I hope everyone out there in the School House Zach community and the high school sports world had a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. I'm writing from Illinois, where there's snow on the ground everywhere, not just in the mountains (well, OK, there are no mountains).

I just wanted to drop a line to say that, as expected, things have been slow-going on the blog the last week or two because of the all-area crush and the holiday season. If you haven't gotten a chance, check out The Californian's All-Area teams that have been unveiled this week, culminating with the football team and Derek Carr's Player of the Year selection on Sunday. Love the choices? Hate em? Who was the biggest snub? Let your feelings be known below.

And basketball fans, we haven't forgotten. Myself and copy editor/designer/Kern County basketball guru Ron Stapp actually had a podcast ready last week to post before I left town, but some techinical problems have prevented that from happening. As soon as I can, I'll post it. It'll be a little outdated (it's from the middle of the Garces Holiday Hoops Festival, and Liberty ended a wonderful week by beating the Rams on Saturday for the championship), but there's some good information from Ron and from my observations on some of the better hoops teams in Kern, so I still think it's relevant.

Anyway, things will be back to normal by this weekend. Until then, enjoy the New Year.

We've got the Sacramento-Grant—Long Beach-Poly Open Division state championship football game on TV here in the office, and it's a somewhat surprising 13-7 lead for Grant at the half. Maybe by the time I'm done with this all-encompassing football wrap-up, the game will be close to over. Maybe. I'll drag my feet. We'll see.

Here's a look at what happened in the four other state championships:

Division I: Corona-Centennial 21, Concord-De La Salle 16
Division II: San Diego-Cathedral Catholic 37, Stockton-St. Mary's 34
Division III: Ventura-St. Bonaventure 28, Santa Rosa-Cardinal Newman 6
Small Schools: San Juan Capistrano-St. Margaret's 59, Hamilton City-Hamilton Union 7

Not much to glean here from a Central Section perspective, but a few things stick out. First, if you want to know why no Valley teams have been selected for the bowl championships in their three years of existence, it's because Southern California has really, really good high school football. All four SoCal teams won those championships, and if Poly comes back against Grant, it'll be 5-for-5. If the Central Section were considered a Northern Cal section, there would be a few Central teams in there, though they'd have a tough time actually winning the bowl game.

So what happens when SoCal's best meets the Central Section's best? This year, we got a chance to find out. Corona-Centennial played at Clovis West, the eventual Division I Central champ, early in the year and thumped the Golden Eagles 42-7. That's  a pretty useful measuring stick, though it could be better (or maybe even worse) from year to year.

As for the smaller schools, I can't help but wonder where Bakersfield Christian would have fit in had it nine fewer students. That would have put BCHS' enrollment at 499 and made it eligible for the Small School championship. The Eagles would have gotten a long look, but after watching St. Margaret's demolish Hamilton, I don't know who would have won a game between those two — or whom the CIF would have picked for the bowl game. Either way, Hamilton wouldn't have stood a chance.

Now, to hone the focus back closer to home, let's take a quick look at each of the five playoff divisions and how they came out.

DIVISION I
Championship: Clovis West 24, Clovis East 7
It was pretty obvious from the get-go this year that there was no dominant team, and I think that's going to continue to be the case most years. Last year, Bakersfield made a run from the No. 3 seed to the championship, beating a No. 4 in the final; this year, Clovis West was No. 2, beating a No. 5. But those teams all were both able to prove that it's about who the hottest team at the end is.
This year, a lack of mistakes and an impregnable defense really helped Clovis West. When it came down to it, that defense could get a stop. They proved that in a tussle with Liberty in the quarterfinals and again in the semifinals against Fresno-Bullard, then never gave Clovis East much of a chance in the final.
As for the Kern County teams, it was a young year and the result, looking back on it, isn't all that surprising. But the three local quarterfinal losers — Bakersfield, Liberty and Stockdale — all bring back plenty of key parts to next year's teams, and Centennial will be much improved from this year's 3-7 version.

