In the ice-water celebration department, the score stands: El Camino football team 2, Colts coach Mark Turner 0.

For the second straight week, the victorious Colts got the best of their interim head coach–soaking him moments after the team clinched the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division title and a Central Coast Section playoff berth with a 27-13 win at Mills on Friday afternoon.

The good news for the beleaguered Turner: if El Camino (6-2, 6-0 PAL Ocean) keeps winning, he’ll have the opportunity to even the score with his players. In a season that just keeps getting better for El Camino, Turner could thwart the obligatory drenching as the Colts stand to offer up additional post-game hijinks if they prevail in any of at least three more games:

1. winning at Hillsdale next week to wrap up a perfect PAL Ocean season

2. beating crosstown nemesis South City in Rivalry Week on Nov. 10

3. securing the program’s first-ever CCS playoff victory the following week

Not that Turner, who played for El Camino in the early 1990’s, is complaining about his soggy state after Colt wins.

“You don’t get ice baths for nothing,” the affable coach said with a smile, still dripping from a celebration that also caught reporters unaware–and therefore, wet as well–while interviewing Turner on the field.

Let the good times roll. And lately, it’s been a raucous good time for the Colts

In a stunning turnaround from a last-place Ocean finish in 2006 (three-way tie at 1-6), El Camino simply ran away with the division this season. A program that had a nine-game losing streak (spanning parts of two seasons) in mid-September has thundered to six straight wins, all by at least a touchdown.

The Colts grabbed a share of the Ocean crown last week–when some teams still had three divisional games remaining! Talk about overwhelming the competition.

That’s the immediate history. Take a step back into the County football annals, and El Camino’s accomplishments are that much more noteworthy. The last time the Colts had a piece of a championship was 1999, when they shared the Ocean Division title with Menlo School. That also marked El Camino’s most recent CCS appearance.

The Colts’ last outright championship? Turn some more pages backward … keep going … and going … all the way back to 1970. Back then, they were the North Peninsula League champs. Now, they are the PAL Ocean Division champs.

“I’m speechless,” Turner said. “I still don’t know how to feel about it.”

He wasn’t the only one struggling to grasp the team’s feat.

“I don’t know what to say right now,” said lineman Maurece Metoyer, who sat with a silly grin on his face after the Colts beat Mills. “It’s really big.”

So … we’ll turn to Mills coach Packy Moss, at the helm of his third PAL program, for some perspective.

“That’s a very good team,” Moss said. “They’ve taken their lumps over the years. I’m happy for them.”

Having already put an end to a long run of nondescript seasons–El Camino hasn’t been so much a doormat, but more a middle-of-the-pack team over the years–the Colts now set their sights on making history. And that comes in the form of a CCS win.

El Camino has only made two previous appearances in the CCS playoffs. Let’s just say they ended up being more of a ‘just happy to be here’ experience than anything else. A 20-0 loss to St. Francis. And a 49-0 loss to Aragon. So there’s nowhere to go but up when the Colts hit the postseason in three weeks.

But clearly, they haven’t been putting the cart in front of the horse. Asked whether he thought El Camino would be slotted in the CCS Medium Schools Division bracket, Turner appeared as if he hadn’t given his team’s playoff placement a thought.

“I have no idea,” said Turner, ready to head for some dry clothes before scouting a night game. “This doesn’t happen around here very often, you know?”

We understand, coach. Enjoy the moment.

Soak it up for … well, you know what we mean.

Can the Serra High football team still defend its West Catholic Athletic League co-championship of 2006? It could definitely happen.

A week ago, hopes of a repeat appeared bleak. But suddenly, the Padres find themselves with an outside shot at forging a shared title–provided they finish with home wins against Mitty and Bellarmine. And Serra (5-3) has yet to lose on its turf this year, winning its three home contests by an average score of nearly 43-22.

Prior to the Padres’ game at St. Ignatius last weekend, Serra was mired in fifth place in the WCAL at 1-2, staring up at a pack that included a pair of teams (Bellarmine and Riordan) undefeated in league play. But Serra’s 25-13 victory in addition to Mitty’s win over Riordan gave the Padres’ title hopes renewed life.

The Padres are now fourth in the league at 2-2, and they finish by playing two of the three teams in front of them. One more loss, and the championship aspirations are just about dead. (And a Serra loss to Mitty along with one more Bellarmine victory would slam that door shut.)

But if the Padres beat Mitty … there’s a decent shot they could enter their league finale against Bellarmine with a shot to share the title. Here’s how that could happen:

If Serra beats Mitty (2-1 WCAL) and Bellarmine (3-0), the Padres would end up 4-2 in the league. But Serra would need the Bells to go into Nov. 10 finale with a loss to be able to catch the current league leaders.

