More from the North: No return trip for Cardinal Newman

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North Coast Section 3A championship: Danville San Ramon Valley 38, Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman 28

Newman led, 21-7, in the second quarter, but the Wolves controlled the remainder of the game, scoring 28 unanswered points and holding on for the victory.

If Newman had won, this would have been the toughest choice of the six state championship bowl game berths, but now I expect that Modesto Central Catholic (11-1-1) will get the call tomorrow afternoon to be the north’s Division III representative and take on St. Bonaventure.

Sutter (12-0), the Northern Section Division II champion, is the other team that will receive consideration, but the more I look at it, the less I think Sutter is a serious contender. Sure, the Huskies are undefeated. They beat a decent Cottonwood West Valley team by seven and one points in their two meetings, but the next-best team they faced is a four-loss Yreka team.

Central Catholic played seven games against teams better than Yreka. Both teams played some poor teams in the course of their league schedules, but when you take those out of the mix, it just magnifies how much weaker the top half of Sutter’s schedule is.

-- Eric Maddy, stats guru