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UPDATE, 12:13 a.m.: And I thought the football season was crazy before tonight. We had a fitting Halloween for Week 8, with the biggest upset this year to date — Golden Valley over Bakersfield — and a couple of other interesting results. All the available scores are below, and I'll continue to update as the weekend goes along. Here we go: Golden Valley 23, Bakersfield 14: Byron Newman went off on the BHS defense, rushing for about 300 yards and three touchdowns on a Drillers unit that hadn't been touched in the past three weeks. I'm really speechless about this one. Obviously, the Bulldogs played exceptionally well and came up with a huge victory, but I really thought BHS was ready to roll into the playoffs. Instead, it'll likely have to split a league title with Liberty, a 48-14 victor against East. Stockdale 44, North 14: Didn't want to take the luster off this one, which the Mustangs dominated from the get-go. Actually, "dominated" probably is the wrong word. North could have hung with Stockdale, if it had held on to the ball first. The Stars fumbled four times, plus had a bad punt snap go out of the end zone for a safety. Now the teams are virtually tied atop the SWYL, with North at 4-1 in the league and Stockdale at 3-1. North plays resurgent Centennial next week, and Stockdale has games left with Frontier and West, two two-loss teams that still have a say in the league race. Tehachapi 41, Taft 13: A statement win from the Warriors puts them at 2-1 in the SSL. The real winner here might be Bakersfield Christian, which pounded Shafter 56-7 and went to 3-0 in the league. The Eagles' 40-35 victory against Tehachapi last week now looks even more important, theough BCHS still has to travel to Taft in Week 10. Foothill 24, Highland 2: A defensive domination here, with the 6-1 Scots held to just 48 rushing yards. That's not like a Tim Hartnett team, but give the Trojans credit. They're looking at a suddenly big finish against Garces and Golden Valley, both games to keep an eye on. West 31, Garces 14: Have the Vikings found themselves, at long last? This result sure speaks volumes for a team that has lost to North but could still win a share of the league title if the Stars stumble at Centennial next week and West wins out against South and Stockdale. Tulare Union 54, Delano 16: Turns out the Redskins are indeed on a different level. That's what we thought, but it's nice to have confirmation. Centennial 37, Ridgeview 30: I mention this one because of a great comeback from the Golden Hawks, who scored the game's last 27 points, and because Cody Kessler, a sophomore QB, threw for 272 yards and four touchdowns. Two of them were to Bryan Maxwell, a senior who was playing his first game after suffering from Valley Fever for the first few months of the season. UPDATE, 9:40 p.m.: Bigtime upset in the making at Golden Valley, where the Bulldogs are up 23-14 on Bakersfield High late in the third quarter. Something certainly worth kieeping an eye on. Here, it's 44-14 Stockdale with about five minutes to play. UPDATE, 8:53 p.m.: Halftime here. North drove inside the Stockdale 25 with about a minute to play and a couple of timeouts in its pocket, only to fumble the ball away for the fourth time. That's pretty much been the story of the first half. North has been outplayed and has compounded that with a bunch of mistakes. Meanwhile, Stockdale clearly came ready to wipe away the memory of losses the past two weeks. UPDATE, 8:28 p.m.: It's taken only a couple of plays for things to go completely awry for North at home. Stockdale scored on a 66-yard touchdown run by Stephen Silva to extend the lead to 23-7, then forced a fumble on North's third play and used just one play again to score on a 44-yard TD pass from Efren Venegas to Chris Bowie. It's 30-7, and North's Wing T is not a comeback-compatible offense. UPDATE, 8:19 p.m.: A second touchdown run for Malik Henderson has given Stockdale complete control of this game early. Credit the Mustangs for getting out of the gate quickly in a crucial game. North was driving down 9-0, but three fumbles on three consecutive plays left the ball in Stockdale's hands near midfield. The Mustangs then took about five minutes off the clock in a methodical drive that just ended, making it 16-0. UPDATE, 7:55 p.m.: I said this might be a battle of mistakes, and North has definitely blinked first. After a three-and-out on their first possession, the Stars snapped the ball over the punter's head and out the back of the end zone for a safety and a 9-0 Stockdale lead. Not the way you wanted to start one of the biggest games in recent school history, but North appears to have recovered. Stockdale's ensuing drive has stalled, and the Stars are getting the ball back, though they're backed up on their own 3. UPDATE, 7:44 p.m.: Well, that didn't take long. Stockdale marches 55 yards in five plays, all runs, to take a 7-0 lead just 1:10 into the game. Time for the Stars to respond. UPDATE, 7:38 p.m.: First order of business here from North — Stephen Silva is back to return the opening kickoff for Stockdale, which is good news for Mustangs fans. Silva has missed the last seven quarters with a concussion. Still no word on Emmanuel Ossai, who has been out about the same amount of time with a leg injury. ORIGINAL POST: Some good news to pass along to Central Valley football fans — Pat Su'a, a linebacker at Highland worth the price of admission, is continuing a Kern-to-Fresno pipeline. He announced last week that he's verbally committed to be a Bulldog, Highland coach Tim Hartnett said. Su'a is a beast. He'll need to put on a little weight to be successful at the D-I level, methinks, but that shouldn't be too hard with a redshirt year. Or, as I was discussing with some co-workers last night, he could drop back and be a sort of nickelback, floating around and making plays a la Brian Urlacher at New Mexico in the 1990s. That's obviously an upward comparison, but I really do think Su'a has the skills to be a standout in the WAC. Back to the high school gridiron, where we might have some non-heat-related weather issues for the first time this season tonight. Keep the refresh button going here as I'll do my best to update scores and live updates/analysis from the Stockdale-North game. Oh, and for the record, I updated the Week 8 predictions with a couple of Saturday games I initially missed: Mojave at Claremont-Webb and Immanuel Christian at Big Pine. (Central Section ranking is in parentheses; all games 7:30 Friday unless noted) Kern County scores Other Central Section scores For once in my life, I don't have much to say. So re-read my rant from Monday or check out Week 8 rankings and predictions if this podcast isn't enough football for you. Things are getting serious in the Fresno-Edison grade-changing case. The school district has asked Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow to re-investigate the matter, which concerns a teacher's allegation that a player's grade in a math class was changed from an F to an A. Crichlow's first investigation cleared Edison, but the school district hasn't yet finished its own probe. If anyone finds wrongdoing, I'd imagine the consequences would be severe — Clovis East has lost the chance to host playoff games after a much less serious offense — and it could affect the Central Section's Division II playoff picture. We'll keep you posted. Back on the field, it's time for a look back to Week 7 predictions: The Good: Just about everything, from taking North and Bakersfield Christian in the big games to nailing Highland winning a defensive battle to going 5-1 in Southern Section games The Bad: Failing to see that this was indeed the week Ridgeview would spring its upset, still having faith in Centennial The Ugly: Picking Lighthouse Christian to become Lit-Up Christian and then seeing the Guardians handle Clovis Christian in a bizarre game that hasn't officially been decided yet Thursday, Oct. 30 Friday, Oct. 31 TEHACHAPI (3-4, 1-1 SSL) AT TAFT (6-1, 2-0) — An elimination game for the Warriors, who came up on the short end of another close game last week. They nearly erased a 34-7 deficit against Bakersfield Christian only to lose 40-35. But Taft won't make things easy with its punishing offensive and defensive lines. Win or lose, the Wildcats will be in this race until the season finale at home against BCHS, though a win would likely make both teams undefeated. But I think Tehachapi, which has lost games by 6, 1, 2 and 5 points, finally gets a close one to fall its way with the aid of a new-found passing attack. HIGHLAND (6-1, 2-1) AT FOOTHILL (4-3, 1-2) — Tim Hartnett's team has done nearly everything it could do in the first seven games of the year, with a loss to Garces in a Saturday game the only blemish. But now comes the gauntlet: at Foothill, vs. Liberty, vs. Bakersfield. The Scots' defense hasn't held up well in only a couple of games this year, but Foothill has the horses to make this another. Highland won't be able to keep up. DELANO (5-2, 2-1 EYL) AT TULARE UNION (7-0, 3-0) — I invite you to turn your attention north for a few minutes, while we discuss what is a rare specimen in the Central Section this year: an undefeated team. By my count, only six remain, and the Redskins are the only in the top two divisions. What does that mean for Delano? The Tigers had better bring their A game, not whatever it was that caused losses to Hanford West and Porterville, and even that might not be enough. Keep Tulare's offense off the field and don't turn the ball over, and you might have a chance. Otherwise, it's victim No. 8 for the machinelike 'Skins. GARCES (5-2) AT WEST (3-4) — The Vikings might be the team that costs me the most games throughout the season. It seems like they're in the "Bad" category for my picks every week, and it's because I just can't figure this team out. But who could? Hang with El Diamante. Lose to East. Beat Liberty. Get knocked out by Frontier and North. Turn around to dominate the second half against Centennial. What happens this week, nobody knows. I will say, though, Garces has been much more consistent. (Well duh). BAKERSFIELD (5-2, 3-0 SEYL) AT GOLDEN VALLEY (3-4, 1-3) — We talk about this at length in the Week 8 podcast (which you can catch at School House Zach on Thursday afternoon), but how is the Drillers' closing schedule going to affect their playoff run? BHS played Liberty in Week 4 and won't play a D-I team — or likely receive a challenge, for that matter — until the playoffs hit. I think the increased confidence will help, fueled by wins like this one, where BHS will look to shut down Golden Valley's multi-faceted attack. FRONTIER (4-3, 2-1 SWYL) AT SOUTH (3-4, 1-2) — It's back to the drawing board for both teams after they lost chances last week to have a season-defining win. That's especialy the case for South, which hung with North early but couldn't keep pace. Either way, if these teams want to play more important games down the stretch, a win here is a must. A loss, and the season could fade quickly. LIBERTY (4-3, 2-1 SEYL) AT EAST (1-6, 0-4) — With three games left in what's been a terribly frustrating season for the