CONCORD, Calif. (March 17, 2024) — The winter sports calendar concluded with the postseason playoffs as local teams came close to the North Coast Section and Northern California Championships, only to fall just short. The only exception was perennial NCS wrestling titlist De La Salle High School, which once again swept both sectional competitions.
In basketball, neighbors Ignacio Valley and De La Salle lost in the NCS men's championship game, leaving Northgate in second place in women's Division II.
Carondelet fell just short of winning the NorCal women's Division I basketball crown.
The Mount Diablo girls lost in the semifinals of NCS D-IV for the third year in a row, and narrowly lost by one point in the second round at NorCal.
On the soccer field, Carondelet was denied its third consecutive NCS championship, with Clayton Valley Charter's boys' team scoring a historic win over De La Salle in the quarterfinals, but the Ugly Eagles were upset in the semifinals. .
Spartan wrestler continues to defend title
De La Salle once again reigned supreme on the mat as the Spartans won their ninth consecutive NCS dual team title and then the section team championship for weeks in a row. The team total of 260 points was DLS' lowest since finishing third in 2014, the only year they did not win a championship since 2008.
Caleb Tatado (115 pounds), Manuel Martía (122 pounds) and Franklin Nkumandak (159 pounds) all won individual titles, along with DLS teammate Gio Cuevas (128 pounds) and defending champion T.J. – Arvizu (152 pounds) was runner-up, advancing five Spartan wrestlers to state. meet.
Clayton Valley Charter junior Abbi Cooper (110) won her third consecutive NCS title, and Northgate freshman Simone Newell (155) also topped the section podium. Cooper placed seventh at state the following week, and Newell improved one spot to take sixth place.
women's basketball near miss
Of the four championship game losses between NCS and NorCal local basketball teams, none was more heartbreaking than Carondelet's one-point loss to Bishop O'Dowd in the Northern California Division 1 championship game. In a close 47-46 game, O'Dowd grabbed an offensive rebound with three seconds left for the win.
East Bay Catholic schools also met last week in the NCS Open Division third-place game, which the Dragons won.
The Northgate girls lost 50-41 to top-seeded Redwood-Larkspur in the D-II NCS final. The No. 6 seeded Broncos were the lowest seed to advance to the NCS Women's Championship Game. They defeated the second and third seeds on their way to the finals. This earned them a spot in the NorCal D-III playoffs.
Mount Diablo girls basketball has enjoyed a resurgence over the past three seasons, winning 66 games, advancing to three straight NCS semifinals and becoming the first Concord high school to advance to NorCal for the third time in history. .
In the semifinal match against second-seeded San Domenico, the Red Devils jumped out to a large early lead, but San Anselmo School bounced back and defeated MD in the fourth quarter.
Not enough hoops for men
The Ignacio Valley boys team had a great season that ended with two tough losses. The Wolves advanced to the NCS D-IV championship game as the second seed and continued to perform well until the finals against top seed Justin Siena (Napa).
The Wolves fell behind by six points in the second quarter and never made up for it in the 76-69 final, when current Clayton Valley Charter athletic director Eric Bamberger starred at YV in 1988. Since then, Concord has missed out on a Section 1 hoops championship.
In NorCal, Ignacio Valley won its first two D-III games but lost to eventual state runner-up Santa Cruz in the semifinals. Justin Siena lost in the other semifinal of the bracket.
De La Salle was a bridesmaid for the third year in a row, losing to Salesian of Richmond in the NCS Open Division in a battle of Catholic Athletic League veterans. Salesian advanced to the State Open title match, losing in the final minutes to defending champion Harvard-Westlake.
Clayton Valley Charter picked up a dramatic 62-61 victory over regular-season champion Ignacio Valley in the Diablo Athletic League boys basketball playoffs, but the Ugly Eagles lost their final four games in postseason play. We lost three of those games.
Cougars deny three-peat
Carondelet returned to the NCS Women's Soccer Championship game for the third consecutive year with a shot at winning the 2022 and 2023 titles, and a three-peat appeared to be within reach when they broke a scoreless tie in the second half. .
East Bay Athletic League rival San Ramon Valley tied the game, sending the game into overtime. A few minutes into the end of the second OT, Wolves fired a shot that bounced off the crossbar and into the net for the title-winning golden goal, avenging their loss to Carondelet in last year's final.
In the NCS boys tournament, top-seeded De La Salle lost 4-2 to Concord rival Clayton Valley Charter in the quarterfinals. According to all available research, this was the first time the Ugly Eagles had defeated his DLS in youth soccer. Clayton Valley Charter's euphoria following its historic victory was dampened four days later when it lost by the same score to Dougherty Valley in the semifinals.
Early in the millennium, Clayton Valley won a league game against the Spartans, but the game was forfeited because it was determined that a CV player who played in the game had transferred from DLS without approval from the NCS.
Jay Bedekare
Jay Bedekare is a longtime Concord and Clayton resident and writer. He began his career as a newspaper reporter during his senior year at Mount Diablo High School and has been a member of Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also runs Bay Area Festivals, and each year he hosts events around the Bay Area, including Kidfest in San Francisco and Bay Area. Located in downtown Concord.