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Defense is thriving at McClymonds-Oakland
With only five returning starters, a roster of 28 (including only six linemen), the McClymonds-Oakland football team entered this season feeling more than a little vulnerable.
“We look like we could be in trouble,” head coach Keith Peters said before the season.
Looks can be deceiving.
The six-time defending Oakland Section champions have rolled two quality opponents — El Cerrito and previous No. 17-ranked Moreau Catholic-Hayward — by a combined score of 67-13.
Trailing 7-6 at Moreau on Friday, the Warriors scored 35 unanswered points to win 41-7.
McClymonds’ superior speed, outside pressure from Khalani Runnels and Ramone Sanders, plus the linebacker play of Paul Scott and Xavier Cannady, kept Ison from breaking any runs longer than 15 yards.
Peters said Cal coach Sonny Dykes was at the game and offered Scott a scholarship over the weekend.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Scott ran on McClymonds’ league champion 400-meter relay team.
“He’ll be one of those hybrid linebackers in college everyone is looking for,” said Peters, whose son Marcus was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year for the Chiefs in 2015.
Offensively, 2015 OAL Player of the Year Jerrell Alberty rushed for more than 100 yards for a second straight week and backup sophomore quarterback K’aun Green filled in for starter Emoreea Fountain (ankle) and threw three second-half TD passes.
Fountain should be ready for Friday’s 7 p.m. home game with Southern Section small-school power Paso Robles (2-0).
“I’ve been most pleased with how we’ve rallied to the ball and the quick improvement of our makeshift line,” Peters said Monday.
Younger guys are really stepping up.
McClymonds is not the only early-season surprise story:
The Dons — who were 54-58 the previous 10 seasons — are 2-0 and outscored Alhambra-Martinez and Skyline-Oakland by a combined 74-7 score under 68-year-old coach Floyd Burnsed, who is in his first season at the school.
Junior quarterback Robby Rowell (6-2, 185) has thrown for 571 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Dons play at another upstart, Heritage-Brentwood (2-0), Friday before traveling to No. 15 Analy-Sebastopol on Sept. 16.
The Crusaders (1-1) were supposed to fall flat after a senior-laden breakthrough 2015 season.
[...] following a 21-12 loss at No. 25 Hillsdale-San Mateo, Riordan stunned then-No. 16 Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton 19-3 on Saturday.
The defending Central Coast Section Division V champs graduated five first-team All-league players, including Utility Player of the Year Matt Spigelman, but have regrouped nicely under coach Keith Holden to beat larger schools Saratoga (27-26) and Burlingame (43-34).
The Cardinals (2-0), seeking their first winning season since 2008, have scored 86 points in wins over Mt.
Redwood is the only unbeaten team in the nine-squad MCAL.
PAL Ocean:
Considered the weakest of the three PAL divisions, the six Ocean squads are a combined 9-3.
Justin Argenal is the new De La Salle-Concord basketball coach, replacing A.J. Kuhle, who resigned after one season to spend more time with family.
Argenal, a former player at De La Salle, has coached at Cal State East Bay and Cal State Dominguez Hills. …
The CIF announced that its Small School Open Division Bowl football game has been replaced by a second Division 6 contest.
Mitch Stephens is national football editor at MaxPreps.com.
Chronicle top 25 football
De La Salle
Monte Vista
Antioch
Freedom
Marin Catholic
Cardinal Newman
Foothill
NR
Piedmont
NR
More...
With only five returning starters, a roster of 28 (including only six linemen), the McClymonds-Oakland football team entered this season feeling more than a little vulnerable.
“We look like we could be in trouble,” head coach Keith Peters said before the season.
Looks can be deceiving.
The six-time defending Oakland Section champions have rolled two quality opponents — El Cerrito and previous No. 17-ranked Moreau Catholic-Hayward — by a combined score of 67-13.
Trailing 7-6 at Moreau on Friday, the Warriors scored 35 unanswered points to win 41-7.
McClymonds’ superior speed, outside pressure from Khalani Runnels and Ramone Sanders, plus the linebacker play of Paul Scott and Xavier Cannady, kept Ison from breaking any runs longer than 15 yards.
Peters said Cal coach Sonny Dykes was at the game and offered Scott a scholarship over the weekend.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Scott ran on McClymonds’ league champion 400-meter relay team.
“He’ll be one of those hybrid linebackers in college everyone is looking for,” said Peters, whose son Marcus was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year for the Chiefs in 2015.
Offensively, 2015 OAL Player of the Year Jerrell Alberty rushed for more than 100 yards for a second straight week and backup sophomore quarterback K’aun Green filled in for starter Emoreea Fountain (ankle) and threw three second-half TD passes.
Fountain should be ready for Friday’s 7 p.m. home game with Southern Section small-school power Paso Robles (2-0).
“I’ve been most pleased with how we’ve rallied to the ball and the quick improvement of our makeshift line,” Peters said Monday.
Younger guys are really stepping up.
McClymonds is not the only early-season surprise story:
The Dons — who were 54-58 the previous 10 seasons — are 2-0 and outscored Alhambra-Martinez and Skyline-Oakland by a combined 74-7 score under 68-year-old coach Floyd Burnsed, who is in his first season at the school.
Junior quarterback Robby Rowell (6-2, 185) has thrown for 571 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Dons play at another upstart, Heritage-Brentwood (2-0), Friday before traveling to No. 15 Analy-Sebastopol on Sept. 16.
The Crusaders (1-1) were supposed to fall flat after a senior-laden breakthrough 2015 season.
[...] following a 21-12 loss at No. 25 Hillsdale-San Mateo, Riordan stunned then-No. 16 Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton 19-3 on Saturday.
The defending Central Coast Section Division V champs graduated five first-team All-league players, including Utility Player of the Year Matt Spigelman, but have regrouped nicely under coach Keith Holden to beat larger schools Saratoga (27-26) and Burlingame (43-34).
The Cardinals (2-0), seeking their first winning season since 2008, have scored 86 points in wins over Mt.
Redwood is the only unbeaten team in the nine-squad MCAL.
PAL Ocean:
Considered the weakest of the three PAL divisions, the six Ocean squads are a combined 9-3.
Justin Argenal is the new De La Salle-Concord basketball coach, replacing A.J. Kuhle, who resigned after one season to spend more time with family.
Argenal, a former player at De La Salle, has coached at Cal State East Bay and Cal State Dominguez Hills. …
The CIF announced that its Small School Open Division Bowl football game has been replaced by a second Division 6 contest.
Mitch Stephens is national football editor at MaxPreps.com.
Chronicle top 25 football
De La Salle
Monte Vista
Antioch
Freedom
Marin Catholic
Cardinal Newman
Foothill
NR
Piedmont
NR
More...