UPDATED, 1:27 a.m.: It's late, so I'll save most of my thoughts for the Most Important Things post coming Sunday, but here are a few results I'm ruminating on after Week 3:

Clovis-Buchanan 56, Bakersfield 41: Obviously, you can't give up 509 passing yards — and 751 total yards — to anyone and consider yourself a championship team. So BHS has work to do. But coach Paul Golla was somewhat upbeat afterwards, saying the mistakes the Drillers were making on defense were correctable offenses — take fewer risks, be sounder tacklers. If the Drillers get back here, expect them to give the Bears another fight.

Frontier 20, Exeter 14: Just goes to show you you better not take anyone lightly. The Titans trailed 14-3 but came back, so they get the best of both worlds: a win, and a chance to learn something about themselves.

Lindsay 36, Wasco 21: Meanwhile, the Tigers didn't answer the bell on their road test. Lindsay must have gotten better by leaps and bounds since last year. Quentin Cheatham did have 223 more rushing yards. He's a force.

Liberty 14, West 0: The Patriots finally broke through for a couple of second-half TDs, and they held the Vikings to just two first downs all game long. That's the kind of D we know Liberty has, but the offense just has to get better. You think Bakersfield will have just two first downs next week?

Centennial 56, East 13: Speaking of future matchups, do you think Cody Kessler's eyes will light up when he sees what Buchanan's passing attack did to the Drillers? BHS and Centennial meet in two weeks. Kessler had 158 yards on an easy night tonight.

Golden Valley 7, Chavez 6: How about the winless Bulldogs taking down the unbeaten Titans? Chavez was going in for a go-ahead score in the fourth quarter but lost the ball on a fumble and GV sprung the upset. When you play these low-scoring affairs all the time (ahem, Liberty), you can't make mistakes or you'll get burned. Really good win for Golden Valley, which can now set its sights on at least finishing ahead of three or four teams in the SEYL.

For some more thoughts, check back Sunday. Meanwhile, I'll update the scorelist below throughout the weekend.

UPDATED, 11:10 p.m.: Sorry for the lack of updates there. A lot of passing and a lot of scoring means a long game, and I had to worry about the deadline crunch for about an hour there. That's behind me, so here's how we finished: 56-41 Buchanan, which took a three-touchdown lead late in the third quarter, then tried to ease off the gas. Bad idea, because Bakersifeld came back with a touchdown and another drive that could have made it a one-score game with about a minute left. At that point, we'd have been just an onside-kick recovery away from something really interesting. But on a fourth-down play at the Buchanan 20, Brian Burrell was intercepted, effectlvely ending the game.
The story here for the Drillers was the defense. Paul Golla said that he counted five different times his defensive backs tried to jump a route — usually a slant — and ended up giving up a huge gainer. Give lots of credit to Orender, because he hit the small window the Drillers were giving him, but that's too risky for Bakersfield, especially when they were actually playing good stay-at-home D for the first quarter and a half.
Orender finishes with 509 yards passing and six touchdowns. Jake East had 231 yards receiving, and Seth Moranda had 186. Buchanan also had two running backs go over 90 yards. Bakersfield's offense was supreme too, with 548 total yards (248 passing for Burrell, 176 rushing and 107 receiving for Jackson), but you can't give up 751 yards and expect to have a chance. Just can't do it.
The bottom line is that Bakersfield still has the explosiveness to be the best team in Kern County. And if they can limit the mistakes and play a little more solid D, they can come back and beat Buchanan in the playoffs. But this loss proves the Drillers have a long way to go, and it proves that if they do go deep in the D-I bracket, they'll be playing up north again.
In other games, Frontier came back to escape Exeter with a 20-14 win. The Titans trailed 14-3 at the end of three quarters. Scary, but it might prove as a nice wake-up call for Frontier. No, boys, you can't just run over teams every week like you did Antelope Valley and Tehachapi.
Speaking of the Warriors, they pulled away from Burroughs late for a 42-28 win. I don't have a final for Centennial, but the Golden Hawks were up 49-0 late. Big win there, setting up a showdown next week with Stockdale, which handled Clovis 47-22. So the south Valley does get one win up here tonight, though that one won't carry nearly as much seeding weight as the BHS-BHS slugfest.
I'll make the drive back to Bako now, and have one more update in a couple of hours when I can get my hands on some box scores.

