- East Bay Prep Corner
East Bay Boys Soccer Rankings
By mbower
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 1:30 am in General.
Dennis Miller put together our first East Bay Boys soccer rankings this season. I am going to post it here so people can have a chance to rant and rave at The Whistle. I wouldn’t rant too much, though. The Whistle knows more about East Bay soccer than most.
1. De La Salle (7-0-7)
2. California (8-3-2)
3. San Ramon Valley (8-3-5)
4. Amador Valley (12-3-2)
5. Deer Valley (10-3-1)
6. Richmond (9-2-2)
7. Monte Vista (7-3-3)
8. James Logan (6-2-3)
9. Newark Memorial (6-3-1)
10. Miramonte (11-0-2)
[You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.]
January 16th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Dennis,
Thanks for the work in putting this together. It’s a shame that more of your peers aren’t involved in the rankings.
Don’t they have warm enough clothing to go out and catch a game? Do they have any opinions in regards to the soccer programs?
I think you missed on Pittsburgh though. Aren’t they actually ahead of DLS in their league? Possibly just played more games.
# of HS Varsity athletes playing soccer compared to basketball
Soccer squad = 18 players atleast
Basketball = 12 maybe
X2 for guys and girls teams, so almost twice as many student athletes playing soccer compared to basketball.
I’d be curious if the papers have a measurement in inches of space devoted to each sport. My guess is it’s 10 to 1 in favor of Basketball
January 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am
the only problem i have is no pitt? and the DFAL does not get enough credit at all reall. miramonte and campo should probably both be up there
January 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Matt,
The reason we aren’t involved with the rankings has nothing to do with our interest in the sport or how often we cover it.
Dennis Miller works in the coverage area where most of the good teams are located so he gets to see them all. I cover the HAAL and for girls every year it is Castro Valley and Bishop O’Dowd.
The boys are a lot more competitive this season with San Leandro and Hayward leading a tight race. If you want to check that game out by the way it is tonight at 7 at Burrell Field.
But as you could tell from the boys poll, not one team from the HAAL is in the rankings. If everyone voted,I don’t think the poll would come out as accurate as it does with just Miller doing it. The reason we all do the basketball poll is because the talent is spread around the entire East Bay.
As far as basketball earning more coverage than soccer in the newspapers, you are certainly correct. But we don’t base our coverage on how many players there are in each sport. And we certainly don’t have a drawn out number of inches that we devote to one sport.
Soccer will start getting more coverage once we get a little closer to playoffs. Anyway, if you have any questions about HAAL squads I will be glad to answer them.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Big win yesterday in the MVAL for Newark Memorial. The Cougars topped Washington, which was coming off a win over Logan, and are still the only unbeaten team in the league.
Robert Rojas scored both goals in the 2-0 win.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Oakland Tech swept Mission in two games to win the TransBay Bowl. Let’s get them in the poll. Oh yeah, that was in the fall. Sorry. I’m only kidding, but yeah, I’d see a lot more soccer if the season in Oakland was during the winter but it’s not. Like Mike mentioned, if we all voted for the soccer poll, it’d either be nowhere near accurate or we’d just copy Dennis’ vote. Being based in Oakland, I won’t see any of those teams that are ranked except for maybe in the playoffs so I can’t gather a legitimate opinion.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I am grateful for the work Mr. Miller does to put the East Bay Poll together. This is the 2nd year I have been aware of the poll and I am starting to see a pattern develop that is worth highlighting.
Last year’s poll included only one team (Concord) from the Diablo Foothill Athletic League and this year’s poll does the same (Miramonte). In my humble opinion, this year’s DFAL top three teams are worthy of consideration to be somewhere on the poll. Campolindo is currently ahead of Miramonte in the DFAL and actually tied Miramonte 1-1. And College Park who also tied Miramonte, currently the #3 team in the DFAL standings, is also worthy of consideration.
In summary, the point is to please give the DFAL the respect it is due this year and consider at least the top three teams in calculations when this poll gets revised. I would argue that either Miramonte, Campolindo and College Park would fare well against any of the top 9 teams on this poll.
Respectfully,
A HS Soccer Coach
January 16th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Anon
The problem with putting Miramonte higher in the poll is that the Mats haven’t played any elite competition. No EBAL teams on the schedule, no tournaments, no real travel at all with only 1 road game out of league and that was against Kennedy Rich.
Campo is in a similar boat.
College Park got around a little more but look at the wins: Dublin, Campo, Mt. D, American, Liberty and Las Lomas. Only LL and Campo have winning records. Hard to rank a team like that.
