Almond Bowl rematch highlights championship Saturday | Playoff football preview
The Northern Section high school football championships kick off Saturday night, and on first look some teams will be in situations similar to 2022.
Pleasant Valley, the defending NSCIF D-II champions, will be on the road for a second straight season when the No. 2 seed Vikings play cross-town rival and No. 1 seed Chico High.
Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at Panther Stadium.
The D-II matchup will be a rematch of the Almond Bowl, when the Panthers defeated the Vikings 35-0. PV lost starting running back Lucas Benson at halftime due to an injured shoulder, but he returned in the NSCIF semifinals last week against Shasta and rushed for 160 yards and four touchdowns.
Chico has had a bounce back season, finishing 9-1 in the regular season. In 2022 the Panthers finished 5-7 and lost to Foothill in the NSCIF semifinals. Saturday night the Panthers will look to their star running back as well: Dion Coleman. Coleman has rushed for two-or-more TDs in eight of his 11 games this year and has rushed for over 2,000 yards.
Chico may be without No. 1 wide receiver/defensive back Troy Sommer, who exited the Panthers’ semifinal game against Foothill on a stretcher at halftime with what appeared to be concussion-like symptoms.
Division III
In D-III Orland (10-1) will host the NSCIF championship for a second straight season as the Trojans seek their second straight NSCIF championship victory.
Orland will host Lassen (7-5) in a rematch of last season’s NSCIF semifinals when the Trojans defeated the Grizzlies 55-7. Last season Orland entered as the No. 1 seed and Lassen entered as the No. 4 seed, and this year the Trojans enter as the No. 2 seed and the Grizzlies enter as the No. 5 seed.
Lassen is coming off a 27-14 upset of the No. 1 seed University Prep in the NSCIF semifinals, while Orland is coming off a 42-6 win against Gridley after defeating West Valley in the quarterfinals.
Other games
In D-IV No. 1 Colusa (11-0) hosts No. 2 Winters (8-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Colusa defeated East Nicolaus 14-7 in the semifinals to advance, while Winters defeated Hamilton 29-0 to advance.
Colusa and Winters faced off in Week 9 and the RedHawks defeated the Warriors 35-20.
Colusa is the defending champions and hosts the NSCIF D-IV championship for a second straight season.
In D-V No. 1 Portola (11-0) hosts No. 3 Biggs (9-3) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Portola. Portola defeated Los Molinos 40-14 in the semifinals to advance, while Biggs upset No. 2 Weed 6-0 in the semifinals in a battle of the defenses.
Biggs and Portola did not face off during the regular season, but the two schools faced off in last year’s NSCIF D-V semifinals and the Tigers defeated the Wolverines 27-18. Portola lost 14-13 to Fall River in the championship.
