If haven’t had the chance to read today’s Times sports section, Matt Sweeney told us yesterday that he has stepped down as the football coach at Foothill High School after 21 years. It came as a surprise to those us in the media (okay, maybe just me) who have covered Sweeney teams in the past, particularly this year. As he guided the Falcons to 12 straight wins in 2006, his level of intensity never waned and his ability to play-call and make in-game adjustments were as deft as ever.

Yet he just couldn’t get the juices flowing for football this spring as he did in previous years. Part of that was because he was guiding the Falcons softball team to a 25-3 record and the NCS 3A East Bay title, and was committed to those players his best effort. When it came time to devote his attention to the football team, the energy just wasn’t there.

Anyway, everyone who has covered high school football in the East Bay has a favorite Matt Sweeney story. Here are a couple of mine.

In 2001, California was having one of its best seasons ever and had designs on upsetting the Falcons. The Grizzlies took a 7-3 lead early as the Falcons kept shooting themselves in the foot. After a particularly ugly play, Sweeney called a timeout, brought his players around him and issued a paint-peeling lecture that I’m sure a few people in the bleachers could hear. Excuses? He didn’t want to hear ‘em.

The Foothill players got the message too, winning 24-19.

Then this April during the Livermore Stampede, Sweeney was in the press box talking to another sportswriter who had been covering Foothill games for years. Sweeney talked about a play that had been successful for him in 1987, and how he kept using that play with slight modifications over and over in big games since. He diagrammed every single one on a piece of paper, going over in detail what every player was supposed to do.

Foothill administrators are searching for a permanent replacement for Matt Sweeney. But there will never be another one like him.

The College Park High school softball team is forcing everyone to take notice.

While most local softball fans were watching and talking about the Livermore Stampede, the Falcons were taking care of business at the Standley Cup in Hayward. They crushed their first three opponents, Mission San Jose, George Washington and Irvington, by a combined score of 36-1 to advance to the semifinals, which had to be postponed to Monday due to Saturday’s rain.

It just seemed to delay the inevitable. College Park beat Montgomery-Santa Rosa, which upset San Ramon Valley in pool play, 4-0 to advance to the finals. There, the Falcons rolled over Pinole Valley 3-0 to take the championship.

Including Tuesday’s come-from-behind 3-2 win over Acalanes, College Park has won 14 straight games for this first time in five years. In 2002, the Falcons reeled off 17 straight before losing in the NCS 3A semifinals.

College Park has power and some speed in its lineup. Mostly though, they have an excellent pitcher in Stephani Fairclough (she asked to drop the E in her first name). She struggled with her control a little in the game against Acalanes with seven walks, but she made up for it with 11 k’s.

The DFAL season is only half over, but barring a total collapse, College Park will win the league and earn the automatic berth to the NCS playoffs. I’m guessing they’ll be seeded fourth or fifth if they go 17-1 or 18-0, with the EBAL champion and runner-up and the BVAL champ (if it’s not Heritage) taking the top three spots. The wins over Montgomery and Pinole Valley were big for College Park’s seeding.

Well, if you happened to check out the East Bay softball poll today, you probably noticed that six East Bay Athletic League teams are in the top 10. That’s pretty much how I thought it would shake out.

With that many good teams, you can probably guess how tough the EBAL will be this season. There are no games where coaches can start backups just to get them some experience. Those experiments will have to wait, cause pretty much every game is going to be brutal. The league champion could wind up with two or three losses.

With that in mind, here’s my prediction for how the league standings will look when the season ends.

Foothill (10-2)
That Falcons have experienced players in just about every position, and that includes 2006 league MVP Val Arioto. You know the Cal-bound pitcher is going to do her job and then some. But if her teammates offer her run and defensive support, then the Falcons become almost unbeatable.

San Ramon Valley (8-4)
Another team with a stellar pitcher, as Dominique Ortega begins her third year as the starter. She will get run support, and the Wolves do play good defense. SRV wore down in games against Cal and Monte Vista late last year, but it’ll be better equipped to handle those situations this year.

Granada (7-5)
Having an above .500 record in the EBAL is nothing to sneeze at, and the Matadors should be a much-improved team this season. Pitcher Kendall Beermann has a year of experience under her belt and Granada has been bolstered by the addition of a couple of talented freshmen.

California (6-6)
The Grizzlies can hit the ball as well as any team in the league. They’ll need to be since Sarah Lawrence is out for another four weeks with a broken foot. Thoughts of a league title may be out the window for the Queen of the Mountain champions,

Livermore (5-7)
The Cowboys appear to have a bright future with Kellyn Trummer and Jenny Bird in the circle, but thewy’ll need defensive support for Livermore to contend with the league’s elite.

Monte Vista (4-8)
Basically, the Mustangs will go as far as pitcher Maggie Johnson takes them. She takes over from Stephanie Bregante in the circle and is one of Monte Vista’s best hitters. The Mustangs have talented young players, but it’ll be a year before they start thinking about a championship.

