By: Chace Bryson
It was an up-and-down first four weeks of the season for the El Cerrito High football team, and it ended on a down note in a 42-27 loss at Campolindo-Moraga on Sept. 20.
With perhaps their most talented roster ever, the Gauchos have never been under the microscope more than this season. They opened the year as favorite to reach the California Interscholastic Federation Division III Northern Regional bowl game, holding the top spot in CalHiSports.com’s Div. III NorCal Bowl Ranking.
Meanwhile, El Cerrito coach Kenny Khan was all for embracing the challenge and built his nonleague schedule as such.
El Cerrito opened the season with a 34-14 win over Sutter, a CIF Div. III NorCal bowl participant a year ago. The Gauchos then dropped a tough 28-25 loss to Central Coast Section Div. I-power, Bellarmine-San Jose “” playing the game without star wide receiver Jalen Harvey. Harvey was back a week later and caught a touchdown pass in El Cerrito’s most significant road win in several seasons, a 35-7 victory over Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa. The Cardinals entered the game ranked No. 3 in the CalHiSports.com Bowl Rankings for NorCal Div. III.
“(The Bellarmine loss) taught them that playing tough opponents in the preseason means you have to show up and be a high caliber football team from the very jump,” Kahn said of his team following the win over Cardinal Newman. “You don’t just get to get in a groove and figure it out.”
One week later, El Cerrito matched a red-hot Campolindo team “” also among the Div. III bowl rankings “” score for score to a 21-21 tie before the Cougars pulled away in the second half.
Despite the 2-2 mark, there’s no reason to consider El Cerrito out of the NorCal bowl picture. The Gauchos will be heavy favorites in every one of their Tri-County League-Rock Division games, and should coast into the postseason with an 8-2 mark. Then fortunately for them, all of the top-ranked bowl favorites for Division III reside in the North Coast Section, including Marin Catholic Kentfield “” which narrowly defeated El Cerrito in last year’s NCS title game “” and Campolindo, among others. As long as the Gauchos can take care of business and win their first NCS title, they should be a lock for one of the two CIF NorCal Bowl participants.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Kahn said following the Cardinal Newman win. “But I’d like to think our progress is showing we’re a high-caliber team who wants to be one of the best. We’ll keep working at it and keep trying to get better each and every week.”
NOTES: Few Sac-Joaquin Section teams have generated more buzz in the past few weeks than Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills, and deservedly so after a 4-0 start and a 20-17 win over Grant-Sacramento on Sept. 20. Behind the big start is yet another young QB talent, Ian Book. The 6-foot-1 sophomore has completed 61 percent of his passes for slightly less than 1,000 yards. He’s thrown for 10 TDs and just two interceptions. The Trojans face another physical opponent in Vacaville on Sept. 27 before their Delta River League opener when Book will go toe-to-toe with the region’s gold standard at QB, Jake Browning of Folsom. … League play starts for a number of NCS teams on Sept. 27, and perhaps the most intriguing matchup will be in the Diablo Foothill Athletic League where Campolindo and Acalanes-Lafayette meet up. Both teams have opened the season 4-0, and last year’s contest was instant classic as Campolindo eeked out a 40-39 win on the final play or the game.