PAL, WBAL set to open league play

At 5-6, both Aragon and Mills have some work to do to get into the race, while Burlingame (9-2), Menlo-Atherton (7-2), Carlmont and Hillsdale (both 8-4), appear to be front-runners for the PAL South crown.

San Mateo may be the wild card in the standings. Marvin Lui, who coached the Bearcats for four seasons before stepping down prior to the start of the 2018 season, is back on the San Mateo sideline this season and has the Bearcats at 7-5 entering league play.

The PAL North may be as wide open as it has ever been as six of the seven teams sport .500 records or better, led by Westmoor, which went 9-2 in non-league play.

Half Moon Bay, at 3-6, is the only team in the division that doesn’t have a .500-or-better record, but the Cougars may have played the toughest non-league schedule in the division, with games against defending state champs Stuart Hall, Serra and St. Mary’s-Stockton.

Like the PAL North, the WBAL boys’ season could be one of attrition as defending champ Sacred Heart Prep (5-4) is not an overwhelming favorite. In fact, King’s Academy (13-0), Woodside Priory (13-1) and Harker (10-2) are all looking to unseat the Gators in 2023.

Menlo School (6-7) picked up a big win over the weekend, beating Carlmont in overtime Saturday. The Knights have played a rugged preseason schedule that head coach Ben Batory is hoping leads to success in league play.

On the girls’ side, the PAL South is much like the boys’ division — easier to eliminate than guess who will be left standing at the end. Capuchino and Burlingame have struggled to a combined record of 2-18. San Mateo hasn’t been much better, sitting a 3-7 — although the Bearcats have already equaled last season’s win total.

Hillsdale, the defending division champion, is off to another solid start, going 10-2 in non-league play. But hot on the Knights’ heels are M-A (8-2), Carlmont (7-3) and Mills (7-4). Woodside and Sequoia are solidly in the middle of the pack with records of .500 or better, which leaves defending Central Coast Section Division III champ Aragon.

The Dons are only a tepid 5-7 against a solid non-league schedule. But when the Dons have been bad, they’ve been really bad — like a 60-28 loss to Los Gatos. They’ll have a chance to figure it out early, with games against Burlingame and San Mateo this week. But they’ll get tested in Week 2 with games against Mills and Hillsdale.

The PAL North is shaping up to be a two-team race as South City and Westmoor are the only two teams who have winning non-league records. Terra Nova, after a 5-2 start, has dropped four straight heading into division play. Half Moon Bay, the defending North champ, is off to a 4-6 start. The Cougars will get a chance to see where they stand right out of the gate as they open North Division play tonight against South City.

In the WBAL, the surprise during the non-league portion of the Foothill Division schedule is 9-2 Crystal Springs, while Notre Dame-Belmont appears to be in prime position to challenge for league title after going 11-1. Woodside Priory is finding its footing, having won three straight and sits at 6-2; Harker is also off to a strong start at 7-3, while Menlo School starts league play with a record of 6-3.

In the WBAL Skyline, Castilleja, King’s Academy, Mercy-Burlingame and Eastside College Prep all having winning records and with no clear-cut favorite, the division race could come down to the end of the season.

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Lloyd Walter, Aragon football’s Swiss Army knife, has committed to continue his playing career at Tufts University, a Division III program located in Medford, Massachusetts.

Lloyd, who is 6-1, 190 pounds and was recruited as a defensive back and linebacker, won the 2022 Bay Division Player of the Year honors, to go along with the 2021 Ocean Division MVP award. He led the Dons in tackles with 85, including 3 1/2 sacks. He also rushed for more than 900 yards and finished the season averaging 136 yards of total offense per game.

Tufts, a member of the New England Small Collegiate Athletic Conference, went 6-3 during the 2022 season.

There will be a couple of Jumbos players with whom Walter may already be familiar as a pair of players from Central Coast Section teams are already on roster. Jaden Richardson is a junior wide receiver who prepped at Menlo School. Jeff Xu is a freshman linebacker who attended St. Francis in Mountain View.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.