Cardinal Newman will face San Ramon Valley in a football playoff game

The Cardinal Newman football team has met every challenge thrown at it this year, but the Cardinals’ opponent this week in the semifinal round of the North Coast Open/Division 1 playoffs is unlike any they have faced in the last 12 weeks.

On Friday, the Cardinals will travel to Danville to take on San Ramon Valley (10-1) of the East Bay Athletic League’s Mountain Division, arguably the top league in the NCS, if not all of Northern California.

The Press Democrat Game of the Week will feature the Wolves, ranked No. 18 in the state by CalHi Sports, while the fifth-ranked Cardinals (10-1) are ranked No. 44 after 20 -th place. No. 7’s win over fourth-seeded Marin Catholic in the first round of the playoffs last week.

The match is scheduled to start at 19:00. The winner will face the loser of the De La Salle-Pittsburgh game next week for the Division 1 title and a spot in the CIF NorCal playoffs.

Of the four teams remaining in the Open/Division 1 playoffs, Cardinal Newman is by far the smallest team, a Division 6 base team with fewer than 600 students. San Ramon Valley is a Division II team with about 2,000 members.

“I think everyone understands that we are like this fairytale story in this Open/Division 1 tournament,” Cardinal Newman head coach Richard Sanchez said. “If we surprise this team then we’ve achieved a lot and we’ve already achieved a lot but there’s nothing to hang on the wall yet.

“There is no banner in this game, so we need to keep working because these seniors definitely deserve it. … They are still hungry; they definitely have something to prove.”

San Ramon Valley finished the regular season ranked third in the NCS by CalPreps and posted wins over some of the region’s top teams, including St. Ignatius (28-10), Clayton Valley Charter (31-15 ), “Amador Valley” (29). -28), Monte Vista (38-7) and California twice (38-26, 35-7). Their only loss was to De La Salle (42-14), the consensus No. 1 team in the NCS and the No. 5 team in the state according to CalHi Sports.

Wolves have stars all over the field. Senior quarterback Rhett Thompson (Bryant University) is one of the top passers in the state, rushing for over 2,471 yards through the air and throwing 34 touchdowns to just four interceptions. Over the past three games, Thompson has averaged 280 passing yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions.

Senior Owen Scott (UC Davis commit) is their leading receiver with 879 yards and 11 touchdowns on 65 receptions and is one of three Wolves receivers with over 300 yards on the year.

As powerful as their offense is, it’s probably where Wolves shine most on defense. They have one of the top defensive recruits in the state in four-star linebacker/defensive end Marco Jones, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound Texas A&M commit who leads the team with 106 total tackles, 29 tackles for loss and 9½ tackles. . bags. They also have a senior defensive back in Cal Poly commit Caleb Place, who is listed at 6’5″ and 220 pounds with a team-high 13½ sacks, as well as a defensive lineman who is 6’3″ and weighs 240 pounds in Luke Fitzgerald, who is being courted by Division I college programs.

Defensively, Sanchez believes the Cardinals can match up well against the Wolves, but he acknowledged that dealing with their massive defensive front won’t be easy.

“They’re big,” Sanchez said of the Wolves’ linemen. “6-3, 6-5, 6-3, 6-2, but we’re short and stocky and we have a lot of grit now too.”

This game may well come down to who wins in the trenches. More than an inch of rain will fall in Danville on Friday, meaning both teams could be forced to abandon their passing game and go to ground. While freshman guard Tino “LT” Retamosa has reinvigorated the Cardinals’ passing attack this year, their strength still lies in running the ball.

They have rushed for over 200 yards in their last two games and are averaging 180 yards per game on the season. Their defense has also been stellar all season and has allowed just 31 points over the last four games.

YesYou can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @JustGusPD.