DIVISION II
Championship: Tulare Union 42, Visalia-El Diamante 33
I can't help but think no team around felt as good as Tulare did after winning its section title. The Redskins had been doubted all year long despite a gaudy unbeaten record and a bunch of blowouts. I was one of the doubters, to an extent, and I still think it was justified. El Diamante blew TU out in last year's final, then went and played a much tougher schedule while the Redskins did the same thing they did in 2007 — beat up a bunch of teams that didn't test them. Well, things turned around this year, and I could see it coming in the semifinals. D-II was a tougher bracket this year than last, and when Tulare beat Sanger with relative ease, that was the beginning of something. It continued the next week with a shootout win over El D, and now the folks in Tulare won't have to work so hard for their respect.
Meanwhile, no team faded faster than Fresno-Edison, which started out 5-0 with a couple of big out-of-section wins, a national ranking and state bowl talk. But things crashed down quickly. Edison got in academic hot water — with one of the school's math teachers saying a star player has his grade changed from an F to an A — and the Tigers drooped on the field, too, losing first to Clovis West, then to Bullard and then to El Diamante in a lackluster playoff performance that almost ended in Round 1.
As for the locals, North and Garces were better than expected and West probably was worse. Both teams had their moments — the Stars with an SWYL co-title and the Vikings with a scare of El Diamante in the playoffs — but neither really belonged in the upper echelon of D-II.

DIVISION III
Championship: Tehachapi 21, Hanford 14
When Tehachapi was busy starting the season an injury- and bad luck-riddled 1-3, then 3-4, you knew that was one school you couldn't count out yet. But did anyone really expect the Warriors to storm all the way to their second straight championship? By the end of the playoffs this was one of the eight or so best teams in the section, and that number maybe is even higher than that. Hanford was a great team that gave El Diamante a first-half run before star Cougar Williams was hurt, and the Bullpups couldn't dent Tehachapi (the Warriors had 7 more possible points wiped out when they ran out of time inside the 2-yard line at the end of the first half). Nobody, and I mean nobody in the entire section, wanted to play Tehachapi at year's end.
Elsewhere? Frankly, a lot of inconsistency and mediocrity. Well, Foothill got it together by playoff time for a third straight year, but I think it's safe to say this was the worst Trojans edition of those three. Dennis Manning's club never really got it together on offense. Neither did Highland, which showed a lot of early promise with its defense and then crashed against a back-loaded schedule. Golden Valley had its moments, including a big win against Bakersfield, but the Bulldogs had the bad fortune of running into Tehachapi in the quarterfinals. South made it to .500 for the first time this century, then wiped out against Delano in the first round of the playoffs.

DIVISION IV
Championship: Chowchilla 20, Kingsburg 0
With all the hubbub about the big divisions, Tehachapi's upset in D-III and Derek Carr's dealings in D-V, Chowchilla's run might get a little overlooked. It shouldn't. The other Redskins put the clamps on a Kingsburg offense that I thought was terrific two weeks earlier against Taft. The best team nobody knew about was waiting up in C-town.
All in all, this was a very balanced division. I loved Taft coach Steve Sprague's metaphor: His team, and you can throw Arvin in here too, was a "light heavyweight." They were fine against other light heavyweights, but when it came time to play push and shove with the true heavys — Chowchilla, Kingsburg, Visalia-Central Valley Christian and Exeter — it was too much to handle.

DIVISION V
Championship: Bakersfield Christian 49, Corcoran 27
Pretty much the only thing that was going to stop BCHS from winning this bracket was a natural disaster, and it nearly happened. The fog that probably helped Tehachapi against Hanford was a brutal detriment to Derek Carr, Jake Peterson and crew a few miles to the southwest last Friday night, and they came up with their worst statistical performance of the season. But the Eagles still had far too many weapons for any other small school out there.
I have not yet joined the popular opinion out there that Bakersfield Christian needs to move up divisions. Could this year's BCHS team have won Division IV, or even III? Absolutely. But year in and year out? I think that's asking a bit much, when you don't always get a senior transfer from Texas with an NFL pedigree.
That said, most years Corcoran would be going wild celebrating a section title right now. I feel bad for those guys, who were 12-0 coming into that game. But that's the breaks.

Now, here's a final look at my Central Section rankings — minus the usual witty commentary and insight that your intelligent and faithful blogger usually provides (see that? I make myself sound good even as I'm doing less work. Pretty neat, huh?). No really, I just don't know that anything about these teams can be said that hasn't already. And to make up for it, I'm doing a top 20 instead of the usual top 15:

1. Clovis West (10-3, Division I, previous ranking: 1)
2. Tulare Union (13-0, Division II, previous ranking: 4)
3. Fresno-Bullard (9-3, Division I, previous ranking: 2)
4. Visalia-El Diamante (11-2, Division II, previous ranking: 3)
5. Clovis East (9-4, Division I, previous ranking: 5)
6. Clovis-Buchanan (9-3, Division I, previous ranking: 6)
7. Liberty (7-4, Division I, previous ranking: 7)
8. Bakersfield Christian (12-1, Division V, previous ranking: 9)
9. Tehachapi (10-4, Division III, previous ranking: 15)
10. Fresno-Edison (9-3, Division II, previous ranking: 10)
11. Hanford (11-2, Division III, previous ranking: 8)
12. Stockdale (8-3, Division I, previous ranking: 11)
13. Bakersfield (7-4, Division I, previous ranking: 13)
14. Chowchilla (12-1, Division IV, previous ranking: NR)
15. Sanger (7-6, Division II, previous ranking: NR)
16. Corcoran (12-1, Division V, previous ranking: 12)
17. Oakhurst-Yosemite (8-4, Division III, previous ranking: NR)
18. Kingsburg (11-2, Division IV, previous ranking: 14)
19. North (8-3, Division II, previous ranking: NR)
20. Visalia-Central Valley Christian (9-3, Division IV, previous ranking: NR)
Others: West, Golden Valley, Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial, Delano, Exeter

