While the wrestling gets to set to rage at Rabobank, March also is almost here, and that means it's time for basketball too. Six local teams are headed up to Fresno this weekend for Central Section championship games after girls teams from Stockdale, Centennial and Garces all won semifinal games last weekend.

Here's what the Kern County portion of the schedule looks like:

Friday
4 p.m.— Bakersfield Christian boys vs. Reedley-Immanuel (D-V)
6 p.m. — Centennial girls vs. Fresno-Edison (D-II)
8 p.m. — Centennial boys vs. Fresno-Edison (D-II)

Saturday
10 a.m. — Garces girls vs. Exeter (D-IV)
Noon — Garces boys vs. Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial (D-IV)
6 p.m. — Stockdale girls vs. Clovis West (D-I)

All of these games are at Selland Arena in Fresno.

I think the showdown between Stockdale and Clovis West probably is the highlight here (Clovis West won the game by seven last year and returns every key player from that team, but Stockdale has most of its talent returning too), but it'll be interesting to see if the Garces girls, Centennial boys and Bakersfield Christian boys can cap off magical runs with section championships too. And the Garces boys lost their first matchup with SJ Memorial, so we'll see if they can rebound.

Here's a quick update on some boys basketball semifinal scores from Tuesday:

Div. I
No. 1 Clovis West 58, No. 4 Fresno-Central 45
No. 2 Clovis East 87, No. 6 Clovis-Buchanan 70

Div. II
No. 1 Fresno-Edison 67, No. 4 Porterville 54
No. 2 Centennial 60, No. 3 East 52

Div. III
No. 1 Hanford 72, No. 5 Visalia-Redwood 39
No. 7 Kerman 58, No. 3 Fresno-Washington Union 49

Div. IV
No. 2 Garces 80, No. 3 Parlier 50
No. 1 Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial 71, No. 5 Corcoran 64

Div. V
No. 1 Bakersfield Christian 84, No. 4 Visalia-Central Valley Christian 58
No. 2 Immanuel 52, No. 3 Mission Prep 46

No big upsets, other than the one in D-III. Centennial won a competitive game at East tonight, and Kern County has three teams in the finals, which take place Friday (for boys and girls D-II and D-V) and Saturday (D-I, D-III and D-IV) at Selland Arena in Fresno.

Tomorrow's Kern County teams in action are, in Div. I, Bakersfield at Clovis West and Stockdale home against Fresno-Bullard, in Div. II, Centennial at home against Visalia-El Diamante, in Div. III, Tehachapi at Oakhurst-Yosemite, in Div. IV, Garces at home against Sierra, and in Div. V, Bakersfield Christian at Fresno Christian.

I'll have more on the finals schedule after the girls games. In the meantime, I hope everybody is ready for some wrestling. We'll keep basketball on this blog, but those interested in this weekend's state wrestling tournament at Rabobank Arena (one of the biggest and most prestigious wrestling tournaments in the country), head over to our new wrestling blog, Pinheads. It should be up sometime Tuesday night.

One last thing: We're about to hit 2,000 views at School House Zach. It's an emotional moment for me, so to the person who makes view No. 2000, you'll get ... OK, well I don't have anything for you. Pat yourself on the back.

I realize there hasn't been a new post here for some four or five days (I don't even remember anymore). It's certainly not my intention to ignore this blog, though, so let me provide an excuse-laden story that, in its humor and stupidity, might make up for the neglected days.

I went up to Fresno this weekend. Clovis, actually, though I stayed in Fresno. More on that later. Now, I could just provide use the old "out-of-town" excuse for not having posted my blog, but in the age of laptops and wireless internet, that's really not going to fly. And I was working, technically.

So I get to Clovis-Buchanan High School on Friday to cover Stockdale's girls soccer team in its Central Section Div. I championship against Buchanan. Lo and behold, it's pouring rain. Maybe not pouring, not by Midwest standards or anything, but it was pretty steady. And there were definitely patches of hail. And mud. Oh my goodness, the mud.

