No. 2 Serra opens at No. 3 Pittsburg
Pittsburg coach Vic Galli takes partial credit for making Patrick Walsh a star running back at De La SalleConcord in the early 1990s. In the most literal sense, anyway.
“I made his highlight tape for him,” said Galli, a former De La Salle assistant and junior varsity and freshman head coach. “He sorta owes me.”
Said Walsh, the current Serra head coach who rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 38 touchdowns as a senior for the Spartans in 1992: “Wait a minute. My offensive line and playcalling made me . ... I still owe him for sure, but we can’t give him all the credit.”
For the fifth time in six years, the two Metro powerhouses agreed to square off, this time in a season opener at 7 p.m. Friday at Pittsburg.
Pittsburg, ranked third by The Chronicle, and the second-ranked Padres both went 5-0 in a shortened spring season, outscoring foes by a combined 454-102.
Serra is ranked 12th in the state, the Pirates are 15th.
This clearly stands as the top choice in The Chronicle’s Top 10 All-Metro team games of the season.
Pittsburg “sort of put a dark cloud over our players and gave them a little perspective the entire off season,” Walsh said. “I’d say, ‘Oh, you don’t want to come to practice? You know, Pittsburg is only 70 days away.’ Or ‘You don’t want to play hard? Well the Pirates are only 30 days away.’ ”
In 2016, ’17 and ’18, the Pirates jumped out early and took control in wins of 48-25, 35-28 and 45-35. In 2019, when Serra won a Northern California 1-A Bowl Championship, the tables were turned as the Padres won 58-21.
Serra “definitely had a point to prove, and they made it,” Galli said. “Friday should be a lot of fun.”
The Pirates feature 6foot-4, 180-pound quarterback Jaden Rashada and a host of Division I prospect receivers, led by Chronicle Fab 50 performers Rashid Williams (6-2, 180) and Israel Polk (6-1, 170).
“There are thousands of high school football teams in the nation, and I haven’t seen them all, but I can’t imagine many have so many skilled receivers who can stretch the field with such great hands,” Walsh said. “And to have a kid as talented as (Rashada) throwing to them, it’s a tall task to try to slow them.”
The same might be said of Serra’s one-two senior punch of running back Hassan Mahasin (5-10, 185) and quarterback Dominique Lampkin (6-1, 180), who rank Nos. 3 and 7 on The Chronicle’s Fab 50 list.
Good news, bad news:
Galli was thrilled last week to learn that all his varsity players tested negative for the coronavirus, so they could compete in Friday’s scrimmage with De La Salle. Later that night came the news from the Pittsburg Unified School District that general admission fans won’t be allowed at the opener. Only parents of players and band members will be allowed in the stadium.
Murphy’s last stand:
Clayton Valley coach Tim Murphy confirmed this will be his final season with the Eagles after this, his 10th season. He won a State 2-AA Bowl Championship in 2019, at which time he stated he was considering retiring. He started at Ygnacio Valley-Concord in the early 1990s before going to Clovis East. He is 91-21 for the Eagles. Murphy named Nick Tisa as co-head coach for the 2021 season.
“It’s time,” Murphy told The Chronicle in a text. “Both for me to step away and Nick to take over.”