UPDATED, 9:49 p.m.: Here's an exchange that could decide this one: Bakersfield sacks Orender, he fumbles, but a Bears back falls on it. Then, on third-and-16, Orender hits Jake East for 86 yards and a TD. He's at 494 yards passing with six touchdowns. Insane. And the Drillers almost had the ball down 7 in the red zone. Instead, it's a two-score game again.

UPDATED, 9:42 p.m.: No dice on that stop. Buchanan scores again, this time Orender to Jake East for a 24 yard TD. Orender is up over 400 yards. It's getting late, so I've got to get on this story even though there's still five minutes to go in the third quarter. 42-28.
Whoops. Make that 42-35. Alfonso Jackson slips through the backfield and catches a ball from Burrell for a 79-yard TD. 42-35. Jackson was wide open. How do you let that happen?

UPDATED, 9:34 p.m.: Same old story for the magical Buchanan offense: 80 yards marched, ending with another slant from Orender to Moranda. That play is almost indefensible, this time going for 29 yards and a score on third-and-14. Now Bakersfield is driving, desperate to answer. And they do — most unusually, on a fullback dive from Dakotah Velasquez, who breaks a few tackles and rumbles for a 26-yard TD. That cuts it to 35-28. Drillers need a stop now.

UPDATED, 9:21 p.m.: I've crunched some numbers and determined that Bakersfield is darn lucky to even be in this thing. The Drillers are losing the turnover battle 2-1, the first directly leading to a Buchanan score, and they've been outgained 433-318. If the Drillers can get a stop to open the second half, they could even this game up very quickly, and that seems unlikely if you just look at the numbers. Here are some specifics:
Buchanan — Lance Orender 18-of-26 passing, 326 yards, 3 TDs, INT; 5 rushes, 43 yards, TD
Buchanan — Seth Moranda 6 catches, 146 yards, 2 TDs
Buchanan — Jake East 5 catches 121 yards; Kyle Novak 3 catches, 25 yardes, TD
Bakersfield — Alfonso Jackson 5 carries, 162 yards, 2 TDs
Bakersfield — Walter Hunt 7 carries, 79 yards
Bakersfield — Brian Burrell 6-12 passing, 56 yards, INT; 3 carries, 7 yards, TD
Yards per play — Bakersfield 11.0; Buchanan 11.4 Wow

Also, the surprising score of the night thus far comes from Exeter, where Frontier, which looked so mighty the first two weeks, is down 6-3 to the Monarchs at the half. I'll try to update that one as we go here. About a minute from the second half here.

UPDATED, 9:05 p.m.: The Drillers go three-and-out there, exactly what they didn't need, and Buchanan has another chance for points, with 1:47 before half. Keep in mind the Bears also get the ball first in the second half. This 28-21 deficit could grow quickly. And like clockwork, there's a pass complete, Orender to Jake East, a missed tackle and a big 54-yard gain. There was an offensive facemask at the end of the play that will cost Buchanan 15 yards of that, but they've got first down in Driller territory.
Now, Mercy Maston finally steps in a passing lane and picks off Orender! That could be the play of the game if Bakersfield goes on to win this one. They've got it first down at their own 49, still 1:29 to play.
But the Drillers can't do much with the opportunity, getting one first down via penalty and then stalling. Buchanan's defense is shining now, keeping those myriad Driller handoff options bottled up at the line.
There's a few seconds left for the Bears, but a short pass-and-run turns into a long gain but nothing more. Stats coming, but how bout 326 yards passing for Lance Orender in a half?

UPDATED, 8:48 p.m.: Bakersfield coach Paul Golla said this week that his defense had to understand that it would surely surrender some yards to Buchanan's passing attack. I'm not sure this is what he had in mind. Orender just hit Seth Moranda for a 41-yard TD strike to make it 28-21, 2:48 before halftime. That's now 253 yards and three TDs passing for Orender and six catches, 146 yards and two of those scores for Moranda. Bakersfield needs some adjustments badly, but the timing is so exquisite, I'm not sure there's much they can do, except keep scoring themselves.
Interception for Brian Burrell on the Drillers' last drive by the way, Bako's second turnover of the night.