But hey, I said, I'm getting paid to watch quality soccer. I can deal with a little rain. And though I considered Stockdale a bit of an underdog to the two-time defending Valley champs, the Mustangs scored first, in the second minute — for those who don't watch a lot of soccer, that's incredibly quick. And so the game was very interesting. Buchanan finally cashed in on a bevy of assaults on the Stockdale goal late in the first half, tying the game at 1. And the Bears dominated the second half, adding two more goals and nearly several more.

Stockdale coach Janien McGowan tried to tell us after the game that the game was evenly played, that each team had an equal number of chances, and that Buchanan simply finished better. As much as I like coach McGowan, I've got to disagree on this one. Stockdale's chances came against the flow of the game, and only a couple of times did I really think the Mustangs had a chance to score. Buchanan, on the other hand, might have scored five or six times on a dry field.

That said, Stockdale performed admirably and had a chance to win a road game and a championship (Heck, it had a 1-0 lead in a downpour and in the mud). But instead, it's three straight titles for Buchanan and a fourth second place for McGowan and Stockdale in its 16 years.

OK. Now to the excuses part. I drove to my hotel, which was in Fresno, dried off a little, warmed up a little and opened up the ol' laptop. Wrote a story on Stockdale and another on the amazing streetballers who were at East High on Saturday night, and e-mailed them both to the Californian. No problems there.

I still wanted to blog and do a little research on some wrestlers before Saturday's Grand Masters tournament at Clovis East, but I felt like, through the rain and mud and driving, I deserved a little break. Plus I was starving.

So I went to get something to eat, come back and screw around on the internet for a little while. You know, watching videos on YouTube, reading about my favorite teams, checking e-mail, etc.

Here's the catch: I snatch a glance up at the battery meter on my laptop, and it's at 29 percent. OK, maybe time to plug it in. Now about that power cord. Where is my laptop bag? Not in there? OK, I'll run out in the rain to my car. Not there either?

Oh yeah. It's still sitting on my kitchen table at home. Oops.

Quickly, the problem went from not being able to blog to not having any way to write or send my wrestling story the next day. Big-time oops.

To make an already long story a bit shorter: I tried to write the story from Clovis East the following night, but ran out of battery about three-quarters of the way through. I called down to the Californian and had a pow-wow with assistant sports editor Ross Priest. We decided there wasn't enough time for me to drive back to Bakersfield and write the story, so Ross called the Fresno Bee. The folks there were kind enough to let me in and type a story from their newsroom.

Disaster was averted, and the end result is that we just owe the Bee a favor. I do, anyway, seeing as how the whole thing was my own forgetful fault. And so now I come before you, hoping you can laugh with me and at me — and maybe, someday, forgive me for not posting a blog in the past week. Done and done? That easy, huh? Oh, you don't read the blog religiously anyway? OK, well, um, let's move on.

Lastly, a couple of congratulations are in order. First to Highland's girls soccer team, which was the only of five Kern County soccer teams (boys or girls) to win its section championship. The Scots took out Madera South 2-0 in the Div. III final Friday night to win their second section title in four years.

Also congrats to 27 KC wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament at yesterday's Masters. That's especially for Bakersfield High's Travis Rasmussen, who rebounded from an upset loss in the finals of last week's Yosemite Divisional to win a Masters title. He'll go into Rabobank Arena next weekend as one of the 145-pound favorites.

Before the state tourney, though, we've got a few things to watch for. East plays at Centennial in a huge Div. II boys basketball semifinal Tuesday night, and Garces and Bakersfield Christian also play at home. Girls semifinals are Wednesday night: Stockdale hosts Fresno-Bullard and BHS travels to Clovis West in Div. I, and Centennial, Tehachapi, Garces and Bakersfield Christian are also in action that night.

The section basketball championships are Friday and Saturday in Fresno. I'll be at the wrestling tournament, so I won't be the one making the trip. After last weekend, maybe that's a good thing.

I guess I'm carrying some kind of jinx (or is it a blessing?) with me to the pitch this week. Last week, I saw East extend itself  before beating Hanford minutes shy of double overtime in the Division II boys soccer playoffs.

Then, Tuesday night, West scored in the final minute of regulation to send a thriller with San Joaquin Memorial to OT. The Vikings gave up another goal and then nearly tied it with a final flurry in front of net.

Finally, last night, Stockdale charges back from a 1-0 deficit against Bakersfield High and into the Division I girls championship at Clovis-Buchanan on Friday. The Mustangs dramatically scored twice in the game's final nine minutes.

