|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Friday Night Lights begins this week, and we have nearly a full slate of games on the calendar.
It looks like business as usual for the local teams, as the teams who are strong every year appear to be among the elite in the North Coast Section once again.
San Ramon Valley faces a brutally tough opener, traveling to El Cerrito to face a program that has attained top level status. The game is set for Friday (Aug. 28) at 7 p.m.
California faces an equally tough opener, playing host to Liberty on Friday night in another 7 p.m. game.
Monte Vista is at home, playing host to a talented Marin Catholic team in a 7 p.m. match.
Amador Valley, a team that will have some talented young players this year, opens with a very athletic Vanden team in a 7 p.m. showdown at Amador.
Livermore, the defending East Bay Athletic League Valley Division champs, go on the road for a 7:30 p.m. game on Friday night at Ripon.
Granada is at Campolindo in a 7 p.m. game on Friday night. Foothill is also on the road, playing a 7 p.m. at Newark Memorial on Friday.
Dublin is at Antioch at 7 p.m. while Dougherty Valley welcomes football back into the fold with a 7 p.m. game at Mt. Eden.
Finally, in arguably the best game of week one in Northern California, De La Salle will travel across the Bay to take on Serra-San Mateo at 7 p.m. in what could be an instant classic.
Emerald High will play their first game on Sept. 5, when they go to Fremont to play American.
Flag football underway
Most EBAL teams have a game under their belts, and although it’s early, there are four teams leading the way.
San Ramon Valley and all-world junior quarterback Gia Ryanm opened with a 47-6 win over Dougherty Valley.
California is a perennial powerhouse but slid by Monte Vista 13-12 in overtime, stamping MV as a team to watch around
Amador and senior quarterback Riley Harrington, who along with Ryan were highly ranked in preseason polls, have come out of the gate on fire.
The Dons opened with a 33-0 win over Emerald, then followed with a 20-0 over a historically strong Granada program.
What to watch for this year!
The Playbook is back in full on Sept. 1, with the same popular stories our readers have grown to love.
The Power Rankings for football, flag football and girls’ volleyball will return next week as our teams battle for the top spot in the Valley.
The Fast Five will be back as well with some new questions for this season.
Our What to Watch section returns with the schedule for the top games for the upcoming week.
Finally, a new addition for the Big Picture will be the “game of the week” – talking about the one game across all sports that is the most enticing for the next week and why that game matters so much.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation. To sign up for free, visit here.
