We must protect this house!

Some of you may have noticed that we all went 6 for 6 last week. I can guarantee you that won’t happen this week because I’m sitting here looking at the game schedule and wanting to be in at least five places. But seriously, I will try to channel Miss Cleo with this week’s picks.

6) McClymonds over Skyline: OK, so I follow the OAL pretty closely and last week, the Titans played Oakland Tech in a game everyone thought (based on recent history) would be fairly good. Then they spanked the Bulldogs and did it without playing Andre Christian Jr. or Jordan Foley in the first quarter. I smell a letdown, and I also like Curtis’ idea of all orange on Halloween weekend.

5) James Logan over Irvington: I still can’t say I know anything about the HAAL. But, the Colts have been consistently good through the years so I’ll go with them. What I do know is that they’d like to have Deltha O’Neal back (or maybe the Ting brothers)…

4) Alhambra over Concord: Will the real Alhambra please stand up? Brandon Rutley says he’ll play, and that’s good enough for me. I can’t discredit Billy Burmeister and the Minutemen but I’m thinking Rutley re-establishes his dominance in the DFAL this week.

3) College Park over Miramonte: The Falcons’ veer attack hasn’t looked this good in a long while. Joey York is a force to be reckoned with and the Mats seem to be just good enough to win most games. Not this time. York and the Falcons by a hair.

2) Freedom over Pitt: Pitt is hungry. But you know something? So is Freedom after almost coughing up a hair ball worthy of Garfield last week against Clayton Valley. Diondre Borel was intercepted three times last week, so he’ll have some motivation to get back to his normal playmaking ways and together with Daniel Johansen, they’ll do just enough to beat the Pirates.

1) Pinole Valley over El Cerrito: So yes, I’m taking three pencils and three pens to this game because on paper the final score should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 125-121. I think the Spartans win with a well-timed FG by Justin Naterman. FYI: I’m told they’re expecting a packed house so a word to the wise: the quality eats are right next door at the Red Onion. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, the Waffle House across the street is the spot for some pre-game breakfast. And if you’re lucky, you may see me at one of these fine establishments.

I’ve noticed we have some junior prognosticators on our message board, so I want to extend an invitation to whoever is interested to pick with us every week here on the blog. We’ve already shown that we can be beaten (or at least I know I can), so bring it on.