San Francisco high school football recap: Week 10

Trophies were up for grabs in Week 10 of the high school football season as Lincoln won a 10th straight Bell Game over Washington and Sacred Heart Cathedral topped Riordan for the Stanfel Cup behind big games from Jerry Mixon Jr. and RL Miller. The Standard has your weekly recap of local prep sports action.

Jamelle Newman found the end zone three times, including on a 40-yard pick-six that served as one of Lincoln’s four defensive touchdowns as the Mustangs flattened the Eagles in the 77th Bell Game. Lincoln (6-3, 5-0 Academic Athletic Association) also scored when Jaylen Lopez and Latu Manumua recovered fumbles in the end zone, and Lopez swiped a lateral for a 56-yard touchdown. Myles Hamlin blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety, and Renay Taylor ran for the final score of the day. Washington (7-2, 4-1) was without quarterback James Mertz and defensive end Sam Dunn due to injuries. The Eagles got an interception from Ayan Razzak and 61 rushing yards from Tommy Mayfield-Commer.

The win secures at least a share of the regular season AAA title for Lincoln, and with the head-to-head win over Washington, the Mustangs have secured the top seed in the city playoffs.

Eight different players scored touchdowns for the Cardinals as Lowell (2-5, 2-2 AAA) rolled past Burton (0-5, 0-4). Angelo Ornelas threw a 20-yard touchdown to Teddy McCarty while Elmer Baca, Anthony Irias, Tomas La Sala, Stevie Rivas and Brandon Yee ran for scores. Irias and Victor Sibrian recovered fumbles, and Shawn Hill found the end zone on a 60-yard kick return.

Malieke Delaney, Zaden Cato and Taevon Mitchell found the end zone as Mission (2-5, 2-2 AAA) posted its second straight win. Galileo (0-8, 0-4 AAA) avoided a third shutout loss on Nate Chynoweth’s late touchdown pass to Chase Recio.

Valley Christian (1-8, 0-6 West Catholic Athletic League) put up an inspired effort on Senior Night, tying the game at 21 just before halftime on Mathew Botelho’s touchdown pass to Tyler Bourland, but Mitty (7-2, 4-2) shut the Warrior offense down in the second half. The Monarchs went in front for good on Justice Toavalu’s rushing touchdown midway through the third quarter and padded their lead on Wills Towers’ third touchdown pass of the night, a 9-yard strike to Charlie Butler. Towers also ran for a score.

RL Miller scored three touchdowns and Jerry Mixon Jr. found the end zone twice as Sacred Heart Cathedral (6-3, 4-2 WCAL) secured the Stanfel Cup and a sweep of its crosstown rivals. Miller’s 43-yard pick-six in the final minutes marked his fifth defensive score of the year, and he also found the end zone on a 22-yard run and a 28-yard reception from Aidan McGrath. Mixon, who spent part of the afternoon taking snaps at quarterback in the wildcat formation, scored on a pair of runs, and forced a key fumble in the fourth quarter that Jordan Solofa-Fatu recovered. Riordan (3-6, 1-5) got a pair of Finnbarr Harrington field goals and trailed just 17-13 after a Michael Mitchell Jr. touchdown pass to Zachary Jones, who finished the day with 76 receiving yards and a pair of interceptions. JahKeenan Williams-Choa’s 63-yard touchdown run rounded out the scoring.

Alexander Atkins intercepted three passes, returning the last one for a touchdown, as Serra (9-0, 6-0 WCAL) played stellar defense to remain perfect on the season. The Padres also scored on Maealiuaki Smith passes to Jayden Weber and Seamus Gilmartin, and they forced four turnovers. St. Ignatius (3-6, 2-4) broke the shutout on Soren Hummel’s 17-yard touchdown pass to JJ Casey. 

With senior Matt Dougherty Jr. in concussion protocol, sophomore Aaron Knapp starred in his first career start under center for the Lancers, completing nine of 11 passes for 169 yards as they won their seventh consecutive Holy War. Riley Long finished with 125 total yards for St. Francis (6-3, 5-1 WCAL), and the Lancer defense forced a pair of critical fourth-down stops. Sophomore Kingston Keanaaina ran for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns to delight the home crowd, while Bellarmine (3-6, 2-4) got in the end zone on Nate Escalada’s 6-yard pass to Wilson Pimentel with 1:27 left. 

