Benefield: Cougars, Cardinals reveal NBL’s strength

Twenty-eight football teams will compete this weekend for California Interscholastic Federation state football titles. Two of those teams - Rancho Cotate and Cardinal Newman - compete day in and day out exactly 14 miles apart. Same league, same division, regular rivals. And both will vie for a state title Saturday.

“What it says is that we have some teams that are incredibly, incredibly competitive,” said Jan Smith Billing, the Commissioner of the North Bay League.

Both Rancho and Newman play in the North Bay League-Oak Division. So strong is league play that Rancho Cotate could be crowned the CIF 3-A champ Saturday night without having won their league pennant - Cardinal Newman won that.

That intensity and level of play is not lost on those who have to line up against the Cardinals and the Cougars every season.

“Every single week we are playing against teams that are top caliber teams in California,” former Analy head coach James Foster said. “Having two possible state champions coming from the same league shows the level of competition that we have.”

Foster, who confirmed Monday that he won’t return to lead the Tigers next season, said having teams of the caliber of Newman and Rancho on the league schedule can be both a blessing and a curse.

“You really have to try and play your best football each week,” he said. “There are not opportunities to take a week off.”

And that’s a boon for local programs come the postseason, Smith Billing said.

“Strength of schedule is one of the factors in North Coast Section seeding,” she said.

Cardinal Newman is 13-1 overall and went 5-0 in league to take the Oak Division title. They beat Rancho Cotate 24-14 in the Oak Division opener Oct. 4, a game that is widely considered the marquee league matchup in recent years. The Cardinals, who won the North Coast Section Div. 4 title with a stirring 13-10 win over Marin Catholic and then beat up on Los Gatos 42-7 last week in the NorCal Regional Championship game to advance, will host El Camino High at ?6 p.m. Saturday for the Div. 3-AA title.

They were one division below those teams that got an invitation to play their games at Cerritos College in Norwalk. Instead, they, like Rancho will host their Southern California foe at home.

Rancho may have finished second in league, but hasn’t lost since being downed by Cardinal Newman. They are 11-3, went 4-1 in league and pulled off an upset in the NCS Div. 2 tournament, ousting top seed Las Lomas 7-0 to win the section title and advance to play Sierra High in their NorCal bowl game.

They beat Sierra on the road 10-0 to earn the right to host Bakersfield Christian at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Beating teams from every corner of the state is heralding the strength of the NBL, coaches said.

“What Rancho and Newman are doing is great,” Windsor coach Brad Stibi said. “They are beating teams from out of the area.”

And with it, they are showing other programs how it’s done, Stibi said.

“It gives us something to look forward to. We want to play the best. We want to eventually be that team,” he said.

Rancho and Newman are aggressive in their scheduling. Rancho played Sacramento in their first game of the season, taking a 24-6 loss. They also played (and lost to) Campolindo, a team that played its way into the NCS Div. 2 final before falling to Clayton Valley Charter.

Newman does it every year: They traveled to Sutter (winning 21-7) and Placer (winning 30-27) and Liberty - a team that won the Div. 1-A state title last season. The Cardinals lost that one 17-13.

The North Bay League isn’t the only league sending two teams to a state title game. Humboldt-Del Norte - Big 4 is represented by Del Norte High in the ?Div. 5-AA game against El Monte of the Mission Valley League as well as ?St. Bernard’s of Eureka, which plays South High School of Torrance from the Pioneer League on Saturday in the Div. 6-AA game.

And the Trans Valley League is represented by both Ripon High in the ?Div. 4-AA game and Escalon High in the Div. 4-A contest.

But what is happening this post season with the NBL is no doubt special, Stibi said.

“When you get talent like that and you start making noise, scouts start to listen,” Stibi said. “I think it definitely gives the area exposure. It gets scouts looking in this direction.”

Foster concurred.

“It definitely helps bring some attention,” he said. “I have kind of felt that Sonoma County football teams have been fairly under-recruited.”

It gives credibility not only to the Cardinals and the Cougars, but to the teams they play year in and year out up and down the Highway 101 corridor.

“You have to have winning programs and usually winning programs are a pipeline to college programs or even the junior college programs,” Stibi said. “You’ve got to win games. You have to have that exposure in the big games, that’s what the scouts want to see.”

And Rancho and Newman are winning games - they have been for years.

The state divisions are based on competitive equity - the Open Division game is the CIF’s best guess as the top two teams in the state: De La Salle versus St. John Bosco. The Div. 1-AA are teams three and four and Div. 1-A are teams five and six and so on.

Games in the Open Division through Div. 2-A will be played Friday and Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk. Because Cerritos College is in Southern California, games in Div. 3-AA through 7-AA will be held on the home fields of the NorCal regional winners.

So the bad news is the Cardinals and the Cougars don’t get to play on a night along with Serra High or Clayton Valley Charter on a college field. The good news is that both teams get to play at home.

But that leaves local high school football fans in something of a pickle: Which game to attend? Both games are Saturday and both games kick off at 6 p.m.

“I’m going to watch Rancho,” Stibi said. “You get a team like that, I don’t think they were expecting it, and when it starts happening and when they start winning games? There is something a little more exciting to see.”

Plus, he’s a fan of number 25, senior Rasheed Rankin, the Cougars’ 6-feet, 1-inch, 225-pound running back.

Rankin has 1,282 yards rushing and averages eight yards per carry. He’s got 19 touchdowns this season.

“I want to watch that running back. I want (to watch) Rasheed,” he said. “I want to see him carry some kids into the end zone.”

Foster, on the other hand, let basic proximity decide where he goes. He’s closer to Cardinal Newman’s campus so he’s going there.

The question is a mite more delicate for Smith Billing. She is, after all, the commissioner of the league that represents both teams. Where to go?

She, too, is letting practicality rule. She will keep a volunteer commitment in Rohnert Park Saturday afternoon, and head to Rancho Cotate’s stadium by 6 p.m.

“I’m really proud of Cardinal Newman and Rancho,” Smith Billing said. “Those coaches work really hard all year long. They have done great jobs in those two programs.”

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes and SoundCloud “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”