Bay Area prep football predictions: CIF regional championship weekend

We’ve got to give Mike Lefkow a shout-out for his near perfection on section championship weekend.

Clearly, he did his homework.

Our guy would have gone undefeated had we not added a bonus game to the list. That extra game was the Southern Section Division I final between Mater Dei-Santa Ana and St. John Bosco-Bellflower.

Lefkow chose Mater Dei.

Bosco won 24-22.

Lefkow was hardly heartbroken. “I was kind of glad they lost,” he said.

By going 11-1 for the weekend, Lefkow pulled to within four games of yours truly in the season standings with two weekends to go. I finished 8-4 on section championship weekend. The Kid — aka Joseph Dycus — went 9-3.

This week, we choose nine games (eight regional, one state) that include teams from the Bay Area News Group’s coverage area. Among the nine are De La Salle at Folsom, Manteca at Pittsburg and Lemoore at McClymonds.

In the video show, we discuss Serra coach Patrick Walsh’s comments about Mater Dei’s coaching vacancy rumors, the highs and lows of section championship weekend and what we like and don’t like about the playoff formats in the Central Coast Section and North Coast Section.

Sidenote: In our section championship picks that we made going into the playoffs, yours truly chose eight of the 13 champs correctly to finish first. Dycus and Alex Simon each went 6-7 to tie for second and Lefkow (5-8) was last.

If you want just this week’s predictions, keep scrolling.

And, if you haven’t done so, please subscribe here for digital access all school year long. Our high school coverage does not stop when football season ends.

Enjoy the video.

WEEK 15 PICKS

Division 7-AA state championship: Pinole Valley (8-4) at Mendota (9-5), Saturday, 6 p.m.

Sabedra: Pinole Valley

Dycus: Pinole Valley 

Lefkow: Pinole Valley 

Division 6-AA regional: Santa Teresa (8-5) at Palo Alto (7-6), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Sabedra: Santa Teresa

Dycus: Santa Teresa

Lefkow: Palo Alto

Division 4-A regional: Menlo School (8-5) at San Marin (11-2), Saturday, 6 p.m.

Sabedra: Menlo School

Dycus: Menlo School

Lefkow: Menlo School

Division 3-A regional: Vanden (12-1) vs. Bellarmine (7-6) at San Jose City College, Saturday, 6 p.m.

Sabedra: Bellarmine

Dycus: Bellarmine

Lefkow: Bellarmine 

Division 3-AA regional: Grant-Sacramento (10-2) at El Cerrito (13-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Sabedra: El Cerrito

Dycus: El Cerrito
Lefkow: El Cerrito
Division 2-A regional: Marin Catholic (13-0) at San Ramon Valley (11-2), Saturday, 6 p.m.

Sabedra: San Ramon Valley

Dycus: San Ramon Valley

Lefkow: San Ramon Valley 

Division 2-AA regional: Lemoore (12-1) at McClymonds (11-1), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Sabedra: Lemoore

Dycus: McClymonds

Lefkow: McClymonds 

Division 1-A regional: Manteca (11-1) at Pittsburg (11-2), Saturday, 6 p.m.

Sabedra: Pittsburg

Dycus: Pittsburg

Lefkow: Pittsburg 

Division 1-AA regional: De La Salle (9-3) at Folsom (12-1), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Sabedra: De La Salle

Dycus: De La Salle

Lefkow: De La Salle

WEEK 14 PICKS

CCS Division II final: No. 5 Bellarmine 21, No. 2 St. Ignatius 14

Sabedra: Bellarmine (W)

Dycus: Bellarmine (W)

Lefkow: Bellarmine (W)

CCS Division III final: No. 3 Menlo School 42, No. 5 Hollister 6

Sabedra: Hollister (L)

Dycus: Hollister (L)

Lefkow: Menlo School (W)

CCS Division IV final: No. 4 Santa Teresa 23, No. 3 Branham 15

Sabedra: Branham (L)

Dycus: Santa Teresa (W)

Lefkow: Santa Teresa (W)