Blades, it'll be interesting to see if they can make any headway towards 2009. East has scored a grand total of 26 points in its last four games (and only 73 all together) and has games with BHS and North, the two league leaders, in the final two weeks. Ouch, because Liberty's defense is even better than those teams. Looks like 2009 might really be the rallying cry already. CENTENNIAL (1-6, 0-3 SWYL) AT RIDGEVIEW (2-5, 1-3) — This probably would have been the week I'd take Ridgeview to spring for its first SWYL victory in two years — except that happened last week. Now you wonder about the Wolf Pack's complacency, plus I'm starting to wonder if Centennial will ever get it together. I went with Centennial winning and Ridgeview losing last week and got burned, and I'm not putting my hand next to the burner again. SHAFTER (1-6, 0-2 SSL) AT BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (6-1, 2-0) — One of the mismatches of the year in that Shafter tries to play a similar style to BCHS but does so with less precision and less good old-fashioned talent. If you hadn't heard, this Carr kid is pretty good. The Central Section record for passing yards is 520, says section historian Bob Barnett, and if he plays all four quarters of a close game, Carr could threaten that one of these weeks. WASCO (3-4, 0-2) AT ARVIN (3-4, 1-1) — Is this the battle for fourth place in the South Sequoia League? That depends. Arvin still has games left with Tehachapi and Bakersfield Christian to move up, but the Bears have to take care of business with the offensively-dangerous Tigers first. If the game was in Wasco, I might pull the trigger on an upset here. But Arvin it is. LATON (0-7, 0-2 ESL) AT McFARLAND (2-5, 1-1) — Here's what I know about Laton: (1) Its nickname is the Mustangs. (2) It's not as good as the Stockdale Mustangs. (3) It's not as good as the Mojave Mustangs. (3) It scored 20 points just once this year, and that was exactly 20. (4) It hasn't given up less than 31 all year. McFarland isn't the best team around, but you can bet the Cougars have enough firepower for this one. ROSAMOND (2-6, 1-1 HDL) AT DESERT (6-2, 1-1) — On paper, this doesn't look like much of a matchup, but consider that two weeks ago, Desert lost 19-16 to Frazier Mountain, the same team Rosamond blanked 22-0 last weekend. Plus, Terrance Wells' status is unknown. The difference, I think, is that the Scorpions have figured out what to do even without him, as evidenced by a win against Kern Valley last week. BISHOP (2-4, 1-0 HDL) AT KERN VALLEY (3-4, 0-1) — Just from talking to him a couple of times, I have faith in Ben Goffinett as a coach and a motivator, and it's about time the Broncs got themselves a big victory out at the lake. MARICOPA (2-5, 1-1 CVL) AT CUYAMA VALLEY (3-3, 2-1) — Don't underestimate the Indians, who look like they matchup more favorably with Cuyama than some might have thought before the season. But I don't think Maricopa is prepared to go west and come back with a victory. Saturday, Nov. 1 FRAZIER MOUNTAIN (3-4) AT MALIBU (6-1) — The other High Desert League teams, when they're the odd man out in the league schedule, normally take the week off. Not Frazier Mountain. The Falcons are taking the long trek out to treacherous ... Malibu?? Yeah, well, some of us vacation at home, some at the beach. Malibu plays in one of the nation's most beautiful high school locales, but that doesn't mean the Sharks are friendly hosts. MOJAVE (3-5) AT CLAREMONT-WEBB (3-3) — Since a 3-1 start, the Mustangs have fallen on hard times, dropping four in a row and falling out of the Southern Section divisional rankings and completely out of the playoff picture. With the team mired in no-man's land until it joins the Desert Mountain League next year, tonight offers a chance to get back on track, but even if Mojave can win, it's playing for pride only at this point. IMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (3-4, 1-2 HLL) AT BIG PINE (7-0, 3-0) — After two weeks off, the Crusaders travel to the Hi-Lo league leader for their second-to-last game. Last week: 16-4 (.800) Season: 116-48 (.707) 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 Before I get to the topic at hand (and I have a heck of a rant ready, so be forewarned), I wanted to atone for a mistake. I realized today that I gypped my loyal blog readers of a look-ahead to next week (this week's) big high school football games in my Week 7 edition of "most important things." How dare I? As a peace offering, I'll offer a bonus sixth game to keep an eye on. Here's the list: Stockdale at North: SWYL title is likely on the line. What, you expected something else? Now, on to the main event for Monday. Central Section girls tennis playoff brackets were released today, and while that might not strike some of you as especially exciting news, it brings a pet peeve of mine into the spotlight. Since I moved into the area about 11 months ago, I have always wondered why the Central Section playoffs were organized the way they are. A section championship, by simple math, already is much easier to win than a state championship would be, and yet the Central Section allows any old team that wants to play into its "playoffs." To me, making the playoffs ought to be a special occasion to be celebrated and savored, not something you can get just by asking. The best teams have to earn it. Now the problem is even worse. There are about 100 schools in the Central Section, which means it's about one-tenth the size of the Southern Section, and much smaller than most states, where high schools compete for state, not section, championships. And yet, the section deemed it necessary this year to add a sixth playoff division, watering down the meaning of a championship even more. This decision was made for football and basketball, no doubt, where a sixth division will allow schools like McFarland, Orange Cove, Laton, etc., to be competitve in a championship hunt. But it backfires when you apply it to sports with less participation, like, for instance, girls tennis. Case in point: The Division VI girls tennis championship has two teams that asked to be the playoffs. Two!!!! That means that while Divisions I-V are playing opening matches Wednesday (though D-III only has five teams), McFarland and Strathmore will be duking it out for a championship — a championship they earned the right to play for by ... asking to play. That doesn't seem very special. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against McFarland or Strathmore or any of the other Division VI schools. But no team, anywhere, from pee-wee hockey to the NFL, should be playing for a championship without doing a single thing to earn it. It's a disgrace to the word "championship." And before you get up in arms because I'm excluding some student-athletes, let me finish. I get it. I really do. This is high school, and the kids should be learning something about fair play while tasting some success. You think it didn't mean the world to the South High baseball to make the D-III baseball championship the past two years? That team couldn't get a sniff in the tough-as-nails Southwest Yosemite League but still had something to shoot for. Heck, I played high school sports and toiled for years without reaching a state tournament in New Mexico. I finally made one my senior year in wrestling. It felt good. You know why? It's because it wasn't handed to me. I had to beat someone to get there. I say enough is enough. Make a team finish in its top two, or three, or four in its league before it gets to be playoff eligible. At least then you've got teams that have played under some pressure, beaten someone, accomplished something to get there. It's already done like this in wrestling, golf, swimming and individual tennis. In wrestling, you have to finish in the top four in your weight class at league to reach the divisional tournament, the top three or six (depending on your division) to reach the section Masters tournament, the top five at Masters to reach the state tournament. Or in golf, only the top 15 golfers and top three teams in the Area tournaments advance to the section. Not everyone. Because the playoffs are supposed to be special. And in the Central Section, they are increasingly less so. What a year it's turned out to be in Kern County high school football, with upsets galore, many teams still in contention and an intriguing playoffs coming in just about every division. Let's recap the week that was. — Bakersfield Christian and Tehachapi provided everything you could want in a high school game Friday night (except maybe defense), and the result was a 40-35 BCHS victory. There was passing offense, to the tune of 746 yards, running offense, turnovers, a comeback and spectacular plays. Derek Carr threw for an astounding 441 yards, and that might not have been the most impressive passing in the game — Tehachapi's Kurtis Knudson threw for 305, which looks like it might be some 80 yards more than the previous school record. — All you 93308ers have lots to cheer about this week, as North High is 4-0 and in first place in the Southwest Yosemite League by a full game and a half over Stockdale and Frontier, who are both 2-1. North pulled away from South 34-19 on Friday. Who would have guessed the Stars would be in this position? A sleeper yes, but North could actually put this thing away with a victory next week at home against Stockdale. And, if you want to look down the road to the playoffs, a mistake-free North team running that effective Wing T could give anybody problems in Division II, and that includes Fresno-Edison, Visalia-El Diamante and Tulare Union. I'm not ready to say North is there yet, but for now, the Stars are on a magical ride. — It was also a pretty magical night for Ridgeview, which put behind all of its heartbreaking losses to win at Stockdale 30-15. The Wolf Pack had already lost two league games when North scored with less than a minute left to win 13-8 and when Frontier stopped RHS' two-point conversion in the waning seconds of a 21-20 game. Stockdale had pulled within 23-15 in the fourth quarter of this one when Ridgeview's Tyler Dogins returned an interception 50 yards for the clinching TD. Dogins also ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns. — Over in the SEYL, there is increasingly little doubt that Bakersfield High is going to run the table and defend its league title. The Drillers fumbled seven times — losing three — threw an interception and committed 13 penalties for 137 yards. And still beat Foothill 33-6. I don't expect Golden Valley, East or even Highland to touch BHS, and with Brian Burrell settling in at quarterback and Alex Mitchell back at wide receiver/defensive back, this team is better. Cutting down mistakes, though, is an absolute must if the Drillers are going to make noise in the playoffs. Keep in mind, this team is still just 2-2 against Division I teams, with one victory a sloppy one against Liberty. — Speaking of the Patriots, they beat Golden Valley 24-7 despite surrendering almost a 2-1 advantage in total yards. Liberty is the team no one wants to see in the playoffs because it'll play you so tough, and yet I can't see the Patriots making a