Of Bellarmine’s two other remaining games, Saturday’s showdown at Riordan (2-1 WCAL) appears the toughest. (The Bells host cellar-dweller St. Ignatius the following week.)

Let’s say Riordan hands Bellarmine its first loss of 2007 to pull even with the Bells atop the league at 3-1. Then, the Padres would control their own fate as far as tying the Bells is concerned. But they would be left at Riordan’s mercy.

Then again, the Crusaders wrap up with games at St. Francis and Valley Christian–no picnic, to be sure. It’s not a huge stretch to see Riordan losing either of those games.

So it’s definitely not out of the question that four victories would be enough for Serra to win a piece of the title. If Riordan beats Bellarmine. (If the Bells win on Saturday, the Padres’ hopes would then depend on St. Ignatius upsetting Bellarmine.)

Riordan will be hard-pressed to end up 5-1. The Crusaders seem ticketed to a 4-2 finish. Or even 3-3.

And if Serra beats Mitty, the Monarchs would need to win at Valley Christian and then beat St. Francis at Foothill College to finish 4-2.

Obviously, Serra needs a number of things to fall in place, most of all that the Padres themselves have to prevail in their two remaining regular-season games (Serra has its bye week after the Mitty contest). But the scenario that sees the Padres sharing the WCAL title at 4-2 isn’t all that far-fetched.

Saturday will be the telling day. If Serra beats Mitty AND Riordan downs Bellarmine, the Padres have a fair shot. It certainly wouldn’t be how the Padres drew it up in the offseason, but they would take it.

So, DeLeon Eskridge won’t be running for the Serra High football team, or anyone else, on Saturday. Padres coach Patrick Walsh confirmed Wednesday afternoon to the San Mateo County Times that the star senior has been suspended for disciplinary reasons for at least one game.

Anyone at the Riordan game last week could see, and hear, that Eskridge wasn’t a happy camper as fumble on top of fumble helped lead to a 20-3 Padres’ loss. He wasn’t alone–that’s for sure. Maybe he was the most vocal. And a crushing defeat certainly brings out emotions that might not otherwise surface.

So, while Walsh wasn’t elaborating on the reason for suspending Eskridge, he allowed that the incident(s) happened last Saturday. A yelling match with coaches on the sidelines–and that may only be part of the story–results in a suspension. Or something like that. OK. But while sitting Eskridge for at least the St. Ignatius game on Saturday may be the shocker, it’s the fallout from Walsh’s ruling that’s the real news. And that’s two-fold.

First, Walsh means business when he says, “We’re here to build men first.” And second, the fifth-place Padres are in trouble. (We’re not talking discipline, either.)

Let’s tackle the character building and it’s occasional unpleasant side first. Because the Walsh Court has deftly presided over the Padres’ fair share of improper conduct in recent years–does the gutting of the team following the felony robberies in 2005 ring a bell?–it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Serra’s coach would bench Eskridge. Even with his team “desperate for a win to climb into the WCAL race,” Walsh knew what he had to do.

“In the end, it’s my job to use football as a tool to help these kids become men,” he said Wednesday. “And sometimes, that will yield some very difficult decisions, especially when there’s a lot of other people depending on those guys. … It’s a comforting feeling knowing that I don’t coach in Texas, and that I’m free to make difficult decisions even though at some point it might mean a loss during a game.”

Walsh was on a roll: “Kids are going to make mistakes. Basically, my rules state that I can do what I need to do to maintain good discipline on the team. And I think it’s very clear from our rules that we’ll sacrifice wins here.”

The Walsh Court has been unyielding: multiple starters dismissed in 2002 and 2004, a number of two-or-more-game suspensions over the years, and then the infamous 2005 episode, in which Serra’s roster suffered double-digit casualties. So you begin to understand why Walsh bristled when he received word of some cyberspace conjecture (he doesn’t read the blogs) that he might be going easy on Eskridge.

“I think out of fairness to the decisions that we’ve made in the past, I think most people would recognize that this program isn’t a win-first program,” Walsh said. “If someone is saying, ‘If it was any other person, that person would be kicked off the team’ or whatever, if they knew me, and if they knew the history of what we’ve done here, that’s a joke. … Those people are freaking clueless.”

Back to Eskridge: “The only thing I can clarify is, what he did doesn’t deserve him being booted off the team. And what the other kids have done in the past did.”

Fair enough. So, back to the team, as it stands. The second part of the fallout.

The facts are: Serra is 1-2 in the WCAL with three games to play. The Padres’ offense can move the ball on anyone, but has shown a troubling tendency to come up short of the end zone in two of its three league games. That offense, a record-setting rushing attack, was already hurting, with hobbled running backs Tiuke Tuipulotu and J.P. Hurrell “questionable” for S.I. and quarterback Cody Jackson (the team’s leading rusher) fighting to return from an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. And now, the Padres lose Eskridge.

