Head coach Bill Gray, who’s been coaching at Terra Nova and previously at Oceana of Pacifica since the 1980s and is one of the winningest coaches in CCS history, said he feels his teams have been the “sacrificial lambs” for the Open Division. This year, they had one of the best teams in school history and although they were competitive against Valley Christian it was a step up that just couldn’t be made. Terra Nova, which is a public school with an enrollment of 1,146, was that team last year and had to play at Bellarmine in a first-round “Open” Division game. Instead, there is an open division actually with automatic qualifiers and one of those is the champion of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division, which is where Terra Nova comes in. If the CCS really had an open division, there would be five and perhaps six WCAL teams in it. It just seems to be more pronounced now due to the decline of the program at Oak Grove of San Jose, which in some years could take on and beat WCAL teams. No one questions the obvious dominance of the WCAL in the CCS. There’s nothing “open” about it because if it were truly an Open Division then the top eight teams in the section regardless of league affiliation or enrollment would be in it. The big joke in the CCS is calling its top playoff division an “open” division. The Warriors (8-3) will now play Archbishop Mitty of San Jose (11-1) next week in one of two All-West Catholic Athletic League semifinals (provided heavily favored Serra of San Mateo beats Pioneer of San Jose on Saturday) in the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division. Sure, credit should be given to the team at Valley Christian, which took control in the second half behind a powerful run game and beat an opponent on the road that had been averaging 45 points per game. Seeing a 10-0 team lose in the opening round of the playoffs isn’t unique, but the one witnessed on Friday night in Pacifica when host Terra Nova fell 24-7 to Valley Christian of San Jose had a sense of injustice attached to it. Margaret Lie (far right), the niece of Cal-Hi Sports editor Mark Tennis, and her friends from Terra Nova showed up in force to support their team during game against Valley Christian.
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