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The result was not what they had hoped for, but for the Foothill girls’ volleyball team, it was all about the journey — and then some.
At one point, the Falcons stood 7-4 and thoughts of a league title were being called into question. A CIF Northern California title and a spot in the CIF Division I state title game would have elicited a laugh and a conversation about reality.
But Friday night, there the Pleasanton girls were, down in Southern California, facing Palos Verdes for the D-I title. It didn’t go as planned as Palos Verdes won the championship with a 25-11, 25-13, 25-23 decision, the Falcons never gave up the entire season.
“I’m having a really difficult time putting words to this season,” Foothill coach Dusty Collins said. “But this group definitely needs to get recognized for their amazing accomplishments this year.”
And that includes dealing with the cruelest blow of the season last week.
The day before the state title game, the Foothill family was rocked to the core when Collins’ father passed away unexpectedly. The family lives in Southern California and his dad was expected to attend the championship match.
“The team knew what I was going through personally with the loss of my dad,” Collins said. “They were all so sweet and showed what amazing and compassionate human beings they all are. I am so honored to have coached them this season.”
To get to the state title game, Foothill had to beat Redwood for the second time in two weeks (they beat the Giants in the first round of the North Coast Section playoffs) to win the NorCal title.
They did just that with a 25-18, 25-19, 14-25, 25-17 victory.
Kaycie Burdick, a day after being named the East Bay Athletic League’s Most Valuable Player had that kind of night with 25 kills and 18 digs.
Other highlights came from Lulu Hoenninger (7 kills, 5 blocks), Paige Nelson (32 assists, 8 digs), Kaitlyn Vogel (11 digs, 6 kills), Sophia Burdick (9 kills, 7 digs) and Olivia So (18 digs, 2 aces).
The NorCal title was the first since 2006, a year in which the Falcons also ended up as the state runner-up.
In the state title game, Burdick Vogel, and Hoenninger each had seven kills, with Nelson adding 15 assists.
D-II NCS football
Amador kept its amazing second half of the season alive, knocking off Windsor by a 38-29 final in the NCS Division II semifinals.
The win puts the No. 2-seeded Dons into the final against No. 4 Bishop O’Dowd. The game is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff this Friday (Nov. 29) at Dublin High.
O’Dowd advanced to the D-II finals by upsetting top-seeded Liberty 23-15 last Friday, a week after defeating Monte Vista 31-28 in the first round.
Amador fell 35-28 to Liberty early in the year when the Dons were battling the injury bug.
The Dragons present a balanced attack with quarterback Devin Wilson having thrown for 1,698 yards with 19 touchdowns with three interceptions. University of Washington commit Deji Ajose has been the top receiver with 43 catches for 744 yards.
“(O’Dowd) doesn’t look as physical on either side of the ball, but they are fast and you can’t simulate that speed,” Amador Valley coach Danny Jones said. “Their offense goes through (Ajose) — he’s very good.”
When it’s time to run the ball, the Dragons turn to Saliou Sow who has 1,264 yards and 12 touchdowns.
This year has been all about the excellence of quarterback Tristan Ti’a and receiver Anthony Harrington, as the two have been destroying opposing defenses.
But last week in the win over Windsor in a rainstorm, the Dons got a rushing performance they have been searching for all season.
Behind the power game of Ismael Duenas and Vince Maiorana, the Dons gained over 300 yards on the ground in the win.
It was crucial to the Dons on a night made for running the ball and with a top receiver out.
“It was nice to win a game where we didn’t need Tristan and Ant doing everything for us,” Jones said. “We knew we are physical, so to run for over 300 yards was big.”
The Dons got a big return in the game with middle linebacker Jack Jetton who finished with 14 tackles. Also, this week Amador will get receiver Ben Stout back from injury.
“We are healthy now,” Jones said.
Amador boys’ basketball
The Dons jumped out to a 22-9 first quarter lead and never looked back as they opened the season 61-39 win over James Logan.
Kasen Kruger had 16 points and Jaylen Smith had 10 to lead Amador.
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.