UPDATED, 8:40 p.m.: Before I post this update, let me first say that we're still not halfway through the second quarter. 6:02 remains until halftime, and it's now 21-21. Buchanan scores on Orender's 9-yard keeper. That's twice Bakersfield has gone for a fake pitch on an option play, and Orender is plenty athletic enough to keep it and get big yardage. He's up to 43 yards on the ground and 187 yards in the air already. Of course, the Bears have to kick it away now...

UPDATED, 8:29 p.m.: Couple of score updates from Bakersfield: Liberty's offense continues to struggle, as the Patriots are locked in a 0-0 game with West at halftime. And South is up on Arvin 7-6 at the end of a quarter.
Here, Buchanan's offense is starting to roll. A couple of big plays get the Bears out to their own 41, and from there, Lance Orender lets go of the ball just as he's rocked to a wide-open Seth Moranda, who sprints in for a 59-yard TD. Just like that, it's 21-14, and we haven't yet played two minutes of the second quarter.

UPDATED, 8:22 p.m.: Back to a shootout. After a Lance Orender completion for 26, he keeps on an option play and rumbles for 36 yards inside the Bakersfield 20. After the teams switch sides for the second quarter, Bakersfield's Anthony Davis comes up with a big sack. The kid has been in the backfield all season long, and here he gets a coverage sack on Orender on third-and-long to force a field goal attempt that's well short. So Kern's BHS remains on top 14-7.
And now, Alfonso Jackson continues his Ryan Mathews impression! He cuts through left tackle, simply out-races the secondary, then cuts back across the field to the opposite sideline to avoid the last safety. It's an 85-yard touchdown. Jackson has three carries: 156 yards, two touchdowns and one fumble. More famine than feast, so far, and it's 21-7.

UPDATED, 8:12 p.m.: The southern BHS capitalizes, getting a key second-and-long pass from Brian Burrell to Mercy Matson for a first down and then a long run from Walter Hunt to set up Burrell's 1-yard TD dive for a 14-7 lead with 2:06 left in the first quarter. Beautiful response from the Drillers after an awful start. Now we'll see if their defense can keep it up.

UPDATED, 8:08 p.m.: Bakersfield moves the ball out of the goalpost's shadow with one first down but not much else, and the Drillers punt. That gives Buchanan the ball at the midfield stripe, great field position for a super offense. After a penalty, Mercy Matson jumped a route and nearly had a pick-six, but he couldn't come up with the interception. The missed chance doesn't hurt too bad, though, because Bakersfield holds three-and-out and forces another Bears punt. All of a sudden, the defenses are making their stand in a game that was supposed to be a shootout.

UPDATED, 8:01 p.m.: Bakersfield's defense looks actually pretty sharp so far. The Drillers are in the right position on most plays, though they've missed a couple of tackles and let Buchanan's receivers make some catches. A missed slant play there creates a fourth down and gives the Drillers the ball back. But a special-teams victory for Buchanan, as its punt lands at the Drillers 4. After a false start, Bakersfield has it 1st-and-12 from its own 2.

UPDATED, 7:49 p.m.: Worst start possible here for Bakersfield, which took the opening kickoff and then lost the ball on a fumble — the Drillers' 11th turnover already on the year — on their first play. Buchanan took four plays to slice 25 yards for a TD and a 7-0 lead a minute and a half into the game. Whoops. Turnovers will kill the Drillers quickly tonight.
And then, before I can even post that update, Alfonso Jackson makes up for his fumble with a 71-yard end-around down the left sideline that ties us up. This rings of last week's Fresno State-Boise State game that took place a few miles southwest of here. 1:47 in, already 7-7

UPDATED, 7:21 p.m.: I'm settled here at Veterans Memorial Stadium on the campus of Buchanan High, one of the two Clovis schools (Clovis High being the other) that actually has an on-campus field. This is where Liberty played Clovis West two weeks ago and where the state track and field championships were held in June and will be again next June.
Tonight, the stadium hosts what is one of the Central Section's more enticing matchups — not just tonight, but for the whole regular season. It's Buchanan, generally ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the section (I've got the Bears at 2) against Bakersfield, a pretty consensus No. 3. That's a heady matchup, it might determine who's No. 1 in next week's rankings and it could well determine the top seed in the Division I playoffs come November. Yep, it sets up as a doozy. Whether it lives up to that — like BHS' 32-31 squeaker past Stockdale last week did — remains to be seen. The scoreboard clock says we're almost exactly 20 minutes from kickoff.

