Justin-Siena’s played the final seven weeks with its backs to the wall, but the Braves have really run out of room for error now.

The ninth-seeded Braves staggered  No. 8 Berean Christian, 29-7, in Walnut Creek Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals of the North Coast Section Division IV football playoffs. The celebration couldn’t have lasted for long with top-seeded St. Mary’s of Albany rested and ready for next weekend’s encounter with Justin.

“We still had too many mental glitches,” Justin-Siena head coach Rich Cotruvo said after earning his 100th win at Justin-Siena. “We won’t be able to afford to make any mistakes against St. Mary’s. We’ve really got to tighten things up.”

The Braves have won four of the last nine section Division IV titles, but St. Mary’s is the runaway favorite to win the crown this year.

The Braves have some experience against apparently superior foes. They stepped far up in class in big losses to North Coast Section powers Novato and Marin Catholic — both Marin County Athletic League foes.

“There are no Novatos or Marin Catholics in the playoff field,” Cotruvo said before the Berean Christian game. “St. Mary’s is still a very, very good team. They are a team we’d have to play our best football of the season to beat.”

St. Mary’s (8-2) is ranked 26th in the Maxpreps.com North Coast Section rankings. Justin-Siena is 47th.

So?

Cloverdale was 33rd in the NCS and the No. 5 seed before it lost at home to 67th-ranked, and 12th-seeded Valley Christian of Dublin, 35-25 on Saturday. This is Valley Christian’s first season playing varsity football.

Justin’s win over Berean Christian and the Valley Christian win were the only wins by lower seeds in Division IV first-round play.

No. 4 Middletown crushed No. 13 Harker of San Jose, 62-0, to move on against Valley Christian.

Seventh-seeded Fort Bragg beat 10th-seed McKinleyville, 15-12, in the “Extreme North Coast” bracket in the Div. IV playoffs. Fort Bragg will make the mountainous journey from its isolated spot on the extreme North Coast to play at unbeaten, No. 2 seed Ferndale, over 100 miles north.  St. Patrick/St. Vincent, seeded sixth, crushed No. 11 Clear Lake, 65-22. Salesian, the third seed, rolled No. 14 Willits. The winner of the St. Pat’s-Salesian game gets the winner of the Fort Bragg-Ferndale game.

All second round games are Saturday. Justin is playing St. Mary’s at 1 p.m.

In other football notes:

•  St. Mary’s players on hand to watch the Justin-Siena victory showed a great deal of respect for Justin’s offense, in particular for elusive quarterback Eddie Aguayo. The players quietly came away sounding confident that they could move the ball  against the Braves.

•  Maxpreps.com strength of schedule rankings show Justin-Siena plays, by far, the most difficult schedule.

The Braves “strength” ranking is 7.7. St. Mary’s has a 4.9 “strength” ranking. St. Patrick’s is at 3.1.

Every other D-IV team has a schedule that leaves them in negative figures for strength of schedule. Ferndale is at -10.2.

•  Marin Catholic crushed Terra Linda 56-12 in Division III, while Novato romped by Piedmont 44-10. The Marin County Athletic League powers remain D-III favorites.

It was the first meeting of the year between MCAL foes Marin Catholic and Terra Linda since Terra Linda, for some reason, doesn’t play Marin Catholic or Novato in league action.

Tamalpais rounded out a nice weekend for the MCAL by beating El Cerrito, 31-13.

•  For fans who think the 14-team brackets might diminish the value of earning a playoff berth, consider that Anderson Valley of Boonville snared a spot in the Division V playoffs – then immediately had to forfeit to Hoopa Valley.  Anderson Valley couldn’t field enough players

Prep Girls Basketball

• Napa, Justin open Tuesday

The girls basketball campaign opens this week when perennial power Napa hosts Davis at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Coach Darci Lewis is likely just rounding her Indians club into shape after only getting volleyball players out for workouts about 10 days ago.

Meanwhile, Justin Siena will host Acalanes at 7:30 p.m.

Both are foundation games that don’t count in league standings.

 They are to help raise funds for scholarship programs in the Sac-Joaquin and North Coast sections.

Sac-Joaquin Football

• Familiar teams roll in openers

Vintage was roughed up by Del Oro early in the season, but the Golden Eagles later lost two straight heading into the Sac-Joaquin Section Div. II playoffs. They got right with a 42-13 home win over Christian Brothers. Fairfield rolled to a big win.

• Monticello Empire League champ Vacaville clubbed Davis of Modesto, 49-0, in D-I.  The Bulldogs will play Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove.

• In D-III, Vanden beat Yuba City 48-14 and Benicia beat Patterson 26-20. Inderkum of Sacramento knocked out Rodriguez of Fairfield 47-7.

• Injury-riddled Napa’s 50-point loss to Nevada Union was the biggest losing deficit suffered by a D-I team.