Champs will be crowned all this week

Basketball

All four PAL division titles are still up for grabs as we enter the final week of the regular season. In the PAL Ocean Division girls’ basketball race, it will be a pair of undefeated teams meeting when 10-0 Burlingame plays a 10-0 San Mateo at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The winner will have a one-game lead with one left to play Friday — Burlingame will be at Terra Nova, while San Mateo will host Sequoia.

Wednesday, the Menlo-Atherton boys’ and girls’ basketball teams could clinch Bay Division titles — and the Gentlemen Bears could do so without even taking the court.

With Carlmont’s 67-63 overtime loss to Half Moon Bay last Friday, the Scots drop a game behind M-A. The Scots will be at Woodside Wednesday, while the Bears have a bye. A Woodside win would give the Bears the championship. If not, M-A will get a chance to win it on the court Friday when the Bears go on the road to Half Moon Bay.

The Lady Bears, meanwhile, can clinch the Bay Division championship as soon as Wednesday night when they host an Aragon team that is 3-8 in division play. M-A’s 48-46 win over Hillsdale last Friday gave the Bears a two-game lead over the Knights with two left to play. M-A needs to only one of their final two games to clinch the crown.

In the boys’ Ocean Division, Sequoia will travel to face San Mateo in the regular-season finale Friday with the division title on the line.

The Bearcats beat the Ravens 54-47 Jan. 24 to take a one-game lead, but Sequoia pulled even in the standings following its win over Capuchino and the Bearcats’ 56-43 loss to El Camino last Friday, which snapped San Mateo’s 12-game winning streak.

San Mateo will need to get past third-place Terra Nova, which is only a game back, while Sequoia will need to beat 6-4 Aragon Wednesday to set up the winner-take-all game Friday.

Soccer

The M-A and Woodside girls’ soccer teams will meet in a showdown for first place in the Bay Division when the Wildcats host the Bears Tuesday. M-A enters the week with a division record of 5-1-2, good for 17 points (three points for a win, one point for a tie). Woodside, which has not lost in Bay play this year and sports a 4-0-4 record, is one point behind with 16.

A win would clinch the crown for the Bears. A tie would delay crowning a champion until Thursday, when Woodside plays at Sequoia and M-A hosts Hillsdale.

In the Ocean, undefeated Carlmont can wrap up the championship when the Scots host a winless Capuchino squad Tuesday. Carlmont enters the week with a four-point lead over second-place San Mateo, 21 points to 17, and the Scots and Bearcats will meet Thursday in the regular season finale.

The only way San Mateo can catch Carlmont is to win its final two games and hope Capuchino can manage to pull off the upset Tuesday.

In the Lake Division, Mills is a win or a tie away from claiming the championship, with Oceana three points behind with one game left to play for both.

Oceana’s only loss came to Mills, 7-3, Jan. 31. The only way the Vikings can be denied is if they lose to El Camino Tuesday and the Sharks beat Westmoor Thursday.

On the boys’ side, M-A will try to become the third Bears’ team to win a division title this winter. The first-place Bears enter the week 6-0-2, good for 20 points, two points ahead of Aragon (6-2, 18 points). The two meet 4 p.m. Wednesday in San Mateo.

A win by M-A would give the Bears the championship. A tie would keep Aragon in the race and send it to Friday’s regular-season finale, when the Bears host South City and the Dons are at Burlingame.

In the boys’ Ocean Division race, Hillsdale and Woodside are poised for a championship showdown Friday at 4:30 p.m. in Woodside. Both enter the week with 7-0-1 records, good for 22 points each. Woodside will be at Mills Tuesday, while Hillsdale takes on a winless Jefferson squad.

In the Lake Division, El Camino is a win or tie away from clinching the championship. The Colts hold a six-point lead over second-place Capuchino with two games left to play. An El Camino win or tie against Terra Nova Wednesday would clinch the title for the Colts.

Capuchino can only claim the crown if the Mustangs beat Westmoor Wednesday and El Camino Friday.

***

He was born Rolfe Williams, but nearly everyone knew him as “Buz.”

Half of the legendary coaching brothers, along with younger brother Britt Williams, Buz Williams was an institution at San Mateo High School as the Bearcats football and golf coach.

A longtime Foster City resident, Williams died over the weekend at the age of 91.

“He was the standard in San Mateo County for a long time,” said Aragon athletic director Steve Sell, who played against Williams when he was student-athlete at Aragon.

“There are a lot of kids at San Mateo High School who went on to do great things under his guidance, on the field and off the field.”

Williams coached football at San Mateo for 33 years, retiring after the 1996 season with 201 wins, leading the Bearcats to back-to-back CCS Division II-North championships in 1985 and 1986.

In 2007, the school put a plaque in the entry plaza to the school’s football stadium honoring Williams and his 200 wins.

Current San Mateo head football coach Jeff Scheller, like Sell, played against Williams when Scheller was playing at Hillsdale. When he took over the San Mateo program in 2006, he developed a relationship with a man Scheller looked at as a mentor.

“He was a tremendous football mentor to me when I got here,” Scheller said. “He was very open to talk. There were a couple years where I was struggling and we would meet once a week.

“He’s a huge impact to this school and to me.”

Added Sell: “If every coach behaved like Buz Williams, we might not have a referee shortage.”

Nathan Mollat is in his 24th year covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.