Welcome back to Monday Morning Lights, our weekly feature that sheds more light on the high school football weekend and peeks ahead to the new week. If you haven’t already, please subscribe. Your contributions keep us going.
O’DOWD, MCCLYMONDS: OAKLAND SCHOOLS PLAY FOR BEAM
John Beam set the foundation for Oakland high school football.
The longtime Skyline coach was one of the region’s most successful coaches during his run from the 1980s to early 2000s before he moved on to Laney College, where he won a state championship.
So it was fitting that Oakland schools Bishop O’Dowd and McClymonds found their way to a state final just over a month after Beam was tragically murdered.
After O’Dowd’s 37-0 thumping of Christian-El Cajon in the Division 5-AA championship game on Friday night, O’Dowd coach Hardy Nickerson said his team wanted to win a state title in Beam’s legacy.
“We made it a point to come here, represent Oakland and honor coach Beam in how we play,” Nickerson said. “The intensity, the effort, the toughness, the enthusiasm — that’s what we wanted. We wanted to put that on display for Oakland and for coach.”
While McClymonds fell short of capturing a state championship in a 42-25 loss to Kennedy-Delano, coach Michael Peters — a close mentee of Beam — said he was happy to see both Oakland schools as well as El Cerrito show out in the state championships.
“It was a great job by O’Dowd and El Cerrito winning it,” said Peters, who announced his retirement on Saturday night. “Just to be able to bring it back to the East Bay, it’s nice you know. We had a lot of things go on, between Beam passing and my brother passing away. It hurt for sure.”
— Nathan Canilao
READ ALL ABOUT IT: CIF HANDS OUT CHAMPIONSHIP PAGES
A new tradition was born this year at the CIF state championships.
Players from each winning team held up mock newspaper front pages announcing their title victories after each state title game.
Bay Area schools St. Ignatius, Bishop O’Dowd and El Cerrito were the lucky local trio who got to brandish their press clippings.
The additional celebration element was the result of collaboration with other state high school athletic associations, California Interscholastic Federation executive director Ron Nocetti told the Bay Area News Group.
“Arizona did this, so our group saw it and said, ‘Let’s give it a shot.’” Nocetti said. “And I’ll tell you what, the kids have loved it. And that’s the most important part, right? You want to do something that the student-athletes walk away feeling this was an amazing experience. Things like that make such a huge difference.”
Nocetti admitted that the CIF printed up winners’ pages for every team with the outcome of each game unknowable beforehand. The unused copies intended for teams that lost will have to serve a different purpose.
“We’ll find some way to recycle that,” Nocetti said. “That’s the cost to it. But at the same time, we have no problem with that because of the experience it gives the ones that won the championship.”
– Christian Babcock
MORE O’DOWD: FUTURE BRIGHT FOR DRAGONS
After starting the year 1-3, the East Oakland school did the improbable by finishing the year with a state championship.
There were questions about if O’Dowd could return to its postseason form after graduating many of its top contributors from last season, including star safety Deji Ajose, who is now at the University of Washington.
But after getting healthy midseason, the Dragons were an unstoppable force in the postseason.
“I’m just proud of this team, so proud of these young men,” Nickerson said. “They were dead in the water at 1-3, but the kids just kept buying in, kept working and kept coming to practice and things started to turn around. And now, here we are.”
The Dragons will likely not have to retool the roster much as many of their core players are slated to return. Running back Lamar Ellis, quarterback Christian Cermenelli-Johnson and linebacker O.C. Lehner are slated to return for their senior years. Star wide receiver Bryan Edwards will be a junior next season.
“We have high expect for next year and just know we got to come back and do it again,” Ellis said.
— Nathan Canilao
LAWSON, VANDERMADE TALK TITLES FOR SI, SANTA MARGARITA
Lenny Vandermade had a pretty fulfilling 35-hour stretch on Friday and Saturday nights in Southern California.
First, he watched his former St. Ignatius team beat Ventura 42-35 to win the CIF 3-AA state championship on Friday. Then on Saturday, the Santa Margarita team for which he coordinates the offense routed De La Salle 47-15 for the CIF Open Division crown.
There’s plenty of crossover between the two teams this year. Rookie SI coach JaJuan Lawson, who reciprocated by attending the Santa Margarita game, was Vandermade’s offensive coordinator from 2023-24.
SM defense stars Manoah Faupusa and Isaia Vandermade, Lenny’s son, followed Vandermade down to SoCal to join up with the Eagles. They were on the sidelines Friday night as the Wildcats won their first state title.
Vandermade was hiding in the SI section of the stands, trying not to draw attention.
“I’m happy for our guys, and I’m happy for SI and all those young men over there and their resiliency,” he said after the SM game. “Rough start at the beginning, and they ripped off seven in a row out there at the end.”
Lawson was equally happy to see the former Cats win the Open title Saturday night.
“They’re a part of these teams, these guys,” Lawson said. “At halftime, they’re with us. I love that family. I know they did a lot for the school. Lenny did a lot for me. He’s as much a part of this as anyone.”
– Christian Babcock
SANTA MARGARITA’S PALMER ON SOCAL’S DOMINANCE AT TOP
The gap between the top high school football team in Northern California and Southern California has been a wide one for several years now.
After winning the Open Division title, Santa Margarita coach Carson Palmer opined on the current state of the NorCal-SoCal Open game.
The top state rivalry, which used to be a near toss-up, has not been won by a NorCal team since De La Salle beat Centennial-Corona in 2015.
“This is where a lot of talent comes, to Southern California,” Palmer said. “There’s so many great options. Any school in the Trinity League. You got Mission Viejo, who’s a public powerhouse. Centennial is a public powerhouse. You can go on and on.
“There’s great schools all over Southern California. It’s more dense. There’s just more people, more players. Football is a big deal down here. Not that it’s not a big deal up north. But I just think this is the mecca.”
– Christian Babcock