Sacred Heart Prep won its first Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division championship since 2014, beating Menlo-Atherton 35-14. Mitchell Taylor threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to Carter Shaw, Stanford head coach David Shaw’s son, and John Chung capped off the win with a pick-six as the Gators won their first league title since the days of Ben Burr-Kirven. Menlo-Atherton (5-4, 3-2 PAL Bay) scored on a Billy Johnson pass to Jayden Moss and a short Sherrod Smith run, but Sacred Heart Prep (8-1, 4-0) won its eighth straight since a season-opening loss to Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Sophomore quarterback Reid Black threw two touchdowns to Tylek Barnett and ran for two more as King’s Academy (7-2, 5-0 PAL Ocean Division) clinched a league title with a 29-14 win at previously undefeated Sequoia (8-1, 4-1).

Santa Teresa (4-5, 1-3 Blossom Valley Athletic League Mount Hamilton Division) bolstered its reputation for playing in thrilling games every week, but the Saints’ comeback bid fell short in a 27-24 loss at Lincoln-San Jose. Tayden Phillips ran for a touchdown for Lincoln (8-1, 3-1) and threw for another to his freshman brother, Kyan. Live Oak (8-1, 4-0) inched closer to an outright league title with a closer-than-expected 14-13 win over Leland (2-7, 0-4). Willow Glen (7-2, 6-0 BVAL West Valley Division) put itself in prime position to lock up the only playoff bid in the BVAL’s lowest tier, winning 30-6 over Mt. Pleasant (6-3, 5-1).

Pittsburg (8-1, 4-0 Bay Valley Athletic League) won its fourth straight and clinched no worse than a shared league championship with a 43-7 win at Heritage (6-3, 2-2). The Pirates allowed just 114 yards of total offense and got four passing touchdowns from Miami commit Jaden Rashadaz.

Just how good is the East Bay Athletic League? Consider that California-San Ramon just suffered a second consecutive league loss, 38-21 at San Ramon Valley (7-2, 2-1 EBAL). Luke Baker threw for four touchdowns for the victorious Wolves. California (5-4, 1-2) lost to Clayton Valley a week earlier.

De La Salle (6-3) was slow out of the gate, trailing 7-0 after a quarter and sitting even with Amador Valley (5-4) at halftime before pulling away in the third for a 27-7 win over the Dons in Pleasanton, largely thanks to sophomore running back Dominic Kelley.

San Marin (8-1, 6-0 Marin County Athletic League) rolled to a 49-0 road win over crosstown rival Novato (4-5, 1-4) in a game played with only families in attendance after violence in the area earlier in the week.

The Egg Bowl came down to the wire, with host Casa Grande stunning Petaluma 29-28 in the final minutes. Wide receiver Lucas Miles threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Almond on a trick play, and Almond caught the go-ahead two-point conversion from quarterback Wyatt Abramson with 1:37 left. Casa Grande (5-4, 3-2 Vine Valley Athletic League) secured the win by forcing a turnover on downs. Petaluma (7-2, 4-1) will host American Canyon (6-3, 4-1) to conclude the regular season, with the winner claiming a share of the VVAL title. Vintage (6-4, 5-1) has locked up a share of the crown; for tiebreaking purposes, Petaluma beat the Crushers, while Vintage beat American Canyon.

Fifth-seeded St. Ignatius (15-17) was bounced in four sets (21-25, 28-26, 26-24, 25-18) by No. 4 Valley Christian (18-8) in Saturday’s Central Coast Section (CCS) Open Division Volleyball Quarterfinals. The Wildcats will advance to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Tournament, as will the seven other CCS Open Division teams. Sacred Heart Cathedral (18-11) is seeded third in Division III and hosts sixth-seeded King City (14-8) on Tuesday night.

University (24-5) punched its state tournament ticket and advanced to the North Coast Section (NCS) Division 3 Semifinals with a sweep of No. 6 Acalanes (21-13) on Saturday night (25-22, 25-15, 25-16). The third-seeded Red Devils visit No. 2 Tamalpais (28-8) on Wednesday night. The Red-Tailed Hawks are the only team to beat University in a best-of-five match all season, doing so on Aug. 30 after the Red Devils had taken the first two sets. University’s other four losses all came in best-of-three tournament matches.

The Red Devils aren’t the only Bay Counties League volleyball team making a deep NCS run. Marin Academy (23-12) is the top seed in Division 4 and hosts San Rafael (17-12) on Wednesday. Urban (16-8) is No. 1 in Division 5 and hosts Berean Christian (20-8) on Wednesday night, and Bay (19-3) is seeded third. The Breakers will make the trip to Clear Lake (30-3) for a Wednesday semifinal, and Waldorf (12-4) holds the top seed in Division 6. The Wolverines will host Roseland Collegiate Prep (14-2) in a semifinal, also to be played Wednesday.