Mission League madness

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A couple weeks ago, Alemany Coach Dean Herrington told me his team wasn’t taking anything for granted once Mission League play started. He understood his football program hadn’t won a league game since 2004 and he was quick to caution me on my rosy outlook for the Warriors.

‘We haven’t proven anything until we start winning league games,’ Herrington said.

I thought he was being, perhaps, a tad pessimistic about his boys’ chances, but based on their 17-10 loss to rival St. Francis on Friday, I guess Herrington was right in saying the Alemany program is still growing.

The Golden Knights’ victory came a little bit as a surprise to me, but then I realize I had been underrating them all along. Their last three losses came to highly-talented squads over at Saugus, Notre Dame and Loyola, so it would be unfair to base St. Francis’ season outlook merely on its performance in those games.

So, in my book, it looks like St. Paul, which defeated Chaminade, 35-24, on Saturday, has the best shot at the league title while the Eagles and St. Francis will duke it out for second-place honors Friday night.

Unless the Warriors can put up another smart performance like they did against Crespi or rely on some defensive heroics like they did in their victory over Bishop Amat, this could be another winless league campaign for Alemany.

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Image of Alemany’s Leandro Quesada, one of the Warriors’ top receivers this season, chewing up some yards against Fairfax is courtesy Brian MacGregor