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Real Name: Zach Ewing Address: 1707 Eye St. Bakersfield, CA 93301 Date of Birth: July 29, 1984 Member Since: December 19, 2007 Last Signed In: November 25, 2009 Profile Views: 3030 Blog Views: 136169 Week 12 (playoffs) HS football podcast Week 12 (playoffs) HS football predictions Central Section football rankings, Week 12 (playoffs) Week 11 (playoffs), Most important things Week 11 (playoffs) running thread and scoreboard Week 11 (playoffs) HS football podcast (YAY!!!!! EDITION) Week 11 (playoffs) HS football podcast (FAIL EDITION) Week 11 (playoffs) HS football predictions Central Section football rankings, Week 11 (playoffs) Time to talk volleyball December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 
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Central Section football rankings, Week 8
If you missed it, we've got a lively discussion going on the previous post about what is (in my opinion) a watered-down playoff system we've got going in the Central Section. On to Central Section rankings, something that actually rewards teams for doing well instead of lumping them with everyone else. There are certainly arguments to be made for any of Clovis West, Clovis-Buchanan and Fresno-Edison to be No. 1 in the section this week. They've all gone 1-1 against one another and haven't lost another game in the section (CW has a couple of losses to the Southern Section). I've come up with what I think is a fair solution: Drop Clovis West to No. 3 (the Golden Eagles weren't competitive in either of their Southern Section losses) and put Edison, which beat Buchanan, back at the No. 1 spot it held for the first six weeks of the season. The Tigers are my team again until further notice. Reasonable minds can and will disagree on this, of course, and I might change my mind even if all three teams win or lose next week. They're that close. But for now, here are your Week 8 section rankings: 1. Fresno-Edison (7-1, Div. II, last week: 2) — The Tigers have just two games left until they (presumably) collect the No. 1 seed in the Division II bracket. This week is tough; next week is tougher. 2. Clovis-Buchanan (6-1, Div. I, last week: 3) — This is the best team I've seen this season. One question: If it gets cold and/or windy come playoff time (hey, it could happen), will the Bears' sophisticated passing attack still move the ball? 3. Clovis West (4-3, Div. I, last week: 1) — Again, the Golden Eagles could be No. 1 in this argument (they have after all, beaten Edison). They very well might bounce back to win this week against another top team. But consistency is needed. 4. Fresno-Bullard (5-2, Div. I, last week: 4) — The Knights will try to become the latest top team to hand 4-4 Sanger a tough loss. 5. Bakersfield (5-2, Div. I, last week: 5) — Anyone having a case of deja vu from last year, when the Drillers lost early, got better, bided their time and then swept through the playoffs? 6. Clovis East (5-2, Div. I, last week: 8) — I'm giving the Timberwolves an overdue bump, though to stay here, they'll have to beat their crosstown rivals in the latest Tri-River Conference showdown. 7. Visalia-El Diamante (6-1, Div. II, last week: 7) — Number of winning teams the Miners have played thus far: 1. Number of losses: 1. Concrete things we know about how good this team is: Not many. A Week 9 showdown with No. 9 Hanford? Priceless. 8. Tulare Union (7-0, Div. II, last week: 9) — If the right Delano team shows up in Tulare this week, we could have a showdown worthy of a league championship (Porterville-Monache is in the conversation too). If the inconsistent Tigers don't play well, however, it'll be another Redskin blowout. 9. Hanford (7-0, Div. III, last week: 10) — The regular season for the Bullpups will come down to the final two regular season games against El Diamante and Lemoore. Win, lose or draw, they're likely looking at a No. 1 seed in the D-III playoffs. 10. Exeter (7-0, Div. IV, last week: 11) — The Monarchs pounded Selma 62-28 and move into the top 10. That's 60 points twice in a row, and they can probably call their shot against an 0-7 team this week. 11. Liberty (4-3, Div. I, last week: 13) — I bet the Patriots sure wish they could have the final three minutes back against Bakersfield. Or Clovis West, or West for that matter. Oh well, A 7-3 finish is becoming increasingly likely. 12. Bakersfield Christian (6-1, Div. V, last week: 12) — It's not that I wasn't impressed with BCHS in its victory against a top D-III team last week. It's just that there's a few question marks before the Eagles are crowned SSL champs. 13. Stockdale (5-2, Div. I, last week: 6) — Don't sleep on the Mustangs. They got bit by a jilted underdog that was overdue for a breakout performance. Still, if Stephen Silva and Emmanuel Ossai can't get healthy, Stockdale just isn't the same team. 14. Corcoran (7-0, Div. V, last week: 14) — Ten points? The Panthers gave up 10 points? What in the Sam Hell is going on here? I guess you can't expect a shutout every week. 15. North (6-1, Div. II, last week: NR) — I'm ready to hand over a ranking to a team that leads the Southwest Yosemite League all by its lonesome. Two hurdles remain if the Stars want to stay here: A showdown for the league title and a game against Centennial, which historically owns North. Dropped out: No. 15 Sanger 5 comments from 4 users
