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High school football bowl conundrum as 3 teams vie for 2 spots
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De La Salle is a near-lock to earn a state bowl berth with a win over Pittsburg
The state bowl game selection committee got no help over the weekend as all three high school teams with strong cases to represent Northern California emerged as winners.
Only two teams out of Grant (Sacramento), Bellarmine, and De La Salle can qualify for the Open and Division I state championship games later this month.
Grant (13-0) and Bellarmine (12-1) already are eligible after winning Section titles over the weekend. DLS (11-1) is favored to advance over Pittsburg Friday night and if they do, the commissioners charged with deciding between these three teams for the bowl berths have a headache on their hands.
To exclude any of these three great programs is near criminal but sadly, one must be excluded.
But who?
Do you exclude Grant, undefeated and boasting wins over two state champions? Not to mention the fact that the Pacers went undefeated in 2006 and were passed over for De La Salle (which lost in the state title game).
Perhaps the Bells should be left out, despite two wins over highly regarded Valley Christian and a great road win over St. Mary's (Stockton) in the pre-season. They do have a loss to Serra, although De La Salle narrowly avoided the same fate in a 2008 high school football classic.
The boldest move would be to leave out De La Salle, undefeated against Northern California opposition since 1991. The Spartans still must beat Pittsburg Friday night and it's almost laughable to imagine them winning and being left out of the state Open title game.
The computer likes Bellarmine the best, although a De La Salle win over highly regarded Pittsburg would vault them ahead of the Bells. Grant is a solid third according to the impeccable software but third nonetheless.
Rivals seems to like Grant, ranking them well ahead of Bellarmine (58 to 95) before this last weekend, and second to the Spartans among the big three. Prep Nation has Grant among it's top 10 West teams (at #9) while Bellarmine is not listed.
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