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Part 2
Depth makes Mack dangerous again
McClymonds patchworked its way through last season.
The Oakland powerhouse opened the year with just over 20 players on its roster. After a brawl ensued in a league game against Fremont-Oakland, McClymonds lost even more players to suspension and had to pull multiple players up from junior varsity to put a team on the field.
Despite all of that, the West Oakland school managed to win its 15th consecutive Oakland Section championship and nearly upset Amador Valley in the NorCal Division 3-AA title game.
McClymonds wide receiver Rahsjon Duncan (7), shown here running in last season’s Silver Bowl, has committed to Washington. (D. Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group)
This year, not only does McClymonds return Division I commits Rahsjon Duncan (Washington), Koi Taiese (San Diego State) and Berell Staples (Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo), but the Warriors are slated to have just over 30 players on their roster.
In previous seasons, McClymonds has found success with small rosters. Now, by adding more depth, the Warriors shouldn’t have to worry too much about the year-long attrition.
McClymonds clearly is not backing down from any challengers. The Warriors will open the season against WCAL favorite Riordan before playing St. Francis, Santa Cruz and California in their non-league portion of the schedule.
– Nathan Canilao
What do we know about Serra?
There are more questions than answers for Serra heading into the 2025 season.
The Padres, who rampaged through Northern California high school football with a 25-0 record against regional opponents in 2022 and 2023, took a step back in 2024. Serra posted a 5-6 overall mark, went 4-3 in the WCAL and lost to Los Gatos in the first round of the CCS Open/ Division I playoffs.
Some regression was expected after the Padres graduated 18 of 22 starters from the 2023 team. But Serra will once again have to replace a number of key players this year.
Longtime coach Patrick Walsh said his team graduated 11 players on offense from a team that had “11 inexperienced senior starters” last year. Offense should be a work in progress as senior QB Andrew Heneghan and RB Nano Latu have moved on.
Four-star safety Malakai Taufoou, who has an offer from Ohio State, will anchor the defense. Lineman Lemani Fehoko, who started on O-line as a freshman and D-line as a sophomore, will play both ways for Serra this year.
As always, the Padres have potential. But this may be another rebuilding year before the next great Serra team rounds into form.
– Christian Babcock
In Year 2, is MacDonald ready to win its league?
The thought was that MacDonald would have to go from worst to first in the PAL’s Lake Division.
The fledgling Condors, in their third year as a high school, played varsity football for the first time last season and struggled out of the gate, losing their first game 40-0 to Santa Clara and falling in their first four games by a combined score line of 144-20.
But something changed down the stretch. MacDonald won four of its final six games and finished fifth in the nine-team PAL Lake.
Could the Condors now contend in the Lake division? There are reasons to believe this season.
MacDonald returns senior QB Moussa Fall, the reigning offensive player of the year, and has a full complement of four high school classes for the first time in school history.
The Condors dressed 22 players for their first varsity game in 2024. Coach Burt Codera told the Bay Area News Group that MacDonald now has 30-35 players on its roster and returns nearly every starter from last season.
Plus, Gunn, which dominated the Lake last season, has moved up to the El Camino division, leaving room at the top for a new champion. Could the Condors rise up and be that team?
– Christian Babcock
Is Cardinal Newman about to become another DLS?
Santa Rosa powerhouse Cardinal Newman was already one of the Bay Area’s strongest programs before this season.
But after hiring former Mater Dei coach Frank McManus, the trajectory for the Cardinals has skyrocketed.
In his lone season at Mater Dei in 2023, McManus led the national powerhouse to a 13-1 record and a 35-0 Open Division state championship win over Serra. He was subsequently fired from the program just months later, though no reason was given for the dismissal.
McManus spent last season as an assistant coach at Mission Viejo before he moved north to take the vacant coaching job at Cardinal Newman this past spring.
While some have labeled McManus as a brash figure, he without a doubt brings a new level of juice to the Santa Rosa school, maybe a level that could contend with the likes of De La Salle. Cardinal Newman is a 13-time NCS champion – mostly in small-school divisions – but has not won a section title since 2019.
