De La Salle-Concord's juggernaut football team will defeat unbeaten Monte Vista 46-7 Friday in Danville - at least, that's the outcome projected by the long-running model at HSRatings.com.
Second-year Monte Vista coach Joe Wingert isn't reading or listening.
He and the Mustangs simply remain focused on their preparations, as they've done during a 7-0 start and coming off a surprising North Coast Section Division 2 title, their first since 2016, ninth overall and fourth since Wingert won one as a senior guard in 2001.
As impressive as Monte Vista's resurgence has been, ending De La Salle's 285-game unbeaten streak (the last loss was in 1991) against NCS opponents is a tall order. The last time the Mustangs beat De La Salle was 14-13 for the 1987 NCS 3A title at the Oakland Coliseum in one of the more famous championship title tilts in section history. That broke a De La Salle 44-game win streak.
"We're not going to reinvent the wheel, that's for sure," Wingert said of preparing for De La Salle. "We're putting in maybe one new play and a few different formations. We don't have the biggest or most athletic kids, but we're not preparing to play NFL players - not yet, anyway. They're just high school kids, albeit very good and hard working ones."
While De La Salle (6-0), ranked fourth in the state by Sports Illustrated, has up to a dozen Division I college recruits, including junior linebacker Landon Miller, Wingert said the Spartans win largely during the offseason with training.
High school football schedule
THURSDAY
Central Coast Section
Fremont at Terra Nova, 7 p.m.
Homestead at Mills, 7 p.m.
Santa Clara at South San Francisco, 7 p.m.
Woodside at Mountain View, 7 p.m.
King's Academy at #4 Los Gatos, 7:30 p.m.
North Coast Section
John Swett at Elsie Allen, 6 p.m.
Encinal vs. American at Washington-Fremont, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Oakland Section
Castlemont at Oakland Tech, 7 p.m.
Oakland at McClymonds, 7 p.m.
Central Coast Section
Capuchino at Carlmont, 7 p.m.
Half Moon Bay at Burlingame, 7 p.m.
Harker at Pinewood, 3:30 p.m.
Los Altos at Jefferson, 7 p.m.
MacDonald at El Camino, 7 p.m.
Menlo School at Wilcox, 7 p.m.
Monta Vista at Lynbrook, 7 p.m.
Palo Alto at San Mateo, 7 p.m.
#9 Riordan vs. Mitty at Foothill College, 7 p.m.
Saratoga at Cupertino, 7 p.m.
#10 St. Ignatius vs. Bellarmine at SJCC, 7 p.m.
Valley Christian at St. Francis, 7 p.m.
North Coast Section
Livermore at Arroyo, 4 p.m.
Concord at Dougherty Valley, 6 p.m.
#6 Acalanes at Miramonte, 7 p.m.
Albany at Pinole Valley, 7 p.m.
Alhambra at College Park, 7 p.m.
Archie Williams at Montgomery, 7 p.m.
Benicia at Northgate, 7 p.m.
Bethel at De Anza, 7 p.m.
Bishop O'Dowd vs. San Leandro at Burrell Field, 7 p.m.
Deer Valley at Emerald, 7 p.m.
Freedom at #5 Pittsburg, 7 p.m.
Healdsburg at Piner, 7 p.m.
Hercules at Antioch, 7 p.m.
James Logan at Moreau Catholic, 7 p.m.
Las Lomas at Campolindo, 7 p.m.
Liberty at Heritage, 7 p.m.
Marin Catholic at #7 Cardinal Newman, 7 p.m.
Mt. Eden at Newark Memorial, 7 p.m.
Piedmont at Castro Valley, 7 p.m.
Redwood at Casa Grande, 7 p.m.
Salesian at El Cerrito, 7 p.m.
San Lorenzo at Kennedy-Fremont, 7 p.m.
San Marin at American Canyon, 7 p.m.
Santa Rosa at Napa, 7 p.m.
Sonoma Valley at Analy, 7 p.m.
St. Mary's at Vallejo, 7 p.m.
St. Vincent de Paul at Windsor, 7 p.m.
Stuart Hall at Middletown, 7 p.m.
Tamalpais at San Rafael, 7 p.m.
Vintage at Petaluma, 7 p.m.
Washington-Fremont at Redwood Christian, 7 p.m.
Amador Valley at #3 San Ramon Valley, 7:15 p.m.
California at Granada, 7:15 p.m.
#1 De La Salle at #8 Monte Vista, 7:15 p.m.
Cross-sectional
California School for the Deaf at MSSSD-Washington D.C., 4 p.m.
