We are now into the quarterfinals of the 2012 CCS basketball playoffs — eight teams remain in all five brackets. Basically, we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty here. I don’t don’t don’t mean to brag, but I’m going to take a minute to do so because, well, I’m a bragger sometimes.
BOOM, pretty much nailed it. There were 12 possible choices here, nailed 11 of them (damn you, SEASIDE!). “OK, wise guy, but how’d you do in the other brackets? Huh?!
• In girls’ Division III … I went 4 for 4
• In girls’ Division IV … I went 4 for 4
So for those keeping stats at home, I went 16 for 24 in soccer, for a .667 batting average.
And I went 19 for 20 in basketball, for a .950 batting average. Combined, July! hit .795. I will admit, picking until the quarterfinals in easier. We’ll see how I do semis and finals.
Man, I love brackets. And if there’s one thing I love more than brackets, it’s filling in who I think is going to win … and then slamming my head against my desk at the Journal when I AM ALL WRONG! You know what, it doesn’t stop me from doing it though. OK, so CCS basketball, there are 10 brackets. You can find them all here.I’d be lying if I said I have the same vested interest in all 10 — I don’t. I love some more than others. Here are the ones I, and most other fans/writers, will be looking at. Good luck to everyone though. (I predict I’ll nail … hmm, at least two of these).
BOYS DIVISION II … or my so called, “Bracket of Death.” This thing is loaded and it’s especially top-heavy. I like our local squad in Aragon to pull off a couple of big wins for their program — I like their chances against Los Gatos and with a little momentum, I’m taking the upset in the second round. But MITTY, whoa whoa whoa. Mitty is a beast. A state title contender. I’m sure Serra wants another crack at Mitty, but PALY will be tough. Two very well coached teams in Serra and Paly. This bracket is going to be SO MUCH FUN.
BOYS DIVISION III … If my bracket holds up, then the game EVERYONE needs to watch is El Camino vs. S.I. That is a dream matchup at the point guard position. Two very quick, very explosive players. Does E.C have someone to match up with Mr. Domingo though? Mr. Knight perhaps? Looks like Burlingame, if they beat Monterey, which I think they very much can, would run into a stronger, more experienced SHC. And the thing there is, SHC group of players that beat the Panthers last year in the title game, are back and actually better this year. I think Mills makes a run before bowing out. And I like E.C. in the title game. Call it a homer pick if you must.
BOYS DIVISION IV … in another homer-filled bracket, I just want to see Menlo take on SHP. I think that atmosphere would be electric in Santa Clara. It’s not too far-fetched. Palma is quite strong, so Menlo has to play out of their minds to beat them. I think the Gators match up very well against Soquel and McConnell is a beast.
GIRLS DIVISION III … the expectations couldn’t be higher for Terra Nova. This is there year. It has to be, right? What better way for Moe, Cook-Taylor and Lauala to ride off into the sunset than with a CCS trophy? The path to the title is clear. I like San Mateo to bounce back and pick up some wins. Mills is here too, but Santa Cruz didn’t win 23 games by accident.
GIRLS DIVISION IV … the thing about getting your teeth kicked in every week in the WCAL is that it prepares you like no other league for the CCS playoffs. Ask Notre Dame-Belmont. The got their @$$ handed to in league play this year. But they earned a 4-seed and could very well take the whole thing. Taking a glance at Soquel’s wins, I like them this year. Menlo will be fun to watch with Edelman. And SHP is capable of catching fire.
A couple of months ago, I made my predictions with regards to the CCS Football playoffs. And considering that I don’t remember beating myself up too much after all was said and done, I think I did fairly well. The time has come again to do so for Soccer, as we enter the CCS postseason there. Our local teams are well represented, but when you get to postseason soccer, every game is tough. It’s not like football where you can sniff out an upset. The parity in soccer is pretty consistent throughout. Here are my picks, starting with girls’ soccer.
DIVISION I
I’ve had the luxury of seeing Los Gatos play. And they’re legit. Carlmont is good and peaking at the right time. I can see them beating Los Gatos, but my instinct is with the No. 1 seed. St. Francis is ranked 19th in the state. I’m taking Woodside in a 1st round upset special.
DIVISION II
There are soccer teams, and then there’s Mitty. Or so, I’ve been told. I’ve seen a lot of Aragon soccer this season. I’m a big fan of their work. So, I think if they’re clicking, they can take Presentation and even give a team like Mitty a serious run. It won’t be easy, but the Dons have the players to do so. Believe that.
DIVISION III
I admit, I don’t know enough about D-III soccer to make a truly educated guess. So, based on what I know about who’s beaten who, I’m taking Menlo in the final but losing to Stevenson.