And, finally, I'll evaluate my own predictions. I was a lousy 1-3 in the final four section championships, but that leaves me with a 183-70 mark, which is a healthy .723 percentage. Here's to a better next year. Stay tuned to the blog for all things high school sports — basketball, wrestling, soccer, baseball, softball, track, whatever it might be.

And what do you know? Long Beach-Poly rallied but gave up the lead. Sacramento-Grant wins 25-20 in the Open Division state championship bowl game. That makes it only 4-for-5 for the SoCal schools, and that makes it a wrap for 2008 high school football.

Yes, thank you very much, I enjoyed my mini-vacation to the coast this weekend. Rained a bit, but I'll bet it was nicer there than it was — well, than it was pretty much anywhere else.

But I'm back. And I'm rested. And I'm, uh, going on vacation again next week! But in the meantime, I'm working on All-Area teams. And blogging about holiday tournaments.

The biggest three local tournaments in the early part of the winter season are the Coyote Classic at East for wrestling, the Garces Holiday Soccer Festival (and when I say "biggest," we're talking 176 teams here) and the Garces Holiday Hoops Challenge for boys basketball. Stockdale also has its girls basketball tournament next week.

Let's go through each one:

— The Coyote Classic is the only one of the above three that's completed. Frontier won the tournament in handy fashion, with 263 points to Liberty's 155.5, Foothill's 148.5 and Corona-Centennial's 142. Nice result for the Titans, who look like they have the best wrestling team in town other than you-know-who. Yep, Bakersfield High is young, but they're loaded again. But you can see from the linked story that the Titans want to get that level.
They're getting there, but it's a tough hill to climb. Frontier won Saturday with only one individual champion, Lance Casteneda at 152 pounds. That's reminiscent of last year, when the Titans won the SWYL but then didn't qualify a single individual for the state tournament. I think they'll be a great dual team and get a few there this year.
Speaking of BHS, the Drillers are hosting a huge intersectional dual this weekend, against Vacaville at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Other championship results from the Coyote:

103: Gabriel Navarette, Dinuba, dec. Julio Gonzalez, East, 7-6
112: Marc Collier, East dec. Jeff Lanier, Liberty, 8-1
119: Cesar Sanchez, Porterville, pin Torrey Casper, Frontier, 3:41
125: Pedro Gonzalez, East, dec. Jared Steinbach, Tehachapi, 7-2
130: Luis Tamayo, Arvin, pin Matthew Johnson, Porterville, 3:34
135: Greg Kapler, Liberty, pin Sean Schiller, Corona-Cent, 5:06
140: Seth Hicks, Bak-Centennial, tech fall Machi Sanchez, Foothill
145: Martin Cueto, Liberty, dec. Austin Ballard, Bak-Centennial
152: Caseneda, Frontier, maj. dec. Ernest Marquez, Foothill, 8-0
160: Dalton Endes, Centennial, pin Angelo Gonzales, Fresno-Central, 3:15
171: Javier Sanchez, Ridgeview, pin Tim Baca, Frontier, 2:26
189: Chaste Harrell, Corona-Cent, dec. Rodolfo Juarez, Fresno-Central, 4-1
215: Noel Gomez, Chavez, dec. David Ali, Porterville, 6-3
HWT: Antonio Hernandez, East, pin Christopher Sizemore, Liberty, 0:24

— The soccer festival kicks off Friday, and this is one festival that will be a spectacle (sorry, I couldn't help myself). One hundred seventy-six boys and girls teams, most of them varsity, though that counts a few JV squads. The Premier Divisions host the teams we'll be hearing about all year — the Golden Valleys, Libertys and Wests on the boys side and the Stockdales, Bakersfields, Libertys and Highlands on the girls side — and all of those games are played at Kern County Soccer Park. But the action isn't limited to the Kern River Valley. There's Gold Division games at BC, plus Silver, Bronze and even Iron Division games, plus the JV action, at high schools around the city, plus CSUB and a few stray parks, Chances are, if you take a wrong turn on the way home, you'll end up in the middle of a pitch.
Local teams to keep an eye on include Golden Valley's boys, who have started 10-0-1 but drew a tough Fresno-Central squad in the first round Friday, plus the others that I mentioned above. Wasco's boys and the Frontier and Garces girls are likely the class of the gold brackets.

