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For the town of Danville, Friday the 13th will have a non-superstitious meaning this year as the San Ramon Valley High boys’ and girls’ soccer teams will be playing for CIF State titles that day.
The two games are set at Natomas High School in Sacramento this Friday night, with the girls kicking off at 5:30 p.m. and the boys set for 8 p.m.
Both teams are in the Division II tournament, and both won three games last week to advance to the finals.
The No. 7-seeded girls did it by an overpowering defense, giving up one goal in the three games – all on the road.
The tournament started with a shootout win over No. 2 seeded Vista del Lago of Folsom after the two teams finished tied 1-1 in regulation play.
In the second game, San Ramon Valley went on the road and beat No. 3 Cardinal Newman by a 1-0 final. In the regional finals, the Wolves again were away from home and this time came away with a 1-0 win over Mitty.
In the finals the Wolves will take on Westlake High from Westlake Village, a team that has an 18-3-1 record.
It’s been a week of travel as the Wolves covered 436 miles in five days. Throw in a 160-mile round trip for the Friday night finals, and that total climbs to 596 miles.
The No. 8-seeded boys also had three road games, covering 480 miles in their five-day stretch, with the big trip to Clovis and back covering 340 miles.
After the Friday final, it will be 640 miles covered by the boys’ side.
In the boys’ tournament, the Wolves opened with a 4-1 win at No. 1 Clovis, followed by a 2-1 win over No. 4 Vintage. In the regional final, the Wolves went into No. 6 Berkeley and came away with a 2-1 win to make the finals.
Now San Ramon Valley will face Mira Monte of Bakersfield, who brings in a 25-1-3 record.
In other results for East Bay Athletic League teams, Carondelet beat top-seeded Gregori 2-0 in the first round of the D-I tournament. The Cougars fell in the shootout after playing Buchanan to a 0-0 regulation final.
The Amador girls fell to Mitty in a shootout in the D-II first round, also playing to a 0-0 regulation game.
In the boys’ D-I tournament, the Monte Vista boys went up to Granite Bay and beat the No. 2 seed 1-0. The Mustangs then fell at Everett Alvarez in Salinas by a 2-1 final.
Boys’ NorCal basketball
Amador Valley won a pair of games in the D-II tournament, edging Serra 62-58, then on the road at Sacramento High 69-64.
Those wins sent the Dons to the NorCal regional semifinals, where they fell to Oakland Tech 74-71. It was the second time the two played, as Amador came out on top 57-50 earlier in the season.
Dougherty Valley also won a pair of games in the D-I tournament, beating Destiny Christian 84-58, then Clayton Valley 59-55 to advance to the regional semifinals.
Making the trip up to Folsom, the Wildcats came out on the wrong end of an 86-61 final to the No. 3 seed.
De La Salle lost 71-59 to Modesto Christian in the first round of the Open playoffs.
Granada dropped an opening round game 69-63 to Clovis in the D-II tournament.
Girls’ NorCal basketball
San Ramon Valley met Carondelet for the second time in five days, with the Wolves winning 51-44 to finish the season series with the Cougars at 3-1.
The win put the Wolves two steps from the state final, but a 74-46 loss to top-seeded Mitty ended their season. The Monarchs are the No. 3 ranked team in the nation, and figure to move with the nation’s No. 2 team Sierra Canyon losing to Sage Hill in the SoCal tournament.
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. To sign up for free, visit pleasantonweekly.com.