So what gives? Well, for one, there's just some great soccer being played at this time of year. But here's a piece of advice for those headed out to Golden Valley this afternoon for the Div. III boys final: Deep breaths, and don't get too worked up (though the Bulldogs avoided the jinx with a 5-0 victory in their semifinal.)

What about basketball? The girls were at it in the first round last night, with Bakersfield High, Ridgeview and North all coming up with big wins in Div. I. Stockdale will join them in the quarterfinals after its bye, meaning half of the remaining teams are from Bakersfield. That's better than on the boys side, where it's just Golden Valley (at Fresno-Central) and BHS (home against Buchanan) in tonight's quarters.

Liberty (Div. II) and McFarland (Div. IV) were also among last night's girls winners, and several Kern County teams had byes.

On the boys side, East (vs. Fresno-Hoover) and Centennial (vs. Porterville-Monache) both play at home in Div. II, Tehachapi has a tall order at top-seeded Hanford in Div. III, and Garces (vs. Chowchilla in D-IV) and Bakersfield Christian (vs. Kings Christian in D-V) open up tonight.

I'm thinking...

... that Stockdale vs. Bakersfield High in the girls soccer semifinals Wednesday night will be one of Kern County's games of the year. In any sport.

... that Stockdale's boys basketball team is wishing it had a chance at top-seeded Clovis West in the Central Section Div. I playoffs. The Mustangs lost a double-overtime decision to Fresno-Sunnyside tonight on a late 3-pointer.

... that the Mustangs wouldn't have challenged Clovis West anyway. Stockdale faded a bit down the stretch. But it's a young team, and if it comes back as improved as it did last year, it'll be one of the best teams in the Valley next season.

... that West vs. San Joaquin Memorial was one of the most entertaining soccer games I might ever see. West tied up Memorial in the final minute of regulation, gave up another goal midway through overtime and then couldn't score during a wild flurry of chances in the final minute of OT. Too bad for the Vikings, who had a terrific turnaround and won a league championship but came up just short of the section final.

... that BHS has a terrible draw in the Div. I boys basketball tournament. No, the Drillers didn't have trouble with No. 14 seed Fresno High in the first round, but facing No. 6 Clovis-Buchanan in the quarterfinals won't be any fun. Buchanan could have easily been a No. 3 or 4 seed. And then if BHS can win that, they'll likely travel to Clovis East for the semis. One thing's for sure; if Bakersfield even makes it that far, they'll have earned it.

... that Garces in Division IV is a joke. I love the way the Rams play; it's classy and it's fun and they've got tons of talent. But how good are they really? We'll never know, because they'll play Chowchilla in Thursday's section quarterfinals after their first-round bye, then maybe Parlier in the semis. They faced much tougher competition than that in the Southeast Yosemite League twice a week. Fortunately, San Joaquin Memorial is D-IV also. Pretty fair chance those two teams will meet in the finals.

What are you thinking?

I could probably use the same story line for all three winter sports this week, basketball, soccer and wrestling: Coaches (and the wiser players) have been saying all season that what happens in the regular season doesn't matter — it's just about getting a good seed in the Valley, or in the Masters tournament for wrestling. Now, my editors probably wouldn't like seeing three of the same story in the paper with only different athletes penciled, so I won't go this route. But I could.

First up on our three-sport feast is soccer.
Tonight is boys semifinal night, which means teams like West (top seed in Central Section Div. II), East (No. 3 seed in Div. II) and Golden Valley (No. 1 seed in Div. III) will be looking to fulfill their season-long goals of reaching the section championship. No. 2 Wasco in Div. IV also has a home game. There are also a couple of teams, No. 11 Bakersfield High in Div. I being the prime example, who could complete magical runs to a Valley title with a couple of wins this week. Who would have thought the Drillers, who travel to No. 2 Clovis West tonight, would have been the last Kern County team alive in Div. I? Also, No. 5 McFarland goes for the upset at top seed Avenal in Div. V tonight.
Tonight's winners move on to Thursday's championships, where we could have an East at West matchup in Div. II and Golden Valley (like East) looking to become a repeat champ. Don't want to get ahead of myself, though. The Bulldogs might have the toughest match of anyone this afternoon against Fresno-Washington Union, which has won seven straight. GV plays well at home, though, so I'll give them the advantage.
We'll talk girls soccer semis (can anyone say BHS-Stockdale?) tonight or early tomorrow.

