Golden West atop coaches football rankings; Title deciders set for final week of regular season

SAN MATEO – Golden West College has taken a slight lead over Ventura College in this week’s JC Athletic Bureau poll for the California Community College Football Coaches Association. It is the final week of regular-season play. Title deciders, with state playoff implications, are set for all six National (state championship) Division leagues.

After deadlocking with Ventura atop last week’s poll, Golden West took ten first-place votes this week and totaled 416 points to move slightly ahead of Ventura (413 points) -- which gathered the seven remaining first-place nods. They are the lone unbeatens (9-0) in the National Division and finish with league deciding finals on Saturday.

Golden West puts its 6-0 Central League record at co-second place and 10th-ranked Fullerton (7-2, 5-1), which is coming off a 19-17 loss at now No. 8 Cerritos—also in second place with a similar record and looking for a possible 3-way league deadlock.

Ventura has a 1-game lead over fourth-ranked Mt. San Antonio (8-1, 5-1) in the Northern League and hosts the Mounties Saturday night. No. 5 El Camino and No. 6 Saddleback are both 8-1 and pit their perfect (6-0) Southern League records in a Saturday afternoon decider in Mission Viejo.

Defending 3C2A state champion College of San Mateo (8-1) is No. 3 this week and leads Northern California teams. Formerly No. 3 Butte (7-2) was upset at College of the Redwoods, 22-21, in the NorCal League last week. That leaves four teams tied at 3-1 -- meeting head-on in finales. CR (3-6) lost its first six games this season, after moving up from the American Division. The Corsairs bring a 3-game winning streak into Saturday’s league finale at American River (also 3-6), with the winner assured of a NorCal League co-championship. Butte finishes with a similar co-title showdown at Sierra (4-5, 3-1).  

The Valley League situation is similar to the Central League. No. 12 Modesto (7-2) leads alone at 4-0 after formerly No. 10 College of the Sequoias was derailed last week at Fresno City College, 23-21. COS (7-2) fell to No. 14 in this week’s poll and can still obtain a co-title -- finishing at Modesto. No. 15 Fresno (5-4) is also just a game back and looking at a possible 3-way deadlock.

The Bay 6 League is complicated, with three teams in the state top ten. No. 9 City College of San Francisco (7-2) has a 1-game lead (at 4-0) and closes at No. 7 Diablo Valley on Friday night. DVC and defending champion (3rd-ranked) San Mateo are a game back at 3-1 (both 8-1 overall).

Each league advances its No. 1 team (using tiebreakers, if needed) to the state playoffs, with three additional teams in each region determined by power (RPI) ratings. Seeding meetings take place on Sunday. Top two seeds in each region get first round byes in Nov. 22 openers.

No. 17 De Anza College (9-0) is the only unbeaten team in the American Division, which will have regional bowl games, including clashes matching the top two teams in each region.    

(Fred Baer, JC Athletic Bureau)