BOYS DIVISION I
You’ve heard me say on July! before that I’m a BIG Jacob Pickard guy, and I think the Bears have the kind of team that can play and stand against the WCAL teams. The interesting thing here, is that I have never heard of Alisal, but apparently, THEY’RE REALLY FREAKIN’ GOOD. Good enough for a No. 3 ranking in the state. I’ve seen Serra play this year, twice. I want to see Alisal play the Padres. Watsonville has some legit wins, too. That’s why I’m taking them to reach the finals.
DIVISION II
An interesting dilemma presented itself in Division II. Mainly, I’ve seen the PAL teams in this bracket, more specifically, San Mateo. I know what they’re capable of on defense. That said, I’ve also seen Mitty. And right now, I think they’re the better team. They took care of Serra and tied St. Francis. They’re hot right now. I think Mitty vs. San Mateo will be closer than people think. But I think the Monarchs win. Hillsdale can play defense against S.I. They just don’t have the finishing quality to beat them.
DIVISION III
Burlingame is one of those teams that, just by plain misfortune, did not get to see a whole lot of. But they’re also one of the few that I will go out of my way to learn about. I’m a big Mike-Sharabi guy. I’m taking SHP in a big upset special over Santa Cruz to set-up the all local final.
In a writing career that has reached six years (so far), I’ve reported on hundreds, maybe thousands of athletes. And I’ve been to countless games and events. Sunday afternoon though, I went to the most important game of my life and got a chance to watch my favorite futbol player take the pitch. If you haven’t heard of him yet, you will. He’s my nephew, Nicholas. Or ‘Cas for short.
Now, I will say this, futbol is in Cas’ veins. His dad, my brother, never played organized ball, but both his grandfathers did. So in terms of running and all that ball control jazz, ‘Cas is a natural. He’s a kind boy though, so he has to develop that competitive instinct in him still. But he takes to his teammates great. And more importantly, ‘Cas has fun.
I will say this, I’m going to make a TERRIBLE soccer-dad one day (if and when God decides to give me kids and I can trick some girl into being my baby-mama). The boy is my nephew, but I was all nerves watching him participate in his drills and in the small scrimmage. Before the day started, I told ‘Cas I wanted THREE goals. His response, “Wellllll, I’m going to try my best.” Freakin’ melted my heart. Guess what though!? He scored three times!! Here he is scoring with his teammate Gwen as the goalkeeper.
And here he is running around the cones to set up his shot.
I have an entire album of his day up on Facebook (click below to view it). He’s a fantastic kid who makes a lot of us proud. I for one would love a son just like him one day. And I’m sure if he puts his mind it, ‘Cas can accomplish whatever he dreams. As for his uncle, I wouldn’t mind an offensive-minded midfielder in the form of Andres Iniesta one day
I’ve told ‘Cas that I want him to grow up to be someone special.
Last night upon arriving at the Peninsula Athletic League tournament site (Sequoia High), I grabbed a nifty program, to have a copy of the most up to date rosters. There was however, a tiny treat inside as the good people that run the PAL decided to announce the All-League Basketball Teams inside the program. The PAL website hasn’t updated that information yet, so no 2nd or 3rd teams. Here are your All-Leaguers for 2011-2012.
BAY DIVISION
Your Most Valuable Player is Elijah White, point guard for the El Camino Colts. You can’t argue with that. White can ball. His 15 points per game rank him in the Top 30 of the section according to Maxpreps.com. But he’s more than a scorer, he’s a bona-fide star at the point. Joining White on the first team are:
*MICHAEL SMITH (EL CAMINO), ANTHONY KNIGHT (EL CAMINO), **FRANKIE FERRARI (BURLINGAME), *BRANDON BERKOVATZ (MILLS) and MATT ENNIS (WOODSIDE).
OCEAN DIVISION
Your MVP here is Marquis Johnson of South San Francisco High School. I recently wrote a story about him as our Athlete of Week. You can find it here and check out more of his season. Joining Mr. Johnson on the All-Ocean team are:
**ALEX MANU (ARAGON), DOMINIQUE WILLIAMS (HALF MOON BAY), ANDY SIMANEK (HALF MOON BAY), *WAI MIN (WESTMOOR) and *NICK FRANKEL (ARAGON).
LAKE DIVISION
The MVP of the Lake Division is Ben Skelton of San Mateo High School, and with apologies to No. 23, I didn’t have one of his photos in our archives, so I stole this one from his Twitter account. You too can follow an MVP @BenSkelton23. Skelton is here because he helped the Bearcats win the Lake Division title … which gives San Mateo two division crowns in the winter sports, having picked up a share of the PAL Bay Division title in soccer. Anyways, joining Ben on the team are:
ZACK KHOTZ (CAPUCHINO), CHIEFY UGBAHA (OCEANA), NICK MANESSIS (TERRA NOVA) and IVAN ARAYZA (SEQUOIA).
