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The 2024 fall high school sports season came to an end this past weekend with 15 CIF State Championship football games, played throughout California.
Overall, the northern half of the state came away on top, taking 10 of the football games. The south carried the higher-division games, taking five of the top-ranked bowl games, but the north took nine of 10 games in the lower-seeded division games.
Locally we had five teams playing, with two winning and three coming out on the losing side.
De La Salle (Open) lost 37-15 to Mater Dei, Pittsburg (D-I AA) fell to Lincoln of San Diego 28-26 and Amador Valley (D-III AA) fell to Frontier of Bakersfield 18-14.
On the winning side American Canyon (D-V A) beat Palmdale 68-46, and Moreau Catholic (D-VII AA) beat Lindsay 42-8.
It could have been 12-3 for NorCal as Pitt blew a double-digit lead in the second half, and Amador Valley stood toe-to-toe with Frontier of Bakersfield and had a chance to win late in the game.
The real winners this past weekend were all the schools that participated, as well as the California Interscholastic Federation.
I can remember when the bowl games started, and it was just a few games. It was pretty cool, but there were just a handful of teams that got a chance to participate.
Think about it now.
With 15 games, there are 30 teams that got a chance to participate for state titles, ranging from athletic powerhouses like Mater Dei and De La Salle all the way down to schools such as Balboa of San Francisco and Pioneer of Whittier.
I saw first-hand the success of Amador Valley in bringing together Pleasanton, with three separate viewing parties being held in public establishments in the town.
The same had to be done through the state. I can guarantee the city of Sonora was celebrating their 52-34 win over St. Pius. Carmel putting a 48-7 hurting on El Capitan woke up the mellow, seaside town.
It’s a great feeling for the rest of us. For a person like me, I take a lot of pride in our local athletes and with a company like NFHS, I was able to watch a ton of the games all season long.
I think in most cases I turned the volume down on the TV, but watching the games was awesome! These are games the student-athletes will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
High school kids that got a chance to play for a state title or live television! Cool stuff!
You grow up going to school with a lot of your teammates, playing sports, hanging ou, and just being kids. Then to get on the center stage with these buddies and it doesn’t get much better.
I am almost 64 now and my buddies and I still talk about high school games we played. As you get older, if you remain in the area where you grew up, the conversations evolve into including the team and players on your rivals.
The older you get, the better we all were, and it’s always fun to good-naturedly talk a little trash.
The fact is, these kids from all 30 schools are better people for having the experience and whether they realize it or not, it is something they can be proud of for the rest of their lives.
Here are the complete results for all the CIF State title games. The final totals have the north winning 10 state titles, with the south getting five.
Open Division: Mater Dei (South) 37, De La Salle 15
D-I AA: Lincoln (South) 28, Pittsburg 24.
D-I A: Edison (South) 21, Central 14
D-II AA: Grant (North) 35, Pacifica (Oxnard) 28
D-II A: Palos Verdes (South) 55, Twelve Bridges 19
D-III AA: Frontier (South) 18, Amador Valley 14
D-III A: Vanden (North), Rio Hondo Prep 41
D-IV AA: St. Vincent de Paul (North) 25, Highland 23
D-IV A: Sonora (North) 52, St. Pius 34
D-V AA: Carmel (North) 48, El Capitan 7
D-V A: American Canyon (North) 68, Palmdale 47
D-VI AA: Arcata (North) 28, Portola 21
D-VI A: Summerville (North) 38, Monte Vista (Spring Valley) 21
D-VII AA: Moreau Catholic (North) 42, Lindsay 8
D-VII A: Balboa 55 (North), Pioneer 21
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.
