Prep football: Week 8 preview capsules for all Marin teams

Marin Catholic is the only Redwood Empire Conference program from Marin currently sitting in first place in the standings but a trio of teams with one league loss could impact their own odds dramatically with victories against the top contenders this week.

MC is 2-0 in the Adobe and still has a game against 2-0 Cardinal Newman on the schedule. San Marin, with a loss to MC already on its ledger, hosts Cardinal Newman and could climb back into the title picture with a win on Friday night.

Tam finds itself in a similar spot in the Valley league. Both American Canyon and Casa Grande sit at 2-0. Tam has one loss already — crucially to American Canyon — but hosts Casa Grande on Saturday. The Red-tailed Hawks played the Gauchos tough last season and could entertain hopes of a late-season charge if they can complete the upset bid this time around.

Archie Williams also faces the first-place team in the Mountain league in 2-0 Sonoma Valley. The Peregrine Falcons would need to pull off a significant upset to hand the Dragons their first loss but doing so would open up a path to a share of the league title.

Friday

Rancho Cotate (4-3, 0-2 – #17 NCS) at Marin Catholic (3-4, 2-0 – #6 NCS), 7 p.m., Kentfield

At this point last season, the Wildcats really began to hit their stride, posting back-to-back shutout victories against Vintage and Rancho Cotate. MC has put itself in position to repeat that feat after shutting out Vintage 31-0 last week.

The Wildcats blanked the Cougars 30-0 last season after racing out to a 28-0 lead at the half. RB Jarred Geissberger ran for a touchdown and MC scored twice on special teams – a blocked punt recovered by Colin Lovette and a punt return by Gabe Baker.

MC avoided the possibility of a trap game against Rancho last year and will need to do the same this season as the league schedule hasn’t changed. MC travels to Cardinal Newman next Friday in a showdown between the Redwood Empire Adobe league’s top two teams.

Cardinal Newman (6-1, 2-0 – #4 NCS) at San Marin (6-1, 1-1 – #8 NCS), 7 p.m., San Marin

The Mustangs will not have pleasant memories of the last time they saw the Cardinals – a 34-3 loss in Santa Rosa last season. This time, the Mustangs play host and are in need of a victory having already lost 31-13 to Marin Catholic a couple of weeks ago.

Cardinal Newman’s then-freshman quarterback Luke Retamoza tormented the Mustangs with 304 yards and three touchdowns. Retamoza has missed most of this season due to an injury but junior Carmine Guevara has guided the Cardinals to six consecutive wins.

Cardinal Newman has leaned heavily on its ground game during Retamoza’s absence. RB Pathoumnourack Malakai has run for 781 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Redwood (4-4, 2-1 – #38 NCS) at Justin-Siena (0-7, 0-4 – #92 NCS), 7 p.m., Napa

The Braves have been dealing with an injury crisis this season that led to them forfeiting their past two games against Redwood Empire Valley title favorites American Canyon and Casa Grande.

Even when healthy enough to play, Justin-Siena was getting gashed this season. The Braves scored 31 total points in five games and managed to hold only one team under that total – a 28-7 loss to Pinole Valley. The Braves are giving up more than 44 points per game with a season-high in a 57-12 loss to Petaluma – the last game the Braves played before shutting it down for two weeks.

Redwood wasn’t exactly dominating while handing the Braves a 21-7 loss last season. RB Sean Cunneen ran for a 99-yard touchdown to help the Giants become postseason-eligible with last season’s victory. The Giants would guarantee their eligibility this season with a win over the Braves.

Saturday

Branson (3-4, 1-1 – #6 NCS) at Cornerstone Christian (4-3, 1-1 – #4 NCS), 1 p.m., Antioch

The Bulls are coming off their first league loss of the season – a 53-34 setback against Priory – and will almost certainly need to run the table the next two weeks to maintain their title hopes for the season-ending game against North Central League II frontrunner Stuart Hall.

Cornerstone Christian has already faced Stuart Hall this season, losing 41-0 two weeks ago. The Cougars bounced back with a 50-0 victory over Roseland University Prep. The Bulls defeated Roseland University Prep 68-0 two weeks ago.