ORIGINAL POST: It's a road-trip Friday for me and for several of Kern County's premier high school football teams. I'll be heading to Clovis, following Bakersfield for its game at Buchanan. Stockdale plays at Clovis High, Frontier at Exeter and Wasco at Lindsay.

Ever wonder what it's like to take a trip with a football team? Or want to re-live your days of doing it? Check out my story from The Californian this morning, in which three area coaches share their best and worst road-trip stories.

We can only hope everything goes well on the way there tonight. There are also some good in-town matchups, with West visiting Liberty, Independence at Highland, Centennial at East and South at Arvin, to name a few. I'll try to get as many updates as I can from those games and put the fresh scores here. Like always, I'll also be doing live analysis and updates from my game, Bakersfield at Buchanan.

In the meantime, peruse the list of games below (will be updated throughout the night), or check out Week 3 predictions and podcast.

(Central Section ranking in parentheses; games start at 7:30 p.m. unless noted)

Kern County scoreboard
(2) Clovis-Buchanan 56, (3) Bakersfield 41
(7) Stockdale 47, Clovis 22
(9) Centennial 56, East 13
(10) Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial 20, Garces 0 (Saturday)
(11) Liberty 14, West 0
(14) Frontier 20, Exeter 14
Golden Valley 7, Chavez 6
Highland 28, Independence 13
South 59, Arvin 13
Lindsay 36, Wasco 21
Pasadena-Maranatha 28, Bakersfield Christian 2
Ridgeview 31, Madera South 13
Tehachapi 42, Burroughs 34
Shafter 30, Mira Monte 11
Foothill 31, Kennedy 0
Taft 34, Coalinga 21
Delano 49, Hanford West 7
McFarland 20, Mojave 14
Kern Valley 38, Piedmont 37, OT
Frazier Mountain 52, Burbank-Bellarmine-Jefferson 14 (Saturday)
Arcadia-Rio Hondo Prep 28, Boron 20
Acton-Vasquez 27, California City 7
Rosamond 20, Lancaster-Desert Christian 3 (Saturday)
North Hills-L.A. Baptist 21, Desert 12
L.A-Pilgrim at Immanuel Christian (Thursday)
Maricopa 14, Los Olivos-Dunn 12

Other Central Section scores
(1) Fresno-Bullard 52, (12) Clovis East 12
Corona-Centennial 41, (4) Clovis West 23
(5) Tulare Union 63, Visalia-Mt. Whitney 33
Fresno-Central 41, (6) Visalia-El Diamante 27
(8) Fresno-Edison 34, Merced 3
(13) Kingsburg 35, Corcoran 13
(15) Oakhurst-Yosemite 42, Reedley-Immanuel 41
Madera 24, Hanford 17
Fresno-Hoover 31, Tulare Western 0
Sanger 17, Lemoore 14
Reedley 47, Visalia-Golden West 10
Atascadero 35, Visalia-Redwood 21
Porterville 22, Visalia-Central Valley Christian 20
Dinuba 41, Porterville-Granite Hills 0
Porterville-Monache 28, Fresno 0
Fresno-Washington Union 54, Fresno-Sunnyside 18
Kerman 34, Fresno-McLane 7
Fresno-Roosevelt 14, Tranquillity 6
Fowler 27, Madera Ranchos-Liberty 7
Strathmore 71, Avenal 0
Fresno Christian 41, Laton 32
Orosi 13, Mendota 9
Cambria-Coast Union 48, SLO-Mission Prep 14
Modesto Christian 40, Chowchilla 20
Parlier 36, Orange Cove 29
Riverdale at Firebaugh 38, Riverdale 14
Tollhouse-Sierra 37, Farmersville 12
Woodlake 20, Caruthers 6
Shandon 52, Alpaugh 16 (Saturday)
Monterey-Calvary Christian 46, Coalinga-Faith Christian 6 (Saturday)
Clovis Christian 37, Atascadero-North County Christian 12 (Saturday)