Week 5 of the high school football season is here.
This week’s lineup features De La Salle playing host to St. Mary’s-Stockton, Archbishop Riordan traveling to St. Francis, McClymonds visiting California, Valley Christian welcoming Serra and more.
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Week 4: Where to find our complete coverage
Here are this week’s top matchups:
Friday
St. Mary’s-Stockton (3-1) at No. 1 De La Salle (4-0), 7 p.m.: Will De La Salle’s defense step up after being publicly challenged by coach Justin Alumbaugh? The Spartans gave up 20 points against Grant-Sacramento on Friday after allowing zero defensively through their first three games. Stopping St. Mary’s won’t be easy. The Rams average 41.5 points per game. They’re led by UCLA-bound wide receiver Kenneth Moore III, quarterback Jaden Galvan and running back Diego Hernandez. Look for the Spartans to slow the game down with speedy Jaden Jefferson and Duece Jones-Drew running out of the backfield. St. Mary’s lost at home to DLS last season 38-35. HSRatings.com has De La Salle winning this game 48-21. – Nathan Canilao
No. 2 Archbishop Riordan (3-0) at No. 12 St. Francis (0-3), 7 p.m.: Riordan’s quest for an undefeated West Catholic Athletic League season begins in Mountain View, where last season’s WCAL co-champions reside. But a changing of the guard is expected. The Crusaders beat St. Francis last season and are the heavy favorites with returning QB Michael Mitchell Jr. and fellow Division I players Kyle Welch, Judge Nash, Cynai Thomas, Tommy Tofi, Skylar Tiatia and Perrion Williams, a Utah commit who was St. Francis’ leading receiver last year. St. Francis is retooling with senior QB Andrew Franzino and junior RB Motu Keanaaina, the younger brother of superstar running back Kingston Keanaaina, who graduated last spring. HSRatings projects a 35-7 Riordan win. — Christian Babcock
No. 5 McClymonds (2-1) at No. 8 California (4-0), 7 p.m.: After an unexpected week off when Santa Cruz forfeited last weekend’s game, McClymonds heads to San Ramon to face a California team that is off to a somewhat surprising undefeated start. Despite losing superstar running back Jhadis Luckey to Clayton Valley, Cal has found a nice offensive balance. Senior Jordan Lee has picked up the slack, rushing for 107.8 yards per game, and QB Arjun Banerjee has completed 73.7% of his passes while throwing for 171.3 yards per game and nine TDs. McClymonds, perennially strong on the ground, has also been able to lean on senior QB Berell Staples, a Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo commit, and WR/DB Rahsjon Duncan, a Washington commit who just picked up an offer from Ohio State. McClymonds hasn’t played since beating St. Francis 14-10 on Sept. 5. HSRatings projects a 28-12 McClymonds win. — Christian Babcock
No. 15 Archbishop Mitty (2-1) at No. 13 St. Ignatius (1-2), 7 p.m.: St. Ignatius has won eight in a row in this series, but the past three have been tight – 24-19, 28-21, 24-21. Both teams enter this WCAL opener with one thing in common: Each has lost this season to Acalanes. Mitty has beaten Wilcox and Menlo-Atherton since beginning the season with a 33-12 loss at Acalanes. SI is coming off a heartbreaking 42-35 loss at home to Acalanes, which rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat the reigning CCS Open champs. SI’s Luke Tribolet has rushed for four of the team’s eight TDs, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. Mitty’s Joseph Engin has passed for 489 yards and six TDs and Lazaro Faraj-Washington has rushed for 399 yards and four TDs. HSRatings projects Mitty to win 31-28. – Darren Sabedra
Saturday
No. 11 Serra (0-3) at No. 9 Valley Christian (2-1), 6 p.m.: Few teams across the county have played a schedule as challenging as Serra. The bad news for the San Mateo school is it went winless against Folsom, De La Salle and St. John Bosco-Bellflower, with DLS and SJB holding the Padres scoreless. Serra opens WCAL play against a Valley Christian program it has beaten eight consecutive times, including a 29-3 victory last season. Valley has sandwiched one-sided victories over Wilcox and Patterson around its only loss, 38-29 at Salinas. Rome Leota-Pritchard has passed for 649 yards and five TDs and Ekiah McLemore has rushed for seven TDs for Valley. Serra’s Caleb Bandel has thrown for two TDs. HSRatings picks Serra to win 35-21. – Darren Sabedra
Schedule
Thursday, Sept. 25
Hill at San Jose, 7 p.m.