Branson’s offense has averaged 36 points per game this season, largely reliant on QB Colby Buxton (1,288 passing yards, 449 rushing), WR Spencer Weinberg (624 receiving), and WR Treyvor Matthews (427 receiving).

Casa Grande (3-4, 2-0 – #32 NCS) at Tam (2-5, 2-1 – #44 NCS), 2 p.m., Mill Valley

Casa Grande will either be rested or rusty when it travels to face Tam on Saturday following an unscheduled bye week. The Gauchos didn’t play last week after Justin-Siena, dealing with an injury crisis, took a 2-0 forfeit loss due to a lack of healthy players.

The Red-tailed Hawks played Casa Grande close last season, losing to the eventual Redwood Empire Valley champions 14-10. Tam’s defense, which was stellar two weeks ago in a 7-2 win against Redwood, limited Casa Grande to 129 passing yards and 134 rushing yards.

A victory would put Tam back into the league title picture, although they would need someone else – Casa Grande or Redwood – to take down first-place American Canyon. The Red-tailed Hawks lost 34-13 to American Canyon three weeks ago.

San Rafael (5-2, 2-1 – #52 NCS) at Novato (3-4, 1-2 – #86 NCS), 2 p.m., Novato

Last year’s meeting between the Bulldogs and Hornets was perhaps more of a defensive battle than some would have predicted as San Rafael came away with a 23-14 victory.

San Rafael stuffed Novato’s vaunted ground game to the tune of 22 carries for 53 yards. Instead, the Hornets found success through the air, with QB Trevor Cleary throwing for 288 yards. CJ Castro had 90 receiving yards and Clearly’s touchdown to Alex Felchlin gave the Hornets a 14-10 lead in the third quarter.

San Rafael has been a second-half team for most of this season and needed to be to take down Novato last year. Josue Munoz’s TD run late in the third quarter gave the Bulldogs the lead for good at 16-14 then QB Lachlan Royston threw a touchdown to Dante Canziani.

San Rafael gained playoff eligibility last season by defeating Novato for its fifth win but that was not enough to make it into a North Coast Section bracket. The Bulldogs are eligible again as of last week and have a better resume than last season’s squad. San Rafael has three more opportunities to state its case.

Piner (1-6, 0-2 – #79 NCS) at Terra Linda (1-6, 1-2 – #96 NCS), 2 p.m., Terra Linda

The Trojans are coming off their first victory of the season, 39-19 against Healdsburg, and are looking to go on a late-season win streak.

Piner finished second in the Redwood Empire Mountain last season – behind Sonoma Valley and ahead of San Rafael – but TL gave the Prospectors a battle before falling 21-14. Turnovers proved to be a major talking point as TL threw three interceptions and Piner threw four.

Piner has collapsed this season, getting outscored 241-80 across seven games including a 34-14 loss to San Rafael last week. Piner’s lone win this season, like TL, came against Healdsburg by a 28-20 score line.

Piner’s two big-time receivers from last year both graduated which has limited the effectiveness of the Mountain’s offensive player of the year from last season, QB Soso Prak.

Sonoma Valley (6-1, 2-0 – #39 NCS) at Archie Williams (4-3, 2-1 – #77 NCS), 2 p.m., San Anselmo

The Peregrine Falcons could harbor aspirations of snagging a share of the Redwood Empire Mountain title but they’d need to overturn what was a 35-0 road loss against Sonoma Valley to do it.

Archie Williams, like most defenses facing Sonoma Valley last season, struggled to slow down QB Dalan Lopata (144 yards, 3 TDs) and RB Cayden Waldrop (129 yards, 2 TDs). The Peregrine Falcons did however limit then-senior WR Hudson Giarritta – the top receiver in the league – to five catches for 34 yards. Giarritta did catch two touchdowns.

If the Peregrine Falcons can survive the Dragons, they close out the league campaign with games against winless Healdsburg and one-win Piner.

Bye week

Tomales (7-1, 4-0). Next: at Potter Valley, Nov. 7.