run all the way to the D-I title. There's just not enough offensive firepower to win week in and week out against good teams. — Highland shut down Frontier in a 16-3 win that speaks volumes about the depth of the Southeast Yosemite League. The Scots were dominated by Garces and had trouble with Golden Valley, yet they were all over a Frontier team that's tied for second in the city's other league. I'm not saying that the SEYL is bona fide the better league, but this is as good an indication as you're going to get. — Quick notes on Southern Section play: Desert survived to beat Kern Valley 28-21, and Frazier Mountain, which knocked off the Scorpions last week, was blanked 22-0 at Rosamond. I can't figure it out, other than to say Desert must have some injury problems. It was blowing people out until the last two weeks. Also, Boron had a somewhat controversial finish in its win against Lancaster-Desert Christian. — Speaking of controversy, we'll end on a bizarre note from 8-man ball. Lighthouse Christian, a 1-5 team playing host to 5-1 Clovis Christian, apparently played its best game of the seaon and led CC 36-22 with about nine minutes to play. That's when everything went awry. The Fresno Bee reported this morning that Clovis Christian athletic director Phil Laughlin said a member of the chain gang (from Lighthouse since it was the home team) was on a cell phone, relaying play-call information to the Guardians' coaching staff. Here's where it gets really interesting. Laughlin said the officials on the field called the game at that point and told both teams it was over, but Lighthouse coach Nick Park said today it was Clovis Christian's players and coaches who walked off the field themselves. UPDATED, 12:08 a.m.: Here's a quick-reflex reaction of some of tonight's key results: Bakersfield Christian 40, Tehachapi 35: BCHS coach Doug Barnett said after the game that Derek Carr doesn't yet have a full grasp of the spread offense. That's a scary, scary thought, considering Carr was 30-of-41 for 441 yards and three touchdowns tonight. At least six of his incompletions were drops and a couple more were deep balls. He threw one interception on a tipped ball, but even that throw was only a few inches off. Ridgeview 30, Stockdale 15: I knew the Wolf Pack was going to break through for a victory at some point. I just didn't think it would be tonight. Stockdale had so much on the line, and to drop this game hurts them not only in the SWYL race but also in seeding for the Division I playoffs. Still, bigtime props to Ridgeview for a great victory. The Wolf Pack grabbed a 16-0 lead at the half and fended off Stockdale's comeback with an interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. North 34, South 19: So Stockdale lags in the league race, and the Stars are right there to take advantage. North broke open a 13-13 halftime game with a short Seth Vlach TD run and a 28-yard TD pass from Juan Rodriguez to Julian Dean-Johnson — North's only pass of the game. The Stars finish their SWYL schedule with Stockdale and Centennial, so this is anything but a shoo-in, but right now, Mark Camps and his charges are 4-0 and in first place all by their lonesome. Bakersfield 33, Foothill 6: Here's your answer to the Brian Burrell-Alex Mitchell quarterback controversy in Driller land. Mitchell has moved to receiver and cornerback, where he says he's more comfortable, and Burrell will continue to wing it behind center. It worked to perfection Friday night, with Mitchell catching five balls for 109 yards and grabbing an interception on defense. Burrell was 11-of-21 for 208 yards — not quite his numbers from last week, but plenty to make teams think twice about loading up on the run. Highland 16, Frontier 3: That Highland defense that's gone missing for the past two weeks is baaaack. The Scots held Frontier to 143 yards of offense and used two Alan Roy touchdown runs to stifle the Titans. Liberty 24, Golden Valley 7: This was the Patriots' blueprint for victory executed to a T: Liberty gives up some yards but makes big plays on defense and does enough on offense to get a lead and then milk the clock away. The Bulldogs outgained the Pats 416-253 in this one but turned it over six times inside the 50 — twice on interceptions and four times on downs. UPDATED, 10:52 p.m.: Bakersfield Christian holds on 40-35. A couple of other interesting scores — Ridgeview shocks Stockdale at home, 30-15, North pulls away from South, and West beats Centennial in the second half. Check back later for a full scorelist and recap. UPDATED, 9:18 p.m.: A track meet is breaking out at BCHS, with Tehachapi opening up its rarely used passing game to get back in it. The Warriors have scored twice in the third quarter to close to 34-21. The first TD was a 70-yard catch and run from Josh Strauss, and he caught a couple of other long ones to set up Adam Mullen's 14-yard TD run with 2:57 to play in the third. Thirty-four points might not win this one. UPDATED, 8:43 p.m.: Halftime here at Bakersfield Christian, where the Eagles' spread offense is putting on an absolute clinic. Derek Carr has 248 yards and two touchdowns passing, including an incredible 20-yarder to Jake Peterson 19 seconds before halftime. Peterson caught the ball with one hand while falling out of the end zone, but managed to stay inbounds to make it 27-7. The BCHS defense meanwhile, just forced its third fumble recovery to start the second half and Carr strikes again, 25 yards to Colby Herron for Herron's second TD catch. It's 34-7 UPDATED, 7:45 p.m.: It hasn't taken long for Bakersfield Christian to prove this year's game against Tehachapi will be different than last year's 41-7 Warriors win on the mountain. Derek Carr has been exquisitely accurate on two Eagles touchdown drives, one culminating with a 13-yard strike to Colby Herron and another with Christian Taylor scoring on a draw from 6 yards out. BCHS is 1-of-2 on extra points, so it's 13-0 with exactly eight minutes to play in the first quarter. Welcome to Week 7, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. I'll be out at Bakersfield Christian for the Eagles' SSL showdown with Tehachapi, providing live commentary and score updates as best I can. I'll have internet access, but the press box at BCHS isn't finished yet, so it'll be difficult to sit down and give as many updates as usual. I will give it my requisite 110 percent, though. All games listed below are schedule for 7:30 Friday unless noted; Central Section rankings are in parentheses. Kern County scores Other Central Section scores We interrupt your regularly scheduled football programming to bring you this boys basketball note: Very nice ceremony for Stephon Carter at Garces today, where he announced his intention to sign with Cal State Bakersfield to play for the next four years. I've asked a few basketball people around town what they thought of the signing, and I found two pretty different camps. Some said they were really surprised to hear it. Why would a kid with that much talent decide to stick around and play for independent CSUB? Their theory was confirmed when I told them Stephon had offers from Arizona State, Fresno State and Colorado State, plus interest (and probably offers to come) from about every other school in the American West. The other group, though, wasn't surprised at all. And this was the group that knew Stephon. Knew that he doesn't necessarily want to travel all over creation. Knew that he wanted a chance to be part of a program-building experience. And, most of all, knew that he wanted to stay in Bakersfield within his circle of comfort — Garces coach Gino Lacava, teammate Ryan Bush's family and a bunch of other coaches and friends he's leaned on over the years. Carter said himself today that he hasn't had the best upbringing a child could hope for. His parents split when he was young and neither even lives in Bakersfield anymore. His brother, whom Stephon was closer to than anyone, was shot to death as part of a disagreement outside a gas station this summer. Add in the fact that Carter wants to repay some of those who helped him by letting them watch him for four more years. Stephon staying home seems like the right fit. One thing both camps agreed on was that this was an absolute coup for Cal State. The Roadrunners were able to keep the best player to come through Bakersfield in years in town and can build the rest of their team — and their program — around Carter for the next four years. He's amiable, he's outgoing, passionate and a hell of a player. He plays defense, can get to the hoop, can pass the ball and, if he ever corrals his streaky shooting touch, could be a great outside threat too. He also said to me today that he wants to open a sort of Bakersfield-to-Bakersfield pipeline — get other D-I prospects, many of whom he knows, to stay in town — maybe even starting with Garces junior forward Chris Dixon. Here's the Week 7 edition of the football podcast. Check back later today for a quick note on Stephon Carter's announcement today that he'll play basketball for Cal State Bakersfield. Pretty impressive for the Roadrunners, considering Carter had offers from Arizona State and Colorado also on the table. There comes a time in every season, I like to think, when the best teams start playing like the best teams and the pretenders start to fade and/or expose themselves. I don't think there's a set point in every season where it happens — in the baseball season, for instance, is it after the trading deadline or when September call-ups start? In the NFL season, is it November? College football — conference season? Truth is, the point varies from sport to sport, year to year. But I can say one thing: I think we've reached that point in Kern County football this year. It might have happened last week, when Bakersfield, Liberty and North announced themselves as contenders, Stockdale lost but reminded everyone it'd be around for the long haul anyway, and teams like West, Centennial, Golden Valley and maybe Garces faded a bit. But if it wasn't last week, it was this one. Seems like nearly every game this week is one where one team can make a statement, move on and streak towards the playoffs and the other can start thinking about a big Thanksgiving dinner without worrying about football practice. Which are which? On to the predictions! First, a quick look back at last week's results. The Good: Ahem, Stockdale students. School House Zach does know jack. Or at least I did with the Liberty-over-Stockdale pick. Also, BHS to handle Garces and Frontier to edge Ridgeview. The Bad: Expecting West to bounce back against North and South to come up short against Centennial again. The Ugly: Ooh, Delano and Desert made me look bad. I predicted 21- and 30-point victories and got 13- and 3-point losses in return. On to Week (Lucky number) 7: Thursday, October 23 Friday, October 24 SOUTH (3-3, 1-1 SWYL) AT NORTH (5-1, 3-0) — I love this game because it's between two traditional rivals that don't always garner very much attention for their sports teams. That's going to change this week, because this a huge game in the SWYL race. So who takes home the Civil War sword? I think the Stars' vaunted running attack, if it