The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
Reigning 3C2A state football champion Riverside City College maintains its lead in the JC Athletic Bureau poll of California Community College Football Coaches Association members at the beginning of regular season play, taking all 12 first-place votes of voting coaches representatives.
Riverside leads a host of Southern California teams in the JC Athletic Bureau’s top-10, with So Cal programs claiming seven spots.
Northern California has just three teams in the top-10, but College of San Mateo and American River College go 2-3 in the rankings. Modesto sneaks in at No. 9 as all three went 1-0 to open the season.
Riverside ran its current winning streak to four games, dating to the 2023 regular-season finale and two playoff victories, with a 44-21 triumph over Long Beach in their opener.
College of San Mateo, the 2023 state runners-up, held on to the No. 2 spot behind Riverside after surviving a late, two-touchdown Sierra rally to escape with a 27-26 win over the Wolverines.
American River College won a convincing opener, 35-18, at College of the Sequoias and moved up one spot from the preseason poll to No. 3, exchanging places with Mt. San Antonio, which won, 38-21, over Mt. San Jacinto.
Fullerton is No. 5, followed by Ventura, Butte, Golden West, Modesto, and San Diego Mesa.
City College of San Francisco, which dropped its opener, 34-21 to No. 15 Santa Rosa, slid down the rankings to No. 16, down from a preseason spot of No. 6.
Non-conference competition continues Saturday, with Riverside visting No. 8 Golden West and No. 6 Ventura going to No. 4 Mt. SAC in a pair of games that will go along way to determining the balance of power in the south half of the state.
In the north, CSM hosts Reedley (0-1), American River entertains Diablo Valley (0-1), No. 7 Butte hosts Laney (0-1), and No. 15 Santa Rosa (1-0), which came into the season unranked, visits No. 9 Modesto.
Foothill, with a state-leading 14-game winning streak compiled in the American Division, moves up to the National Division with an opener at Feather River Saturday.
Some top opening weekend “player of the week” performances included:
Rushing: Kieryus Boone, Monterey Peninsula, 7-164-2; Lyon Colon, Modesto, 15-154-2; Lolo Mataele, San Mateo, 18-113-3.
Passing: Seth Burbine, Victor Valley, 34-55-390-4-1; Brady Jones, Riverside, 26-42-337-1-0; Antevious Jackson, De Anza, 16-24-336-4-0; yards; Lovi Durrell, Shasta, 20-23-292-5-0.
Receiving: David Pierro, Diablo Valley, 14-134-1; Makai Puga, Hancock, 7-193-3; Devin Ellisoon, Monterey Peninsula, 6-135-3.
All-Purpose: Hassan Mahasin, San Mateo, 238 yards: 130 rush, 108 KO returns.
Defense: Jalen Camp, CCSF, 15 tackles; Taku Diamond, Gavilan, 15 tackles; Andrew Andrade, Los Medanos, 14 tackles.
— Daily Journal correspondent Fred Baer contributed to this report
