All right. Now that the winter holiday is out of the way, the Peninsula sports world will get back to normal starting this week.
And with the first full week of the new year, we get the start of Peninsula Athletic League basketball season with league openers Wednesday. After the league went to a power-based system last season, getting away from a geographical setup, the PAL was tweaked again this season with the Lake Division being scrapped and expanding the number of teams in the Bay and Ocean divisions.
The Bay Division expanded from six to seven teams this season, with last year’s Ocean Division boys’ champ, Woodside, moving up to the Bay. The Ocean, meanwhile, went from six teams to 10 for 2025.
On the girls’ side, Ocean Division co-champ, Westmoor, was bumped up to the Bay for this season.
At this point, it looks like the boys’ Bay Division is a three-team race between defending Bay Division champion Half Moon Bay, Jefferson and Menlo-Atherton — with Woodside off to a strong start, as well. Those four teams are a combined 29-11.
Hillsdale sits at 5-6 after the first month of the season, but don’t count out the Knights, who knocked off Sacred Heart Cathedral last week — Hillsdale’s first win over a West Catholic Athletic League team since at least 2004.
Meanwhile, Burlingame and Carlmont have struggled, with the Scots mired in a four-game losing streak.
In the boys’ Ocean Division, there are some unfamiliar faces who are off to hot starts. Oceana, which was just 14-11 overall and 1-7 in Lake Division play last season, comes into league play with the best record of any PAL team, going 9-2 through the first month of the season.
The Sharks are followed by the two South San Francisco schools that see both South City and El Camino sitting on 8-2 records. San Mateo is the only other team in the division with a winning record at 7-4, while Aragon and Capuchino both sit at 5-5.
On the girls’ side, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will emerge as the Bay Division champ. Hillsdale enters Bay Division play on a roll, having gone 10-1 in non-league play. Half Moon Bay enters league play at 8-2 while Westmoor sits at 7-2.
Last year’s top-two finishers, Mills and Menlo-Atherton, find themselves hovering around the .500 mark, with Mills at 5-5 and M-A sporting a 6-4 record.
In the Ocean, last year’s Lake Division champ, San Mateo, picked up where it left off last year and starts league play having gone 8-4 in non-league. The Bearcats’ height will give the rest of the division fits.
The rest of the teams in the Ocean are clumped together around the .500 mark, with Terra Nova (6-4), Capuchino (4-3), Burlingame and South City both at 4-4 and El Camino at 5-6.
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The WCAL also tips off league play this week and we’ll find out real quick how good Serra is. The Padres’ 9-1 non-league record looks good, with their only loss coming to De La Salle, and they’ve won seven in a row, but the WCAL looks tougher than it’s ever been.
Four teams — Serra, Riordan, Valley Christian and Bellarmine — all went 9-1 in non-league action. Mitty, St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart Cathedral all enter league play 7-3 with only St. Francis sporting a losing record at 3-5.
Serra will get tested right out of the gate as the Padres open the season on the road at St. Ignatius Tuesday night before hosting Mitty Friday night.
Next week? The Padres get Riordan, the favorite to win the title, followed by Valley Christian and Bellarmine Jan. 21.
That is one gauntlet of a schedule.
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The West Bay Athletic League does not start league play until next week, but the girls’ Foothill Division is shaping up to be a barnburner. Notre Dame-Belmont (10-0), Priory (10-1) and Menlo School (9-0) are a combined 29-1 in non-league play.
But everyone knows the division title goes through state power Pinewood, which sits at 5-2 after playing a mostly national non-league schedule, having played and beaten only a pair of Central Coast Section teams.
We should get a real indication about who the real favorite is as Pinewood opens WBAL play Jan. 14 against Priory. The two tied for the division title last season — the second straight season the Foothill Division had co-champs. Pinewood and Crystal tied for the 2023 title.
In the WBAL’s Skyline Division, all six teams enter league play with winning records. Castilleja and Harker are a combined 19-2 while Eastside College Prep, after a lengthy downturn, appears to be back among the living having posted an 8-1 mark in non-league play. King’s Academy sits at 8-3 while the two county teams in the division, Mercy and Crystal, have identical 4-1 records.
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.
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