Menlo-Atherton, San Mateo thankful to still be practicing

And to be honest, other than perennial contenders, Thanksgiving Day football practice is a rarity for the majority of players. Even longtime coaches realize how special it is to schedule practice, giving thanks to still be playing.

Jeff Scheller and Chris Saunders — head coaches for San Mateo and Menlo-Atherton, respectively, will face off against each other for the CCS Division III championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at MacDonald High School in San Jose. Both got to schedule practice Thursday and while it wasn’t the first time, for Saunders, it’s his first as a head coach.

“I’m familiar with it (practicing on Thanksgiving), but it’s been a while,” Saunders said, adding he’s practiced on the last Thursday of November several times as a player and assistant coach.

Scheller has a singularly unique Thanksgiving Day practice story, one that begins with him actually scheduling the practice ahead of a 2009 Division III semifinal game against Terra Nova, a game the Tigers won, 34-28.

Scheller had to miss that particular practice, but he had a good excuse — he skipped out for the birth of his daughter.

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California Wrestler, which can be found at thecaliforniawrestler.com, has released its second state wrestling rankings of the season for boys, with a handful of county wrestlers earning a top-40 ranking or honorable mention.

Serra had a pair of wrestler earn top-40 rankings and a third was named an honorable mention. Sebastian Garcia, a junior, had the highest ranking of any county wrestler, earning the No. 16 spot in the 150-pound weight class. Garcia won the West Catholic Athletic League title at 146 pounds last season and finished runner-up at the CCS Master Tournament.

Ryder Doleschal, another junior at Serra, was ranked No. 28 at 113. Doleschal captured the WCAL title at 108 and was third at CCS.

Leon Bleess, a sophomore who finished second in the WCAL at 159 last year, is moving up to 165 this season and was an honorable mention.

El Camino’s Niko Seliantis, a junior, was the only wrestler from the Peninsula Athletic League to earn a ranking from California Wrestler, getting the No. 21 spot at 106. Competing at the same weight class last season, Seliantis is coming off a PAL championship, finished fourth at CCS to qualify for the state meet.

Westmoor’s Abdulazis Abdybekov earned an honorable mention at 165. He won the 165-pound PAL title and was sixth CCS.

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Unlike the other sports, it usually takes a while for the wrestling season to really heat up. But there are a couple of tournaments hosted locally over the next week or so, including as soon as Friday with Carlmont hosting the Carlmont Holiday Invitational, at which eight teams are scheduled to compete. In addition to the host Scots, Serra will also be sending a squad.

Then, next Saturday, Dec. 6, is the annual Peninsula Invitational, hosted by by Half Moon Bay. This is a chance to get a look at a number of PAL teams — including Capuchino, El Camino, Menlo-Atherton, San Mateo, South City and Terra Nova, along with Half Moon Bay.

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The great thing about the advent of the internet is that nearly any question can now be answered in a few of key strokes.

But it still takes the human brain to process it and in my case, take the info from the internet and put text to print.

And boy was there a serious disconnect between those two in my column about the San Jose Sharks last week. As a reader not-so-gently pointed out, I completely whiffed on most of my info.

But I swear on anything: I did look it up. All of it. Because I knew my Sharks knowledge wasn’t great, I searched all of it. But the brain is a funny thing. I already had preconceived answers and even though I found out it was wrong, I still used the wrong answer that was in my head.

So, Will Smith was the fourth pick in the 2023 draft. I confused his sweater number with his draft position; William Eklund is a forward and Tyler Toffoli joined the Sharks last season. I had in my mind Ryan Reaves, who did join the team this year.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal. since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.