It’s the same thing with the DFAL teams in football. They build up big records by playing weak non-league schedules, then get to the league which is made up of smaller schools and think they can compete with the big boys based on record alone. It doesn’t work that way.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Anon,
Kyle hit the nail on the head. If the DFAL wants to see their teams considered in the breath with the EBAL and BVAL teams, as well as the likes of Castro Valley, then they need to play some of those teams. Until then, they rack up wins against weaker opponents and it’s hard to give them much credibility for that.
That doesn’t mean they are not good teams, they may very well be, but it would be nice to see them play someone good.
As far as being top heavy with the likes of EBAL teams, well, the NCS track record speaks for itself. The proof is in the results, plain and simple.
Thank you for your comments,
Dennis
January 16th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Mr. Miller & Mr. Bonagura:
The counter argument is very simple, 3A teams simply have no interest nor is it in their best interest to play 2A teams the likes of Miramonte, Campolindo, Las Lomas or Concord. What you suggest makes complete sense on one hand it is completely unrealistic in another. 3A teams like a Monte Vista, De La Salle simply have no interest in taking a chance at playing a very good 2A team because if they do end up losing, it might hurt their seeding at NCS playoffs.
I state the above based on first hand experience.
Unless top 3A teams are “mandated/required” to play 2A teams (with winning record in previous season) for seeding purposes – it will not happen.
Therefore, what I am simply suggesting is do not discount the quality of the 2A teams completely in the DFAL because they “cannot play” 3A teams in the EBAL, BVAL or MVAL.
Thank you for considering my point.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Mr.Miller,
Newark Memorial’s record as of 1/15 is: Overall 13-3-1 and in MVAL 6-0-1.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
OAL isn’t part of the east bay? if you base this on the winter season, you should *say that*.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
DLS will continue to stay #1 until they lose, even though they are not even top of their conference standings. They still have to play Pitt twice, and Richmond and Deer Valley again. So they will get high seed with only 3-4 losses. They barely beat Freedom 1-0 yesterday; Freedom is 0-12. When they play EBAL next year they will find out that an off nite equals a loss; in their league now they can probably get away with some bad games now and then and still win or tie.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Michael Bower,
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
I think Dennis does a great job. I just wish that there was more opinions from his peers. I know of three reporters, personally, that cover soccer matches and could provide some “point counter-point” discussion in regards to the rankings. It would make for good discussion and a ranking deemed good enough to actually print in the CC times!
HAAL ? Monte Vista was tied by Hayward, why aren’t they sniffing the poll?
Couldn’t there be a list of those also receiving consideration?
The 2A vs 3A discussion is interesting. Not sure how this can be solved given how the NCS tournament decisions are made. 2A schools just have to go out of their way to play any 3A school possible. If they really really try, I think they will get the matches they need.
Gentlemen, obviously this can get a little emotional, and I’ll try to stay simple, focused and respectful. I just want to see more talk and more ink about a sport that I believe deserves it.
All the best,
Matt
January 16th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Chuck Lawrence: I have to agree with you. These probably should be called the East Bay Winter Soccer Rankings. I’ll see about getting that changed.
Matt: Word from the CC Times is that they’re looking to run the rankings on Friday. I agree there’s a few other guys out there that could provide insight to broaden the poll. Fortunately, two of them work in the same office as Dennis, so I’m sure opinions are bantered around amongst them. I also like your idea of a list of others considered. I know the Chronicle does that when they do their rankings for other sports.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Matt,
Hayward just topped San Leandro 4-0 tonight, moving into first place in the HAAL. Maybe they crack the rankings next week. I am with you about getting more ink. Unfortunately, we don’t get as much space to write in the newspapers as we want. But we have this blog here so we can write as much as we want now!
I must say that I am thrilled with all the soccer people coming on to comment. Keep it up.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Matt:
High School Soccer deserves more ink and coverage, the reality of the situation is that HS Football and Basketball get more ink and coverage now because of the nationwide popularity of those sports. (Not news to you or anyone else.)
It is my belief though that given time, the continued growth of youth soccer across the U.S. (well over 3.5 Million registered youth soccer players in both AYSO and USYS) and a professional league that has seemingly gained a foothold and some momentum, soccer will thrive and eventually demand the ink and coverage it already gets at the worldwide stage.
Until then, those of us who have the passion need to keep on persisting in our neck of the woods that others give soccer more coverage.
I truly believe that the most popular sport in the world will eventually become one of the top three sports in the U.S. although it may not be in my lifetime or yours.
Cheers!
January 17th, 2008 at 10:33 am
You all need to suscribe to the Tri-Valley Herald — we run big soccer roundups every day!!!
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Bay…
Its fried rice, you plick!…
February 27th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Dmiller:
Any word when the final poll for the season is going to come out?
Thanks.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:57 am
The final poll came out on Tuesday. We just haven’t gotten around to putting it on the blog. It will be on probably Thursday.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Thanks.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
MB:…can we see it tomorrow? hopefully?
February 28th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I will have it up by tonight.