Also starting tonight are the boys basketball playoffs. The first round likely will be one of blowouts — I can't see Fresno High, for example, challenging Bakersfield High tonight, or South testing Porterville. But there are a few gems to be found. Ridgeview, a co-SWYL champion, probably is a little miffed at getting only a No. 7 seed in Div. I. The Wolf Pack have to shake that off to beat No. 10 Clovis at home tonight. That would likely set up a marquee quarterfinal between Ridgeview and No. 2 Clovis East. Other good matchups are No. 9 Stockdale at No. 8 Fresno-Sunnyside (Div. I), and No. 10-Porterville-Monache at No. 7 Liberty (Div. II).
Again, we'll talk girls hoops first round, which is Wednesday, later on.

I'll also put wrestling talk on hold, though Masters seeding in the Central Section always makes for an interesting discussion among grapplers. Talk to you soon.

Yeah, it's Saturday night (actually early Sunday morning). And yeah, I'm sitting at home. Actually, don't really feel like doing much else, considering the week it's been and the week we have in prep sports ahead. Time for a little r & r, methinks.

Here's the big news of the night: (drumroll please) top-ranked BHS wrestler Travis Rasmussen, a 145-pounder, was pinned tonight in the Central Section Yosemite Division final. There, I said it. He probably shouldn't have gotten pinned and he did.

But here's the refreshing thing. Rasmussen knows he shouldn't have and didn't let it bother him for very long (by the time I talked to him, about an hour after his match ended, it was like nothing had even happened). You have to understand, a lot of wrestlers don't take it very well when they lose. Especially when they shouldn't have and when they're not used to it.

Rasmussen got the raw end of a couple of 50-50 calls early in the match and nearly recovered to pin Clovis-Buchanan's Andrew Balch. But the Driller slipped, fell on his back and ended up pinned himself. That's normally the thing that could eat at guy for days.

Not Rasmussen. And it says here that Rasmussen's attitude will help him immensely. He'll probably get another shot at Balch next week at the Masters tourney at Clovis East (he has beaten Balch before this season) and maybe again at the state tournament in two weeks at Rabobank Arena. And I hate to jinx anybody, but I truly think he'll get that state title.

It wasn't a very good night for the rest of Kern County, either. Seven wrestlers in The Californian's coverage area made the finals (three from BHS, three from East and David Travis of Foothill), and all seven lost. But (and this is going to sound funny), Valley championships aren't that important. Not in wrestling. It's all about state. And all of those guys (plus 17 other KC wrestlers) moved on to Masters, plus, I'm sure, quite a few from the Sierra/Sequoia Divisional in Farmersville. The dream lives on for all of them, including Rasmussen.

Lots to talk about, boys and girls. We're still getting some calls and finding out some scores, but here's some of the highlights so far:

— It's a two (or is it three) way tie: Garces pulled away from Golden Valley in the fourth quarter tonight, meaning the Rams (9-3) will share the Southeast Yosemite League title with Bakersfield High, which finished its regular season with a loss to the Bulldogs on Wednesday. East High could also finish 9-3; the Blades played at Liberty on Friday night. Rumor has it that East won, but since neither coach called, guess what? Nobody knows for sure.

— Showdown set up: I'm not in the habit of rooting for any particular team do well, but I will say I was going to be disappointed if BHS and Stockdale didn't meet in the girls soccer playoffs. The Drillers and Mustangs both won by 4-0 scores Friday to set up a semifinal meeting Wednesday at Stockdale. Should be fun; these were clearly the two best teams in Kern County all year, with both going unbeaten in their respective leagues. They haven't played yet though.
In other girls soccer action, top-seeded Highland made the semis in D-III, as did No. 6 Garces with an upset of No. 3 Frontier. Taft is in the semis in D-IV, as is Bakersfield Christian in D-V.

