UPDATE, 3:30 p.m. Saturday: A quick halftime update from Highland, where Garces has more or less controlled action and leads 20-7 in its makeup game with unbeaten Highland. The Rams' Jalen Sykes, just a sophomore, has been the star, rushing nine times for 101 yards and a TD, plus opening the scoring with a 65-yard interception return. Highland answered that with Alan Roy's 75-yard TD run to take a 7-6 lead, but Garces has scored twice since for a 13-point lead. Second half ready to go.

UPDATE, 12:10 a.m.: Even without Week 5's premier Kern County matchup (Garces at Highland, which, if you missed it, will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday after a blackout wiped out Friday night), this turned into a pretty exciting night. Full scorelist is below, but here are some key results:

North 13, Ridgeview 8: Julian Dean-Johnson rushed for a 35-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left to allow the Stars to escape. North, suddenly, is 2-0 and tied atop the SWYL with Stockdale.

Stockdale 42, South 19: Speaking of the Mustangs, it's about time they laid one on somebody. Stockdale remains the lone unbeaten team in the Central Section's Division I after three close ones, and finally, another easy job.

Bakersfield 34, Centennial 0: And speaking of needing a blowout, BHS gets its first of the year. Hello, Driller defense. Nice to see you. Meanwhile, Centennial obviously still has some work to do.

Frontier 14, West 12: Don't know what to make of West, which beats Liberty and smokes Ridgeview, then loses these games to East and Frontier. Meanwhile, congratulations to Frontier, on its first SWYL win, and to coach Rich Cornford, who beat his former squad.

UPDATE, 10:27 p.m.: Couple of final scores of note to pass along — Bakersfield blanks Centennial 34-0; Stockdale wins a blowout (for once) South, 42-19; Frontier held on to beat West, 14-12; Liberty stifled Foothill 21-3; Clovis West upsets Edison 17-7; and Corcoran still hasn't given up a point, leading 31-0 against Fowler in the fourth quarter.

UPDATE, 9:45 p.m.: Scratch that pending Ridgeview upset. North scored on a long run in the closing seconds (we'll have details later, but sounds like about a 40-yarder, not sure who the hero was). Great win for North, which is 2-0 in the SWYL with both games on the road; meanwhile, a very demoralizing loss for the Wolf Pack.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: A couple of surprising SWYL scores rolling in ... Ridgeview leads North 8-7 in a sloppy game, and the Stars have the ball driving in Ridgeview territory with 40 seconds left. Meanwhile, Frontier leads West 14-12 with about five minutes to go out at Shafter. Also, up north, No. 1 Edison is down 10-0 to Clovis West as the fourth quarter begins.

UPDATE, 8:51 p.m.: Sounds like Bakersfield High's defense is back to its old habits. The Drillers lead Centennial 21-0 at halftime. Maybe this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering BHS beat Liberty, which shut out Centennial. Then again, maybe it should, considering the Golden Hawks put up 44 last week on Driller-conquering Stockdale.

UPDATE, 8:07 p.m.: OK, I guess I'll be out at Highland tomorrow to see if the Scots can move to 5-0. The game has been postponed because of a blackout in northeast Bakersfield and will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Tonight, I'll be back at the office providing an extra set of hands. I might check in on Centennial-BHS or South-Stockdale before the night's up, too. Either way, I'll keep an updated score list here on the blog, and it might even be better than usual since I don't have stats to keep. Stay tuned.

ORIGINAL POST: I'll be out at Highland tonight to see if the Scots can move to 5-0 with a win against Garces, which is 3-1 itself. Kind of the surprise showdown of the week, with the winner moving to 2-0 in the SEYL, which will be first place because BHS has a non-league game.

But Highland-Garces and BHS-Centennial are far from the only interesting games of the weekend, with Foothill visiting Liberty, South at Stockdale (I was just out at Stockdale for the Lewis Cup tennis tournament, and that school is jacked up for homecoming), North at Ridgeview, West vs. Frontier at Shafter and East at Golden Valley. Big mover-and-shaker games in league races.

Up north, No. 2 Visalia-El Diamante lost for the first time in 16 games to Southern Section standout Paso Robles last night. Tonight, the section's game of the week is No. 1 Fresno-Edison against No. 4 Clovis West. The Tigers have been able to pass every test thus far without too much trouble. We'll see if the Golden Eagles can spring an upset at home.

Speaking of Edison, the big news right now is a Fresno Unified School District investigation into some questions about a football player's grade in math class. In that Fresno Bee story Edison coach Tim McDonald said he will resign if the allegations prove to be true. Could be a distraction for the Tigers this week, and it definitely will be a story to keep an eye on in the next week or two.

Week 5 scoreboard (Central Section ranking in parentheses)

Kern County scores
(5) Stockdale 42, South 19
(8) Bakersfield 34, Centennial 0
Garces 34, (14) Highland 14 (PPD Friday, played Saturday)
Liberty 21, Foothill 3
Frontier 14, West 12
North 13, Ridgeview 8
Golden Valley 35, East 14
Delano 20, Porterville-Monache 13
Taft 44, Porterville 6
Chavez 50, Tulare Western 35
Wasco 28, Fresno-McLane 0
Lindsay 31, McFarland 7
Desert 28, Pasadena-Poly 8
Hesperia 27, Burroughs 24
Boron 35, Acton-Vasquez 0
La Habra-Whittier Christian 34, Kern Valley 7
Yermo-Silver Valley 21, Mojave 0, 2Q (suspended — player injury)
Frazier Mountain 33, Panorama City-St. Genevieve 21
Big Bear 35, Rosamond 10
(11) Bakersfield Christian 49, Sun Valley-Village Christian 15 (Saturday)
Maricopa 24, Shandon 20 (Saturday)
Trona 54, Immanuel Christian 8 (Saturday)
Escondido-Christian Life 35, Lighthouse Christian 32 (Saturday)

Other Central Section scores
Paso Robles 35, (2) Visalia-El Diamante 14 (Thursday)
(4) Clovis West 17, (1) Fresno-Edison 7
(3) Clovis-Buchanan 35, Fresno-SJ Memorial 21
(6) Fresno-Bullard 48, Fresno-Central 7
(9) Tulare Union 55, Porterville-Granite Hills 16
(10) Exeter 35, Tollhouse-Sierra 19
Atascadero 20, (12) Sanger 7
(13) Hanford 45, Hanford West 13
(15) Corcoran 39, Fowler 12
Avenal 46, Lemoore-Kings Christian 12
Caruthers 41, Laton 0
Selma 23, Dinuba 7
Madera Ranchos-Liberty 28, Dos Palos 21
Cambria-Coast Union 45, Farmersville 14
Firebaugh 14, Parlier 6
Reedley 49, Fresno 15
Tranquility 40, Fresno Christian 29
Visalia-Central Valley Christian 48, Reedley-Immanuel 7
Chowchilla 42, Kerman 16
Kingsburg 38, Coalinga 8
Lemoore 16, Visalia-Redwood 12
Madera 35, Madera South 0
Visalia-Golden West 49, Visalia-Mt. Whitney 41
Orange Cove 44, Orosi 13
Riverdale 34, Strathmore 33
Fresno-Roosevelt 21, Mendota 7
Fresno-Hoover 13, Fresno-Sunnyside 12
Fresno-Washington 41, Oakhurst-Yosemite 33
Alpaugh 50, Coalinga-Faith Christian 0 (Saturday)
Riverdale Christian 57, Visalia Christian 6 (Saturday)
Sanger-Bethel Christian 42, Hillsborough-Crystal Springs Uplands 6 (Saturday)