Gunderson is playing with a heavy heart as the 2024 football season unfolds.

The Grizzlies are playing without assistant coach Chris Ruane, who died from cancer on Sept. 28. Ruane had been an assistant at Gunderson since the 2020 season.

“He’s been a huge supporter of the kids doing stuff the right way, handling your business,” Gunderson coach Jason Harrison said. “It’s been a process when you want to change culture. And he was right there with me, saying, ‘Coach, I believe in you. I got your back. Whatever we want for these kids, I support it. I’ll back you up.’”

Harrison met Ruane while playing semiprofessional football around 2010. The two became fast friends when they won a national championship with the Pacifica Islanders in 2011.

Ruane was Harrison’s right-hand man in many respects, serving as Gunderson’s equipment manager and special teams coordinator. When his health declined in the past few years, Ruane shifted to an off-field role and tried to remain involved however he could.

“Our equipment room is a mess now, but he kept it organized,” Harrison said. “He did it all. The start of this season, he told me, ‘Hey, Coach, you be on the field and coach. I can do other things, take care of social media posts. Give me your Twitter accounts, and I’ll help you guys that way.’ So he was always looking for a way to help.”

Numerous players and coaches attended Ruane’s funeral service last Monday in Mountain View, and one theme emerged as they discussed his impact on their lives.

“All the kids said the same thing. He would text, he would DM them and say, ‘I hope you guys are taking care of business,’” Harrison said. “These are kids that haven’t been coached by Chris for two years now. He was reaching out, making sure they were going to college, making sure they were working on their career.

“He wanted the best for the kids. Even if they weren’t playing anymore, he was still in communication with them, just to make sure that they’re successful moving forward.”

Gunderson’s coaches will honor Ruane for the rest of this season by wearing pins with a picture of Ruane in the uniform of the California Buckeyes, a semipro football team he founded and played for as a long snapper.

“We’re playing for coach Chris,” Harrison said. “Every game, we talk about coach Chris. What would coach Chris do? Long live coach Chris.”

The Grizzlies have been using the hashtag #LLCC on social media to honor Ruane.

— Christian Babcock

Campolindo: After big win, Cougars confident

Campolindo’s 30-7 win over Las Lomas was, by far, its most dominant, most complete showing this entire season. There wasn’t a single area of the game where the Cougars failed to execute, the type of victory that’s given them something they haven’t had all year.

Confidence.

“We haven’t had confidence at all this year,” coach Kevin Macy said. “So now, we finally got a taste of it. … The kids can finally sense what confidence is, because you have to have a performance like that. You can’t make up confidence out of thin air. You need some big performances, and a lot of kids played well.”

Campolindo had no shortage of standouts in its decisive victory over Las Lomas. Running back Micah Parker had an explosive 74-yard touchdown, the highlight of a night where he had 151 rushing yards on 19 carries.

Quarterback Reid Habas had his own explosive play, finding Joe Revelos for a 72-yard touchdown as he passed for 233 total yards.

Junior Sean Parker and senior Blaise Clancy ended up with interceptions, the latter running for a touchdown as well, while junior Zach Tabibian hit all three of his field goals.

“There’s a lot of confidence gained from this game, and I think moving forward, we’ll be way better,” Micah Parker said. “This game is helping us a lot going into our next games.”

— Justice delos Santos

Jefferson: How are Grizzlies doing it?

When opponents visit Daly City to play Jefferson, they can expect a fierce offensive line to emerge from the peninsula fog.

Coach Imani Stewart has guided the team to a 6-2 record, with the Grizzlies sitting at 6-0 in the PAL Lake Division. He credits a line led by Bryant Martin, Henry Hernandez and Kymani Maumasi as the tone-setters for a physical team.

“We’ve really been coming together on the offensive line, because we’ve had a lot of different players in different positions, and we’re trying to get them in the right places,” Stewart said.

A path to the playoffs as a league champion and automatic qualifier is a daunting one, though. Matchups with undefeated teams Saratoga and Gunn will decide whether the Grizzlies are postseason-bound.

“We don’t know what is going to happen, but we’re going to put up a fight,” Stewart said.

— Joseph Dycus

JFK-Richmond: Eagles have ‘all we need’

Kennedy-Richmond shouldn’t be this good. The JV team was 1-9 last season, and with only five returning starters and 27 new varsity players, the Eagles were relying on those JV athletes to make a massive step up.

Coach Greg Marshall said that early on, they tried to get their new players to learn two or three positions simultaneously, which did not work as the team started 0-2.

“Once we started limiting the kids to one position, we quickly realized that we have a ton of young guys that can play,” Marshall said. “Senior lineman Noah Faataui leadership has helped. He stays on the young guys and constantly preaches to them, ‘I don’t want to hear what you’re going to do, this is your time to show me.’ And the younger guys have answered the call.”

Once Marshall simplified things, Kennedy took off. The Eagles are 5-3 and winners of three straight.

— Joseph Dycus

Berean Christian: QB is underrated gem

There are a plethora of talented QBs in the East Bay, and Berean Christian’s Joshua Werner is slowly making his way to the top.

The 6-foot senior has been the Eagles’ best player this season, throwing for over 1,300 yards and 17 TDs through seven games.

“I know I’m overlooked,” Werner said. “I haven’t really gotten out there a lot and this year has really helped us.”

BC coach Giles Chapman credits Werner’s preparation for his success.

“We train to execute, and Josh really handles that,” Chapman said. “He really held it down from a leadership standpoint. I’m really pleased with what I saw from him.”

— Nathan Canilao