— Speaking of showdowns: If you want to get going early on a Saturday, it might be worth a trip out to East High, where some of the state's best wrestlers are trying to make their way into the state tournament at the end of the month in this weekend's Central Section Yosemite Division championships. The action starts at 9 a.m. with consolation wrestlers, including Frontier's freshman girl Alex Gomez, wrestling to keep their state hopes alive. That will be followed by a great session around 10 a.m. that'll have semifinals — in most weight classes, that means state-ranked titans colliding — and another consolation round, one where the winner reaches the Masters Tournament and the loser will have to wrestle just to be an alternate.
After another consolation round and the third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches, we'll finally get to the finals. Should be around 6 p.m. It'll be a long day but a fun one.

The first day of the Central Section girls soccer playoffs was filled with blowouts today, with Stockdale (Div. I) and Frontier (Div. III) both winning by 8-0 scores over Madera and South, respectively. Bakersfield High also cruised past Fresno-Central 3-0 in a Division I game, and Tehachapi beat Fresno-McLane 2-0 in Div. III.

There were some close calls for top Kern County teams, though. Fourth-seeded Liberty squeaked by No. 13 Clovis East 2-1 in Div. I, Ridgeview needed double overtime to beat Hanford West 2-1 in Div. II, and Centennial lost a shootout at home against Clovis West. That was the upset of the day, though I'd expect either team would have a tough time Friday night at Stockdale.

Here's what to look forward to for the rest of the week:

Thursday, the boys soccer quarterfinals are played, with Liberty hosting BHS in Div. I, top-seeded West hosting Hanford West and East playing host to Tulare Western in Div. II, and Madera South in town for an afternoon tilt with No. 1 Golden Valley. Also at home Thursday is Arvin (vs. Porterville in Div. III) and Wasco (vs. Shafter in Div. IV). Taft (at Parlier in Div. IV) and McFarland (at Tranquility in Div. V) are on the road. Things getting serious there.

Friday, Golden Valley plays at Garces in what has become a huge Southeast Yosemite League boys basketball game. GVHS beat BHS tonight to prevent the Drillers from clinching the league outright. That means BHS, the winner of the Golden Valley-Garces game, and East, if it beats Liberty on Friday, will split the title. Whew. Seems like nobody wants to win it, doesn't it?

And finally, the Yosemite Division and Sierra/Sequoia Division wrestling tournaments are this weekend at East and Farmersville. I haven't seen a bracket for the S/S tourney, but in the Yosemite brackets, several Kern County wrestlers have top-four seeds. No. 1 seeds include Marc Collier of East at 103 pounds, Peter Gonzalez of East at 112, Travis Rasmussen of BHS at 145 and Brad Carls of BHS at 171.

Well, there was no Preps Planner last weekend, a product of my business and forgetfulness. But if there had been, tonight's barn-burner between Ridgeview and Centennial definitely would have been on there. And with good reason.

What a well-played game by both teams, and one that had more twists and turns than a cornstalk maze (do you guys know what those are out here? maybe a bad reference). Point is, Centennial came up with the plays it needed to win late. The Golden Hawks lost the lead on a 13-0 Ridgeview run in the second quarter and didn't get it back until there were just more than two minutes left. Ridgeview led 52-51 when freshman Cody Kessler grabbed a long offensive rebound and scored with 22 seconds left to send Centennial to a share of the SWYL title.

Ridgeview can still win the other share of that title (Centennial is 10-2; Ridgeview 9-2 in the league) if it finishes with a victory at West on Thursday. But the Wolf Pack has got to be feeling a little depressed about the chances it blew tonight. First, point guard Travon Wesson — a steadying influence on this team that has lost a couple of key players to ineligibilty or suspension — fouled out with six minutes still left in the third quarter! How does that happen? Well, RHS coach Bobby Sharp trusted him to play with three fouls out of halftime, and when Wesson picked up the fourth, Sharp tried to get a sub in. Play continued, though, and Wesson made the mistake of aggressively challenging a shot. Bam. Five fouls. He gone.

I actually thought the Wolf Pack might roll over right there. To the players' credit, they didn't, even without Wesson and with Art Charles, who scored 12 in the first half, scoreless in the second. But too many turnovers late. Ridgeview had one fewer turnover than Centennial through three quarters. In the fourth they had seven to the Golden Hawks' one. Ouch.