— As for the hardwood, I'm not as impressed by the Garces Hoops Challenge field as I was last year, when a couple of Southern Section powers rolled into town. I'm sure that has to do with travel budges and the fact that this year's tournament straddles Christmas — it starts Monday and Tuesday, then concludes Friday and Saturday — but there still is some good action to be seen. The list starts with Garces, which lost an overtime game in the Clovis West Nike Invitational to eventual champion Corona-Santiago, plus a few relatively close games against Southern Section powers like Moreno Valley-Rancho Verde and Long Beach-Poly. Stephon Carter and crew will be tested in their home tournament by Madera Ranchos-Liberty and Bakersfield's Liberty, plus maybe Sanger, Ridgeview, Stockdale or Fresno-Washington Union.

I'll check back with a football recap after this weekend's state championships are finished, and after this weekend, it'll be time to spread some sweet soccer knowledge. And early next week will bring .... drumroll ... The Californian's first winter sports podcast.

Ladies and gentlemen, I humbly present the final Californian football podcast of the season. Listen here, download to iTunes and listen on your way to the game tomorrow. It's all there for you.

UPDATED, 11:42 p.m.: It's repeat night for the South Sequoia League. Bakersfield Christian, as expected by some, went up to Corcoran and put a big number on the undefeated Panthers despite fog so think you couldn't see the stadium lights until you were right beside it. And Tehachapi, a few miles to the west, in the same fog, came back to beat Hanford in what sounded like a scintillating title game. Tulare Union and Chowchilla won the Division II and IV championships, respectively.

Bakersfield Christian 49, Corcoran 27: The Eagles won their second straight title (and this one was a bit easier than last year's 35-34 overtime tilt against Fowler) by proving that they have too many weapons to defend. Jake Peterson, though his 35 receiving yards was enough to give him the single-season Kern County record, and Derek Carr, who had 168 yards and two touchdowns but also two interceptions, gave way tonight. It was the Christian Taylor show instead. The shifty back ran for 206 yards and four touchdowns, including an 80-yarder that gave BCHS the lead for good in the second quarter. The Eagles defense also deserves a lot of credit. Brent Botill had 275 yards rushing for Corcoran, but a lot of them didn't amount to points — he had 173 at halftime but the Panthers had scored just once. And BCHS had stops on three straight possessions in the third quarter while the offense was running away with the game.

Tehachapi 21, Hanford 14: Among Tehachapi's 10 section titles, I'd imagine this one ranks somewhere near the top. To go on the road to a team that was a solid Division II team last year and erase a 14-0 deficit despite throwing away points at the end of the first half is a fantastic story. Tehachapi came from the No. 6 seed and won three of its four playoff games on the road against the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds. Adam Mullen again was the star, rushing for two touchdowns, including the game-winner with 6:05 to play. Mullen had 159 yards rushing, Josh Strauss had 164, and the Warriors are winners again.

UPDATED, 8:10 p.m.: It's halftime in the valley of the mist, and BCHS leads 14-7. Christian Taylor broke a tie early in the second quarter with an 80-yard touchdown run, even though I couldn't see the last 60 yards of it. I'll just have to believe the crowds' cheers on that one.
Corcoran is selling out to stop Derek Carr, and, combined with the fog, it's working wonders. Carr is 4-of-16 for 53 yards with an interception, though he's been victimized by some drops also.
Elsewhere, in the D-III game, Tehachapi trails by the same score, 14-7, at Hanford. My spies there tell me the Warriors had the ball inside the 2-yard line late in the half but came away empty-handed because they had no timeouts and quarterback Kurtis Knudson tripped on the final play of the half. That sort of thing could decide a championship. So could the fog. Derek Carr is frustrated, you can tell from the sideline, and i don't blame him. But BCHS is dealing with it as best it can. We'll see what happens, and I'll check back after the game.

UPDATED, 6:52 p.m.: Bad news, Bakersfield. The fog is so thick here in Corcoran that I'll have to walk the sideline to keep stats, which means no live updates until halftime or after the game. Or until the fog clears, but fat chance of that. Check back in an hour or so and I'll hopefully have a halftime update.
By the way, the fog obviously favors Corcoran in this game. Bakersfield Christian wants to wing it around, and that's hard to do if you can't see the ball or the player you're throwing it to. About six minutes from kickoff. Here we go.

