggio, Ferndale

OL
Silas Sarvinski, Ferndale

RB
Kyle Matyshock, Ferndale

QB
Kevin McKay, Ferndale

K
Jordan Grubbs, Justin Siena

Nominations

QB
Ryan Richardson, Clear Lake

DB
Ryan Richardson, Clear Lake

Nominations

LB
Brandon Essy, Berean Christian

More Nominations

Note:
We can nominate players from teams in Div. IV that did not make the playoffs, too. Also, we'll go ahead and take nominations for individual offensive linemen, but we may end up just picking one teams entire line.


LB
Mike O'Neil, Salesian
Quinten Stainer, Justin Siena

QB
Daniel Wallace, St. Patrick-St. Vincent

WR
Kevin Reinell, Justin Siena

TE
Nick Marchini, Salesian

OL
Philip Raine, Salesian
Justin Clayton, Justin Siena

DE
Guido Mournig, Justin Siena

DL
Anthony Olivero, Salesian

Punter
Craig Cybuski, Justin Siena

More nominations

DE
Silas Sarvinksi, Ferndale

RB
Jake Cimolino, Fort Bragg

LB

Another Player worth noting:

LB
Mike Meekins, St. Patrick-St. Vincent

All Division IV Team

I am taking your nominations for the all Division IV team. Since we aren't going to be able to get stats fro everyone, I'd say let's just nominate players who have made an impact. I think we can also nominate an entire offensive line.

So far:

QB
Matt Outen, Middletown
Ryan Robertson, Ferndale
Eddie Aguayo, Justin Siena

RB
Matt Ching, Salesian
Jourdon Delbiaggio, Ferndale
Tyler Owen, Middletown
Eric Tomko, Middletown
Daniel Pardini, Justin Siena

WR
Dylan Galusha, Middletown
Jesse Slade, Ferndale

Offensive Line
Justin Siena
Salesian

DL
Justin Clayton, Justin Siena

LB
Daniel Pardini, Justin Siena


That's what we have so far, we should have an all Division IV team by the weekend of the State Championships (December 20). So please nominate any players from Div. IV you deem worthy.