Amador Valley (2-10)
It seems we say the same thing every year about the Dons. They would be good enough to compete for the championship in most other leagues, just not the EBAL. That said, Amador Valley is better this year than last year. They just have to learn how to win the close ones (after losing five games by 2 runs or less last season).

Well, the Queen of the Mountain is over after three intense days with (mostly) picture-perfect weather. While Foothill and San Ramon Valley were looked as favorites to win the tournament at Willow Pass Park, it was California that surprised the so-called experts to capture its first Queen title.

And the Grizzlies didn’t take the easy road, either. They knocked off three straight East Bay Athletic League opponents, including a 1-0, eight-inning win over San Ramon Valley in the championship Saturday night. That followed a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Foothill on Friday and a 1-0 semifinal victory over Monte Vista Saturday morning.

So, can California be considered EBAL favorites now? Well, considering how Sarah Lawrence pitched during the tournament, why not? She recorded four straight shutouts, was named MVP and seemed to get stronger as the tournament went on. The Grizzlies can also hit, and they don’t hurt themselves with mistakes. This is a experienced, savvy group.

By the way, when the first Times/ANG softball poll comes out next Tuesday, it’s possible that six of the top 10 teams will be from the EBAL. The combined records of those six teams - California, Foothill, Granada, Livermore, Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley - through Saturday was a staggering 30-7. And that’s against good competition. The EBAL’s seventh team, Amador Valley, would finish near the top of the standings in just about every other East Bay league.

So, here’s my top 15 East Bay teams as of right now. Feel free to comment, tell me who I’m missing, who I’m underrating or who the best team really is.

1. California
2. Foothill
3. San Ramon Valley
4. Clayton Valley
5. Livermore
6. Freedom
7. Granada
8. James Logan
9. Monte Vista
10. Piedmont
11. Newark Memorial
12. Castro Valley
13. Deer Valley
14. Alhambra
15. Alameda

HM: College Park, Irvington, Carondelet.

With most of its roster back from last season, including Cal-bound pitcher Val Arioto, the Foothill High School softball team begins the season ranked 15th nationally by studentsports.com. The Falcons will also likely be ranked No. 1 in the East Bay when our first poll comes out later this month.

This could be the Falcons’ best team since 1998, when they won the NCS 2A East Bay title. They’ll be the favorites to win the NCS 3A East Bay this season considering five-time defending champ Freedom is rebuilding somewhat after the graduation of six starters, including three-time Times Player of the Year Amanda Williams. But Freedom is a softball factory, and shouldn’t be counted out of anything.

Foothill begins the season with a home game against 2006 NCS 3A finalist Newark Memorial on March 13, afterwhich it’ll be favored to win the Queen of the Mountain, which runs March 15-17.

The only other Bay Area team to nationally be ranked is Archbishop Mitty-San Jose, which is 27th.

There’s no guarantee the De La Salle High School football team will make another appearance in the CIF Division I championship bowl game at the Home Depot Center this fall. But chances are if the Spartans win another NCS title in 2007, strength of schedule will again be in their favor as the section commissioners make their choices.

De La Salle added a home game against Loyola-L.A. for week two of the 2007 season, and a week four contest against Castlemont in Oakland. In addition to five games against BVAL opponents, the Spartans also play Serra, Palma and Mission Viejo. De La Salle will play Loyola again in L.A. in 2008.

Last year, the combined record of Castlemont, Loyola, Mission Viejo, Palma and Serra was 40-17. Loyola was actually the worst at 4-6, but the Cubs were 39-14 between 2001-05 competing in a league with Mater Dei and Santa Margarita.

Say what you will about De La Salle, but the team isn’t afraid to take on new challenges. Heck, putting together this schedule must have been a challenge in itself considering the Spartans will play seven EBAL games starting in 2008. That meant not being able to put together home-and-home games past week 3, something they’ve traditionally done with most non-East Bay teams. Getting teams to commit to 1-year deals isn’t easy.

There was even talk that the Spartans would play Grant, but that fell through after the NCS denied De La Salle its application to play a week zero game, which would have been used to play the Pacers. If it had come to pass, the Spartans would have had one of the most difficult schedules in the state. Still, few NorCal teams will be playing a slate of games this tough.

Unlike 2006, De La Salle will be a largely inexperienced team this fall. Fifteen starters will be lost to graduation, including eight on offense. But clearly the coaching staff feels they will up for the challenge.

And if they rise to it, we may be seeing the Spartans in the Home Depot Center again this December.

Most did it before school started. A few others waited until the afternoon. All of them were never before so happy to use a fax machine.

Wednesday’s signing day for football, soccer and boys water polo players has come and gone, with a host of local high school athletes making their college choices official. For most of them, it’s a dream come true.

