CIF state football 2024: NorCal matchups are set. What are the top storylines?

PITTSBURG VS. FOLSOM: ROUND 2 

A year ago, a dejected Pittsburg team watched as Folsom celebrated winning the 2023 CIF NorCal regional on its renowned blue turf field. The Pirates’ perfect season and quest for its first state championship was denied by the Sacramento-area powerhouse and their superstar quarterback Ryder Lyons. 

On Friday, the Pirates will get their shot at redemption – this time at home. 

Coming off a nail-biting 35-28 win over San Ramon Valley in a section final on Friday, Pittsburg will play host to Folsom in the CIF Division 1-AA NorCal regional. The winner will advance to the 1-AA state final against Newbury Park or Lincoln of San Diego.

“We’re ready for it, and it’s great for us to host,” Pittsburg coach Charlie Ramirez told the Bay Area News Group on Sunday. “It’s going to be electric Friday night.”

Pittsburg has played Folsom in each of the last three seasons, but the Pirates haven’t been able to get over the hump. The teams played a home-and-away regular-season series in 2021 and 2022, with Folsom winning both matchups. 

Last season’s NorCal game was the closest Pittsburg has come to beating the Bulldogs, but Folsom hung on to win 28-25. The Bulldogs went on to beat St. Bonaventure-Ventura in the state title game. 

“In every single year, it’s been pretty much the same type of game,” Ramirez said. “They execute at a high level. And in order to beat a team like that, man, you better be executing at a high level too.”

Lyons, a junior, is one of the state’s best quarterbacks. He has thrown for 2,636 yards and 43 touchdowns and rushed for 548 yards and 11 scores. 

Some teams have tried to keep Lyons in check by keeping him in the pocket. That strategy worked well for Serra, which beat Folsom in its season opener – a loss that is still the only blemish on Folsom’s record. 

But Pittsburg will have a different strategy Friday.

“One thing that I took away from that game last year was I don’t think you really can contain him or let alone box him in,” Ramirez said. “You just have to be able to rally and tackle the guy.”

For Pittsburg’s players, this was the matchup they wanted.

“Playing Folsom last year, we felt like we had them,” linebacker Jewelous Walls said on Friday. “If it’s Folsom we’re ready. We want it. Pittsburg on top.”

– Nathan Canilao

WILCOX: WHO ARE CHARGERS PLAYING?

Wilcox will be making the 2 ½-hour, 145-mile drive to Lincoln when it plays Twelve Bridge for the Division 2-A crown. Twelve Bridges is relatively new to the high school football scene as the school officially opened its doors in 2021 with the football program playing its first varsity season in 2022. The Raging Rhinos are undefeated this season and won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV title in a 55-7 win over Patterson. Defense will almost certainly be the key for Wilcox as Twelve Bridges has averaged nearly 51 points per game. The closest any team has gotten to beating the Lincoln school was when Reed of Nevada lost 39-36 at home. This road trip will be Wilcox’s second-longest in the MaxPreps era. The longest trip Wilcox has had since 2004 was when the Chargers traveled to Saddleback College in Mission Viejo in 2021 for the 2-A state final, a 31-28 loss to Scripps Ranch.

– Nathan Canilao

ST. IGNATIUS AND ST. FRANCIS TO FACE AREA POWERHOUSES

The West Catholic Athletic League will have two teams represented in the state playoffs with St. Ignatius and St. Francis having been selected for two of the Top 5 divisions. St. Ignatius won the CCS Open Division crown and will play Central-Fresno on the road in the Division 1-A NorCal final. Central has been a perennial contender in its area, playing in the uber-competitive Tri-River Athletic Conference – a league that includes all of the Clovis-area teams and Buchanan. After a brief two-game skid in the middle of the season, Central has beaten Clovis North and Clovis East to capture the Central Section Division I-AA crown and punch its ticket to the state playoffs. Both teams will be coming off bye weeks when they play each other in Fresno on Friday. St. Francis will also have a tough test in its NorCal matchup when the Lancers play host to Grant-Sacramento. Grant got the Bay Area rub when the Pacers played De La Salle earlier this season. This is the third consecutive year Grant has made the state playoffs. The Sacramento school won the Division 2-AA title last season and is 10-3 this year. Grant beat Rocklin 30-28 on Friday to capture the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II title. St. Francis will be looking to advance to its third state championship game. 