can continue not to be bogged down by its mistakes, can control the clock and the tempo and nullify South's passing attack. GOLDEN VALLEY (3-3, 1-2 SEYL) AT LIBERTY (3-3, 1-1) — It's a chance for the Patriots to keep some momentum going for once — they've gone loss-win-loss-win-loss-win so far this year — against a Golden Valley team that desperately needs to win a close one after heartbreaking losses to Garces and Highland. Last week, Liberty was that team, and they got it done against Stockdale. My hunch is that GVHS is going to have to continue to wait. BAKERSFIELD (4-2, 2-0 SEYL) AT FOOTHILL (4-2, 1-1) — The Trojans have proven they can move the ball — Lawrence Weldon is Kern County's third leading rusher and he's tops in Bakersfield — and score points — at a 31.5 per-game clip. But what happened the one time Foothill faced a great defense? Liberty 21, Foothill 3. As much as I like Dennis Manning's team, the Drillers and Patriots are on another plane in this league. Even if sophomore Brian Burrell suffers from a letdown, BHS' defense is rolling right now. FRONTIER (4-2) AT HIGHLAND (5-1) — An underrated game between overachieving teams pits a couple of good defenses and teams who could use the victory in seeding arguments next month. Both teams also escaped with crucial victories last week, Frontier over Ridgeview when the Wolf Pack went for two and missed in a 21-20 game, and Highland over Golden Valley when Alan Roy scored two 90+ yard TDs for the Scots to erase a 14-point deficit late. Who rides the momentum more will decide this one. RIDGEVIEW (1-5, 0-3 SWYL) AT STOCKDALE (5-1, 2-0) — First chance for Stockdale to show what's it's made of in the face of some weeklong adversity. I think the Mustangs are a tough team in the image of coach Mike Snow, and whether Stephen Silva (who left last week's game with an apparently mild concussion) or Emmanuel Ossai (on crutches in the second half) play, Stockdale should get back on track. WEST (2-4, 1-2 SWYL) AT CENTENNIAL (1-5, 0-2) — Hard to believe this has turned into a battle to stay out of the cellar in the league and not for a league title, like it was last year. Centennial has struggled with its youth while West has been a tremendous disappointment. I'm done riding with the Vikings for now, though. Even though the defense has been passable and the offense has some talent, it's tough to win when you have as many issues on the lines as West does. EAST (1-5, 0-3 SEYL) AT GARCES (4-2, 2-1) — My hunch is that the Rams are more of the "Now we'll prove ourselves all over again" type of team rather than the "Oh my goodness, we lost a blowout, how are we going to regroup?" type. And frankly, East probably is the right team to be playing after the blowout loss to Bakersfield. WASCO (3-3, 0-1 SSL) AT TAFT (5-1, 1-0) — It'll be great to see Johnathan Wimberly, Wasco's offensive star and one of the leading rushers in Kern County, face the big, physical Taft defense. I don't expect him to get shut down, necissarily, but I don't expect him to carry the Tigers to victory, either. Especially considering he can't shut down the Taft offense by himself on the other side of the ball. ARVIN (2-4, 0-1 SSL) AT SHAFTER (1-5, 0-1) — Certainly a must-win game for Arvin, which has enough talent to compete in the league but can't afford to get caught in a trap up at Shafter. PORTERVILLE-GRANITE HILLS (0-7, 0-3 EYL) AT DELANO (4-2, 1-1) — It's funny, because with the way Delano's schedule has set up, the Tigers easily could/should be 6-0 right now with a game against a winless team to set up an undefeated showdown with Tulare Union. But I guess that's why more teams don't go unbeaten just on the schedule. Delano's not quite good enough. I would really be surprised, though, if it weren't good enough to win this one and keep the Tulare game relevant. CHAVEZ (3-3, 2-1 EYL) AT PORTERVILLE-MONACHE (4-2, 2-1) — On the flip side, you have Chavez, which continues to find ways to win close games and has a 3-3 record and a legitimate shot at finishing .500 for the first time in school history. A win here would be a huge step towards that goal, but I think Monache seperates itself in the second half. McFARLAND (2-4, 1-0 ESL) AT SAN LUIS OBISPO-MISSION PREP (5-0, 1-0) — The Cougars dispatched Lemoore-Kings Christian for a league victory last week, and I really think there are more to come. Mission Prep is the only Div. V team in the East Sierra League, though (the rest are Div. VI), and it's clearly a step ahead of about everyone else there. KERN VALLEY (3-3, 0-0 HDL) AT DESERT (5-2, 0-1) — It's frustrating to not know exactly what the situation is with Desert quarterback Terrance Wells, who either had a bad night or was hurt (a different kind of bad night) in a 19-16 loss to Frazier Mountain. My hunch is that he's hurt. Even so, I think with another week to prepare and a home game, the Scorpions will take care of Kern Valley. FRAZIER MOUNTAIN (3-3, 1-0 HDL) AT ROSAMOND (1-6, 0-1) — Whether Wells was hurt really shouldn't take away from Frazier Mountain's effort. I mean, the Falcons still had to take advantage of the situation, and they won a close game, something they struggled with a bit last year and earlier this year. Now it's time for a little momentum and a 2-0 record. In a league with only five teams, that victory could have some serious legs for the kids from Lebec. LANCASTER-DESERT CHRISTIAN (2-3, 0-0 DML) AT BORON (6-1, 1-0) — If you've jumped on the Boron bandwagon after the community came together in the face of Vinnie Rodriguez's death, this is one to watch. The Bobcats likely will only face a test in two league games: This one and the season finale against Yermo-Silver Valley. I say they pass the first one with flying colors. MOJAVE (3-4) AT TRANQUILITY (5-1) — The wheels have come off Mojave's longshot campaign for a playoff spot as a freelance team in the last few weeks, with losses to Pasadena-Maranatha, Yermo-Silver Valley and (most damaging) Acton-Vasquez. A win this week could get them back in the conversation, but I don't see it happening. CLOVIS CHRISTIAN (5-1, 2-0 CVSSL) AT LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN (1-5, 0-1) — In 8-man terms, Lighthouse is like Centennial. It's a young team that I think will turn it around by the time the season ends. Time is running out though, and for the Guardians, this isn't the right week to start a rebound. ENCINO-WESTMARK (5-1) AT MARICOPA (2-4) — A couple of tough weeks ahead for the Indians, who go out of league to play Westmark and then travel to traditional Coast Valley League power Cuyama Valley on Halloween. A win, on the other hand, would make their season. Last week: 14-7 (.667) Season: 100-44 (.694) To make up for my lackadaisical weekend, I'm giving you a double post Tuesday! The rankings haven't been shaken up too much this week, but there are some juicy matchups ahead in Week 7. Let's set things up: 1. Clovis West (4-2, Div. I, last week: 1) — No problem for Golden Eagles in their warm-up for back-to-back showdowns with Buchanan and Clovis East. 5. Bakersfield (4-2, Div. I, last week: 6) — Before everyone gets up in arms about BHS being ahead of Stockdale after losing, consider two things. (1) That was five weeks ago, and right now, playing tremendous defense and with many fewer penalites, BHS is a different team, and (2) Brian Burrell adds another dimension to the Driller offense. Right now, in a rematch, I like Bakersfield. Predictions and podcast coming in the next two days. Sorry this is a couple of days late. I've been out of town and haven't had a chance to group my thoughts. With four weeks left in the regular season, the high school season is starting to take shape. UDPATED, 2:45 p.m.: Before we get to this week's Most Important Things, a quick basketball note to pass along. With the early signing period about three weeks away, Garces' Stephon Carter, The Californian's Player of the Year each of the past two seasons, says he's staying local. Garces released a statement Monday saying Carter had offered Cal State Bakersfield a verbal commitment. We'll have more details on Thursday, when Garces has a party for Carter. Obviously, verbal commitments are non-binding (and there's a long list of kids who have changed their minds), but I have a feeling this one will stick. If it does, it's a great coup for CSUB, which could use Carter, a bona fide Division I talent, as a building block in its formative D-I years. Now on to our regularly scheduled programming, the Most Important Things: — As I mentioned on Friday night, the Stockdale student section was pretty sure before the game that "School House Zach! Don't know jack!" Well, thanks for the shoutout, guys, but I let you down by correctly picking Liberty to upset the Mustangs at home. Next time, I want "School House Zach! Knows his jack!" Granted, the game might well have gone the other way if Stephen Silva and Emmanuel Ossai didn't leave with injuries for Stockdale, but the fact is this: Liberty was due a close win, and Stockdale was due a close loss. If I'm the Mustangs, I'm glad the "bad breaks and injuries" game came in a non-league affair, at least, and not in the playoffs. — The other big Southwest Yosemite League news was that North kept on rolling, this time leaving no doubt in a 25-6 victory against West. This is what the Stars can do when they're hitting on all cylinders — something that honestly hasn't happened much before this week. But the key is, North has won enough games by being just good enough that it's 3-0 in league. The Stars could really go on a roll now. Next week is a Civil War battle with South — another team that has lots of life after beating Centennial for the first time in league history last week — and then, if both teams avoid getting tripped up in the meantime, an undefeated battle with Stockdale on Halloween. — In the Southeast Yosemite League, Liberty obviously looks like it has life again, but Bakersfield is ready to run away with things. The Drillers dominated Garces 41-7 behind Brian Burrell's three touchdown passes in his first career start and a defense that allowed the Rams just 20 yards all night. Because BHS escaped against Liberty a couple of weeks ago, there aren't a whole lot of challenges left out there. The Drillers' mission now is to stay sharp against a slate with only Foothill and Highland (maybe Golden Valley?) left as potential challenges. — Speaking of the Scots, they made a great escape against Golden Valley, scoring 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and overtime to shock the Bulldogs, who looked for the second time in three weeks like they had a corner-turning SEYL victory. Instead, GV is 1-2 and trying to tread water. Highland, meanwhile, still has designs on a nice seed in Division III. — One thing we were right about in the preseason: The South Sequoia League is going to be fun. Tehachapi and Bakersfield Christian set up the first big showdown (Friday at BCHS) by pounding Shafter and Wasco, respectively. The Warriors do it with running and defense, while the Eagles do it through the air. Who wins this one will go a long way towards determining the league championship, though both teams also travel to Taft. The Wildcats won their