Clayton Valley was outplayed and out coached by Miramonte all night! The fans for Miramonte really came out and I think intensity of the players and fans really caught the Ugly Eagles off guard. Frankly, at halftime, down by a TD, Clayton Valley looked somewhat deflated. If not for an awesome effort by #3, Clayton Valley would have been out of the game by halftime. With #3, Clayton Valley is a devastating force on offense. He’s a junior??

Greatest win for Miramonte in over a decade and against a great team. Thinking about it, the only three teams that have beaten Clayton Valley in the last two years before tonight are Pitt, Oakdale (in the regional bowl game) and De La Salle. Also, consider that Miramonte dropped 44 points on Clayton Valley. Pitt got 40, De La Salle 34 and Oakdale 27.

You see Murphy yell at that kid on Miramonte? Talk about unprofessional…

I was wondering as I was looking at Clayton Valley at halftime – they were looking pretty dejected – and thinking if perhaps their soft schedule had not prepared them for this sort of tough game. It was like they expected this small D3 club to come in a lay down for them. When it didn’t happen, they just weren’t mentally prepared for that.

Miramonte on the other hand had had their a$$ kicked by Campo and Marin Catholic and decided they didn’t like it very much. They are now a mentally tough team and are very cool under pressure. A lot of that credit goes to QB Drew Anderson.

Hope you guys make it to state. I’m always pullng for any public school against the privates and charters.

No insult in your comment; it’s a fair assessment. But I think a bit more complicated than that. First, I’ll say what I’ve always said which is D2 is tougher on the lower end than D3. The first round game is harder; Alameda is #16, Windsor #9…much tougher than D3. D3 is harder at the very top 3, or top 4 had Miramonte chosen to stay in D3. Below that, I’m not sure I agree that D3 is as “stacked” as people say. (Read: Analy and Cardinal Newman aren’t nearly as good as some would say).

Second, in terms of Miramonte not winning in the semis, I don’t necessarily agree. The loss to Campo was the low point of the season. Up to the Campo game Miramonte was sloppy team with a strong-armed QB and some pretty good skill players. Even the win over Analy was plagued with penalties, turnovers and dropped passes. Look at the games since: Acalanes, Las Lomas, Northgate were wins against top opponents that Miramonte controlled from bell to bell. The game last night has ZERO interceptions, fumbles and few peonalties. I won’t say we would beat El Cerrito, Marin Catholic or Campo, but it would be a much different game later in the season.

Campo ran into a buzzsaw last night in El Cerrito. As poorly as El Cerrito played in September, they had an axe to grind and all their top playmakers contributed to the win last night. Interestingly, 8 new players played in this game for El Cerrito that were ineligible back in September, mostly new transfers. Where the additional manpower made a difference was at the line of scrimmage; a battle won by Campo in the regular season game but won convincingly by El Cerrito last night.
El Cerrito didn’t turn the ball over last night which was key. They still had their assortment of personal foul penalties and the like, but they never punted and their defense never allowed Campo to get in sync. Should Marin Catholic prevail it should be a great game next week, setting up another revenge game for El Cerrito going back to last year’s NCS final.
Finally, what a great year for Campolindo. They finish 11-1 and their record over the past three seasons is 35-4. Their senior class never lost a DFAL game at any level during their 4 years together; not bad for a class that may not have anyone playing football at the next level. This is a tribute to Coach Macy and his staff who work wonders with kids who you would never identify as football players.

Congrats to Coach Schram! I didn’t think they’d go far with the lack of size they have up front, but they proved everybody wrong! Miramonte beating CVC and EC winning shows that playing a tough schedule goes a long way when you get into the tough games. The little OL from Miramonte plays with heart….especially that little #52. He’s a pit bull. If Casa wins they are HUGE. But Miramonte has a great passing game that Casa may not be able to handle. Should be a great game if Casa takes care of business tonight.

Suffice to say that Miramonte people feel CVC played dirty and it is viewed that these tactics are orchestrated at the HC level, not just some rogue players.