The North Central League II leaders host Credo and Calistoga on back-to-back days, the Big 5's chasing pack meets in pairs, and the Bay School gets a second look at Gateway.
Sonoma Academy have won all 14 games they have played this fall. Over the next two days, they play the two sides closest to them in the North Central League II, and the second of those games is the one we have circled.
Credo, third in the table, visit on Monday. Calistoga, second and unbeaten in eight, follow on Tuesday. Both games are at Sonoma Academy, and the Coyotes have won the last three meetings on record against each of them.
Further north, the four sides chasing Arcata in the Big 5 play each other in pairs. In San Francisco, the Bay School put their unbeaten start on the line against the Gateway side that held them to a goalless draw last week.
Credo get the first shot
Credo (Gryphon) are 11-4-2 and sit third in the league at 8-2-2. They can score: juniors Braedan Swift and Oliver Graziani have 14 goals and 10 goals, and Credo put three past Calistoga in a 3-3 draw on Sept. 18. They have been hard to read, though. They lost 2-1 at Mendocino on Oct. 7, a side they had beaten earlier in the season, then won 11-0 against Technology two days later.
When they went to Sonoma Academy on Sept. 16, they lost 3-0. Junior Marcel Nsizoa Ndi scored twice, sophomore Maddox Rogers added the third, and freshman keeper Atticus Resch kept a clean sheet.
Nsizoa Ndi has 26 goals and 12 assists in 12 games, but Sonoma Academy's goals come from all over the field. Sophomore Ben McCauley has 10 goals and 10 assists, senior Teo Foehl has 10 goals and seven assists, and sophomore Fabian Pardo has set up nine. At the other end, the Coyotes have let in seven in 14 games, and no one has scored more than twice against them.
The one note of caution is last week. Sonoma Academy beat Geyserville New Tech Academy and Point Arena 1-0 each, two sides they had beaten by double figures in September.
The call: Credo have the finishers to score, as they showed against Calistoga. But they were shut out by this defense a month ago, and Sonoma Academy has conceded more than once in a game only twice all season. Kickoff is Monday, Oct. 12.
Prediction: Sonoma Academy 3-1 Credo
First meets second, and we think it ends level
Twenty-four hours later, the top two meet. Sonoma Academy are 14-0-0, and 12-0-0 in the league. Calistoga (Wildcats) are 12-1-2, 11-1-1 in the league, and have won six straight. Their only defeat this fall came against Sonoma Academy, 2-1 on Sept. 11, and no one else came within a goal of the Coyotes in September.
That night showed how differently these two sides play. Calistoga were most dangerous when they could keep the ball, with senior Leo Ramos composed under Sonoma Academy's press and senior Mateo Medina alongside him in midfield. Sonoma Academy leaned on their physicality and pressure instead. Senior Liam Kramer kept turning his long throw-ins into set-piece chances, and Nsizoa Ndi hit the post twice.
What kept it close was Calistoga's goalkeeper. Sophomore Mateo Gonzalez Saucedo made a string of saves, including two from Nsizoa Ndi. Sonoma Academy scored twice, the first a curling finish from sophomore Reed Cellitioci. Calistoga had an equaliser ruled out for offside in between, and they pulled one back in the closing minutes.
Since then, Calistoga has scored freely. Ramos has 27 goals and 10 assists in 13 games. Five of those goals came in an 8-2 win over Technology on Oct. 7, and the Wildcats won 9-0 at Geyserville New Tech Academy two days later. Freshman Alex Sarabio has 11 goals and sophomore Ulises Navarette has eight goals and six assists, so Calistoga has more than one way to score, and Medina has 10 assists.
The call: Sonoma Academy has the better defense, they are at home and they won the first meeting. But three things point to a closer game this time. Calistoga will have had three days off, while Sonoma Academy will be playing for the second day running. Both of the Coyotes' games last week were 1-0 wins. And Calistoga were the one side to take Sonoma Academy all the way in September, with a keeper in form behind them. We think Sonoma Academy will drop their first points of the season. Kickoff is Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Prediction: Sonoma Academy 1-1 Calistoga
A draw would still leave Sonoma Academy top of the league.
