With only two weeks of regular-season play remaining, there is, finally, the first change of the season at the top of the JC Athletic Bureau’s poll for the California Community College Football Coaches Association. Golden West College and Ventura College, both 8-0, are tied for first place this week with 341 points after season-long leader and defending 3C2A state champion College of San Mateo (7-1) lost for the first time in 18 games on Saturday, 13-6, to rival City College of San Francisco.
That also ended CSM’s modern-day school record 26-game home field winning streak over four seasons, which including a pair of state title games at home. Now San Mateo, ranked in a tie for No. 4 with Mt. San Antonio College, had put together a 17-game overall streak since losing at century-old rival Modesto in a 2024 non-league contest, but later defeating the Pirates in the 2024 state playoffs, en route to the title.
San Francisco (6-2 overall), which moved up to No. 11, has now won five in row and are 3-0 and sitting atop the Bay 6 Conference standings. CCSF hosts No. 19 Foothill this week and closes at No. 8 Diablo Valley.
With the state playoffs expanded to six teams in each region this year, CSM, having already defeated six teams that have been state ranked in 2025, just needs to win out against the bottom two Bay 6 teams to all but ensure another playoff entry. The Bulldogs have been in the state playoffs the past seven seasons, reaching the finals five times and winning twice in the last three years.
Golden West and Ventura are the lone remaining undefeated teams eligible for the state championship playoffs. Only teams in the National Division are eligible for the postseason tournament.
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Golden West, after turning back then No. 9 Cerritos, 27-19, last week, finishes Central Conference play with other upper half foes, hosting College of the Canyons Saturday, then visiting current co-leader No. 6 ranked Fullerton (7-1) in the Nov. 8 finale.
Ventura is alone atop the Northern Conference (at 5-0) and finishes with similar upper half battles – first at Long Beach, then hosting second place Mt. San Antonio (7-1), which now shares the No. 4 poll position with San Mateo.
No. 3 Butte (7-1) is the new Northern California pacesetter and the only NorCal Conference team with an overall winning record. The Roadrunners face a challenge from co-second place Sierra in the Nov. 8 finale. New in the top 10 this week is No. 10 College of the Sequoias, which visits No. 16 Fresno Saturday, before a potential finale with 4-0 Valley Conference teams: No. 12 Modesto at COS on Nov. 8. Fresno can remain in contention with a win over the Giants.
No. 7 El Camino and No. 9 Saddleback are both 7-1 overall and pace the Southern Conference with 5-0 records. They meet in Mission Viejo in the Nov. 8 finale — after first dealing with a pair of 6-2 ranked teams this week: No. 14 Southwestern at Saddleback and No. 13 Riverside at ElCo.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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