By the way, the Stockdale girls routed South 82-25 to clinch the SWYL girls title outright. Absolutely no surprise there, but congratulations to the Mustangs nonetheless. I think anybody at Stockdale would tell you though, there are bigger fish to fry.

Also tonight, the boys soccer section playoffs started. Liberty, a No. 3 seed, had a little bit of trouble with No. 14 Sanger, but won 1-0 to advance to the Div. I quarterfinals. There, the Patriots will play Bakersfield High, a surprise winner against Stockdale in a shootout tonight. The only other local winner I know of was Arvin, which drilled Fresno-McLane 4-0 in Div. III. Garces, North, South and Highland all met with first-round exits. Several other teams had byes, and I don't know some of the scores. Will let you know when I get them.

Tomorrow is Ladies Day at SHZ and Ladies Day for the soccer tourneys. I'll be at Frontier to see if the young Titans can make a Div. III playoff run.

UPDATE: For some reason, the links I'm throwing into the text aren't working. Until I can get someone to figure that out for me, here are the links I'm trying to lead you to below:
No. 1 — rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp
No. 2 — www.bakersfield.com/225/story/358632.html
No. 3 — cifcs.org/PlayoffBrackets/winter_playoff_brackets .htm
Thanks for being patient while I get that figured out.

ORIGINAL POST
OK, so I had a pretty bad headache after work tonight and didn't feel like doing much but lying down for a while. I'm better now, which means we have a late-night post (truth be told, I'm just about nocturnal anyway).

The first bit of news involves Derek Carr, little bro of former Stockdale High, Fresno State standout and No. 1 NFL draft pick David Carr. Bakersfield Christian athletic director and football coach Doug Barnett confirmed to me tonight that Derek Carr and family had applied to BCHS and were on their way in March (on his Texas school's Easter break) to Bakersfield for an interview that BCHS does with all incoming students. Assuming he's accepted, that could vastly change the landscape of the Eagles' team next year and the entire landscape of the Central Section. Barnett, who was pretty guarded seeing as the kid hasn't been accepted yet, even said the prospects were "exciting."

Why? Well, for one, he_apparently_can_throw_the_ball_a_little_bit, and this could allow last year's Bakersfield Christian QB, Jake Peterson, to move to his natural position of receiver. Remember, BCHS already was a Central Section champion last year and could be even better.

We've also got some wrestling results to talk about. Bakersfield High (not surprisingly) won its 19th consecutive league title, a streak that dates back to before the South Yosemite League split up. That means there has never been a Southeast Yosemite League champion besides BHS. Ever.

Also, Frontier (very surprisingly) won the Southwest Yosemite League crown. Alex Gomez, who_was_featured_Saturday_in_the_Californian, became the first Kern County female wrestler to win a league title, taking first at 103 pounds. Frontier was undefeated in league duals, but smart money had Centennial, which had several wrestlers missing or at different weight classes when it lost to the Titans, taking the title. That went up in smoke when Dalton Endes, the Golden Hawks' 160-pounder and the No. 6 wrestler at that class in the state, failed to make weight. Ouch. As a former wrestler, I can see plenty of ways how that could have happened, but at the start of the postseason? Hard to believe.

Still, Frontier won by 35.5 points, and if you crunch the numbers, Endes might not have made up that difference anyway. It would have been close.

Oh, and Tehachapi won the South Sequoia League wrestling title Thursday in a landslide. Out of 14 weight classes, the Warriors had nine champions, three runners-up and two third-placers. Pretty dominant.

Finally, Central_Section_soccer_seedings have been released. West earned a No. 1 seed in boys Div. II, Golden Valley in boys Div. III and Highland in girls Div. III. The highest seeds Kern County in Div. I were Liberty's No. 3 for boys and Stockdale (No. 2) and Bakersfield High (No. 3) in girls.

That sets up what could be a really special matchup (if you'll allow me to channel Dick Vitale for a minute) between the Mustangs and Drillers in the section semifinals. If they both get there, it would be Feb. 19, a week from Tuesday, at Stockdale.

Tonight turned into SHZ's Guys Night quite literally for me. I walked into Tehachapi's gym at about 6:45, expecting to see a battle between twin towers Jana Smith of Tehachapi and Carey Tuuamalemalo of Taft.