If Walsh was to name the team’s four most integral players, he might very well name those four. Three of them are two-way players, starring at most of those slots, and the other is the signal-caller. Eskridge–who has eight total touchdowns, including a pair as a punt returner–is definitely out. And Walsh said Wednesday that Tuipulotu and Hurrell were “fifty-fifty” to play at S.I. Uh oh.

The missing production? It’s easier to quantify on offense. Eskridge, a year removed from his 27-touchdown campaign as a junior, averages 78.6 rushing yards per game. Tuipulotu is right behind, at 76.1 rushing yards, bolting for a gaudy 9.7 yards per carry. Hurrell took on a feature role at Riordan and slashed for a game-high 95 yards on 19 carries. Then there’s Jackson, running for 85.3 yards a game with eight touchdowns on the year. And on defense, Tuipulotu, at safety, and Hurrell, a Cal-bound linebacker, are perhaps even more critical to the team’s success.

With four teams above them in the WCAL standings, the Padres’ hopes to defend their co-league championship of 2006 may already be gone–they’re closer to the cellar than the penthouse. A 3-0 finish might net them a shared title, with a lot of help. And the defense has certainly shown it can put the team in a position to win. But penalties (in the 13-10 loss at St. Francis) and turnovers (hello, Riordan) have been the undoing of an offense that has already established the program’s single-game rushing record (484 yards, vs. Gilroy) and has enjoyed a sizable advantage in total yards in each WCAL game.

Even though S.I. is still looking for its first league victory after sharing the ‘06 title with Serra, how can we say the Padres’ offense will rebound this week? Losing Eskridge alone would be a big blow, and don’t forget about his excellence in the return game. But Serra may be looking at a make-shift backfield. Already 0-2 on the road in the WCAL, the Padres are staring at a tough, tough game against an opponent frothing to right its own woes.

And if the injuries linger, or if Eskridge sits more than one week … the grand designs Serra had coming into the year will give way to a desperate attempt to simply make the Central Coast Section playoffs. Remember, as St. Francis learned so harshly last year, a team’s WCAL finish matters more than its power points. The Lancers had a better overall record and more power points than Bellarmine but sat out the postseason because the Bells’ 3-3 league record topped their mark of 2-4.

Assessing Serra’s CCS outlook, Walsh said: “If we win two of three, it’s probably automatic. If we win three, it’s automatic. If we win one of three, then it’s going to be iffy. If we don’t win any, then we’re going to be in trouble.”

St. Ignatius, then back home against Mitty, and then the finale against WCAL-leading Bellarmine.

Minus at least one key cog, crunch time begins for Serra on Saturday in San Francisco.

With most teams beyond the midway point of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division football season, the home stretch is upon us. And with only three of the division’s teams expected to gain berths to the Central Coast Section playoffs as a result of the Bay being downgraded to ‘B’ status, the regular season’s final month promises to be a thrilling battle.

In years past, a team could qualify for the playoffs without earning one of the division’s three automatic bids. Burlingame, which finished tied for fourth, advanced via at-large selection in 2006. Two years ago, Woodside and Burlingame finished 4-3 o share fourth place, and both made CCS.

But this season, those same teams would almost certainly be sitting out the postseason, unable to secure the needed power points while playing in a lesser division. There will be no at-large bids awarded to Bay teams, so playoff hopefuls must finish among the division’s top three to secure a CCS invitation.

So who earns those bids?

Menlo-Atherton (3-0) has separated itself from the Bay pack, having already defeated four-time defending champion Aragon, as well as earning road wins at Terra Nova and Menlo School. After M-A blew a 5-0 Bay start last year to finish 5-2, without even a share of the division title, it is presumptuous to suggest the Bears are a lock for the Bay crown. But with the toughest portion of its schedule in the rear-view mirror, M-A seems assured of a top-three finish.

Four teams shared second place at 2-1 entering last week, but only one of them came away with a victory. Aragon’s 36-17 triumph over South San Francisco, combined with Menlo’s loss to M-A and Burlingame’s tie with Terra Nova, helped bring some clarity to the Bay race. At least as far as the No. 2 spot goes.

Aragon (3-1 Bay) faces challenges down the stretch (Menlo, Burlingame and at Terra Nova), but has the best position of the second-tier teams. Two wins for the Dons almost certainly results in a playoff bid, and three might even net them a co-championship, if M-A has another late-season hiccup.

Over the past three years, the division’s third-place team has finished with five victories. That seems likely to change this year, because Terra Nova, Burlingame or Menlo (or even Woodside) would need to run the table to hit the five-win mark. So four victories might be enough for third place, but 4-2-1 stands a much better chance than 4-3.