The Big 5 chasing pack meets in pairs
Arcata top the Big 5 at 9-0-1, and the four sides directly behind them play each other this week.
Del Norte (Warriors) and McKinleyville (Panthers) sit fourth and fifth, level at 5-3-1. McKinleyville have won both meetings this fall by a goal, 3-2 in August and 2-1 at Del Norte on Sept. 19. Junior Becker Rine and senior Ayden Burtchett scored that night, and senior Lucas Jones set up both. Before this season, Del Norte had won all four meetings on record.
McKinleyville come in with goals spread across their front line. Senior Gaelen Creighton has 21 goals and seven assists, Rine has 17 goals in 10 games, and Jones has 17 assists. Creighton scored three in a 3-3 draw at Fortuna on Oct. 6, and on Saturday all four of Creighton, Rine, Burtchett and Jones scored in a 4-1 win at Eureka.
Del Norte come in on a three-game winning run, but it came against South Fork, Ferndale and St. Bernard's Academy, the three sides below these two in the table. Their best work this fall has come against the top of the league. They beat Arcata away and held them scoreless at home, and they are hard to beat on their own field.
The call: Del Norte's home record makes this tight, and both meetings this fall were one-goal games. McKinleyville has the more dangerous attack and the better recent results against good sides. Kickoff is Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Prediction: McKinleyville 2-1 Del Norte
On Saturday, second meets third. Fortuna (Husky), last season's Big 5 champions, are second at 6-2-1, and Eureka (Logger) are third at 6-4-0. They have split two meetings this fall. Eureka won 1-0 at Fortuna on Sept. 12, and Fortuna won 4-2 at home 10 days later. Fortuna have won three of the five meetings on record.
Both lost on Saturday. Fortuna went down 2-1 at home to Arcata, four days after a 3-3 draw with McKinleyville, and Eureka lost 4-1 at home to McKinleyville.
Fortuna's strength is on the road. They have conceded once in four away games this season, in a 1-0 defeat at Arcata, and they won 1-0 at McKinleyville. Eureka's home record against the top of the table is the opposite. They have lost 5-0 to Arcata and 4-1 to McKinleyville at home.
The call: Eureka have already won at Fortuna this fall, so nothing here is certain. But Fortuna's defense travels, and Eureka have struggled at home against the sides above them. Kickoff at Eureka is Saturday, Oct. 17.
Prediction: Fortuna 2-1 Eureka
The Bay School get a second look at Gateway
The Bay School of San Francisco (Breakers) are 11-0-3, unbeaten in 14, and lead the Bay Counties League - Central at 4-0-2. They have conceded three goals all season. Gateway (Gators) are one of only two sides to keep them off the scoresheet, in a 0-0 draw on Oct. 6.
What the Breakers did with the other goalless draw is the best guide to this one. The International School of San Francisco held them 0-0 on Sept. 25, and when the two met again on Friday, the Breakers won 3-0 away.
The Breakers share their goals around. Senior Blaise Banks has six, and seniors Jackson Lessing, Teo Graham Cook and Noah Leopold have four each, as does junior center back Isaac Baristiran. In the scoreless draw with International, sophomore Lenin Yee set the tempo in midfield and Baristiran anchored the back line.
Gateway arrive in form. They beat Jewish Community 4-1 on Oct. 8, two days after the draw, and they have beaten McKinleyville 4-1 as well. First, though, they visit San Francisco Waldorf on Tuesday.
The call: Gateway showed they can frustrate the Breakers, but the Bay School have conceded twice in eight home games, and they answered the last goalless draw by winning the rematch comfortably. Kickoff is Thursday, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m.
Prediction: The Bay School 2-0 Gateway
Also on the schedule
Tuesday also brings Willits at Clear Lake, Lower Lake at Cloverdale and Fort Bragg at Middletown. Our quick picks: Clear Lake 3-0 Willits, Lower Lake 4-1 Cloverdale and Fort Bragg 3-0 Middletown.
What's next
By Tuesday night, we will know whether anyone can take points off Sonoma Academy. By Saturday, the Big 5 table behind Arcata could look very different.