Mater Dei Junior Quarterback JT Daniels Is On A Career Pace To Obliterate Several State Passing Records • Story by MARK TENNIS | Photos by SAM STRINGER (Photo Gallery below) It’s rare to see a junior in high school talk like a seasoned veteran, but Mater Dei-Santa Ana quarterback J.T.... Read more

Led By A Trio Of Multi-Purpose Stars, Oak Ridge Football Is Off To Its Best Start In Years • Story by IKE DODSON | Photos by JAMES K. LEASH Though he’s just 6 feet and 170 pounds, dual-threat Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills quarterback sensation Marco Baldocchino is impossible to miss.... Read more

Just like that, we’re already more than a full month into the fall athletics season. Which means it’s time for us to share a few things that we think we’ve learned to this point. Here’s a running list of those things. >> Despite a hiccup in the desert to Bishop... Read more

On Sept. 8, I went to Concord to see the Lancers from St. Francis play against the prestigious Spartans from De La Salle.  I was looking forward to watching two Tongan football student-athletes from St. Francis #7 Joshua Pakola and #52 Tyler Manoa. Last year’s running back from St. Francis, Cyrus... Read more

Photo Above: Central Catholic-Modesto coach Roger Canepa raises one of his program’s four straight CIF State Bowl Championship trophies. Football fans across the state did a collective double take Sept. 8, when Sac-Joaquin Section results revealed the biggest NorCal upset of the season, a 20-7 takedown of St. Mary’s-Stockton by... Read more

In a few of the top Bay Area football leagues, crunch time comes early this season. There never seems to be an easy week in the Central Coast Section’s West Catholic Athletic League, but that’s especially true for it’s opening week on Sept. 22-23. The WCAL features four teams within... Read more

Archbishop Mitty-San Jose Takes Aim At An Unprecedented Sixth Straight State Crown • Story By JAMES G. KANE | Photos By DOUG STRINGER It doesn’t take long. Only a few moments into the conversation, and Archbishop Mitty-San Jose coach Bret Almazan-Cezar recognizes what’s ahead. The name of another legendary team... Read more

Powerhouse Pittsburg Pirates Face Serra’s Padres Serra vs. Pittsburg 9/9/17. Photo Credits: Sherrie Gutierrez I’m here at another great football matchup with Division 1 Powerhouse Pittsburg Pirates as they travel to San Mateo to face the Serra Padres. Thinking that the game would start at 1pm, but Serra postpones the game til... Read more

2017 NORCAL FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Behind Leadership Of Napoleon Kaufman, Bishop O’Dowd Is Transforming Into A NorCal Power • Story by PHIL JENSEN | Photos by BERRY EVANS III Bishop O’Dowd High School-Oakland football coach Napoleon Kaufman had a premonition when he became the Dragons’ coach. “I looked those kids in... Read more

For a feature story in this issue of SportStars, the question was asked if this 2017 edition of the Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland football team might be the best in school history? The Dragons, after all, seem to be even more loaded than last year when they went 15-1 and won the... Read more

Alas, it’s here. Our labor of love, and admittedly my favorite issue to work on every year. This is the eighth edition of our Football Preview, and I feel like it gets better each time we do it. This year we added our newest wrinkle, adding a Southern California edition... Read more

We begin our 2017 Football coverage by revealing teams #20-11 in our NorCal Preseason Top 20 in a daily countdown to Aug. 24 when #10-1 are revealed in our 2017 Football Preview Special. If you need to catchup, here are links to previous entries: | No. 20 Foothill (Aug. 14)... Read more