toughest league road game by edging Arvin 28-26. — One more score that had some reverberations around the section: Porterville 34, Delano 21. What in heck is going on here? I know the transitive property is a bad way to do this, but I'm still amazed: North beat Porterville 55-14. Delano beat North 31-14. How in the world did Delano lose to Porterville, and by two touchdowns? I have no explanation, other than to say the Tigers hurt themselves in the seeding department and took some significant luster off of their Halloween game against Tulare Union. — And finally, another shocker: Frazier Mountain 19, Desert 16. Congratulations to the Falcons, who scored a huge victory to open High Desert League play. Desert hadn't come close to losing to a school of its size all year. I wonder if uber-talented quarterback Terrance Wells didn't get hurt in this one, but I haven't been able to confirm that. Week 7's big games: Tehachapi at Bakersfield Christian: Warriors burst the BCHS bubble last year UPDATED, 12:24 a.m.: A full score list (of what we have) is below, but here are some that caught my eye: Liberty 17, Stockdale 10 — Turns out I do know jack. Or maybe I'm just lucky. But whatever the case might be, Liberty found a way to win a close game and Stockdale finally lost one. But in reality, this was a really well-played game. Stockdale turned it around after a quarter or so of looking lost without Stephen Silva, who left the game with a concussion. I still expect pretty big things from both of these teams down the road. Bakersfield 41, Garces 7 — Methinks that if the Drillers were playing this well, they'd be 6-0 right now. Or maybe they just wish they had Brian Burrell at quarterback all along in those losses to Stockdale and Clovis-Buchanan. Nothing against Alex Mitchell, who's an efficient and emotional leader, but he might have just been Wally Pipp-ed. Mitchell has a staph infection, so Burrell — in his first career start, no less — stepped in and was 17-of-20 for 253 yards and three touchdowns, all of 30 yards or longer. Next week, BHS probably gets Alfonso Jackson back. Scary. Meanwhile, for Garces, what was that? Twenty measly yards of offense constitutes a step backwards, no matter who you were playing. North 25, West 6 — So this is what the Stars look like when they put everything together. A team that can dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and is a legitimate threat to Stockdale atop the Southwest Yosemite League. The teams meet Halloween night. South 26, Centennial 25 — Congratulations to John Wren and the Rebels, who scored a late touchdown to beat the Golden Hawks for the first time in league history. Taft 28, Arvin 26; Tehachapi 41, Shafter 0; Bakersfield Christian 63, Wasco 21 — The Bit Three in the SSL are all 1-0, though barely in Taft's case. Arvin couldn't quite break through, and frankly, I'm not sure the Bears will get a better chance against Tehachapi or Bakersfield Christian, who has steamrolled everyone since an opening loss to state-ranked Westlake Village-Oaks Christian. Derek Carr had five TD passes tonight. UPDATED, 10:09 p.m.: Snake-bitten no more, Liberty holds off Stockdale 17-10 and ends the Mustangs' perfect season. Meanwhile, an apparently wild finish at Golden Valley, where Highland scored two quick touchdowns late to tie it 28-28 and is knocking on the door in the closing seconds for a comeback win for the ages. UPDATED, 9:21 p.m.: Liberty has either had a lead or a chance to take one on a field goal in all five of its games this year, but the Pats are 2-3. They've got another chance to hold on to a lead here, as they're up 17-7 early in the fourth quarter on undefeated Stockdale. And as I write this, Stockdale is driving deep in Liberty territory (just had a TD called back on penalty, actually). Things are tightening up on Liberty again. Can they hold on? UPDATED, 8:51 p.m.: A few halftime numbers from the night's biggest games for you: Liberty leads unbeaten Stockdale 14-7 at halftime behind a balanced rushing effort — 56 yards from Chris Neal, 45 from Tyler Gellinck and 44 plus two short touchdowns from Angelo Orneales. Stockdale's Stephen Silva had a 79-yard TD run and has 90 yards on five carries, but he was shaken up late in the first quarter and hasn't returned since. UPDATED, 8:12 p.m.: Sounds like Brian Burrell, BHS' sophomore quarterback, is doing just fine in his first career start. Burrell has thrown three touchdown passes, all longer than 30 yards, as the Drillers lead Garces 20-0 early in the second quarter. So much for that SEYl showdown, at least so far. UPDATED, 7:32 p.m.: Well, there's quite an atmosphere at Stockdale tonight for the unbeaten Mustangs' battle with Liberty. And I have to say I'm pretty pumped for this one too, between the quality of football we should see and the Stockdale student section, which not-so-gently reminded me that "School House Zach don't know jack." We'll see. Remember, I called for a Liberty upset in my predictions this week. ORIGINAL POST: Live updates will be available tonight from Liberty-Stockdale. I'll also update as many other scores as I catch wind of as the night goes on. It should be an exciting night. Besides the locals, a couple of Central Sections scores to keep an eye on are Chowchilla at Visalia-Central Valley Christian and Dinuba at Kingsburg. Kern County scoreboard (All games 7:30 Friday unless noted; Central Section ranking in parentheses) Liberty 17, (4) Stockdale 10 (6) Bakersfield 41, (13) Garces 7 (12) Bakersfield Christian 63, Wasco 21 Frontier 21, Ridgeview 20 Taft 28, Arvin 26 North 25, West 6 Highland 34, Golden Valley 28, OT South 26, Centennial 25 Foothill 31, East 6 Tehachapi 41, Shafter 0 Porterville 34, Delano 21 Chavez 43, Porterville-Granite Hills 23 McFarland 34, Lemoore-Kings Christian 14 Boron 54, Lucerne Valley 8 Barstow 28, Burroughs 14 Frazier Mountain 19, Desert 16 Bishop 30, Rosamond 10 Acton-Vasquez 36, Mojave 33 Alpaugh 42, Lighthouse Christian 28 (Saturday) Immanuel Christian 59, Lee Vining 28 (Saturday) Atascadero-North County Christian 58, Maricopa 16 (Saturday) Central Section scoreboard (9) Tulare Union 41, Visalia-Redwood 13 (Thursday) (15) Sanger 54, Fresno-Hoover 20 (Thursday) (1) Clovis West 38, Fresno-Central 7 (2) Fresno-Edison 43, Reedley 21 (3) Clovis-Buchanan 27, Madera 7 (5) Fresno-Bullard has BYE (7) Visalia-El Diamante 41, Lemoore 28 (8) Clovis East 46, Clovis 15 (10) Hanford 47, Visalia-Golden West 0 (11) Exeter 63, Reedley-Immanuel 0 (14) Corcoran 60, Orosi 0 Caruthers 21, Lindsay 6
Visalia-Central Valley Christian 17, Chowchilla 14
Selma 49, Coalinga 34
Cambria-Coast Union 29, Avenal 26
Kingsburg 17, Dinuba 7
Tranquility 28, Firebaugh 19
Riverdale 38, Fresno Christian 3
Visalia-Mt. Whitney 36, Hanford West 26
Kerman 22, Dos Palos 6
SLO-Mission Prep 42, Laton 12
Oakhurst-Yosemite 44, Madera Ranchos-Liberty 0
Fresno-Roosevelt 35, Fresno-McLane 7
Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial 28, Fresno 3
Porterville-Monache 41, Tulare Western 0
Orange Cove 33, Farmersville 19
Fowler 27, Parlier 0
Fresno-Sunnyside 35, Madera South 20
Tollhouse-Sierra 33, Fresno-Washington 28
Woodlake 34, Strathmore 28
Clovis Christian 60, Sanger-Bethel Christian 34
Visalia Christian 39, Coalinga-Faith Christian 24 (Saturday)
Canoga Park-Faith Baptist 57, Riverdale Christian 7 (Saturday) Here is the belated edition of the Week 6 podcast. Also be sure to check out Week 6 predictions that just went up. First off, sorry for the late post; we had technical issues all last night at The Californian and I was helping out with some other things — and coaches, if you tried to call in your score from a Wednesday event, you might try back tonight, as the phone lines were affected too. Saturday, Oct. 18 LEE VINING (1-4, 1-1 Hi-Lo) AT IMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (2-4, 0-2) — Get this: Immanuel only has three regular-season games left. Pretty hard to believe we're already down to that number. Last week: 17-6 (.739) Season: 86-37 (.699) I didn't want to leave anyone hanging who was hoping to read some high school football predictions tonight, so here's a quick note: The predictions are done, and saved in a file at the office. But our server was having some major issues and wasn't allowing us to access the internet, so there was no way for me to post or send the file to myself. Hopefully the issue will be resolved tomorrow. Either way, I'll find a way to post Week 6 podcast and predictions. Man, we are so dependent on computers. It's hard to believe it's Week 6 already. By the time the games are over with Friday night, we'll be four short weeks away from knowing all of our league champions and begin a weekend of waiting on playoff seeding. Until then, here are some shaken-up Central Section football rankings. Losers from last week included No. 1 and No. 2. 1. Clovis West (3-2, Div. I, last week: 4) — Have to give it up for Golden Eagles, who have looked bad out of section but have compiled wins against Liberty, Bullard and Edison in it. Now for the Tri-River gauntlet. Somehow, we still have a month before Daylight Savings Time ends (wasn't that supposed to be a summer thing?), but the weather finally is turning a little bit and the fall is moving along quite rapidly. Know what that means? Don't look now, but the postseason for fall sports begins in exactly eight days with the South Sequoia League tennis championships next Tuesday and Thursday at Shafter. SSL golf championships are next Wednesday, Oct. 22, at Arvin. Cross country league championships are Oct. 30 at Hart Park. A little later, volleyball and football playoffs start Nov. 11 and Nov. 21, respectively. With that in mind, let's take a look at the goings-on in each non-football sport this fall (I figure we cover football enough the other six days of the week, so we'll skip that for now). VOLLEYBALL GIRLS TENNIS CROSS COUNTRY GIRLS GOLF Back to football Tuesday evening with a shaken-up version of the Central Section rankings. For those who were out and about this weekend (and first, a word of silence for my Missouri Tigers, who lost their perfect season in a Saturday night heartbreaker to Oklahoma State), there were a couple of notable games played a day later than usual. First, Garces spoiled Highland's unbeaten year with a 34-14 romp that probably wasn't even as close as the score would tell you. And, down south, Bakersfield Christian put another hurting on an overmatched team, 49-15 over Sun Valley-Village Christian. And with that, we're halfway through the high school football season. Pretty hard to believe, but it's time to gauge what we know. — Since we're speaking of Bakersfield Christian, what do we know about the South Sequoia League, which finally gets into league play next week? For one, the Eagles have looked the most impressive of any league team, followed by Taft. Tehachapi is young and had injury problems but likely will be a factor at some point. And Arvin and Wasco are good enough to where I think there's not as much of a top-three, bottom-three dichotomy in that league as I did at first. In Round 1, your big game is Taft at Arvin. Big chance for both teams to get off on the right foot. — Things took a turn for the logical this