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posted by
Patrick319
on Oct 29, 2008 at 10:23 AM
OK, so out of the top three, ranking 1 and 2 have unranked opponents this Friday, while 3,CW, has a ranked opponent. I would say Edison and Buchanan need to beat their opponents convincingly-since those opponents are unranked, considering Clovis West is tight in the race, facing an opponent IN THE TOP TEN. If CW wins, they jump at least one spot, I say. If either Edison or Buchannan do any less than dominate in their competitions, they DROP to #3 or even lower...and even LOWER, obviously, if they lose. Liberty is a dangerous 4-3 team. Liberty's record supports my argument that records are deceiving and you should look at how many of those losses are within their playoff division-we know one of those losses is to BHS. They lost to schizophrenic West, which to me is the only loss keeping them lower than 10. Liberty WILL cause problems in Division II come playoffs. It's nice to see my North Stars in the top 15. However, Beating West should not be the gauge. Yes, West beat Liberty, but West is schizophrenic-they are a different team from one week to the next. Keep in mind that West turned the ball over, I think 4 or 5 times in the red zone in the game against North with a few of those turnovers converted to North points. That game could have easily have been a West blowout. But that should have been a lesson to North that turnovers WILL make the difference between two competitive teams. The North -Shafter game should have been 55-19, not 25-19, but North itself had five turnovers in the red zone in that game. So getting into the red zone is worthless unless you get it into the end zone. Even agains South, it took North almost a WHOLE quarter of being in Rebel territory before they finally punched one in. Being in the red zone does not score you point-being in the END zone does. Anyways.... North and Stockdale will be a good match up. Don't be so quick to hand Stockdale the SWYL title. If Ossai and Silva are not healthy, how can you NOT give NOrth the upper hand? Right now, North is playing TOUGH, disciplined ball. They are MOVING the ball pretty well. Oh, keep this in mind: Stockdale runs a Wing T and North defends the run quite well. They have actually defended the run VERY well. Its their pass defense that is suspect. I expect Stockdale to throw out of that Wing T a few times. Also , I'm certain that North's defensive unit has been practicing against it's own Wing T all week. They'll be ready. Well, the same could be said of Stockdale, so its a wash on that point. I have to give Stockdale the talent edge-if their talent is healthy. But if we're going to talk about Ossai and Silva, lets also talk about Dean-Johnson and Vlach. South keyed in on Dean Johnson all game and he still ended the night with 98 yards. One note on BHS. Zach, you are absolutely right. An example to punctuate your case about them starting off slow then breezing through playoffs: Centennial beat BHS early last year-only to see BHS meet them again in the Valley Semi's and destroy Centennial on Centennial's home turf. The BHS team we see now is not the same team that lost to Stockdale. Golla proves he can make early season adjustments. But when your a program like BHS, loaded with talent, adjustments come easy. Not every school has a kid like Alex Mitchell that can play different positions. BHS's problem is that, by this point, they start to run away with league and they're remaining opponents are DII or lower, I think. So who knows how they'll fare come playoffs. posted by
zewing
on Oct 29, 2008 at 03:06 PM
Good observations. A couple of things — Liberty is Division I, not II (though I still think it'll make playoff noise) and North beat Shafter 26-14. posted by
Lynchmob1966
on Oct 29, 2008 at 11:23 PM
This year's BHS team is good but not even comparable to last year's. The Drillers might win the section title (I'd say right now the odds are against it) but they certainly won't sweep through the playoffs. And I think its a stretch to say that this years BHS team which has lost twice and has been very sloppy in a couple of its wins is giving anyone but the most optimistic Driller fans a case of Dejavu. Last year BHS' margin of victory was 24 points per game (25.7 during the regular season). This year its 13.7. I wish Paul Golla and his team nothing but the best and I think they are quite capable of winning the section championship but there is no way they are as good as they were last year. posted by
jfrancais
on Oct 30, 2008 at 07:19 AM
This year's BHS team is comparable to last year's team,talentwise at the skilled positions. They just lack Sr. leadership of the 07 squad. They also lack discipline which last years team did at the beginning of the season. That should improve as the season progesses. BHS has a chance of winning valley because of the parity. Any team on a roll in D. I can win it. posted by
Lynchmob1966
on Nov 1, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Does anyone STILL think this year's BHS team is as good as last year's team? I only had to see them play one time this year (in a convincing win no less) to be able to tell a big difference.
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