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It happens.
No one wants to admit it, but there are times — no matter how seldom it happens — that a loss can be almost as good as a win.
Take the case of the Amador Valley football team this season. The Dons came into the regular season finale at 6-3 and were facing a 7-2 California team in a game where both teams brought incredible offensive units.
And it was a game as good as advertised, as the teams put over 1,200 yards of offense on the board as Cal grabbed a 54-48 overtime win.
A crushing loss for an Amador team that is getting healthy at the right time … or was it?
If the Dons had won, they likely would have been in the North Coast Section Open/Division I playoffs and could have drawn De La Salle in the first round. With the loss, the Dons became the No. 2 seed in the D-II playoffs and will host the first two rounds of the playoffs if they win the first round.
The open hosting No. 7 Las Lomas this Friday at 7 p.m.
It also worked out for Cal because if the Grizzlies had lost, they may have gotten the game with De La Salle. Instead, they are on the opposite side of the bracket from the Spartans.
It’s still a tall order, the Grizzlies (No. 6) get a rematch with San Ramon Valley (3), Friday night at San Ramon Valley at 7 p.m. SRV won the first game with Cal 38-26.
Foothill girls’ volleyball
The Falcons dropped a pair of matches in the second week of the NCS Open Division playoffs. In the semifinals the Falcons fell to top-seeded and eventual-champion Branson 19-25, 14-25, 17-25.
Highlights came from Paige Nelson (20 assists, 11 digs, 5 kills), Kaycie Burdick (16 digs, 10 kills), Sophia Burdick (11 kills, 5 digs) and Kait Vogel (15 digs, 5 kills).
In the third-place match, it was James Logan getting the best of a 25-19, 23-25, 23-25, 21-25 decision. This time the Foothill highlights were from Kaycie Burdick (15 kills, 13 digs), Nelson (19 assists, 14 kills, 9 digs), Vogel (16 digs, 7 kills) and Lulu Hoenninger (7 kills, 5 blocks).
Amador girls’ water polo
The Dons fell 17-9 to Archie Williams (formerly Sir Francis Drake) in the first round of the NCS playoffs.
Susan Swyers scored four goals and Regan Braga three to lead the offense. Addi Drain and Zahra Alani had a goal each.
Winter sports starting
It’s almost time to step fully into the winter sports season, which means time to ask for some help getting results for our hard-working athletes!
The winter season is the easiest time. Let’s look at the sports:
Basketball: After the game, take a picture of your scorebook and send it to me. It’s that easy and works great with the person keeping the scorebook. You can just shoot your side of the book and either text it to me — 925-200-0719 — or email it to me at acesmag@aol.com. Please make sure the players totals are added up and that I can see the final score.
Soccer: I need the final score, who scored, who got assists and any highlights. Please send to the email address above.
Wrestling: I know things are mostly tournaments now, so you can either send me a writeup or just provide me a link to a site that has the tournament results. Give me the names of the kids that had a great tournament, with their weight class.
You can send everything by Sunday at noon or throughout the week. Either works great by me!
Also, if you have a team photographer, have them send me a couple high-resolution pictures each week. They cannot be a photo used by another news agency — just send me the name of the person snapping the picture and IDs of your players.
Finally, please don’t be that person who only sends results when you win. A simple question — are the kids any less worthy when they lose a game?
Thanks and have a great season!
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
Correction: A prior version of this story’s subhead incorrectly referred to Foothill volleyball’s postseason status. The girls’ team was eliminated from the North Coast Section tournament but would still qualify for the CIF State NorCal Division I tournament. Embarcadero Media Foundation regrets the error.
