Undefeated Serra readies for first postseason test Saturday vs. Palma

What does that really mean heading into the Central Coast Section Division I opener, when the No. 1-seed Padres host No. 8 Palma, Saturday at Freitas Field at 1 p.m.?

“For me, not much right now,” Serra head coach Patrick Walsh said. “It’s all relative to the end date, whatever that end date is. … But if you’re forcing me to pause for a minute, it’s spectacular and I’m very proud of the team and the coaches for what they’ve accomplished thus far.”

Walsh and the Padres have learned the lesson of end dates quite well. Last year was a perfect example of this, Walsh said, as he pointed to Serra’s CCS Division I championship win over St. Francis. The Lancers posted a 12-0 record heading into that game. In losing to the Padres, St. Francis was denied a bid to the CIF Northern California playoffs.

The Padres’ first postseason test is a Palma team that earned a co-Pacific Coast League-Gabilan Division championship that posted an 8-2 record, and boasts a stingy defense that held opponents to single-digit scoring in five of those games.

But the most compelling dynamic of the Palma-Serra matchup is looking at the last time the two teams met in 2014. That meeting came in the CCS playoffs as well, but was during a brief window when the CCS implemented a consolation bracket in the Open Division. The week prior, Serra lost its CCS opener to Los Gatos.

That’s when Walsh’s self-proclaimed nightmare really began.

“I remember my heart sinking in my chest, thinking: ‘Wow, now I’ve got to deal with this consolation football,’” Walsh said. “I mean, after the game, if you looked in my locker room in 2014, there was bodies thrown across the locker room, kids crying, people hugging because the season was over. … And to get that locker room back onto the field to play in a consolation game against Palma, it was a nightmare.”

Serra went on to defeat Palma 28-14, qualifying for the fifth-place game. That game was never played as Serra forfeited the game to Milpitas. Walsh drew ire and punishment from CCS, as the Padres were suspended from participating in the 2015 CCS playoffs the following year.

“It was very difficult,” Walsh said. “It was the right decision … and I’d do it again. Because, in my heart, I was putting the kids first and I didn’t think they should be on the field that night. And 24 hours later, the section agreed with me. And there was never consolation football after that, and there will probably never be consolation football again. It was not a good idea.”

Walsh said he could have handled the situation better, as comments he made were deemed to be egotistical. But Serra’s 21st-year head coach didn’t mean it the way it sounded.

“At one point I said: ‘We don’t play for fifth place,’” Walsh said. “What I meant to say was: ‘Football is not game that is meant to be played for fifth place. It’s made to be played for first or second because of the health and the safety of the players.’ And if I would have said it like that, maybe it wouldn’t have gone that way.”

In the wake of the one-year banishment from the CCS playoffs, Serra achieved exit velocity, winning Nor Cal championships in 2016, ’17, ’19, and a de facto fourth on in ’21. The Padres also earned a state title in winning the 2017 Division 2-AA Championship Bowl Game.

And last year’s CCS championship propelled Serra into the elite CIF Open Division Championship Bowl.

Now, after posting its third all-time undefeated regular season — Serra went 5-0 in 2020 during the COVID spring of 2021, and 9-0 in 1954 — the Padres are looking to continue building toward the sky. And this year’s unprecedented run is built on another stern decision by Walsh by investing in junior quarterback Maealiuaki Smith — one of four QBs in preseason camp — who now has the team flying through the stratosphere.

“I think he’s developed tremendously,” Walsh said. “He’s worked hard with [offensive coordinator Darius Bell], he’s worked hard on himself. He clearly has the physical talent, but we know at this position, it’s not about physical talent alone. Look at Tom Brady, it’s more about the computer, and the decisions, and the mental aspect of the position, which I’ve really seen [Smith] grow tremendously over the season. … So, I feel great about the decision.”