Hunting for a CCS title

Those are just four of the 11 San Mateo County teams playing for a section title Saturday. But the Burlingame, Menlo School and Sacred Heart Prep girls’ soccer teams have all won titles. The Menlo-Atherton, Half Moon Bay and Woodside Priory girls’ basketball teams have accomplished the championship feat, as well, as has the Hillsdale boys’ program. There are four more teams who want to join that list.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world for the girls, the parents and our program,” said Mills girls’ head coach Dave Matsu, his voice hoarse from all the yelling and celebrating following the Vikings’ 43-36 win over Capuchino in the CCS Division III semifinals.

Mills will be making a finals appearance for the third time in school history. The Vikings won it all in 1985 and returned to the finals in 2005, falling to St. Ignatius.

Section champions come in all shapes, sizes and styles. Titles have been won on sheer talent. Some have gotten hot at the right time, while still others may have been a Cinderella story.

Basically, there is more than one way to win a CCS crown.

“If you think about it, [the CCS bracket] is a three-game tournament. After 24 games, you should be peaking right now,” said Hillsdale boys’ head coach Brett Stevenson. While the Knights have previously won a CCS championship, they are 23 years removed from that 1997 title.

“It’s pretty cool (playing for a title),” Stevenson continued. “[The players are] playing for something. As a kid growing up, this what you dreamed of doing: winning a CCS title.”

But let’s face it: luck has a lot to do with postseason success. Who a team plays is just as important as who they don’t play. In the case of Mills, this isn’t the best team Matsu has had during his tenure with the Vikings, but it has accomplished the most.

“I’ve had all-county players, I’ve had all-state players. That’s what makes this group so special. They have come together, everyone working together. … We care and play for each other,” Matsu said. “(But making it to the finals is) complete serendipity. It’s the luck of the draw. It’s timing. It’s all timing.”

The timing was perfect for both the Pacific Bay Christian boys’ basketball team and the Summit Prep boys’ soccer team. With a strong cores returning for both teams after successful 2018-19 campaigns, both teams came into this season looking to take that final step.

Pacific Bay Christian advanced to the 2013 Division V championship game under the school’s previous name of Alma Heights, losing to Pinewood. Last year, the Eagles went 13-12 overall and finished second in the Private School Athletic League. This year, they put together one of the best seasons in program history with a 27-2 mark going into Saturday’s game against Eastside College Prep.

“With having everyone returning from last year, when they said that (winning a CCS title) was their goal, I told them that was realistic,” said Pacific Bay Christian head coach Mark Bermudez. “I told them to go out and win every game.”

The Eagles came close. The Summit Prep Huskies, on the other hand, have accomplished just that — going a perfect 18-0-0 in making it to the Division IV final against Del Mar. Like Pacific Bay Christian, the Huskies had a strong 2019 season and believed bigger things were in store this year.

“It was kind of an unfinished-business type of thing,” Summit Prep athletic director Mike Lofberg said prior to the Huskies’ 4-3 semifinal win over King City Wednesday.

“[Playing for a CCS title] means something. The sense of pride is back (at school). A buzz on campus? Oh yeah.”

The South City girls’ soccer team has been building buzz for the last four years as the Warriors received an influx of talent as freshmen who have put the South City program on the soccer map. The Warriors strength even forced the Peninsula Athletic League to incorporate one cross-over game per year between the Bay and Ocean divisions as a way of giving the Warriors a shot at playing against the best the PAL has to offer.

They’ve been in the CCS semifinals the last three years and that core group of seniors — Megan Celillo, Alexandra and Leilani Jara, Camellia Nasrah and Iliana Sanchez, along with junior midfield wizard Fatima Waldo-Garcia — have broken through and look to cap their South City soccer careers with a CCS championship.

“Honestly, when we came here, I don’t think the school expected us to come as far as we’ve come today,” Sanchez told the Daily Journal earlier this week. “When I got here, we were in the bottom league. We’ve earned credibility and reputation, and now the entire dynamic of the soccer system has changed.”

That may be the biggest accomplishment of playing for a championship. It’s the validation of not only that year’s team, but for all the players and coaches who had come before.

“This is for all the kids who have worked hard in the Mills program. … We’re playing for the teams we’ve had in the past,” Matsu said.