– Nathan Canilao

ACALANES: GETTING HEALTHY AT THE RIGHT TIME

After capturing 3-AA regional and state crowns last season, Acalanes’ path to a second consecutive NorCal title and a berth in the 5-AA state championship game will run through Carmel on Friday night at Monterey Peninsula College. That’s a four-tier drop for the Lafayette program in regional levels between this year and last. The high-flying Dons captured the NCS Division III championship with a 20-17 victory over rival Campolindo on Friday, and did so shorthanded. Star receiver Niko White and linebacker Deonte Littlejohn both watched in street clothes, but could be back for regional play, Acalanes coach Floyd Burnsed told this news organization after the game. “Niko dressed out, but we decided not to play him so he could get healthy for next week, and Deonte, I think he was about the same at 80 percent or so,” Burnsed said. Both the 13-touchdown wideout and gamebreaking defender will be needed to keep pace with high-scoring Carmel (13-0). The unbeaten Padres, who boast Alabama commit Jackson Lloyd on the offensive line, have scored at 40 or more points in 10 games this season and have yet to be held under 30 points in any game. But Acalanes’ defense has bodies on the defensive line between 6-foot-4 Bethel Imasuen and 6-3 Drew McKenzie to give Carmel some problems. Acalanes quarterback Tyler Winkles and the offense should also have success against a Padres defense that allowed 46, 21 and 35 points in their CCS Division III playoff games. Meanwhile, Acalanes has given up 30 points in a  game once this season. 

– Joseph Dycus

LELAND VS. MOREAU CATHOLIC: BAY AREA SCHOOL FACE OFF

The champions from the lowest brackets in the Central Coast and North Coast sections will play for the 7-AA championship in Hayward on Friday. It is one of only two matchups between schools from the Bay Area News Group’s coverage area. The other is McClymonds from Oakland playing host to NCS D-II champ Amador Valley. Leland captured the CCS Division V title in a 27-21 thriller over Sequoia, and Moreau Catholic’s defense came up with a game-saving stop to triumph 21-19 over traditional power Ferndale. Leland has won eight of its last nine games behind a devastating three-headed rushing attack of Hudson Vye, Brady Hernandez and quarterback Jacob Gibson.The Chargers won their first CCS title since 1999 and are playing in their first NorCal game. While coach Kelly King Jr. is a newcomer to regional football as a head coach, he was an assistant on his father Kelly King Sr.’s staff when Milpitas won NorCal and state titles in 2017. Moreau, led by coach Keith Minor, will get to stay home for its first-ever NorCal game. In what should be a fascinating clash of styles, Leland’s grind-it-out rushing attack will be contrasted by the Mariners’ big-play spread offense, one that saw wideout Jalen Arnold score three touchdowns and quarterback Jeremiah Charles complete all 11 of his pass attempts in the NCS title game.  

– Joseph Dycus

WHAT CIF IS SAYING ABOUT MATCHUPS

Teams and their fans are often puzzled by why they, a section champion, are having to travel for NorCal play after enjoying a banner season. It can often seem random.  

California Interscholastic Federation associate executive director Brian Seymour told the Bay Area News Group that is not the case. The process of deciding the hosts and visitors is a painstaking one.  

“We’re trying to do our best to make certain that all of the sections have representation in home games throughout the state,” Seymour said. 

Seymour said that the CIF uses “all kinds of metrics,” including but not limited to the team’s strength of schedule, its CalPreps rating, local media rankings and its recent history in NorCal to determine who plays who and which program gets a home game.

He added that the CIF does its best to ensure that the NorCal and SoCal brackets are at equal strength, so that regardless of who advances, the state game has a good chance of being competitive. 

“We try do do things in groups of four,” Seymour said.

Though picking most matchups and their home sites are tough decisions, Seymour pointed to one that was obvious from the get-go. 

“The Folsom and Pitt one was an easy one, because Pitt went to Folsom last year, and this year, Folsom will be going to Pitt,” Seymour said of the 1-AA matchup. 

– Joseph Dycus