Priory at South Fork, 6 p.m.
St. Helena at Gunn, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
San Francisco Section
Burton at Lowell, 2 p.m.
Lincoln at Balboa, 2 p.m.
Mission at Washington, 2 p.m.
Central Coast Section
Trinity Christian at Crystal Springs Uplands, noon
#2 Serra vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral at CCSF, 1 p.m.
Menlo-Atherton at Sacred Heart Prep, 2 p.m.
That training and physicality is led by DLS head coach Justin Alumbaugh.
Wingert - who assisted under former Monte Vista coaches Craig Bergman, Johnny Millard and CJ Anderson - has built a similar culture based around conditioning and toughness. After going 5-5 last regular season, the Mustangs caught fire and won NCS playoff games over Amador Valley-Pleasanton (24-14), California-San Ramon (35-21) and Clayton Valley Charter-Concord (24-10).
They lost 20 seniors off that team, but returned a strong core led by two-way standouts Caden Boscia (29 catches, 576 yards, five touchdowns, 33 tackles, two interceptions), Grant Maina (478 total yards, four TDs) and Justin Grisham (six rushing touchdowns). Boscia is the brother of Cal senior wide receiver Cole Boscia. "He's built out of the same cloth," Wingert said of Caden. "He's so consistent. Every single rep on the practice or game field is the same. He's been awesome."
Sophomore running back Charles Hawkins IV (318 yards, seven touchdowns) has added offensive firepower, but it's been the play of poised junior quarterback Jimmy Lagios (1,346 passing yards, 13 touchdowns), a transfer from Piedmont who has largely been the key for the Chronicle's eighth-ranked team. His transition to the Mustangs at such a key position has been seamless.
"He really feels like a Danville kid in terms of work ethic, toughness and picking up things quickly," Wingert said. "This is a super fun, tight group of kids who constantly like to hang with each other. It's a big reason for our success. Jimmy has fit perfectly."
Other top games (all kickoffs scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday)
Half Moon Bay (6-0) at Burlingame (5-1):
Palo Alto (5-1) at San Mateo (5-1): Palo Alto senior quarterback Justin Fung has accounted for more than 1,600 yards and 28 touchdowns, including 22 passing against one interception. San Mateo attacks in waves with six backs combining for 20 touchdowns. San Mateo beat Palo Alto last season 31-14.
Benicia (5-1) at Northgate-Walnut Creek (6-0): Benicia has won five straight since a tough 21-20 overtime loss to Vintage-Napa to start the season. The Panthers pulled out a 25-20 win over Oakland power McClymonds last week. Northgate's high-powered offense averages nearly 400 yards per game split almost evenly between pass and run. Benicia won last year's game 45-35 after being shut out 42-0 and 36-0 the previous two seasons.
Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland (5-1) vs. San Leandro (5-1) at Burrell Field-San Leandro: This showdown, which likely will decide the WACC Foothill title, features O'Dowd's Sacramento State-bound running back Lamar Ellis (643 yards, eight touchdowns in five games) against San Leandro's rugged defense that has led it to five straight wins, including over Antioch (21-20) and Hayward (22-21).
Liberty-Brentwood (4-3) at Heritage-Brentwood (5-2): The battle of Brentwood figures to be high scoring as the visiting Lions average 32 points and 350 yards per game against the more than 37 points from a Heritage squad that has scored a combined 106 in its last two games, including 56-0 over Emerald-Dublin last week. Liberty has won 10 straight in the series after Heritage won the first 8 of 10 since it started the program in 2007.
Marin Catholic-Kentfield (3-3) at No. 7 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (4-2): One of the best rivalries in the Bay Area often decides league if not section championships. The visiting Wildcats are coming off impressive wins over St. Mary's-Stockton (21-7) and then unbeaten Windsor (28-27), while Newman has largely rolled after opening the season with losses to Top 10 state-ranked Folsom (23-17) and De La Salle (42-3). Since 2012, Marin Catholic owns an 8-3 series edge, although Newman has won the last two, 45-13 and 20-7.
Oakland (5-1) at McClymonds-Oakland (3-3): Many believe McClymonds' on-field win streak over Oakland Athletic League opponents - more than 100 since 2009 - is in jeopardy against the Wildcats, who last beat the Warriors 26-12 in 2008. Since then Mack has won 22 straight, including 39-6 last season.
No. 10 St. Ignatius (5-1) vs. Bellarmine (5-1) at San Jose City College:
Stuart Hall (5-1) at Middletown (5-1):
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There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Bay Area high school football games of the week: De La Salle visits unbeaten Monte Vista.