Football: Is Oaks Christian the best team in California?
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Rivals.com might have just provided bulletin-board fodder for the likes of Lakewood and Long Beach Poly.
The website has picked Oaks Christian as the best team in California and 10th nationally in its preseason rankings. Sure, the Lions are loaded with quarterback Nick Montana and running back Malcolm Jones, among others, but are they even the best team in Southern California, much less the state?
We’ll take the aforementioned teams ahead of Oaks Christian. Poly, incidentally, is ranked No. 19 and Lakewood is No. 34. Not sure we’re buying that.
At least the Lions are playing someone this year: Sammamish (Wash.) Skyline, which is ranked No. 20. That game on Sept. 18 in the Pacific Northwest will go a long way toward vetting Oaks Christian’s lofty preseason ranking.
Other Southland teams ranked by Rivals: No. 30 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, No. 40 Orange Lutheran, No. 58 Crenshaw ... and that’s it. No St. Bonaventure, no Rancho Cucamonga, no Servite, no Crespi, no Edison, no Mater Dei and next to no credibility.
--Ben Bolch