San Marcos football coach Anthony Linebaugh was fired up.
After his football team fought back in the fourth quarter to beat Channel Islands, 38-33, on Homecoming night last Friday, he was asked about the next game on the schedule against defending CIF Northwest Division champion Nordhoff.
It will be a battle of CIF-ranked, undefeated teams. Nordhoff (4-0) is No. 2 in the Northwest Division. It’s coming off a win over Thousand Oaks of the Marmonte League. San Marcos is ranked ninth in the Western Division poll.
“We can hardly wait,” Linebaugh said of the challenge. “Forget divisions, they are where we want to go, so to have a chance to play them at their place, we can’t wait. We’ll play them tomorrow.”
In another big game, Bishop Diego takes its 4-0 record on the road to Santa Fe Christian, a State Division 3 finalist last year.
For the third week in a row, there was no change in the rankings.
THE RANKINGS
Bishop Diego (4-0) — The Cardinals play out of section this week, traveling to state finalist and San Diego Section power Santa Fe Christian on Saturday.
Lompoc 4-1 — The Braves are picking up steam. They romp in their Los Padres League opener, 49-7.
Carpinteria 5-0 — Ian Craddock is a scoring machine for the unbeaten Warriors.
St. Joseph 4-0 — The Knights’ defense makes a statement in a 16-6 Pac-7 win over San Luis Obispo.
San Marcos 5-0 — The Royals got pushed and responded with a close win. Now they face their toughest test, traveling to Ojai to play defending CIF champion Nordhoff.
