A month ago there were a lot of people who would have taken this bet: The Colfax Falcons football team has a better chance of making the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs than the San Francisco Giants do of winning the World Series.

Funny, what a difference three home runs in one game can make.

Of course, by now, we know that the Orange and Black hoisted their second World Series title in three years, but we had to wait until last Friday night to see the Falcons’ grid playoff hopes go up in smoke.

The Falcons’ season-ending 28-20 loss to Lincoln last week was a microcosm of Colfax’s 2012 season: Just enough mistakes combined with a growing list of nagging injuries to add up to a 4-6 year.

Yes, that was no misprint, 4-6. That’s the first losing record in Colfax coach Tony Martello’s storied 17-season career with the Green and White. You have to go all the way back to 1995, John Hays’ last season at the helm of the Falcons, when Colfax had less than a .500 campaign, 4-5-1.

Now before you go and burn your green and white pom-poms, don’t fret. First, you have to remember, this is high school football, nothing else. It’s a sport where each year you go with who shows up. There’s no draft choices, free agents or red-shirts.

Looking back at Colfax’s six losses this season, in only one of the games --  Placer -- did the Falcons enter the fourth quarter not within a touchdown of their opponent. Plus, all six of the setbacks came to teams that qualified for the playoffs.

Saying there was a youth movement for the Falcons this season would have been an understatement. Of Colfax’s 44 player roster this season, 27 were underclassmen. Of those 27 juniors and sophomores, 18 started at one time or another during the season.

That could bode well for Colfax next season when you combine the returnees with a good core of up-and-coming JV players who posted an 8-2 record this season.

But you must remember  that projection for next season is all on paper. It doesn’t account for the hard work that must be put in over the off-season by both players and coaches alike. Martello will be the first to tell you that a lot of – “they’ll be good next year teams” – have been sidetracked and have gone by the wayside.

With declining enrollment – Colfax is projected to be down in the 600-student range within two years – don’t think that the Colfax High administration isn’t taking hard looks at just where the Falcons’ athletic programs – not just football – belong.

With the realignment process for 2014-2018 starting this January, is it perhaps time for the Falcons to week in and week out stop banging their heads against the walls opposite schools with 1,300 and 1,400 students? Only time will tell.

Prep picks

A 7-1 week ups the season record to 67-21. This week the playoffs look like this:

Placer 37, Hilmar 7 – Hilmar is just a shell of its Div. IV title team from 2011.

Escalon 20, Calaveras 10 – Escalon coach Mark Louriero already has his “rubber” ball ready for the quarter-finals.

Los Banos 33, Summerville 12 – Only Los Banos can match Center speed- wise in Div. IV field.

Modesto Christian 44, Capital Christian 30 – Capital Christian is no No. 4 seed.

Ripon 33, Amador 14 – Amador, a No. 14 seed, beat Capital Christian by three touchdowns in September.

Central Catholic 27, Bear River 13 – Raiders’ “Ray-Rey” offense will be too much for Bruins to contain.

Center 33, Dixon 12 – Cougars lying in the weeds with No. 10 seed.

Argonaut 21, Hughson 20 – Mustangs avoid upset here.