So often in sports, the run-up to the championship seems to overshadow the actual title game. Baseball's regular season is a marathon of a spectacle and the playoffs are wall-to-wall action for the first week until the World Series, when things grind almost to a halt. March Madness is really about the first weekend, when 48 games are played in four days. By the time the championship has rolled around, everyone's sick of talking about it. Same thing with college football. Even the Super Bowl has become more about the party around the game than who will win the championshiip itself.

That's not the case with high school football, especially not this year in the Central Section. Don't get me wrong; the regular season and the playoffs had their moments and were good fun. But this weekend's championship games, even with Clovis West's Division I victory against Clovis East already in the books, are going to be the real spectacle.

Let's start in Kern County.

Everyone saw the Division V championship coming. In one corner, the No. 1 seed but the underdog, Corcoran. The Panthers have been defying everyone's doubts all season long — winning with defense (they didn't allow a point in their first four games) and with offense (averaing 46.9 points a game) — and feature one of two unblemished records in the Central Section.
In the other corner, you have Bakersfield Christian, the heavyweight. The Eagles, folks say, have a team that could compete for a Division II or III championship — or even more. If the school had eight fewer students, putting it at 500 enrollment, a win Friday would most likely put BCHS in the small-school state championship bowl game next week. Instead, they're in the same division as powerful Westlake Village-Oaks Christian, the Nick Montana-led (yep, from that Montana family), which handed BCHS its only loss back in Week 0. Derek Carr and Jake Peterson, most assume, will light up Corcoran like they have everyone else. But Corcoran isn't to be taken lightly. We shall see.

Not many saw the Division III championship coming until recently, at least not half of it. Top seed Hanford has been the best in the bracket all year long, losing only to Division II finalist Visalia-El Diamante and only coming remotely close to losing one other time. The Bullpups have a cool nickname, a balanced offense and a dominating defense. But their finals opponent? None other than defending champion Tehachapi, which started 1-3 but has come on very strong behind the running back duo of Adam Mullen and Josh Strauss. Defense prepare for one, the other gets the ball. Preparing for both is something no one has really been able to do yet (Mullen was injured during Tehachapi's first three losses, and the other was a shootout loss to Bakersfield Christian). The Warriors put up 62 points on No. 2 seed Oakhurst-Yosemite last week, and it only figures Hanford will have to go through the defending champs to win the title.

The other two championships decided this week, though neither involves Kern County, are both intriguing too. In Division II, El Diamante and Tulare Union stage a rematch much like last year's: The Miners come in battle-tested, with one loss and a big reputation; the Redskins are undefeated but relatively untested. Last year, El Diamante crushed Tulare by the surprisingly lopsided score of 63-14. I wouldn't expect a repeat this year, though El D remains the favorite on the road. And in Division IV, Kingsburg and Chowchilla — the two most consistent of a number of solid D-IV teams this year. The Vikings feature dual-threat quarterback Tyler Bray, and the balanced Redskins have rushed for nearly 3,000 yards without having an individual over 800. Both have lost one game to vanquished playoff teams, Kingsburg to Exeter and Chowchilla to Visalia-Central Valley Christian.

Check back tomorrow for Central Section rankings heading into the last four games and, probably eariler in the day, for my early basketball thoughts.