Last year, Petaluma and Analy met for the SCL Championship on the final night of the regular season at Rancho Cotate. We all remember the Hail Mary Touchdown that was questioned with our video replay. Nonetheless, it was a thriller and an all time classic. Fast forward to this year. Cardinal Newman will meet Friday night for the NBL Championship on the final night of the regular season at Rancho Cotate. Given the circumstances, we could be in for another classic high school football game.

Let’s start with Rancho Cotate. This is Ed Conroy’s final regular season game as the Cougar coach. I’m sure he would like nothing more than to beat the top team in the Empire to win the NBL Title. QB Jake Simmons has been one of the top players in the area this thrown for 2660 yards and 35 touchdowns. His top two targets Jalen Ward and Logan Reese, have been unstoppable. Ward has caught 60 passes for 966 yards so far this year. Logan Reese has 31 receptions for 630 yards. These three juniors will try to get through the Newman secondary make some big plays.
Cardinal Newman has had unbelievable offense all year long. They’ve been averaging 48 points a game. Jordan Brookshire has thrown for 2,079 yards this year, and ran for 1013 more.  Chauncy LeBerthon has been used as a kick returner and a WR. Damian Wallace will also be used at WR, as both of them will look to grab many passes from Brookshire and make this a high scoring game.
 
North Bay League
Montgomery hosts Maria Carrillo with a playoff berth on the line. They sit right on the edge of making the plays and need to win this game to make the D2 playoffs
Santa Rosa travels to Casa Grande. Isaiah Steele completed 9 of 16 passes for 120 yards and one TD pass. He may need to double those numbers to give the Panthers a chance at a big league win.
Ukiah travels to Windsor. Windsor sits at number 2 in D2 and Ukiah is at number 4. If Ukiah can win this game, they can possibly overtake Windsor in the playoff seeding.
 
Sonoma County League

Analy hosts Elsie Allen in a game where the Tigers will look to get out healthy. The Tigers, with a win will claim their fifth straight solo SCL Title. They should be a lock for a 1 or 2 seed in theD3 playoffs.
El Molino goes to Sonoma Valley. The Lions look to get back on track after losses to Petaluma and Analy. With a win, they should be in the D4 playoffs.
Photo by: Amanda Overton
Healdsburg travels to Piner. The Hounds are 2 spots out of the playoffs. This is a must win game for a chance to make the NCS D4 playoffs.
 
Non League
Petaluma welcomes Terra Linda. The Trojans have won 6 straight after a rough non league schedule. For them, this is a playoff game as they need to win to make the playoffs. If the Trojans were able to win, they could move up to as high as a 10 seed in the NCS playoffs.
 
THIS WEEK (Projections according to CalPreps.com)
NORTH BAY
Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa, CA) at Rancho Cotate (Rohnert Park, CA), 7:30pm [projection: Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa, CA) 40-34]
Carrillo (Santa Rosa, CA) at Montgomery (Santa Rosa, CA), 7:30pm [projection: Carrillo [Maria] (Santa Rosa, CA) 28-22]
Santa Rosa (CA) at Casa Grande (Petaluma, CA), 7:30pm [projection: Santa Rosa (CA) 31-28]
Ukiah (CA) at Windsor (CA), 7:30pm [projection: Windsor (CA) 28-19]
SONOMA COUNTY
Allen (Santa Rosa, CA) at Analy (Sebastopol, CA), 7:30pm [projection: Analy (Sebastopol, CA) 67-6]
El Molino (Forestville, CA) vs. Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, CA) at Arnold Field (Sonoma, CA), 7:30pm [projection: El Molino (Forestville, CA) 20-14]
Healdsburg (CA) at Piner (Santa Rosa, CA), 2:00pm [projection: Piner (Santa Rosa, CA) 31-21]
NON LEAGUE
Terra Linda (San Rafael, CA) at Petaluma (CA), 7:30pm [projection: Petaluma (CA) 28-27]