Taking a break from doing nothing on a Sunday to look back at Friday night, which was another high school football week to remember. There weren't many upsets or surprises, but there were a couple of good-looking games that didn't disappoint, and the stage really is set for the last two weeks of the season.

— I kept doubting that Taft's 7-6 lead throughout most of the Wildcats' game at Tehachapi was going to hold up: Either Taft was going to have to make a big play to seal the deal, or Tehachapi would. The Wildcats didn't, and the Warriors did, finding a way to hit two big passing plays on the game's decisive drive that showed how valuable the quarterback in a Wing T can be in a 16-7 victory. Lord knows Taft had its chances, twice taking over in Tehachapi territory with a chance to extend the lead and failing to get points out of it. Now the focus for Taft has to be getting confidence back against Bakersfield Christian and Shafter and then focusing on a Division IV section title run; Tehachapi has one more question mark in league, next week at Wasco, but it really should have the No. 1 seed in Division III wrapped up at this point.

— Depending on who you talked to, Ridgeview had a pretty good shot at getting an upset win at Centennial on Friday, hopes that were bolstered when Cody Kessler wasn't cleared to play on his injured ankle for the Golden Hawks. And sure enough, the Wolf Pack had a 17-14 lead at the half. But Tyler Dogins and the Ridgeview running game was stifled in the second half, and Centennial came back to win 31-25, leaving the Wolf Pack 93 yards away from its needed touchdoown on a final drive. Time for a SHZ shout-out to Mark Ritchie, who threw for 160 yards in place of Kessler, just when everybody thought Centennial was going to have wait for Kessler to return to have any success.

— Coaches talk a lot about heart, and it's very important, but sometimes, all the heart in the world isn't going to win you a football game. Delano ran into a fast and strong buzzsaw in Tulare Union on Friday night. The Redskins, showing why they're favorites to repeat as Division II champs, beat the Tigers 49-14.behind Trevor Jones' 259 passing yards and four touchdowns passing. Andy Martin Del Campo had an impressive 156 rushing yards, and I think it best for Delano to chalk this one up to a great effort and a stepping stone on the way to a playoff run in Division III, of which they're well capable.

— There isn't a defensive coordinator in the Central Section who wants to mess with Garces right now. Even without QB Blake Campbell, who broke his collarbone a couple of weeks ago, the Rams are piling on the offense. They rolled up 716 yards in a 56-42 win against West this week, a week after having 562 against East. Against the Blades, that's been done before, but this was a Vikings team that had mostly shut down Centennial and even given Visalia-El Diamante some trouble on defense. Jalen Sykes was a big part of that again, rushing for 268 yards on just 17 carries. How far can Garces go? Well, they'll get Liberty's defense in a couple of weeks, and then will get a chance to show how far they've come in the D-II playoffs, where they'll play teams like Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial, which (gasp) shut out the Rams back in Week 2.

— For two drives, East's passing offense kept up in its showdown with Liberty's passing defense. The Patriots led 14-7, but East had one TD and was driving for another when Liberty batted down a fourth-down pass to the end zone. The rout was on from there, and Liberty won 49-14 to stay unbeaten in the SEYL. This East team is undoubtedly better than last year's, but Liberty is on a mission right now to win an outright league title and perhaps making a long-awaited Division I playoff run.

— It was a Friday for home favorites in other places, too, as Bakersfield (56-7 over Golden Valley), Stockdale (45-0 against North) and Frontier (43-19 past South) all easily won to set up bigger games down the road. For the Mustangs and Titans, that means next week — they meet at Stockdale, likely with the SWYL title on the line and maybe mean a top-2 or 3 seed in their respective playoff divisions.

— In a game between two teams desperate to get a win, Foothill was the opportunistic team, and the Trojans took a 21-7 decision at Highland. This feels like the sort of win that officially marks a new coach's arrival, and it's got to feel nice for Mike Gregg and company to get it against a rival. Denzel Givens had 190 yards rushing for Foothill.

— In the Southern Section, it was Kern Valley in a 41-35 overtime thriller against Bishop in the first big game of the year in the High Desert League. Bishop can stay in it by beating Frazier Mountain next week, and the Falcons can win and set up a league championship against Kern Valley in Week 10. But for now, the Broncs have a leg up on the other two. Coach Ben Goffinett has been telling me for two years how great it would be for KV to win a long-awaited football title; he's very close to it now.

Now a look ahead to a Week 9 full of crucial games:

Frontier at Stockdale: It's not hard to argue that this is the county's game of the year
Bakersfield at East: Blades have enough firepower for the Drillers to have to be wary
Tehachapi at Wasco: Taft's rooting for the Tigers, but can they come up with a championship-caliber upset?
West at South: This is a better game than what meets the eye
Frazier Mountain at Bishop: Falcons would like to stick with Kern Valley atop the HDL