Independence at Yerba Buena, 7:15 p.m.
James Lick at Evergreen Valley, 7 p.m.
Overfelt at Christopher, 7:15 p.m.
Prospect at Mt. Pleasant, 7:15 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 26
Acalanes at Mt. Diablo, 7:30 p.m.
Alameda at Newark Memorial, 7 p.m.
Alhambra at Albany, 7 p.m.
American at Washington-Fremont, 7 p.m.
Archbishop Mitty at St. Ignatius, 7 p.m.
Archbishop Riordan at St. Francis, 7 p.m.
Arroyo at Piedmont, 7 p.m.
Berean Christian at Redwood Christian, 7 p.m.
Branham at Piedmont Hills, 7:15 p.m.
Burlingame at Hillsdale, 7 p.m.
Carlmont at Sacred Heart Prep, 7 p.m.
Castro Valley at James Logan, 7 p.m.
De Anza at St. Patrick-St. Vincent, 7:30 p.m.
Deer Valley at Roseville, 7:30 p.m.
Del Mar at Lincoln-San Jose, 7:15 p.m.
Encinal at Benicia, 7 p.m.
Foothill at Amador Valley, 7:15 p.m.
Freedom at Dublin, 7 p.m.
Fremont-Oakland at Dougherty Valley, 7 p.m.
Gunn at Aragon, 7 p.m.
Hayward at San Ramon Valley, 7 p.m.
Hercules at San Lorenzo, 4 p.m.
Jefferson at El Camino, 7 p.m.
Las Lomas at Granada, 7:15 p.m.
Leigh at Silver Creek, 7:15 p.m.
Liberty at Clayton Valley Charter, 7 p.m.
Live Oak at Pioneer, 7:15 p.m.
Livermore at Heritage, 7 p.m.
McClymonds at California, 7 p.m.
MacDonald at Homestead, 7 p.m.
Maria Carrillo at Milpitas, 7 p.m.
Marin Catholic at Pittsburg, 7 p.m.
Menlo-Atherton at San Mateo, 7 p.m.
Menlo School at Northgate, 7 p.m.
Mills at Cupertino, 7 p.m.
Miramonte at Windsor, 7 p.m.
Monta Vista at Saratoga, 7 p.m.
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Monte Vista at College Park, 7 p.m.
Mt. Eden at Concord, 7 p.m.
Nevada Union at Antioch, 7 p.m.
Richmond at Foothill-Sacramento, 7 p.m.
Sacred Heart Cathedral vs. Bellarmine at SJCC, 7 p.m.
St. Mary’s-Stockton at De La Salle, 7 p.m.
Salesian at Oakland Tech, 7 p.m.
Santa Clara at Woodside, 7 p.m.
Santa Teresa at Oak Grove, 7:15 p.m.
Swett at West Campus, 5:30 p.m.
Tennyson at Bishop O’Dowd, 7 p.m.
The King’s Academy at Palo Alto, 7 p.m.
Washington-San Francisco at Vallejo, 7:15 p.m.
Ygnacio Valley at Stuart Hall, 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 27
Castlemont at Balboa, 2 p.m.
El Cerrito at Lincoln-San Francisco, 2 p.m.
Kennedy-Fremont at St. Mary’s-Berkeley, 1:30 p.m.
Moreau Catholic at Berkeley, 1 p.m.
Serra at Valley Christian, 6 p.m.
Skyline vs. Irvington at Tak Fudenna Stadium, 7 p.m.