Of the division’s three two-win teams (Terra Nova, Burlingame and Menlo), Terra Nova has the clearest path to the postseason. Yes, the Tigers’ 2-1-1 Bay record is identical to that of Burlingame, but Terra Nova’s finishing slate is a lot less hazardous.

While the Panthers have to contend with mighty M-A on Friday and then follow up with visits to Aragon and quickly improving Woodside, Terra Nova travels to South City and Carlmont, teams which have combined to win one Bay game, before finishing with Aragon.

Burlingame has made the playoffs three straight times and four out of coach John Philipopoulos’ five seasons, but the Panthers face the most difficult remaining schedule of the contenders.

Thus, Menlo, at 2-2 in the division, is probably Terra Nova’s chief competition for third place. The Knights, who visit Aragon and Woodside and then host Carlmont, would face a real uphill battle with one more loss. But if Menlo can somehow surprise Aragon on Friday, the whole race would turn upside down.

Woodside (1-2 Bay) stands as the division’s wild card. At this point, nobody is thinking about the Wildcats, but they should be. With its Aragon and Terra Nova contests already out of the way (albeit as two losses), Woodside has a stretch of three winnable games, all at home. If the ‘Cats can somehow run up a 3-0 mark against South City, Menlo and Burlingame, they would take a 4-2 divisional record into their finale with M-A. And we saw last year what a motivated Woodside team can do to M-A.

Once the postseason rolls around, there is going to be real disappointment as fewer teams from the PAL’s top division get invites. Instead of sending four or even five teams, the Bay is going to have a few teams sitting on the outside looking in that feel deserving, teams that would have qualified in years past.

But with the stakes that much higher this year, the next four weeks will start to take on a playoff atmosphere for those on the cusp of CCS.

There’s plenty to be gained, but even more to be lost as County football teams continue with league action on Friday.

Yes, the winner of the Menlo-Atherton vs. Terra Nova game will establish itself as the clear-cut leader as the only undefeated team left in the

But for a host of other teams, it’s not too big a stretch to say this week will separate the pretenders from the contenders. Even though it’s early on in league play, Friday stands as the proving ground for programs that entered the year with high expectations, only to stumble out of the gate.

Once the Bay was downgraded to a ‘B’ division in the offseason, it became very unlikely that the division would be able to garner any CCS playoff bids beyond its three automatic entries. A Bay team would be extremely hard-pressed to amass the needed power points to earn an at-large bid.

The result? A top-three divisional finish has become the only ticket to CCS for Bay programs. And two perennial playoff teams will find that road very difficult to climb, unless they can find a way to win on Friday.

Burlingame (1-3, 1-1 PAL Bay) has to be looking at its Carlmont contest as a must-win if the Panthers have any hope of extending their streak of CCS appearances to four. After suffering a 24-0 loss to Menlo

Woodside (1-3, 0-1), another Bay team with a three-year playoff run, will also be squarely behind the eight ball if it falls to 0-2. And in order to avoid that fate, the Wildcats must not only win at Aragon, but beat a Dons’ team sure to be fired up after losing to M-A last week.

Woodside’s situation seems less precarious than Burlingame’s, if only because the ‘Cats will have faced Terra Nova and Aragon to start the Bay season, with several more winnable games on deck, while the Panthers still have the division’s best yet to come.

Meanwhile, Menlo School (3-1, 1-1) visits South San Francisco (1-3, 1-1) in a battle of teams hoping to thrust themselves into playoff contention. The loser likely faces insurmountable odds, with M-A and Aragon matchups remaining for both, and 

So while M-A and Terra Nova meet for first place, a lot more desperation will be involved in the Bay’s other three games. Even

Unusually high stakes for this early in the season aren’t unique to Bay teams.

Take Serra. The Padres entered the year with hopes of winning their first outright West Catholic Athletic League title since 1969. And with loads of returning talent, Serra seemed a good bet to match its 2006 co-championship.

But after falling 13-10 at St. Francis in its opener, the Padres (3-2, 0-1 WCAL) now face Valley Christian, a CCS champion in four of the last five years. In the rough and tumble WCAL, coaches like to say, “Anyone can beat anyone, at any given time.” Well, Serra needs to beat the Warriors to position itself to stay in the hunt for another title run.

And in the PAL Ocean, while a horrendous non-league performance (every team started 0-2) made early analysis a challenge, the divisional race is starting to take shape. With El Camino and Mills off to undefeated Ocean starts, albeit at a combined 3-0, other title hopefuls need to win Friday to keep pace.

Sequoia, in particular, is looking for a rebound victory against El Camino (2-2, 2-0 PAL Ocean) after seeing a failed two-point conversion in the last minute result in loss to Capuchino. After seeing their six-game Ocean win streak end, the Cherokees (1-3, 1-1) can either muddle the divisional picture by topping El Camino or see their championship hopes take a big hit with a loss.