NCS FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Posted Dec 12 2009 7:58PM - By Jeff Patterson, Bay Area Sports
Category: General

SF BAY AREA, Sf Bay Area - One must look back to the past to know what the future holds. For the North Coast Section, the football playoffs started this weekend in four divisions, with the winners having a chance to move on to the state championship bowl games next weekend at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

The Division I championship game will be decided tonight when Pittsburgh High looks to pull the upset against NCS powerhouse De La Salle. The Pirates defeated the Spartans in the title game in 1991. De La Salle has won 19 of the last 20 title games.

In Division II, Eureka handled Montgomery 30-17 for their first football title since 2003. Marin Catholic shut out Encinal 27-0 for the Division III championship for their first title since 2003 with a dominating defensive effort. In Division IV, Fort Bragg won a close game versus Justin-Siena 23-18 for their first title since they won four in a row from 1993-96. St Elizabeth won the Division V game 26-13 for their second championship in the last three years.

Many people do not know that the first championship game was played in 1919 with Berkeley High School crowned the champions. Berkeley defeated Mountain View 116-0. The game was played at Mountain View High on November 22. In fact, Berkeley won 4 of the first 5 championship games and played in 10 of the first 11 years in what was known as the Southern Class. Berkeley won by forfeit in 1924.

In 1929, the Northern Class was formed and Eureka High was the winner that year, edging out Vallejo High in overtime 9-7. The game was played on December 7 in Vallejo. Berkeley High was the champion again that year for the Southern Class.

According the NCS official website, the records of the years from 1930 to 1974 are missing. There is not a clear explanation as to what happened. Paul Gaddini, NCS Commissioner of Athletics from 1972 to 2000, formed a committee to review championship competition in team sports at the request of Robert Boehme, Principal of Calistoga High School. The committee consisted of various principals and athletic directors from around the section to study section playoffs. A separate coaches committees for specific sports was also established.

On January 18, 1975, the NCS Board of Managers approved football playoffs and reaffirmed the decision at its May 3, 1975 meeting. Then NCS President Dutch Williams, representing the Alameda County Athletic League, cast the deciding vote in a close race to resume playoff football.

Out of that decision, five classes or divisions were formed for the different high schools with various enrollments. The classes were 3A, formerly 4A, 2A North, formerly 3A, 2A South, formerly 2A, Class A and Class B. The larger the number of the class, the bigger the school’s enrollment was. The winners for those years were Pinole Valley (3A), Alhambra (2A South), Cardinal Newman (2A North), and Ferndale (Class A). There was not a winner for Class B until 1978 when Calistoga won it all.

As time passed and the demographics of the area changed, so did the classification of schools. For instance, De La Salle won their first NCS title in 1982 as a Class 2A South team. They won three of the next four year until they moved to Class 3A in 1986. From 1986-92, the Spartans won the title every year except in 1987, when Monte Vista came out on top and 1991 when Pittsburgh High took it all against De La Salle.

The current De La Salle NCS championship streak started the following year and continued even when they moved to Class 4A in 1996. The 4A classification was implemented this year to accommodate larger enrollment schools. Previously, the largest classification for schools was 3A. After De La Salle moved up in Class, the 3A Class was wide open with 9 different winners through 2008. Several teams have at least 2 titles during the span.

Bishop O’ Dowd dominated with back to back titles in 97-98, followed by Foothill’s repeat performance in 2000-01. That was the last repeat champion in 3A, although Las Lomas, San Ramon Valley, and Cardinal Newman also won two titles, including their victory last year.

The 3A Redwood Empire Class was controlled by Cardinal Newman, who won the first two titles in ’75-76, and a three-peat from ’82-84. In 1990, the 3A Redwood Empire Class became the 2A Redwood Class. Marin Catholic and Cardinal Newman won 5 of the 9 titles in that class. In 1998, the Class was split into the 2A & 3A Redwood Empire.

In the 2A Class, there was a different champion every year from ’98-2005, with Novato winning twice in ’02 and 05. In the 3A Class, Rancho Cotate repeated in ’01-02, and Novato regained their championship form with back to back titles in ’06-07.

In 2006-07, the NCS reduced the Classes back to five, with the 4A East Bay as the largest Class, all the way to Class A. In 2008, the NCS decided to reformat the playoff format from Classes to Divisions. Currently there are five Divisions, with the winners having a chance to be selected to play in the state championship bowl game.