Photo of Erik Saiz by Josh Thompson

Football:

By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

Who: Northview (9-6) vs Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep (7-7)
What: CIF State D-4A California State Championship
Where: at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco
When: Saturday at 6

This is going to sound like a broken record, but here we go.

Just like last week’s CIF-State D-4A So Cal Regional showdown with Colony, Northview is facing another opponent that started slowly in 2021.

While the Vikings began the year 2-5, Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep dropped its first five games and finished fifth in the West Catholic League.

The Fightin’ Irish, however, are on a four-game win streak, and that includes last weekend’s 31-7 victory over Chico in the CIF State D-4A Northern California Regional.

SHCP doesn’t post updated individual stats, but it’s been reported they have a pretty balanced offense.

The Fightin’ Irish defense, however, is why they’re in Saturday’s D-4A State Championship at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

SHCP played one less postseason game than NHS on their way to a CIF Central Coast Division 3 championship.

In four postseason victories thus far, the SHCP defense has allowed just 24 total points.

In spite of a 7-7 overall record, the Fightin’ Irish have a state ranking of 92 by MaxPreps.

The website CalPreps, which does rankings and game predictions, is projecting that SHCP will defeat Northview, 27-14.

But keep this in mind: CalPreps had Garden Grove defeating Northview by three points in the first round of the CIF-SS playoffs, they also projected that Palmdale would end the Vikings’ season by 14 points in the semifinal round, and last week, according to their formula, Colony was expected to move on by a score of 31-21.

Since the semifinal round of the CIF-SS playoffs, Northview’s state ranking (MaxPreps) has jumped exactly 100 spots from 309 to 209.

It’s no secret that the Vikings’ defense has them only four quarters away from a potential state championship.

The NHS defense is led by, but no exclusive to Ronal Tebo Jr, Angel Barraza, Jose Espinoza, Lewis Madrigal, Leonardo Ramirez, Adrien Gonzales, Erik Saiz, Steven Carlin, Daniel Santillan, Aaron Silva and Anthony Troncoso.

In their first four playoffs wins (Garden Grove, Kaiser, Palmdale and St. Anthony) the Northview D held those programs to a combined 75 points under their weekly scoring average.

And last week, in the dramatic 17-point comeback, the Vikings held Colony to 18 less points than the CIF-SS D9 champs had averaged in the playoffs.

The NHS offense hasn’t been shabby either.

They averaged 26.5 points per game in the regular season, and they’ve upped that to 33 in the playoffs.

As always, how Cheo Medina and Ronal Tebo Jr. go, so goes the Vikings.

Tebo scored four TD’s last week, including the game winner with 26 seconds to play.

Tebo has rushed for 577 yards on 108 carries and five TD’s.

He’s caught five passes for 77 yards as well.

Medina needs just 124 rushing yards on Saturday to put him in the prestigious 2,000-yard club.

Medina has scored 18 TD’s on the ground, and has 12 receptions for 154 yards and a score.

He might look lean in his uniform, but this dude is wiry strong, elusive and hard to bring down.

The NHS offense is run by a selfless quarterback, who has a better-than 4.0 GPA.

And it shows.

James Arellanes makes his share of mistakes on the football field, as does everyone.

But the Vikings’ junior quarterback rarely makes stupid mistakes, and that’s been a huge key in this historic playoff run.

Arellanes is 133 of 208 for 1,562 yards, and that includes 16 TD’s and 10 interceptions.

Arellanes boasts a 65-percent completion ratio and it was his fourth-down pass to Erik Saiz with less than a minute to play that allowed Tebo to eventually score the game winning TD at Colony.

Erik Saiz has a team-high 41 catches for 457 yards and four TD’s.

Steven Carlin has 27 receptions for 375 yards and a team-best seven TD’s.

Aaron Silva has tallied 24 catches for 251 yards and one TD.

Mike Cervantes has two receiving TD’s, and has 12 catches for 168 yards.

You don’t often hear the names of the offensive line, but the Vikings’ O-line has been lauded by Arellanes, Medina and the rest of their teammates and coaching staff, and without whom, this program certainly wouldn’t be traveling 400 miles to play for a state championship.

Those lineman include: Adrian Delgado, Vincent Gonzales, Anthony Troncoso, Noah Martinez and Daniel Santillan.

Last but not least, if the game comes down to a field goal, NHS has all the confidence that its kicker, Joseph Gutierrez, will continue to get the job done.

At this point in the season, even the most partisan of football fans will be Northview backers for one night, and in the hopes of the Vikings bringing a state championship back to the San Gabriel Valley.

Just below all the stats is a link to information sent to us by Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep to make things less confusing for anyone that is making the six-hour drive.

By The Numbers:
CIF Playoffs: N (CIF-SS D-10 champs); SHCP (CIF Central Coast D-3 champs)
Points For: N (419); SHCP (286)
Points Allowed: N (313); SHCP (280)
Current Win Streak: N (5); SHCP (4)
SHCP Neutral Field Record: (5-0)
Northview Road Record: (5-4)
Most Points Scored in a game: N (54 vs La Puente); SHCP (42 vs Mountain View)
Most Points Allowed in a game: N (39 vs Mayfair); SHCP (48 vs Archbishop Riordan)
League Finish: N (tied for first in VVL); SHCP (fifth in West Catholic)
Combined Playoff Margin of Victory: N (154-87); SHCP (121-24)
MaxPreps State Ranking: N (209); SHCP (92)
CalPreps Projection: SHCP 27, Northview 14

Northview’s 2021 Schedule:
8/20: Northview 54, La Puente 14
8/27: Charter Oak 35, Northview 13
9/3: Northview 34, South Hills 14
9/10: Covina 22, Northview 20
9/16: California 22, Northview 19
9/24: Mayfair 39, Northview 28
10/1: Bonita 27, Northview 13
10/14: Northview 35, Diamond Ranch 17
10/22: Northview 21, San Dimas 7
10/29: Los Altos 29, Northview 28
11/5: Northview 30, Garden Grove 14
11/12: Northview 42, Kaiser 13
11/19: Northview 28, Palmdale 14
11/26: Northview 27, St. Anthony 20
12/4: Northview 27, Colony 26

2021 Valle Vista League Standings:
Northview (9-6, 2-1)
San Dimas (8-4, 2-1)
Diamond Ranch (2-8, 1-2)
Los Altos (2-8, 1-2)

2021 Cathedral Sacred Heart Prep Scores:
8/28: Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) 28, CSHP 21
9/3: Palma (Salinas) 14, CSHP 7
9/10: Burlingame 17, CSHP 7
9/24: San Jose Valley Christian 27, CSHP 21
10/1: Saint Francis (Mountain View) 37, CSHP 13
10/8: CSHP 21, St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 20
10/15: CSHP 20, Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) 3
10/22: Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 48, CSHP 21
10/28: Serra (San Mateo) 36, CSHP 7
11/6: CSHP 27, Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 16
11/12: CSHP 21, Lehigh (San Jose) 0
11/20: CSHP 42, Mountain View 14
11/27: CSHP 27, Christopher (Gilroy) 3
12/4: CSHP 31, Chico 7
12/11: Northview vs CSHP at Kezar Stadium

2021 West Catholic League Standings:
Saint Francis (11-1, 7-0)
Serra (11-1, 6-1)
Bell Prep (8-4, 4-3)
Valley Christian (6-5, 4-3)
SHCP (7-7, 3-4)
Archbishop Riordan (5-5, 2-5)
St. Ignatius (5-7, 2-5)
Archbishop Mitty (1-9, 0-7)

Game info from SHCP: SHC Gameday Info – Kezar – Google Docs