As a whole, the local football players that signed on Wednesday lack the star power that some past years have had. Salesian running back Jahvid Best is the only local athlete ranked as one of the top 100 recruits in the country. But that doesn’t mean the rest won’t turn out to be productive college athletes.

In 2004, Antioch grad Brent Casteel was ranked as the 13th best prospect in the East Bay. But in 2006, he was named second-team All-Mountain West Conference as a Utah receiver. He caught 39 passes for 600 yards and a team-high 10 TDs. He also rushed for 262 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

In 2000, Bishop O’Dowd’s Kirk Morrison was rated as the 18th best prospect in the East Bay. But in 2006, he led the Raiders in tackles (127) for second straight year. He’s considered one of the key young pieces to a defense that ranked third overall in the NFL.

So don’t best surprised to see one of this year’s signees who are flying under the radar turn out to be much more than anyone expected. Right now, the possibilities are endless.

There’s no guarantee the Berkeley High School football team will win any more games in 2007 than it did in past seasons. There’s no guarantee the Yellow Jackets will compete for the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League title next season, or whatever league they wind up in for 2008 and beyond.

But things are about to get a lot more interesting at 1980 Allston Way, now that Alonzo Carter has been hired as Berkeley’s head football coach.

Carter brings with him an impressive record (57-34-2) compiled during eight seasons as McClymonds’ head coach. During that time the Warriors also won four Oakland Athletic League titles and three Silver Bowl championships, including ones in 2005 and 2006.

But perhaps Carter’s most impressive accomplishment is getting over 60 student-athletes to sign NCAA Division I letters of intent since becoming involved in high school sports in 1993. That, above everything else, is what likely got him the job at Berkeley.

Still, Carter wants to win. And one gets the feeling that the Yellow Jackets have been a sleeping giant for some time.

After going 10-0 in 2002, Berkeley has been a combined 24-15 with one North Coast Section playoff appearance. Not bad. But perhaps not as good as you might expect considering the school has about 1,500 boys to draw from for a varsity football team.

We saw what happened in 2006 when a large school gets its act together. Deer Valley had just one winning season between 2001 and 2005, but in coach Rich Woods’ second season, the Wolverines went 10-0 in the regular season and captured the Bay Valley Athletic League title for the first time.

Now it looks like Deer Valley will be a league title contender, and perhaps an NCS playoff team, for some time. After a transition period, Berkeley could become the same kind of program.

And, if Carter has anything to say about it, a program that sends a healthy number of kids to Division I schools every year.

Look out everyone. Things are about to get a lot more interesting at 1980 Allston Way.

We just received FSN Bay Area’s television ratings numbers from Saturday. The live broadcast of the Sharks hockey game had a 1.02 rating, and the tape delayed showing of the De La Salle-Canyon game had a 1.05. Each rating point equals 23,835 Bay Area TV households.

What does this mean? Well, it means more people were interested in watching a football game that they probably already knew that outcome of, than a hockey game that wasn’t decided until the third period. It just goes to show how much interest there was in high school football that day, and what a lack of interest there was in Sharks hockey outside of the 17,496 fans that went to the Tank Saturday night.

FSN Bay Area was contractually obligated to put the Sharks on the main channel at 7:30. That meant the De La Salle game was going to be live only on the subscriber-based plus channel. But what do you think? Would you have rather seen the football game live on FSNBA?  And how did you watch the game if you didn’t receive FSNBA plus at home?

By the way, thanks to everyone who visited our blog Saturday night to get updates on the game. It proved to be a big hit.

We know we’re going to hit traffic on 680 south and probably on 580 east. We know that there will be a million semi-trailers on Interstate 5. And we know that we’ll probably be heading right into Friday afternoon rush hour once we get to the L.A. area.

But who cares? It’s a road trip. And we’re leaving Friday morning.

Myself, Chace Bryson and Times photographers Jose Carlos Fajardo and Karl Mondon are heading to Carson to cover the CIF state championship bowl games on Saturday. The big one for us is the Division I De La Salle-Canyon tilt, which gets underway a little after 7:30 p.m. But we’ll be blogging and giving scoring updates throughout the day on the two other games, Oaks Christian-Cardinal Newman in Division III (11 a.m.) and Orange Lutheran-Palo Alto (3 p.m.). We’ll also be posting photos on the blog to give you a feel of what it’s like down there as the CIF crowns its first state champions for football in 79 years.

Speaking of which, I wrote a story for today’s paper about the 1924 Berkeley High team that won the state title. And I think the CIF would have had a poster boy in Ralph Dougery.
In the 1924 Berkeley High School fall yearbook, Dougery, the captain of the juggernaut Yellow Jackets’ football team, wrote a few paragraphs about what it meant to play the sport that Americans back then were quickly falling in love with.

“(Football) training develops those faculties that are necessary in daily life and the lesson of fair play and team work, gained from this athletic activity helps to make better citizens for the community. These lessons, many times, cannot be taught in the classroom.”