GIRLS BAY DIVISION
The MVP of the Bay is, surprise surprise, Terilyn Moe of Terra Nova. If Moe isn’t he best player in the county, period, than I’d really like to sit in that argument and listen who comes close to her because it would be lies. Moe is the best. Apologies to Ms. Moe for the b/w portrait. Blame in on the horrendous lighting at Mills High School. Also in the All-Bay lineup are:
IVONNE COOK-TAYLOR (TERRA NOVA), JAYZYLE TAUALA (TERRA NOVA), LAUREN RALLY (BURLINGAME), TENNYSON JELLINS (MENLO-ATHERTON), and ALANA SIMON (SAN MATEO).
OCEAN DIVISION
Your MVP in the girls’ Ocean Division is Aragon’s Justine Kubo. She’s a point guard who can light it up from the outside. Sneaky fast too. Joining her on the All-Ocean squad are:
MAKE AHOIA (ARAGON), **MARINEL ALCANTARA (WESTMOOR), NATALIE LEIST (CARLMONT), *MIA MAFLEI (EL CAMINO), TAYLOR COLLINS (JEFFERSON), and MARIAH TOFAEONO (SOUTH CITY).
LAKE DIVISION
Sequoia’s Alaina Woo is the Lake MVP … and here is where I’ll apologize just in case this isn’t Alaina. Really, it’s the only picture I could find that MIGHT be her. No hard feelings if you read this, Alaina. I do hope that is you. The All-Lake is composed of:
JENNA YEE (HILLSDALE), *MADISON MICHELIS (WOODSIDE), BULOU MATIATOGA (SEQUOIA), MARY KATHRYN SOUTHER (HILLSDALE) and GIANELLY PRIETO (SEQUOIA).
Congratulations are in effect to everyone who made the teams. I know playing ball in high school, I always wanted to make one of these and never did. Mainly though, because I sucked. *means they’re a junior and will be back to ball again next year **means we have sophomores in the mix who will terrorize for at least two more years.
The Peninsula Athletic League wrapped up play last night. And with the way my winter schedule lined up, I became the unofficial voice of girls’ soccer at the Daily Journal. That’s to say, I watched a lot of it. Here’s the skinny on what you need to know, just like, right out of the gate.
DIVISION WINNERS: CARLMONT AND HILLSDALE. That was easy. CARLMONT started believing they could overtake pre-season favorite Aragon when they beat them the first time on their home soil. They then translated that into one of those runs where, you ride a very good, very disciplined defense, and rely on a red-hot offensive player to muster the bulk of the load. In the Scots case it was Soha Said a freshman. Boom, the girl scores twice against the Dons last Tuesday and then once again on Thursday to push the Scots ahead of Burlingame. HILLSDALE, on the other hand, ran the table and aside from a slip-up that cost them a pair of points, the Knights were pretty much unblemished. What do the teams have in common? Style — both play a possession style of football, building momentum from the back and getting the bulk of their scoring chances through the middle of the field. Gosh, it’s pretty to watch.
Here are some other thoughts that are circling in my brain as the girls’ soccer world awaits the CCS announcements. I think a lot. Apparently.
• I’m debating whether to put together a Daily Journal Girls’ Soccer Team. A couple of weeks ago I started jotting down during games possible alignments and players that I felt stood out. This won’t be an easy task, mainly because there are a lot of really talented players out there — yet, they’re the kind of players that don’t necessarily fit into the July! system. The team is completely subjective, based totally on a style of football that I like played and not the 11 Best Players in the Area. Just a quick sample of my notes from a couple of weeks ago while walking the track at San Mateo:
Can you tell I’m leaning towards a 4-3-3? I’m a Barcelona guy, what can I tell ya? No, really, the truth is there are a lot more talented midfielders and wing players than pure strikers. A 4-3-3 allows the 3 mids to attack or feed to the two winged forwards who can crash towards goal or split wide and send a cross in. Which leads me to my next point.
• One of the biggest things I was looking forward to this season (no pun intended) was watching who the newest breed of strikers would be. The Peninsula lost a slew of tremendous girls who had a true nose for the goal. Woodside, San Mateo, Sacred Heart Prep, Mills, all had to adjust to the loss of a bulk of their scoring. And I was right. With the exception of Menlo-Atherton, the county was at a loss for true goal scorers. That doesn’t mean however that the level of play took a dip. In fact, dare I say it, I felt it was better. A lot more chess matches on the field in 2012. I’ll take a well-played 2-1 game over a 4-3, Cheap-goal-City game any day of the week.