Instead, I saw boys players. Turns out we had the schedule flip-flopped here at the paper. Without nearly enough time to get to Taft and find the high school there (remember, I'm still pretty new here), I just watched the boys game instead.

Turned out to be a pretty entertaining affair, with Taft coming back from a first-half double-digit deficit. I thought the Wildcats might actually pull it off, but Tehachapi made its own comeback and hit free throws in the final minute to grab a 55-51 victory.

Definitely got introduced to the Taft-Tehachapi rivalry, though. Fans were going at each other throughout the game and the Techachapi fans got into a bit of a shouting match with the Taft players afterwards. Don't worry, it didn't escalate past that. I also wanted to point out, since I've done the same with bad officiiating in the past several weeks, that the referees at this game were excellent, in this scribe's humble opinion.

The original Guys Night post tonight was going to be about postseason wrestling. Tomorrow is a busy day for grapplers, with the Southeast Yosemite League tournament at East High and the Southwest Yosemite League tourney at Centennial. Check today's sports section for some matches to watch at both tourneys and for a feature on Frontier High coach Kirk Moore and female 103-pounder Alex Gomez.

The South Sequoia League tournament, by the way, was Thursday night. And nobody called in the results! So if anybody can point me to them on the Web, I'd be much obliged. Otherwise, I'll track them down when I have some time tomorrow and get them in the paper.

So, somehow the standings didn't reproduce like I wanted them to last night. Hopefully you all were still able to read them.

Just a quick note tonight to let you know what to look for this coming weekend, which brings winter sports into the postseason full-on with soccer and wrestling:

Saturday is the SEYL and SWYL wrestling tournaments, both with reasons to watch. BHS is the outstanding team and both the Drillers and the East Blades have some terrific individuals on the SEYL side, which will take place at East.

In the SWYL, the battle to watch is that between Centennial and Frontier, which have split two duals this season. Look in Saturday's Californian for a story on how former Foothill state champ Kirk Moore has been able to build the Titans' program so fast.

Also Saturday, seeding will be released for boys and girls soccer Central Section playoffs. Teams that should receive high (maybe top three?) seeding in the Valley include:
Boys — Liberty in Division I, West in Division II, Golden Valley and East in Div. III
Girls — Stockdale and Bakersfield in Division I, Bakersfield Christian in Div. V

I could be forgetting a few; that list is just off the top of my head. Let me know if there are any other high seedings to look out for.

I hate to steal the thunder of my own blog post, but here's some breaking news: East High's boys basketball team just upset Garces 54-53, throwing the Southeast Yosemite League standings into further jumble. East was down by 12 points entering the fourth quarter and trailed by as many as 13 in the final eight minutes.

The biggest beneficiary of this is Bakersfield High, which beat Liberty 67-56 tonight and finds itself alone in first place at 8-2 in the SEYL.

The second-biggest benefactor is Golden Valley, which lost three league games early but has since been on a roll and is back in the race at 7-3. If the Bulldogs can sweep BHS and Garces on the road in the final week (certainly no guarantees there), they could end up as an unlikely champ.

Here's what the standings look like after tonight's games with remaining schedule below:

Team       &nb sp;       &nbs p; SEYL        Overall
Bakersfield      &n bsp; 8-2       &nbs p;     13-11
Golden Valley   7-3       &nbs p;     17-5
East       &nb sp;       &nbs p;     7-3       &nbs p;     15-12
Garces       & nbsp;        6-3       &nbs p;     16-8
Highland        ;     4-6       &nbs p;      13-11
Liberty                & nbsp; 2-7       &nbs p;     10-13
Foothill        ;        0-9       &nbs p;      7-15

Remaining schedule
Thursday
Foothill at East
Friday
Garces at Liberty
Bakersfield at Highland
North at Golden Valley (non-league)
Feb. 13
Golden Valley at Bakersfield
Highland at Garces
Liberty at Foothill
Feb. 15
East at Liberty
Golden Valley at Garces
Foothill at Highland

Pretty deep league or a pretty mediocre one. Depends on how you look at it.

Happy Signing Day and Happy Ladies Day here at SHZ!

