Its Go Time!!!
The Diablo Valley football team is heading into its showdown against City College of San Francisco in the teams' National-Bay 6 openers seemingly with a strong wind at its back.
Hearty Viking explorers prefer it that way.
The Vikings (4-1), riding a four-game winning streak, will meet the defending state champion Rams (3-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Viking Stadium.
DVC coach Mike Darr appreciated the balanced the effort in a 42-21 win over San Joaquin Delta on Sept. 30 in the Vikings' nonconference finale. The emerging run game complemented the dynamic passing game with 233 yards on the ground, paced by freshman Miles Harrison's 133 yards on 13 carries and workhorse Desmond Nisby's 73 yards on 17 carries.
Darr said after the Delta game that "guys are still hungry and still looking to improve, and we're gonna use the bye week to get ready for San Francisco."
Freshman quarterback Jadon Brisendine had another smasher against Delta, completing 26 of 39 attempts for 383 yards and four touchdowns. Ranked fifth in the state in average passing yards at 288.2 per game, Brisendine gives a lot of the credit to the offensive line.
"Oh, yeah, I love those guys," Brisendine said. "They're big up front. They protect well, and I just hope we keep going through the season like that."
Christian Fuca, a transfer from Humboldt State like Brisendine, and Marquese Surrell each had six receptions and combined for 124 yard against Delta. Dylan Alves, Ryan Anderson, the younger brother of last year's DVC quarterback Drew, and Devin Hope each had three catches.
Surrell is No. 2 in the state in both receiving yards per game (129.0) and in receiving TDs (8)
Ville Valasti and Dylan Gilfoy are always factors on the pass rush, and Brenton Allen was a one-man wrecking crew against Delta with nine total tackles, including seven solo. DJ Pauletich had 2.5 tackles for loss and half a sack.
DVC will get another lift this week with the return of Oregon-bound offensive lineman John Vaka from a one-week suspension.
CCSF saw its stock take a hit after suffering an un-CCSF-like 44-7 loss to Butte on Oct. 1, one week after the Rams were nearly upended by Chabot (1-4) in a 21-19 win. Against Butte, San Francisco was 2 of 12 in third-down efficiency and had just 203 yards of total offense. They were sacked nine times.
But CCSF, which has had a lot of time to chew on the Butte game, has owned the rivalry with DVC, as it has with most teams.
Last year CCSF beat DVC 44-7 on Halloween. The Rams beat the DVC 34-14 in 2014, 41-9 in 2013, and 48-41 in overtime in 2012 – a game in which DVC's Quinn Kaehler passed for 459 yards and Cameron Rowland had 12 receptions for 151 yards.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
The Vikings (10-3, 5-0-3) enter the week as one of just four women's soccer teams in the state still without a loss.
They notched back-to-back shutouts last week, besting Sierra 2-0 and American River 3-0, and moved into sole possession of first place in the Big 8.
The stage is set for Friday's showdown at Santa Rosa, the defending Big 8 champion which will be looking to avenge a conference-opening 2-1 loss to DVC on Sept. 13 in Pleasant Hill. Noelle Lemos and Megan Melara scored for DVC in that memorable win, the first ever by Vikings coach Cailin Mullins against Santa Rosa (currently 10-2, 5-2)
Lemos and Karla Ramos scored in the second half to clinch the win over American River as Katie McLaughlin made three saves for the shutout – her seventh clean sheet of the season. Maya Hymel scored in the first half.
It was the Vanessa Ruvalcaba Show against Sierra as the former Pittsburg High star scored both goals, including one on a spectacular shot after weaving through the defense. McLaughlin had three saves.
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
The Vikings (7-6, 3-3) played credibly in a 3-1 loss against Big 8 power Sierra (12-3, 6-0), throwing a scare into their touted opponent by winning the first game. The scores were 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-20.
Sophomore Jade Lee had an incredible game with 23 kills, hitting at a .528 percentage, and Jasmine Assia had 29 assists. Taylor Chow amassed 17 digs and Isabel Villalobos had 11 digs.
The Vikings are at Delta on Wednesday and will host Folsom Lake on Friday at 6:30 p.m., to start a run of four consecutive home games.
WATER POLO
The Vikings (7-10, 2-1) dropped four in a row last week against stout competition in the Riverside Tournament, and will look to rebound at Delta on Wednesday and at Santa Rosa on Friday.
Gordon Kerns had three goals in a 12-6 loss to Cuesta on Saturday, and Max Murphy had three goals and Pat Hallahan had two goals and an assist in a 10-7 defeat to Golden West.
Zac Hudson had four goals and three assists in a 14-11 loss to Grossmont. Murphy and Hallahan had three goals apiece.
The DVC women's team fell 12-5 to host Fresno City on Oct. 5. Julia Mes had three goals and Jackie Carlisle had two for the Vikings (4-8).
Matt Schwab