Finally. We are only a couple days away from the start of the 2019-20 high school sports season and while most of the attention will focus on the opening of the varsity football season Friday, the first varsity action will actually begin Thursday – the first day teams can officially play games that count.
And you couldn’t ask for a better matchup if you’re a high school volleyball fan as for the second year in a row, Aragon and Menlo will meet — this time in Atherton — in the season opener at 6 p.m.
Last season, the Dons posted a 3-1 win which helped catapult them to the Central Coast Section Division II title. Meanwhile, the Knights were an Open Division entrant in 2018.
Menlo-Atherton is jumping into the 2019 season with both feet as well. Wednesday, the Bears will host perennial state power Mitty in a scrimmage before coming back the next night and officially opening the season against Valley Christian, another West Catholic Athletic League power. An intra-division PAL matchup between the Bay’s Terra Nova and Ocean Division member Westmoor will tip off at 5:15 p.m. Thursday as well.
This gives volleyball — as well as girls’ tennis and water polo — about two weeks to prepare for the league season.
Friday night, however, can be considered the real kickoff to the season as all 18 football teams in the PAL — along with Serra and the WCAL — will be in action this weekend. The Daily Journal will begin its annual football previews Wednesday and run though Friday’s opening night.
Some games to watch include Menlo-Atherton beginning defense of its state title with a season-opening matchup with Bellarmine at 7 p.m. in Atherton. It will be the fourth straight year the Bears and Bells open against each other, with M-A shutting out Bellarmine 28-0 last season.
Carlmont, moving up the Ocean Division in 2019, open against Sacred Heart Prep at 1 p.m. Saturday. Both the Scots and Gators advanced to CCS championship games last season.
Rivals Woodside and Sequoia will meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Sequoia in the “Battle of Redwood City.” This game always seems to turn into a barnburner, including last year’s 35-32 Wildcats’ win. Other intra-division games Friday night feature Jefferson (Lake Division) at Half Moon Bay (Ocean) and El Camino (Lake) at San Mateo (Ocean).
Not surprisingly, there are a number of big-time matchups in the WCAL. Serra will host East Bay power Pittsburg at 1 p.m. Saturday, but Friday night brings 2013 state champ Corona del Mar-Newport Beach to St. Francis, while defending state champ Wilcox will be at perennial Nor Cal power Valley Christian.
All in all, its an exciting time for high school sports fans and means the Daily Journal sports staff will be churning and burning until June.
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He’s bided his time, but former Terra Nova standout quarterback Anthony Gordon will officially be a Division I starting quarterback as head coach Mike Leach named Gordon, a 6-3, 189-pound redshirt senior, the starter for Washington State.
“(Gordon) had a really good spring and then he really didn’t break stride from spring till camp. So he was very steady in camp,” Leach told the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. “Steady, but also explosive.”
As a two-year starter at Terra Nova, Gordon combined to throw for 8,305 yards — including 4,899 yards his senior year in 2014 — with 81 touchdowns against 19 interceptions. He completed an average of 70% of his passes.
He continued his dominance at City College of San Francisco, where in his one season, 2015, Gordon threw for 3,864 yards, with 37 touchdowns and 13 picks. He transferred to Washington State and redshirted the 2016 season. The last two seasons, he sat behind Luke Falk and Gardner Minshew, both of whom were drafted into the NFL.
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Mike Spinelli, a lifelong photographer and former photographer for the San Mateo Times, has added another hall of fame to his list.
Some of his photographs already grace the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and now a pair of photos he took at U.S. Opens will be used in the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida.
Spinelli got a photo of Tom Watson hugging his longtime caddie Bruce Edwards after winning the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. While the most famous image from that tournament was Watson chipping in a shot from off the green at No. 17, Spinelli captured the emotion of the event with the winning hug with his caddie.
The other photo is of the late Payne Stewart during the 1998 U.S. Open.
Both photos will be displayed on the players’ permanent “locker” displays.
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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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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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