Northern California Gets Serious

This week Northern California gets the games going in earnest, with the DI, DII, and Premier leagues all in full flight.

The Premier Division is a group of programs that a) are very good, and b) can field three squads on any given day. The division was formed this year to make it easier for large squads to travel and play the same opposition, and also to combine some of the top single-school and multi-school clubs.

Dixon HS, which won a national single-school title some years ago with Anthony Salaber leading the way, didn't quite have the numbers to fit in, and so merged with Davis to form the Solo Falcons. The Falcons open their league season with a visit to Lamorinda. Granite Bay, which had a really tough preseason clash with Pleasanton last week, will host Archbishop Riordan, which has been playing a pretty busy preseason schedule that included the Storer Classic, and Peninsula Green.

Danville, which pipped Granite Bay for the NorCal club title last year and won the Pacific Cup, hosts Mother Lode, while Jesuit, which won the single-school title and was NIT runner-up, has a non-conference game against the Sacramento Eagles.

Jesuit HS All American center Christian Dyer said last year's team had some players everyone else could rely on. This year they only have a few returners, and so it will likely be a move complete team effort that produces Jesuit wins.

In DI, Pleasanton v North Bay will be a huge game in the early going. It will be interesting to see how the Sacramento Police Athletic League's adoption of the Sacramento HS programs will help them.

In DII, Elsie Allen plays defending DII champion Bishop O'Dowd and De la Salle visits Pits in two of the more intriguing early matchups.