week. Teams we think are good (Bakersfield, Stockdale) didn't struggle or lose to teams we thought weren't at that level (Centennial, South), and the SEYL and SWYL races are finally starting to take some shape. In the SWYL, Stockdale is your team to beat, bona fide, thank you very much. The Mustangs have the pole position until someone knocks them from it. North also is 2-0 but seems too mistake-ridden and inconsistent to pull enough victories out like it did at Ridgeview, 13-8 on Julian Dean-Johnson's 35-yard run in the final 30 seconds. We know West is wildly inconsistent, and young Centennial and Frontier teams aren't ready to make that leap. — As for the SEYL, Garces actually is the only 2-0 team after the Rams dominated Highland from start to finish Saturday after a blackout postponed the game Friday night. i have to admit, I didn't even feel in sync going to a game on a Saturday afternoon, so I thought one or both of the teams might not. That clearly was Highland, which never found any kind of rhythm on offense or defense. But take nothing away from Garces, which deserved to win the game no matter which day it was played on. — That sets up a Garces-BHS showdown of sorts next week at 1-0 BHS (do the Drillers even play road games? That'll be four in a row at Griffith Field). I say "of sorts," because it's still early, and there's still a chance for 1-1 Liberty or Highland or even 0-1 Foothill to get back in the league race. But these two teams have each knocked off a fellow contender, and the winner of this game will have a clear advantage the rest of the way. — Also a great win for Liberty, which, for the first time this season, bent but didn't break and was never threatened in a game it easily could have lost. Instead, the Patriots were 21-3 winners and have a great chance at finishing 7-3 after the 1-3 start. The biggest tests left are this week at Stockdale and games to end the year against Highland and Garces. — A couple of teams nobody should be sleeping on: Golden Valley and Frontier. Realize that if either had won a close game in its league opener (the Bulldogs lost a last-minute affair to 2-0 Garces, the Titans' comeback came up short against 2-0 North), they would be the schools we'd all be talking about instead of the Rams and Stars. Up next is a home game for GVHS (3-0 under its new lights) against Highland. Frontier travels to Ridgeview. — Unbelievably, the Central Section playoffs are only five short weeks away. That means it's certainly not too early to look ahead to some possible brackets. Consider these: A couple were mentioned above, so let's take at a few of next week's big games: Liberty at Stockdale: If the Mustangs can find a way here, 10-0 is a real possibility UPDATE, 3:30 p.m. Saturday: A quick halftime update from Highland, where Garces has more or less controlled action and leads 20-7 in its makeup game with unbeaten Highland. The Rams' Jalen Sykes, just a sophomore, has been the star, rushing nine times for 101 yards and a TD, plus opening the scoring with a 65-yard interception return. Highland answered that with Alan Roy's 75-yard TD run to take a 7-6 lead, but Garces has scored twice since for a 13-point lead. Second half ready to go. UPDATE, 12:10 a.m.: Even without Week 5's premier Kern County matchup (Garces at Highland, which, if you missed it, will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday after a blackout wiped out Friday night), this turned into a pretty exciting night. Full scorelist is below, but here are some key results: North 13, Ridgeview 8: Julian Dean-Johnson rushed for a 35-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left to allow the Stars to escape. North, suddenly, is 2-0 and tied atop the SWYL with Stockdale. Stockdale 42, South 19: Speaking of the Mustangs, it's about time they laid one on somebody. Stockdale remains the lone unbeaten team in the Central Section's Division I after three close ones, and finally, another easy job. Bakersfield 34, Centennial 0: And speaking of needing a blowout, BHS gets its first of the year. Hello, Driller defense. Nice to see you. Meanwhile, Centennial obviously still has some work to do. Frontier 14, West 12: Don't know what to make of West, which beats Liberty and smokes Ridgeview, then loses these games to East and Frontier. Meanwhile, congratulations to Frontier, on its first SWYL win, and to coach Rich Cornford, who beat his former squad. UPDATE, 10:27 p.m.: Couple of final scores of note to pass along — Bakersfield blanks Centennial 34-0; Stockdale wins a blowout (for once) South, 42-19; Frontier held on to beat West, 14-12; Liberty stifled Foothill 21-3; Clovis West upsets Edison 17-7; and Corcoran still hasn't given up a point, leading 31-0 against Fowler in the fourth quarter. UPDATE, 9:45 p.m.: Scratch that pending Ridgeview upset. North scored on a long run in the closing seconds (we'll have details later, but sounds like about a 40-yarder, not sure who the hero was). Great win for North, which is 2-0 in the SWYL with both games on the road; meanwhile, a very demoralizing loss for the Wolf Pack. UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: A couple of surprising SWYL scores rolling in ... Ridgeview leads North 8-7 in a sloppy game, and the Stars have the ball driving in Ridgeview territory with 40 seconds left. Meanwhile, Frontier leads West 14-12 with about five minutes to go out at Shafter. Also, up north, No. 1 Edison is down 10-0 to Clovis West as the fourth quarter begins. UPDATE, 8:51 p.m.: Sounds like Bakersfield High's defense is back to its old habits. The Drillers lead Centennial 21-0 at halftime. Maybe this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering BHS beat Liberty, which shut out Centennial. Then again, maybe it should, considering the Golden Hawks put up 44 last week on Driller-conquering Stockdale. UPDATE, 8:07 p.m.: OK, I guess I'll be out at Highland tomorrow to see if the Scots can move to 5-0. The game has been postponed because of a blackout in northeast Bakersfield and will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday. ORIGINAL POST: I'll be out at Highland tonight to see if the Scots can move to 5-0 with a win against Garces, which is 3-1 itself. Kind of the surprise showdown of the week, with the winner moving to 2-0 in the SEYL, which will be first place because BHS has a non-league game. But Highland-Garces and BHS-Centennial are far from the only interesting games of the weekend, with Foothill visiting Liberty, South at Stockdale (I was just out at Stockdale for the Lewis Cup tennis tournament, and that school is jacked up for homecoming), North at Ridgeview, West vs. Frontier at Shafter and East at Golden Valley. Big mover-and-shaker games in league races. Up north, No. 2 Visalia-El Diamante lost for the first time in 16 games to Southern Section standout Paso Robles last night. Tonight, the section's game of the week is No. 1 Fresno-Edison against No. 4 Clovis West. The Tigers have been able to pass every test thus far without too much trouble. We'll see if the Golden Eagles can spring an upset at home. Speaking of Edison, the big news right now is a Fresno Unified School District investigation into some questions about a football player's grade in math class. In that Fresno Bee story Edison coach Tim McDonald said he will resign if the allegations prove to be true. Could be a distraction for the Tigers this week, and it definitely will be a story to keep an eye on in the next week or two. Week 5 scoreboard (Central Section ranking in parentheses) Kern County scores Other Central Section scores Forgive me for the bad analogy at the beginning of this podcast. I wonder aloud whether it's the greatest or worst metaphor of all time, and I think I've settled on the worst. Luckily, fellow reporter Simon Samano and copy editor/Kern County football guru Todd Camps pick up my slack. Enjoy your jumbo-sized (super-sized?? sorry, I couldn't resist, and you'll know what I mean when you hear the analogy) Week 5 version of The Californian podcast. I can't seem to shake this feeling that this week is going by soooo slowly. I even took Monday off, and yet it feels like it should be Friday afternoon already. I almost don't have the energy to go through all of these predictions. Nah, I take that back. I can always get up for some predictions, especially when I rocked and rolled to a 15-4 mark the week before. The Good: 15-4! Are you kidding me? Everything was good. But especially picking BHS to win a close, defensive battle and Highland, Garces and West to win. The Bad: Thinking South could hang with Foothill; expecting Stockdale to dispatch Centennial easily. The Ugly: Um, picking Delano to lose to Golden West wasn't good. But here's what was really ugly — Frontier scored late to pull within 25-20 against North, then went for two. An extra point would have made the final 25-21, just like I said it would be. If you can't tell, I'm bragging while I still have the chance. Here's Week 5 predictions that will probably fall flat on their face: Friday, Oct. 10 CENTENNIAL (1-3) AT BAKERSIELD (2-2) — Another week, another showdown at Griffith Field. This one has plenty of intrigue, from Centennial's corner-turning win against East followed by a hearbreaker against Stockdale to BHS' comeback against Liberty last week to Driller RB Alfonso Jackson's injury, which at this point is still a bit of a mystery. I don't know how serious it is, but I can say (1) it's a knee injury and (2) he's not playing this week, at least according to coach Paul Golla. Doesn't mean Centennial can pull the upset, though. FOOTHILL (3-1, 0-0 SEYL) AT LIBERTY (1-3, 0-1) — Panic probably almost set in at Foothill when the Trojans opened with a one-point loss to Arvin and a one-point win at Ridgeview, but after a couple of offensive outbursts, the Trojans are sitting pretty at 3-1. Getting to 4-1 will be harder, with Liberty's defense hoppin' mad after blowing one to BHS. SOUTH (2-2, 0-0 SWYL) AT STOCKDALE (4-0, 1-0) — Stockdale is like this guy: Makes you worry for pretty much the whole show, then comes through at the end. Since the Mustangs clobbered East to start the year, they've had three straight wins come down to the wire. That means the jury's still deliberating. A revenge game against South could offer some more evidence for the "they're for real" side. WEST (2-2, 1-0 SWYL) VS. FRONTIER (2-2, 0-1) AT SHAFTER — The Vikings might have righted their ship last week against Ridgeview. We'll find out a little more against Frontier, which might not have the defensive size to match up with West's line. Then again, the Titans have shown a knack for sticking around — and even sometimes winning — close games. NORTH (3-1, 1-0 SWYL) AT RIDGEVIEW (1-3, 0-1) — Julian Dean-Johnson, he of the 283 yards on 13 carries last week, has game-breaking potential, to say the least. But the Stars are mistake-prone and the Wolf Pack is familiar with North's Wing T offense and can pose an upset threat here. I just don't quite have the guts to call it. EAST (1-3, 0-1 SEYL) AT GOLDEN VALLEY (2-2, 0-1) — Critical game for Bulldogs, who were so close to knocking off Garces last week and moving to 3-1. Instead, these teams will fight for their league