Pittsburg can ‘rectify a couple of wrongs’ as it aims for first state football title
CIF state championship football preview: Pittsburg gets a rematch against Liberty-Bakersfield for the Division 1-A title.
For Pittsburg to send retiring coach Victor Galli out with a state championship, it will have to turn the page on two of the program’s most crushing losses of this era.
In its only previous appearance in a state final, five years ago, Pittsburg led Narbonne-Harbor City by three touchdowns in the second quarter on a blustery late afternoon in Sacramento.
Narbonne rallied to win 28-21.
Last season, after Pittsburg captured its first North Coast Section championship in 30 years, the Pirates made an overnight trip to Bakersfield for a regional title game against Liberty.
The Bakersfield school won 35-7, beating a team that Galli said was not ready to play.
One year later, Pittsburg will again face Liberty — now representing the South — for the Division 1-A state championship on Saturday at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
A victory in Galli’s final game would give Pittsburg its first state title and avenge two losses that still sting the Pirates program.
“It’s great to have an opportunity to rectify a couple of wrongs,” Galli said. “The Liberty-Bakersfield game and the state game. We’ll be ready.”
Pittsburg learned quite a bit from the trip to Bakersfield last year, specifically how to behave on the road.
“Our kids were running around the hotel, staying up all night, even though they were told not to,” Galli said. “We learned our lessons. We laid a real egg.”
The Pirates didn’t make the same mistakes this season when they traveled to the San Diego area for an Honor Bowl game and returned to the Bay Area after a 30-2 rout of Liberty-Henderson, Nevada.
They will aim for a similar visit to the Southland this weekend.
“We did it right in San Diego,” Galli said. “We cleaned up a lot of stuff that we didn’t do in Bakersfield last year. It’s going to be all business.”
It should help Pittsburg (12-2) this time around that its Florida-commit quarterback, Jaden Rashada, isn’t playing on an injured hamstring, which he did against Liberty-Bakersfield last season.
The Pirates also have one of the Bay Area’s top defenses, a physical bunch that allowed just two touchdowns in a 35-14 win over Manteca for the NorCal 1-A regional championship on Saturday and no touchdowns in a 13-3 victory the previous week against Clayton Valley Charter for the NCS Division I crown.
“Our defense is crazy,” Rashada said. “I’ve got a lot of trust in our defense. Defense wins championships. Our offense helps also. I think if we carry that momentum into state, hopefully, we can come back with it.”
Liberty (12-2) will also be trying to correct a wrong. After the Bakersfield school beat Pittsburg last season, it traveled to Mission Viejo and lost in the 1-A state final to Serra-Gardena, 21-16.
“They were a good football team,” Galli said about Liberty. “We weren’t ready, so I was mad about that. But we didn’t lose to some (BS) football team. We lost to a really good team.”
PITTSBURG VS. LIBERTY-BAKERSFIELD
What: CIF Division 1-A state championship
Where: Saddleback College, Mission Viejo
When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
Stream: NFHS network
Storylines: Both teams are 0-1 in state championship games. … Pittsburg’s offensive line, challenged by Galli before the game, had its best showing of the season in the NorCal 1-A final on Saturday against Manteca, protecting Rashada and opening holes for sophomore running back Elijah Bow. … Bow ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns in 22 carries and Rashada, despite rainy conditions, threw for 144 yards and a TD in the Manteca game. Rashada also rushed for 37 yards and a TD. … Liberty’s Jalen Hankins has run for 1,344 yards and 20 TDs and the team’s quarterbacks — juniors Jace Nixon and Cole O’Brien — have combined to pass for more than 2,000 yards and 23 TDs. … In the Southern California 1-A title game last week against Yorba Linda, Liberty had 365 yards rushing and 181 passing in a 41-28 victory. … Hankins (22 carries, 232 yards, two TDs) and Mehki DeLouth (11 carries, 118 yards, 1 TD) led the ground attack in the SoCal final. … In Liberty’s NorCal championship win over Pittsburg last season, Hankins rushed for 127 yards and a TD in 26 carries. … Calpreps.com’s computer is taking Liberty to win the rematch, 24-21.