Central Catholic football team ranked among California’s best in season-ending polls

Central Catholic High School has long been recognized as one of the best small-school football programs in California.

This year, you can probably drop the “small school.”

As the final football rankings have trickled out, the Raiders find themselves ranked among the state’s elite, regardless of division.

The Raiders (16-0) finished 2015 ranked No. 1 in Cal-Hi Sports’ Division III poll.

In two other Cal-Hi polls that don’t factor in division, Central Catholic is No. 24 in the overall Top 25 and 10th in Northern California.

In the final rankings put out by MaxPreps.com, which are created using a computer analysis, Central Catholic fared even better, finishing second in the nation among schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or fewer students. In two MaxPreps polls that don’t consider school size, the Raiders were No. 9 in California and No. 69 in the nation.

Those are the highest rankings ever for the Raiders by either service – Cal-Hi was founded in 1975 and MaxPreps in 2002.

In addition to Cal-Hi and MaxPreps, Central Catholic came in at No. 27 in USA Today’s national computer ratings.

“I haven’t even seen the rankings,” said Raiders coach Roger Canepa, who is 96-18 in eight seasons at Central with a 30-4 playoff record. “People are calling me, ‘Have you seen the rankings?’ They know more about it than I do, but it’s pretty cool. Everybody looks at that stuff.”

After winning three consecutive state titles in Division IV – the smallest in the state’s old bowl system – Central Catholic put the cap on a perfect season (only the sixth 16-0 finish in the history of the state) by blasting San Marino 56-21 in the first matchup between 15-0 teams ever in the Golden State.

Under the CIF’s revamped playoff system, the Raiders and Titans played in the Small School Open Division Bowl for teams with enrollments of 1,250 or fewer. While San Marino has an enrollment of nearly 1,200, Central Catholic has a student population of about 375.

The Raiders grabbed the No. 1 ranking in Cal-Hi’s D-III poll, marking the 11th time in school history they’ve finished atop one of Cal-Hi’s divisional polls. The Raiders were tops in the D-V poll in 1972, ’73, ’98, 2002, ’03 and ’04, and No. 1 in D-IV in 1980, ’81, 2006 and 2013.

Under the Sac-Joaquin Section’s continued-success rule, Central Catholic faced a mandatory promotion to Division III after winning a third consecutive D-IV championship. What looked like a potential end to the Raiders’ reign at the start of the season turned into to arguably the greatest season in the school’s history, with wins against three teams (Oakdale, Placer, San Marino) with 9-0 records, or better, along the way.

“What it shows is all the hard work by the players and assistant coaches and the school itself,” said Canepa, whose teams have won their last 23 postseason games and will play in the section’s Division II playoffs next year. “It shows you’re doing a lot of good things.”

Soon, Cal-Hi and MaxPreps will begin releasing their all-state and all-American teams, which may include a handful of Raiders.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Central Catholic football team ranked among California’s best in season-ending polls."