lives Friday. It says here Golden Valley will take care of business against banged-up Blades. DELANO (3-1, 0-0 EYL) AT PORTERVILLE-MONACHE (3-1, 1-0) — Tough test for Delano to open league play, though the Tigers have looked solid enough to win this one. I still can't figure out how Delano gave up 53 to Hanford West a couple of weeks ago. I guess the short answer is that we're talking about high school kids, and stuff happens. Not this week. TAFT (3-1) AT PORTERVILLE (2-2) — Wildcats probably are disappointed they even have one loss as league play begins; they won't let another one happen with the SSL on tap next week. FRESNO-McLANE (0-4) AT WASCO (2-2) — Wasco couldn't have gone to much more opposite ends of the spectrum. A week after playing unscored-upon Corcoran, the Tigers face McLane, which has scored 26 points in four games and has lost 15 straight games. TULARE WESTERN (0-4, 0-1 EYL) AT CHAVEZ (1-3, 0-1) — This could be the battle for the cellar (Granite Hills will be in the discussion, too) in the EYL. Then again, Chavez has played a tough schedule and could surprise you. McFARLAND (1-3) AT LINDSAY (0-4) — Cardinals haven't won in 27 games, a streak that's two weeks away from reaching three years. That's going to give some motivation to a team that has a legitmate shot against McFarland. PASADENA-POLY (2-1) AT DESERT (4-1) — I feel like it's games like these that make or break my prediction record the following week. I'm riding with the Scorpions' Terrance Wells and the difficult-to-defend triple option offense. HESPERIA (4-0) AT BURROUGHS (3-1) — The Burros had a bit of a letdown on their trip into Arvin last week. It'll be good to be home again, but Hesperia is also a lot better than Arvin, methinks. PANORAMA CITY-ST. GENEVIEVE (4-1) AT FRAZIER MOUNTAIN (1-3) — High Desert League play starts next week, with the whole pack likely chasing Desert. The Falcons, who get the Scorpions first, could do themselves a favor by getting out of this one healthy. KERN VALLEY (3-2) AT LA HABRA-WHITTIER CHRISTIAN (2-3) — The Broncs are 2-0 on the road this season. Who says you need the mountain air to win? BIG BEAR (2-1-1) AT ROSAMOND (1-4) — Big Bear hails from the mighty De Anza Conference, full of small-school powerhouses down south. Unfortunately, that likely means De Fifth Loss for Rosamond. YERMO-SILVER VALLEY (2-2) AT MOJAVE (3-2) — A must-win for the Mustangs if they're going to lay dibs to that lone independent playoff spot in the Southern Section's Northeast Division. BORON (4-1) AT ACTON-VASQUEZ (0-4) — This one should just about be "name your score" for the Bobcats — who, by the way, might still play their way into conversation for a small-school CIF bowl berth. It's a long shot, but it's there. Saturday, Oct. 11 LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN (1-3) AT ESCONDIDO-CHRISTIAN LIFE ACADEMY (2-2) — My parents own a timeshare in Escondido. Nice place. Lighthouse, meanwhile, doesn't care where it comes, it just needs a victory. I'm going to roll with my gut on this one and give it to the Guardians. MARICOPA (1-3, 0-0 COAST VALLEY LEAGUE) AT SHANDON (0-4, 0-0) — League play opens for the eight-man schools, too, and Maricopa has a nice warm-up before the meat of the schedule hits. TRONA (3-1, 1-0 HI-LO LEAGUE) AT IMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (2-3, 0-1) — The Crusaders showed a lot of promise at the beginning of the year, but I've lost faith with three straight losses. Force me back on the bandwagon, boys. Last week: 15-4 (.789) Season: 69-31 (.690) Week 5 podcast, a jumbo version, coming tomorrow. You could read these rankings ... or you could just throw all the Central Section teams in a hat and pick a few winners each week. No, seriously, read them. And it's not like there were that many upsets last week. But when Stockdale — No. 5 in last week's rankings — can't put away unranked Centennial after getting out to a huge lead and Bakersfield — No. 7 — turns the ball over six times but still manages to beat No. 13 Liberty, you know things are funky. Heck, even Fresno-Edison, pretty much a unanimous No. 1, was sloppy in dispatching No. 2 Clovis-Buchanan. So take these rankings as a starting point, and not much else. 1. Fresno-Edison (5-0, Div. II, last week: 1) — Beating No. 2 by a couple of touchdowns is great, but it also raised a few questions about Edison in the middle of the game. Questions aren't good when your every move is being dissected by the CIF's state bowl committee. 2. Visalia-El Diamante (4-0, Div. II, last week: 3) — Don't think many thought Division II would take the top two spots midway through the season, but they continue to impress while others falter. 3. Clovis-Buchanan (3-1, Div. I, last week: 2) — The Bears had a chance in the second half against mighty Edison. Now, one breather before jumping into Tri-River play. 4. Clovis West (2-2, Div. I, last week: 8) — This is where the rankings get jumbled, but Golden Eagles deserve credit for in-section victories against Liberty and Bullard. 5. Stockdale (4-0, Div. I, last week: 5) — Whether it's a lucky streak, a matter of scheduling or some kind of close-game excellence, the Mustangs are now the only unbeaten Division I team. 6. Fresno-Bullard (3-2, Div. I, last week: 4) — Knights couldn't pull off a sweep of the Clovis Unified School District; next tests are Sanger and Edison in Weeks 8 and 9. 7. Clovis East (3-2, Div. I, last week: 6) — Wacky rankings punish Timberwolves for pounding Modesto-Davis, but Clovis West had to squeeze somebody down. 8. Bakersfield (2-2, Div. I, last week: 7) — Drillers looked bad, bad, bad for about three and a half quarters against Liberty; now comes news that Alfonso Jackson is out at least a week. 9. Tulare Union (4-0, Div. II, last week: 9) — Is it too early to look ahead to Halloween showdown with Delano? Tulare's consistency has been remarkable. 10. Exeter (4-0, Div. IV, last week: 10) — Here's a good argument: Which is the stronger league, the Central Sequoia, with Exeter, Dinuba, Kingsburg and CVC; or the South Sequoia, with Bakersfield Christian, Taft, Tehachapi and Arvin? 11. Bakersfield Christian (3-1, Div. V, last week: 11) — Eagles have a couple more chances for Carr and Co. to pad stats before business begins against Tehachapi on Oct. 24. 12. Sanger (3-2, Div. II, last week: 12) — The last big out-of-section game for the Valley comes with a chance for some serious respect for the Apaches. 13. Hanford (4-0, Div. III, last week: 14) — Only two Division III teams remain unbeaten, and they won't meet until playoff time. Meanwhile, the Bullpups have El Diamante on the slate for Week 9. 14. Highland (4-0, Div. III, last week: 15) — Two shutouts in a row shows Scots' D is for real; can they avoid a letdown against feisty Rams? 15. Corcoran (4-0, Div. V, last week: NR) — Speaking of shutouts, the Panthers haven't allowed a point all year. Shoot, if they can blank Fowler this week, the streak might go on all year. Dropped out: No. 13 Liberty Predictions coming tomorrow, podcast Thursday, what we're all waiting for Friday. October is the most wonderful time of the sports year, with baseball playoffs beginning (we have a certain staffer at The Californian, who shall remain nameless, who says the baseball season doesn't begin until October), basketball and hockey season getting ready to go, and of course football. The air cools, the games get more important and playoff chases start. My Missouri Tigers got a big win last night, one that will let me dream of championships for at least another week, and that was the case for several area teams too. — Bakersfield High quite frankly might have saved its season with a fourth-quarter comeback against Liberty to win 17-10. Yeah, the Drillers are only 2-2, but the first two losses were out-of-league and early, painful but sustainable. This one would have been a crippling defeat in the league race and in Division I seeding, and BHS was able to get away with victory even though it probably was outplayed. — Sure, it was exciting, but Stockdale's 45-44 victory against Centennial raises one question: How long can the Mustangs walk this tightrope? They survived against Bakersfield with a surprisingly effective attack and when the Drillers self-destructed with penalties, then jumped out to a lead and held on against Clovis and did the same with Centennial. There aren't too many landmines left on Stockdale's schedule — Liberty and West stick out — but the Mustangs have a lot of improving to do if they want a good regular season to translate into playoff success. — This was mentioned in the comments of the Friday night thread, but it's worth talking about again: If North can limit its own mistakes, it could be a real factor in the league race. But the Stars can't seem to stay out of their own way. They survived against Frontier in a game they clearly deserved to win but could have let get away. This is what I mean when I talk about teams learning how to win. — Speaking of which, what a huge win for a Foothill team that has tasted success each of the last two years, and what a painful loss for South, which is looking to turn a corner. The Trojans won a pivotal game, 42-32, that will serve them well when playoff seeding is decided. — In another 2-1 vs. 2-1 game, Garces rebounded from a bad loss last week to nip Golden Valley 32-28. I'm still relatively new to the Kern County game, but I can see why the Rams have such a good reputation — they fight like hell and won't give an inch even when it seems like they're beaten. — Exactly how good is Highland? I could see the Scots getting to 7-0 or even 8-0, because they don't play SEYL royalty Liberty and Bakersfield until the final two games of the year. At that point, the Scots would be playing with tremendous confidence. Actually, they probably already are, considering they notched their second consecutive shutout, 23-0 against East. — West beat Ridgeview 28-7, and I think the Vikings are back on track. We'll know more after the next three weeks, when West plays at Frontier (well, away from home, anyway), home against North and at Centennial. Survive those three, and the countdown will begin to the game at Stockdale to end the season. — Desert won a, well, desert showdown against Boron, handing the Bobcats their first loss in a 56-40 shootout. Check out these stats: Israel Lucas ran for 253 yards and three touchdowns — for the losing team. Terrance Wells ran for two scores and threw for another for the Scorpions, who jumped to a 21-0 lead before Boron cut it to 35-34 after three quarters. Desert, the bigger school, pulled away to move to 4-1 two weeks before High Desert League play begins. — The South Sequoia League still is a couple of weeks off, but it looks like as good or better of a race than we thought in the preseason, even if Tehachapi, Taft and Bakersfield Christian all have losses. Arvin had a great win against Burroughs, 17-10, and BCHS pounded hapless Cambria-Coast Union. Meanwhile, Tehachapi broke a three-game losing streak at Rosamond. We know Taft is tough, and they get Tehachapi and BCHS at home. Still too close to call in my mind. In the mean time, here's a quick look at next week's best games: Central Section rankings