• So, who HAS to make the All-DJ Team? I’m going to give you three names, who are also my front runners for our DJ Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year.
•• One, Jennifer Kirst of Menlo-Atherton, who would win the Comeback Player of the Year Award if we had one in a landslide. She got the bulk of her goals at the start of year AND THEN defenses started realizing she’s the real deal. Guess what? The girl kept scoring.
•• Two, Rachel Killigrew of Aragon, who is the biggest bad-ass defender in the league. Near the end of the year, I started noticing coach Colglazier move her from her sweeper position (where the girl kills) to a more defensive midfielder role (where the girl killed). She’s smart, she’s tough, she’s a leader.
•• Three, Carly Richardson of Carlmont, who is the heart of arguably the best defensive team, 1-thru-11, in the county. And given that the Scots just rode that defensive pony to the Bay Division title, it would be a disservice to not include her in the conversation. No. 2 can play some serious soccer.
• My only hesitation for not fielding an All-DJ team is parents/uncles/guardians who might feel slated by the big, bad Daily Journal for not including their kid. It’s here that I point out one very important thing: The PAL has 16 teams, add to that Notre Dame-Belmont, Crystal Springs Uplands, Mercy-Burlingame, Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep. Now, I’m a writer, not a mathematician but, that’s 21 teams, times an average roster of 18 girls — 21 x 18 = 378 girls (at least). Guess what? I’m only taking 18. 11 starters, 2 subs at DF, MF and FW and an extra keeper. I’m going to piss some people off.
• Last thought before I head to the DJ offices: GOAL OF THE YEAR. Mmm hmm, I’ve been watching. Three stood out. Here are you leaders in the clubhouse.
•• One, Lexie Rogers of Aragon with a 35-yard, dead-ball stunner in a game against Woodside. Wow.
•• Two, Lily Discher of Sequoia, who bent a dead-ball from 30 yards out against Hillsdale in the game’s final minute. Marvelous.
•• Three, Layla Coleman of Hillsdale, who volleyed in a cross from Aleja Cretcher in a game against Sequoia that all but locked up the Ocean Division for the Knights — prompting her own head coach to ask, “Am I watching a girls’ high school soccer match?” I was thinking something similar.
All fun fun goals. Or in the words of my boy Ian Darke:
I’m going to allow myself a total MAN moment on July! and share a little bit of video from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue which found a way to combine a couple of my favorite things into one package. (1) Soccer (2) Art (3) Alex Morgan.
Morgan burst onto the scene last summer in the Women’s World Cup. The striker has continued her trek to the top of the striker depth chart and appears to be the heir apparent to Abby Wambach.
When she’s not busy scoring goals, apparently the can rock the hell out of a swimsuit. I approve.
The artwork is seamless and Alex is flawless — girl can rock a painted bathing suit! How many women can say they can pull that off?
Today we have a very special guest. I swear if I had a red carpet, I’d lay it out for these guys every single day … ONE TIME INC.
You’ve seen a share of their work before on July! … mostly through the contribution of Matt Maniego, BFAM (brother from another mother), who shoots for me during some of my bigger events. Well, his production crew set out to capture Giants FanFest 2012 this year. I was very fortunate to tag along and witness the creative process behind what you’re about to see. Enjoy.
Very blessed to have such talented and passionate friends and family. And it’s insane to think the amount of work that goes into getting quality stuff, editing it and seeing it trimmed down to three minutes of outstanding video. One Time was at the ball park for nine hours! These guys are amazing.
UPDATE: As soon as I published this, I caught an error on the page. Lesson here, boys and girls: proofread, proofread, proofread. Man, that would have been embarrassing. Can you catch the error?
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Where has all the time gone?
We are already a month and a half into the new year, and as expected, it’s been nuts. Lots of stuff going on in July Land which are making blogging increasingly difficult to do. Sorry. Anyways, I have a second while I wait for the Warriors’ story to come through the Associated Press wire, so I’m going to take this chance and post the bracket for the PAL tournament, version 2012. Here you go:
Building this today made me realize (a) I need a faster computer and (b) I don’t really like building stuff the day of — I don’t feel like I agonize over it enough and will probably hate it the next day because, well, that’s just the way I am.
There is a story that goes with this, I’ll do my best to post a link to it tomorrow when it’s live.
Predictions? I’d be dumb not to take El Camino boys and Terra Nova girls. My upset specials? How abbbout Mills in the boys bracket and San Mateo in the girls. The Bearcats came within three of the Tigers … which is closer than any team in the PAL.
Stuff on the back-burner? How about an All-Daily Journal girls’ soccer team. And I’m doing some homework on the boys side. So, keep an eye out for those.
