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These are some busy times for the East Bay Athletic League fall sports teams right now.
Football teams have gotten their first two games played and things are beginning to take shape. Flag football has gotten in the first two weeks of the EBAL season, and it is appearing to be a two-team race.
Girls’ volleyball starts league play this week, and as usual, the league is going to be contentious.
Let’s go through the three sports this week, looking at what we see.
Football
It is a bit surprising to me that after two weeks, California is the only Mountain Division team to be standing at 2-0.
Not that the Grizzlies are 2-0, as they certainly are a good program, but rather how the other three teams stand. San Ramon Valley opened the season with a 20-14 win over El Cerrito but came back in week two with a 21-14 loss at Soquel.
While initially I was surprised the Wolves lost the game, I then saw that Soquel opened the season with a 42-40 win over Los Gatos, one of the top programs in the South Bay.
It will be interesting to see how the Wolves bounce back this week against Clayton Valley, a team I think San Ramon Valley should beat.
California has beaten Patterson (14-11) and then James Logan by a 17-7 final. The Grizzlies have an interesting game this week as they take on Monterey Trail, a team that beat Amador Valley opening week.
Amador Valley is the most intriguing team so far. The Dons return a junior class thought to be one of the best in a long time at Amador.
The injury bug has blown that up, ending the season for some players. There is still a lot of talent on the team, and some injured players are returning to the lineup.
After two road games, the Dons return home but face a high scoring Downey (Modesto) that is averaging over 30 points a game through its first three games.
On the Valley side, right now Livermore is the lone team in the division that stands 2-0.
The Cowboys are setting the standard thus far and are the team in beat for the Valley title. Wins over Castro Valley and Sacramento Charter are hardly of the landmark type, but they are winning against whoever is on the other side of the field. No other team can make that claim.
This week they face 1-2 Gregori (Modesto), a team that won its first game but then has dropped two straight.
Foothill, who looked dead after a season-opening 49-23 loss to Monte Vista, turned things around with a 35-19 win over Castro Valley.
The Falcons get Kennedy (Fremont) and have a good chance to move to 2-1.
Granada fell 42-7 to Campolindo to open the season, but came back with a 14-0 win over Heritage last week to even their record. This week the Mats host San Leandro, a team that just pounded Dougherty Valley 49-7.
Dublin is one that should contend this year. The Gaels thumped Berkeley 42-7 to open the season, then came back and lost but their 14-10 loss to a strong Vanden side made Dublin look good.
Now the Gaels go to Heritage, a team that got shut out by Granada last week.
Flag football
California and San Ramon Valley are both 3-0 and appear the class of the league.
We don’t have to wait long for the two to meet, as they play Tuesday of this week in a 7:30 p.m. game at San Ramon Valley.
Amador Valley is 3-2 overall and 1-2 in EBAL play, but those league losses came to San Ramon Valley (19-13) and California, also 19-13. The reality is that it is one play in both games that made the difference.
The Dons have got depth and talent, and figure to be right there when the playoffs roll around.
Foothill is 2-1 and 1-1 in league, with the lone loss being a 20-15 game against San Ramon Valley. The Falcons have decisive wins over Carondelet (30-14) and Granada (21-2).
Dublin is 4-2 overall and 1-2 in league. One loss was to San Ramon Valley (15-8), but the other came to Livermore (19-7).
Livermore is 3-3, 1-1 but the meat of their schedule lies ahead. They fell 8-0 to Amador.
Girls’ volleyball
If I have learned anything about the EBAL girls’ volleyball race, it is that on any given night a team can lose.
At this point San Ramon Valley is the best team to beat, but the Wolves did split matches in tournament play this weekend against Carondelet, with each team scoring a 2-0 win over the other.
Carondelet has been playing well early and is usually right there. Standing 6-4 at this point, three of the losses have come to Marin Catholic, Tamalpais and Branson, three very strong teams from the North Bay.
I have no idea about the quality of Amador, as the school has been sketchy at best at posting their results. As of Sunday, I have them at 1-1 and that comes from a tournament where teams usually play 4-6 games.
Granada is 5-2 overall but did fall 3-0 in a non-league match to Dougherty Valley.
Dougherty is interesting in that the Wildcats have played very few non-league games in the past few seasons, but this year they have already played 12 matches.
Foothill is the team flying under the radar at this point with a 1-3 mark, but every year the Falcons start slowly against a tough non-league schedule. Last year they were 0-2 but matured over the season and ended up playing for a CIF State title.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the correct score of the Week 2 matchup between Granada and Heritage, which the Matadors won 14-0. Embarcadero Media Foundation regrets the error.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation.