will be posted Tuesday, with Week 5 predictions and podcast coming later in the week. Happy October, everyone. UPDATED, 12:04 a.m.: The full score list is below, but I'll pull out a couple you might be interested in: Stockdale 45, Centennial 44 — The Mustangs remain unbeaten by the skin of their teeth in what Californian staffer Simon Samano calls the best game he's ever seen. Stockdale scored on Malik Henderson's 5-yard reverse to take the lead with 17 seconds left before Centennial completed a Hail Mary as time ran out at the 9-yard line. Bakersfield 17, Liberty 10 — The second-craziest game of the night, but first place on any other Friday. The Drillers scored 17 unanswered points, all in the fourth quarter, including Craig McMahon's 36-yard field goal with 1:21 left to tie it, and then, after a Liberty interception, Alfonso Jackson's game-winning 4-yard TD run with 21 ticks to go. North 25, Frontier 20 — Julian Dean-Johnson had 283 yards! On 13 carries! Dean-Johnson scored on runs of 17, 69 and 70 yards, and the Stars hung on in the fourth quarter. Oh, and add this — Dean-Johnson scored on another 80-yarder in the second half that was called back because of penalty. Garces 32, Golden Valley 28 — Riley Scott scored on a 4-yard run with 2:23 to play to lift the Rams in a matchup of 2-1 teams. Foothill 42, South 32 — Lawrence Weldon made a name for himself with 200 yards rushing as Foothill also improved to 3-1. Highland 23, East 0 — Pat Su'a intercepted a ball on the game's second play and later blocked a punt and recovered a fumble as Highland throttled East. UPDATED, 8:51 p.m.: Liberty has a way on defense of making just about anybody look bad, and that's what the Patriots have done here at Griffith Field tonight. LHS struck with an early touchdown drive, then capitalized on an Alfonso Jackson fumble by adding a field goal for a 10-0 lead. ORIGINAL POST: Most teams classify each game on their schedule, as does the Kern High School District. Most of the classifications are nothing earth-shattering: A preseason scrimmage is denoted as "scrimmage," a league game as "league" and a playoff game as "playoffs" or "CIF." But what do they call the non-league games? Interestingly enough, they're denoted as "practice." I've always sort of disagreed with that notion, because those games sure as heck count on your record, to the fans and, most important, to the Central Section seeding committee. But if you do consider those games "practice," the real season starts tonight. Three league games a piece in each the Southeast and Southwest Yosemite League, as we'll have for each of the next seven weeks. Highlighting the slate are a couple of rivalry games, Liberty at Bakersfield and Stockdale at Centennial. A full schedule/score list is below, and like the past two weeks, I'll do my best to keep it updated as the night goes on. My Central Section rankings are in parentheses. The game of the week in the Central Section, obviously, is No. 1 Fresno-Edison against No. 2 Clovis-Buchanan. Both had big wins last week, with Edison blowing out state-ranked Merced and Buchanan coming to defending champion Bakersfield for a 41-34 victory. These two teams very well could be the Division I (Buchanan) and Div. II (Edison) section champs, so this might be your only chance to see which is better. My pick? Edison, like everyone else, though I'll bet Buchanan's passing game throws a few haymakers first. Kern County scoreboard (all games 7:30 Friday unless noted) Other Central Section scores Ladies and gentlemen, your Week 4 high school football podcast — the three-pronged version, with myself, fellow reporter Simon Samano and copy editor/designer/Kern County football guru Todd Camps. We'll have full coverage of Week 4 games in the paper tomorrow and Saturday, plus a running thread with updating scores (God and Internet willing) Friday evening. I did a little better in my picks last week, getting exactly two-thirds of the games right. Still not great, but I'm working on it, and at least I'm not in chicken-peck territory. I'll steal a feature from one of my favorite college football bloggers to recap last week's picks: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The Good: Picking West to upset Liberty; predicting Clovis would keep it close against Stockdale On to league play and the Week 4 picks: LIBERTY (1-2) AT BAKERSFIELD (1-2) — Could the Drillers really lose three games in a row? It could happen, if Liberty's defense slows down the BHS running game and the Drillers continue to kill themselves with penalties. For now, though, I'm sticking with BHS — and a third close loss for Liberty —for another week. One of these times, it'll pay off. STOCKDALE (3-0) AT CENTENNIAL (1-2) — The Golden Hawks finally turned the corner from "inexperienced" to "young and dangerous" last week when Cody Kessler threw all over the field and Centennial blew by East in the second half. Now comes the hard part: Keeping it going against quality league competiton. I'll bet Centennial wishes Stockdale, with its ability to run the ball, control the clock and play physical defense, wasn't first. HIGHLAND (3-0) AT EAST (1-2) — While East's difficult schedule continues, this might be Highland's biggest test. Then again, Arvin, Chavez and Ridgeview aren't total weaklings, and the Scots seem to have improved every week: From lucky to escape in Week 0 to controlling Ridgeview in Week 1 to a shutout in Week 2. After a bye last week, the trend continues. FRONTIER (2-1) AT NORTH (2-1) — The first of three 2-1 vs. 2-1 matchups in town pits a couple of teams with SWYL hopes. Both had a little air taken out of their balloons with losses their last time out, but the winner here can legitimately think about challenging Stockdale, West and Centennial in their wide-open league. Bad news for Frontier: They struggled with a smaller back against Exeter last week, and North brings thunder (Seth Vlach) and lightning (Julian Dean-Johnson) in the running game. GOLDEN VALLEY (2-1) AT GARCES (2-1) — I just have no idea what to make of Garces, which has won when I've thought they'd lose and lost last week when they thought they'd be easy winner. Meanwhile, Golden Valley has won both games it's been competitive in, losing 61-7 to Visalia-El Diamante. I think the Bulldogs will be in this one, too, but I'm going to say last week was an aberration for the Rams. FOOTHILL (2-1) AT SOUTH (2-1) — The Rebels opened the season with a disappointing loss at Golden Valley but has rebounded. Can they reach 3-1? Hey, it's possible, and Foothill hasn't been terribly impressive thus far. Time to call for a mild upset that I'm not sure we'll think of as an upset by year's end. DESERT (3-1) AT BORON (4-0) — Maybe the biggest game of the year out in the desert brings together a couple of big-time playmakers — Desert's Terrence Phillips and Boron's Israel Lucas — for what should be a high-scoring affair. It's amazing to think Boron has already defeated Rosamond and Kern Valley from the High Desert League, full of much bigger schools. Desert, however, is the class of the HDL, and they'll prove it. RIDGEVIEW (1-2) AT WEST (1-2) — Now that the Vikings have their first win, they can turn their attention to the league, where a 3-0 start is more than possible with Ridgeview, Frontier and North up first. None of those games is a true road game, either. Then again, this is mercurial West. Maybe it should take care of Ridgeview first, then think big. CAMBRIA-COAST UNION (0-4) AT BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (2-1) — Say a few prayers for the Broncos, who haven't come close to winning a game, got beat 63-7 by Fowler last week and have to face one of the section's best offenses this week. Derek Carr, Jake Peterson, Marcus Hall, et. al. will be on cruise control by halftime in their Homecoming game. BURROUGHS (3-0) AT ARVIN (1-3) — This is a pretty good chance to compare scores for South Sequoia League rivals Tehachapi and Arvin. Burroughs beat the Warriors 23-21 last week and now visit the Bakersfield area for the first and only time this season. Bears need to find an answer for sophomore QB Derrick Dison (664 passing yards, 8 TDs) and wide receiver Stephen Harlow (347 yards, 5 TDs, which both lead the county). DELANO (2-1) AT VISALIA-GOLDEN WEST (2-1) — There's a little bit of back-and-forth between the East and West Yosemite League in the center of the Central Valley, and right now, the WYL has all of the bragging rights. Just look at these teams' schedules: Golden West pounded Tulare Western and Delano lost to Hanford West. Tulare Union is the exception for the EYL, but even the Redskins were pounded when they played WYL champ El Diamante last year. This might be another chapter in WYL domination. TEHACHAPI (1-3) AT ROSAMOND (1-3) — The Warriors might be the best 1-3 team in the section — they've had an injury to top running back Adam Mullen and lost an overtime game and then two others by a total of three points. Tehachapi ought to get back on track this week against the Roadrunners. WASCO (2-1) AT CORCORAN (3-0) — Courtesy of freelance writer/blog reader Steve Lynch, Corcoran is 179 points up, 0 points down in three games this year. That's right. Nada, zilch, zero points allowed. Bold prediction: Not only does Wasco score, but the Tigers reach double digits. Not-so-bold prediction: That's not going to be enough. TULARE UNION (3-0) AT CHAVEZ (1-2) — Redskins haven't been tested yet, and it likely won't come this week. Chavez's offense has been paltry (38 points in three games) while Tulare's has been awesome (149 points). Sounds like a league-opening loss for the Titans. SHAFTER (0-4) AT WOODLAKE (3-1) — The Generals have been in some games for a while, but they've still got a long way to go. Woodlake, which should compete for a Division V section title, is not the place to go searching for win No. 1. Oh, and how about this statistical oddity: Shafter has lost twice in a row, to South and Foothill, by 49-14. MOJAVE (3-1) AT PASADENA-MARANTHA (3-0) — Mojave has looked good in every game thus far except when it stepped up to play Arcadia-Rio Hondo Prep in Week 1. This is a similar sort of opponent, maybe even better. ACTON-VASQUEZ (0-3) AT KERN VALLEY (2-2) — Little-noticed but surprising result from last week was how easily the Broncs handled Mammoth, 49-13. After you pencil Desert at the top, it's hard to predict how the High Desert League will fall, but I'm really beginning to like Kern Valley in the No. 2 spot. GILROY-ANCHORPOINT CHRISTIAN (2-1) AT LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN (1-2) — Anchorpoint has won a couple of eight-man-style shootouts in the past couple of weeks, and while Lighthouse has improved already, they don't have the firepower to keep up. MARICOPA (1-2) AT CLOVIS CHRISTIAN (2-1) — It might be time for another Clovis school to rule over the Central Section. But it might not be one of the teams you had in mind. VICTORVILLE-VICTOR VALLEY CHRISTIAN (2-1) AT IMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (2-2) — It's hard to believe the Crusaders will have just four games left after this weekend. Last week: 16-8 (.667) Season: 54-27 (.667) Check back tomorrow afternoon for a Week 4 podcast. |