Seriously, though, it's been far too long since my last post. But then, I've been swamped with signing day festivities. Here's what we have so far as far as local football players headed to Division I schools:

Name, High School, Position, College
Matt Akers, Liberty, LB, Fresno State
Zander Fabbri, Centennial, LB, Arizona
Anthony Johnson, Highland, WR, Fresno State
Emmanuel Ojeriakhi, Bakersfield, WR, Utah State

There might be a couple of others to report in the coming weeks or months, but I don't want to give anything away that won't come true. Anyway, congratulations to the guys listed above. Here's hoping they all have productive careers.

As for Ladies Day, we'll keep with the theme and talk about three Stockdale athletes that are headed to Cal State Bakersfield. There's track and field stars Ashlee Nolasco and Amanda Cady and soccer standout Kassi Massey. All will sign at Stockdale at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Also keep an eye on a girls soccer game tonight at Liberty. It just started between BHS and Liberty. The Drillers are unbeaten in the Southeast Yosemite League, and the Patriots have just a 1-0 loss in the teams' first meeting. Should be a good one, and we'll keep an eye on it.

Happy Groundhog Day everybody. Here's what to watch for in the coming week:

Tuesday, Feb. 5 — Centennial at Stockdale girls basketball
The last chance for the Mustangs to lose before the Central Section playoffs. I wouldn't count on it, but Centennial can be tough if the game's close. Stockdale pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 20-point win in the teams' first meeting.
Other games to watch: Stockdale at Centennial boys basketball, Taft at Wasco boys soccer

Wednesday, Feb. 6 — Bakersfield High at Liberty girls soccer
The Drillers scored a goal in the final 10 minutes to top the Patriots at home early in the Southeast Yosemite League season. Since then, neither team has really come close to losing, so this is a pretty big showdown.

Thursday, Feb. 7 — West at Stockdale, boys soccer
A slow night as far as games between winning teams, but this one could make up for it. West could actually wrap up the Southwest Yosemite League with a victory at home vs. North on Tuesday night, but even if that happens, the Vikings will be looking to avenge their only league loss, 1-0 to the Mustangs earlier. Also a huge game for Central Section seeding purposes

Friday, Feb. 8 — Taft at Tehachapi, girls basketball
A great chance to see two of the more unknown stars of Kern County,Carey Tuuamalemalo from Taft and Jana Smith of Tehachapi. The Warriors likely will win the game easily, but this should be a real battle of two towers in the paint.

Saturday, Feb. 9 — SWYL and SEYL wrestling tournaments
Can Frontier, a seniorless team that ran through league duals unbeaten, shock Centennial in a tournament format? How many champions will BHS crown? And can East's individual beasts make some noise? All to be answered Saturday as we mark the beginning of wrestling's postseason, culminating in the state tournament Feb. 29-March 1 at Rabobank Arena.

Pretty stunning scene out there on Liberty's soccer field tonight. The Patriots had a game taken away from them in the final 8 minutes by two highly questionable calls that resulted in penalty-kick goals for Golden Valley in the Bulldogs' 3-2 victory.

Why should you care? Well, Golden Valley's win gave it a Southeast Yosemite League championship. The Bulldogs are 10-0. A Liberty win would have brought it within a half-game of Golden Valley and a tie would have kept the Pats in the race.

I don't think there will ever be a soccer game with four penalty kicks in it (all three of GV's and one of Liberty's) that doesn't involve quite a bit of controversy, but this one was extra-spicy. It's hard for me to say whether any of the calls that led to the PKs were especially terrible or anything, but I will say this: None of them were obvious fouls or hand-balls and even Golden Valley coach Troy Lynch, whose team benefitted from the biggest and latest of the calls, thought the game was poorly officiated.

Either way, Golden Valley's kids deserve congratulations. They've won the first league title in the city for the winter sports season, and they've played well all year, not just on Friday. And you can't blame the Bulldogs for what might have been some questionable calls.

A couple of other big boys results from Friday night: In basketball, BHS completed a season sweep of East with an easy victory on the road. That leaves the Drillers and the Rams with two losses each atop the SEYL, and leaves East and Golden Valley with three losses apiece. And in SSL soccer, Wasco topped Arvin 1-0 to keep pole position in that race.