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Dragons at Newman for tonight’s NCS Division-3 football opener

After Sonoma Valley High School and the City of Sonoma honored varsity head coach Mick O’Meara and defensive coordinator Mike Mulas’ 29 years directing the football program before last Friday’s final regular-season and home game. The Dragons delivered an emotional 17-14 win over Sonoma County League rival Petaluma.

With the victory, which improved the O’Meara and Mulas era’s overall record to 174-134-6 – which includes eight SCL titles (five outright, three tied), and an North Coast Section second-place banner (1990) – Sonoma earned another berth in the postseason.

Unfortunately, this year’s NCS Division-3 field is loaded with strong teams, playing tough schedules and sporting impressive records, which dropped the Dragon gridders and their 7-3 mark, including an SCL second-place at 5-1, to the bottom of the division seedings.

Which means the O’Meara and Mulas-coached 14th-seeded Dragons will travel to Santa Rosa for tonight’s 7 p.m. NCS Division-3 opening round game against third-seeded perennial NorCal and state power Cardinal Newman.

Rounding out the NCS Division-3 field and first-round matchups, with the highest-seeded team hosting, are top-seed El Cerrito (10-0) and 16th-seed John F. Kennedy (4-6); second-seed Marin Catholic (9-1) and 15th-seed Hercules (7-2); fourth-seed Campolindo (9-1) and 13th-seed Terra Linda (6-4); fifth-seed Analy (10-0) and 12th-seed Tamalpais (6-4); sixth-seed Novato (7-3) and 11th-seed Encinal (6-5); seventh-seed Miramonte (6-4) and 10th-seed Tennyson (9-1); and eighth-seed Acalanes (7-3) and ninth-seed Bishop O’Dowd (6-4).