Windsor faces Newman as NBL-Oak draws to a climax

Week 2 of the North Bay League schedule is wrapped up and once again there’s plenty to discuss.

The contenders in the Oak Division took care of business and a coach set a historic milestone, while the race for the Redwood Division title got even more interesting.

Also, a quarterback once again put up some jaw-dropping numbers and a big-time small-school matchup was nixed due to COVID issues.

Let’s dive right into all that in this week’s prep notebook.

Showtime in the Oak

The next three weeks of action in the Oak Division will feature the games of the year in Sonoma County. Windsor, Rancho Cotate and Cardinal Newman will all play each other in a series of contests that will decide the league title and could carry some serious playoff implications.

And up first is arguably the biggest game of the season: Cardinal Newman at Windsor on Friday.

It’ll be the first time that Windsor first-year head coach Paul Cronin will face his former program, where he spent the prior 18 years and led the Cardinals to three state championship appearances, one state title and a number of section titles.

Cronin also picked up career win No. 218 on Friday night, a 55-21 blowout of West County, passing former coach and mentor Ed Lloyd’s mark of 217 wins. Cronin is now second all-time in wins in Sonoma County history, trailing only Montgomery’s Jason Franci at 232.

We’ll have more coverage around the Newman-Windsor game this upcoming week.

Heading into these final three weeks of league play, Cardinal Newman, Windsor and Rancho are all 2-0 in league. After the Cardinals and Jaguars meet this Friday, Rancho and Newman will square off the following week before Windsor faces Rancho to close out the regular season.

On the season, Windsor is currently 7-0 overall, Rancho is 6-1 and Newman is 5-2. Regardless of what happens the next three weeks, all three teams should be in the running for section titles this year.

Redwood up for grabs

With Montgomery’s 31-20 win over St. Vincent on Friday, it’s suddenly anyone’s race in the Redwood Division.

If St. Vincent had beaten Montgomery, it still probably would have had to take down Santa Rosa in its regular-season finale to claim the title outright. But with the Mustangs’ loss, the Panthers now stand alone as the only Redwood team with an unblemished league record.

Montgomery, St. Vincent and Piner are 1-1, while Healdsburg sits at the bottom of the standings at 0-1.

Granted, Santa Rosa (4-3, 1-0) had its bye this week and still has three contests left in league play, including its Nov. 6 date with St. Vincent.

If Santa Rosa can make it past Healdsburg and Piner the next two weeks, it could clinch the Redwood title with a win over St. Vincent to end the season.

Montgomery, meanwhile, has its bye this upcoming week and then ends the season with Healdsburg and Piner.

There’s a very real possibility that the St. Vincent-Santa Rosa game could determine whether or not there will be one champion in the Redwood Division or if the title will be split between multiple teams.

Porteous lights it up ― again

I didn’t think Casa Grande senior quarterback Jacob Porteous could top his 647-yard, seven-touchdown performance against Maria Carrillo from earlier this season, but he nearly did on Friday.

Porteous went 34 of 44 passing for 524 yards with eight touchdowns in the Gauchos’ 70-34 romp over Napa. He connected with senior receiver Shane Runyeon on 10 of those passes for 219 yards and four scores. Seriously, video game numbers.

On the season, Porteous has passed for 2,330 yards with 29 touchdowns and five interceptions. According to MaxPreps, he leads the North Coast Section in passing and has a 581-yard cushion ahead of second place.

At 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the Vine Valley Athletic League, the Gauchos are in the midst of one of their best seasons in recent memory, and Porteous is a big reason why. Casa hasn’t totaled five wins in a season since 2015.

They have a big matchup with American Canyon (4-3, 2-1) this week before the Egg Bowl against Petaluma (6-1, 2-1) the week after.

COVID issues in NCL I

The big battle of the small schools in the North Central League I never materialized this week as COVID issues within Clear Lake’s program forced the cancellation of its game against St. Helena.

The two teams are both 5-1 overall and tied atop the league standings at 3-0.

It doesn’t appear that either’s schedule will allow for the game to be made up. However, there is still a chance that the two could meet in the NCS playoffs. Per MaxPreps, the Saints are the No. 2-ranked team in Division VII while Clear Lake comes in at No. 4.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD