Sutter football hungry for NorCal Regional

The Sutter High football team found a good way to spend its time on Wednesday.

With a rare day off from practice, the Husky players and coaching staff made a special trip to Yuba City's Hands of Hope, an affiliate of the Yuba-Sutter United Way, and a resource for homeless families.

Members of the program hauled in boxes of food, clothes, blankets and other household necessities for the organization. Players and coaches collected items throughout the season and made their donations Wednesday.

"I could tell our players felt proud to do something like that," said Sutter coach Ryan Reynolds. "All of the people there were so appreciative. It was a great lesson for our players.

"We were trying to found out ways to give back to the community and thought it would be great for our players to do some community service."

Sutter hopes Wednesday's trip to Hands of Hope isn't the only highlight of the week.

On Sunday, the Huskies will find out whether or not they will receive a bid to play in the CIF Northern California Regional Championship.

A committee comprised of the CIF section commissioners will meet Sunday to select two squads from Northern California in each division to face off in a play-in game with the winner earning a spot in a CIF State Bowl game.

Based on enrollment, Sutter falls under the umbrella of Division III at the state level and already meets the lone requirement of winning a section title after this past Saturday's double-overtime win over West Valley.

Sutter (13-0) will be thrown into a pool with other section champs for the committee to select from, using guidelines such as win-loss record, strength of schedule, head-to-head competition and common opponents.

In the latest Cal-Hi Sports rankings released Tuesday night, Sutter is ranked No. 3 behind No. 2 El Cerrito (13-0) and No. 1 Marin Catholic (12-1).

The Sutter coaching staff will make the trip to the Bay Area on Saturday night to watch Marin Catholic and El Cerrito face off in the North Coast Section D-III title game at Pinole Valley High. The winner of that game will likely lock up one of the D-III regional game spots.

Reynolds said the toughest part for him is that this next step in the process is completely out of his team's hands.

"It's tormenting," Reynolds said. "It's killing all of us because we want it so bad. It's hard because we feel great about (the section title) but we know we have this next possibility looming."

The selection committee could possibly have three teams to choose from to match against the North Coast Section champ.

Along with Sutter, Escalon and Sacred Heart Prep (Ahterton) could be viable options should those teams win their respective sections.

Escalon (11-2) faces off with former Sutter nemesis Central Catholic (Modesto) on Saturday in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship game, while Sacred Heart (11-1) will take on Menlo (Atherton) in the Central Coast Section D-IV title bout.

Sutter has the edge on both of those schools in overall record, however, Escalon would have three consecutive wins over Placer, Los Banos and Central Catholic, should the Cougars win Saturday. Sacred Heart's lone loss was a 20-13 setback to open-division team Terra Nova of Pacifica.

Sutter has its own set of impressive wins, including a 34-27 win over Northern Section D-I champ Enterprise. Reynolds said it's hard not to think about Sunday's selection, but knows his team hasn't been guaranteed anything.

"We don't even know if we have a game yet," Reynolds said. "It's completely out of our hands."

Still, the Huskies are preparing for anything.

Not only will Sutter be scouting that NCS title game Saturday, but the squad has been going through light practices this week just to stay sharp.

If their number is called on Sunday, the Huskies will be ready.

"It's all up to other people," Reynolds said. "If we get the nod on Sunday, we're back to work."