Serra team captain’s Ira Jennings (21) and Andrew Fadelli (33) holds up the Central Coast Section Open Division championship trophy after a victory against Wilcox in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, October 17, 2023. Serra won 63-27. Tony Avelar for the Bay Area News Group
We’ve reached the end of the line for the 2023 high school football season.
Thank you for following along as we’ve done our best to entertain and inform as we made our all-in-fun picks each week and discussed all things high school football in our video forum.
For anyone interested in the standings, I finished first, Mike Lefkow took second and The Kid — aka Joseph Dycus — placed a distant third.
We have four more picks to close out the season as a quartet of teams from the Bay Area News Group’s coverage area — Serra, De La Salle, Los Gatos and Acalanes — will play for state championships this weekend in Southern California.
Dycus — the free swinger in this picks competition — swung out his shoes again, picking Serra to stun Mater Dei for the Open Division title.
“Yesterday, I did some research on the biggest upsets in California state playoffs championships and the one that comes to mind — the one that I found — was Elliott Almond’s game story from when Palo Alto defeated an absolutely loaded Centennial-Corona team,” Dycus said. “You know what, I’ve made all sorts of crazy predictions over the course of this season and last season. I’ll call it now.”
Dycus’ call: Serra 21, Mater Dei 17
“Write it down,” Dycus added. “You know what made me think of this, too. I know it’s different levels and all that. But seeing them play as big of a line as Riordan, where they have 300-pounders across the line, and seeing those Serra linebackers … go up there and there was no room to run. I know this Mater Dei team is on another level. But this Serra team, I don’t think they’re going to be intimidated by Mater Dei.”
If you want just the predictions, keep scrolling.
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Enjoy the video.
WEEK 16 PICKS
CIF state championships
DIVISION 3-AA
Acalanes (10-4) vs. Birmingham (12-2) on Saturday, 11:30 a.m. at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. TV: Spectrum News 1/Spectrum RSN (TBD)
Sabedra: Acalanes
Dycus: Acalanes
Lefkow: Acalanes
DIVISION 2-A
Los Gatos (12-2) vs. Central Valley Christian-Visalia (14-1) on Saturday, 7 p.m. at Pasadena City College
Sabedra: Los Gatos
Dycus: Los Gatos
Lefkow: Los Gatos
DIVISION 1-AA
De La Salle (11-2) vs. Mission Viejo (12-3) on Friday, 8 p.m. at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. TV: Spectrum News 1/Spectrum RSN (TBD)
Sabedra: De La Salle
Dycus: De La Salle
Lefkow: De La Salle
OPEN DIVISION
Serra (12-0) vs. Mater Dei-Santa Ana (12-1), Saturday, 8 p.m. at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. TV: Spectrum News 1/Spectrum RSN (TBD)
Sabedra: Mater Dei
Dycus: Serra
Lefkow: Mater Dei
WEEK 15 RESULTS
NorCal regionals
DIVISION 6-A
North: Colusa 42, South San Francisco 6
Sabedra: SSF (L)
Dycus: SSF (L)
Lefkow: SSF (L)
DIVISION 6-AA
North: St. Vincent de Paul 28, Palo Alto 26
Sabedra: St. Vincent de Paul (W)
Dycus: Palo Alto (L)
Lefkow: St. Vincent de Paul (W)
DIVISION 5-AA
North: Pleasant Valley 31, Miramonte 12
Sabedra: Pleasant Valley (W)
Dycus: Miramonte (L)
Lefkow: Pleasant Valley (W)
DIVISION 3-A
North: Marin Catholic 35, McClymonds 28
Sabedra: McClymonds (L)
Dycus: McClymonds (L)
Lefkow: Marin Catholic (W)
DIVISION 3-AA
North: Acalanes 49, Escalon 14
Sabedra: Acalanes (W)
Dycus: Acalanes (W)
Lefkow: Acalanes (W)
DIVISION 2-A
North: Los Gatos 14, El Cerrito 6
Sabedra: Los Gatos (W)
Dycus: Los Gatos (W)
Lefkow: Los Gatos (W)
DIVISION 1-A
North: Folsom 28, Pittsburg 25
Sabedra: Pittsburg (L)
Dycus: Folsom (W)
Lefkow: Pittsburg (L)
DIVISION 1-AA
North: De La Salle 41, Clovis North 0
Sabedra: De La Salle (W)
Dycus: De La Salle (W)
Lefkow: De La Salle (W)
WEEK 15 STANDINGS
Lefkow: 6-2
Sabedra: 5-3
Dycus: 4-4
SEASON STANDINGS
Sabedra: 151-73
Lefkow: 145-79
Dycus: 131-93
Originally published at Darren Sabedra