ORIGINAL POST: The last day of the season? It's here. Four champions? We'll have 'em by 10 p.m. And we're all over it.

First, to get you warmed up, check out features on the Bakersfield Christian offensive star who's not a household name (yet) and on Tehachapi's much longer road to a championship this year. If you're thirsty for some knowledge on the non-Kern County games, check out these links for stories on the Division II title game and the Division IV game.

You can also listen to The Californian's final high school football podcast of the year, in which myself and Todd Camps discuss all four games in detail. (It was up late, so if you missed it, make sure you go back and listen.)

And, for you Tehachapi and Bakersfield Christian fans, know thine enemy. Hanford has a guy who literally gets everyone to call him Cougar, and Corcoran has some pretty good weapons too.

When you're done with all that reading, come back here and make School House Zach your headquarters before, during and after the championship games tonight. I'll have a live blog from BCHS-Corcoran and will be getting detailed updates from Tehachapi-Hanford as well. All four championship scores will update throughout the night in the list below.

All games kick off at 7 p.m.

Division I
(2) Clovis West 24, (5) Clovis East 7 (last week)

Division II
(1) Tulare Union 42, (2) Visalia-El Diamante 33

Division III
(6) Tehachapi 21, (1) Hanford 14

Division IV
(2) Chowchilla 20, (4) Kingsburg 0

Division V
(2) Bakersfield Christian 49, (1) Corcoran 27

Division VI
(4) Tranquillity 30, (2) Orange Cove 26 (last week)

After a perfect week last week (granted, it was just 5-for-5), I take a stab at the last four Central Section games of the season.

Bonus picks this week of the Divisions II and IV championship games — and barring any unforeseen miracles, that will be it. If Bakersfield Christian had nine fewer students, its enrollment would be less than 500 and we'd be talking about the small-school state championship, but in Division III, the Eagles likely are down the pecking order 5 to 10 spots.

A couple of housekeeping notes: There will be a podcast up tomorrow, the last football one of the year. After that, I'm hoping to start on some basketball/wrestling podcasts and keep them going throughout the school year, but the blog in general will slow down just for a week or two while I take some much-needed vacation. I'll try to update as much as possible on All-Area selections as they're released and on some winter sports goings-on, but it won't be a daily thing again until January.

A look back at last week:

The Good: Picking Tehachapi to upset Oakhurst-Yosemite and Bakersfield Christian to rout Fowler

The Bad: Thinking Clovis East could keep it close in the Division I championship

The Ugly: Nothing really, though I thought Foothill would keep it closer, and it took me three weeks to finally predict Mojave's demise correctly

Friday, Dec. 12
DIVISION III
TEHACHAPI (9-4) AT HANFORD (11-1) — I'm not headed to Hanford for this one, but I wish the two Kern-related championship games were different days or something, because this'll be a doozy. Hanford has pitched two straight shutouts of Kern County teams, including a 24-0 win against Foothill last week, breaking the Trojans two-year streak of finals appearances. Now the Bullpups will try to take down defending champion Tehachapi. I will guarantee that the Warriors won't get shut out — their offense is rolling behind triple threats Adam Mullen, Josh Strauss and Kurtis Knudson — but I don't know if they can score enough points to give Hanford a real scare. Then again, the Bullpups only beat Yosemite 19-14 early in the season. Tehachapi beat the Badgers 62-41 last week. In the end, though, give a nod to Hanford, the best D-III team all year long, in a close game, with a late turnover to give it some slight breathing room.
Prediction: Hanford 33, Tehachapi 24

DIVISION V
BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (11-1) AT CORCORAN (12-0) — This is probably the first time since the Central Section split its playoffs into divisions that the Division V game is the headliner. Part of that is that the D-I game was played last week, but part of it is the teams involved. BCHS truly would be the favorite to represent Southern California in the CIF's small-school division, but that's the breaks, and 508 kids means 508 kids. Still, that's how good this team is. Corcoran, of course, didn't allow a point for the first four games and was really only tested once in its first 12 games, a surprising dogfight against Lindsay. The Panthers will surely be tested Friday, though, and they'll be lucky to survive the first half still in the game. It's like I've been saying the past two weeks: Corcoran is a Division V team, and none of these D-V teams have seen anything like BCHS in years.
Prediction: Bakersfield Christian 48, Corcoran 21

And the bonus predictions ...
DIVISION II
VISALIA-EL DIAMANTE (11-1) AT TULARE UNION (12-0) — This was a similar showdown last year, of course, the battle-tested, one-loss Miners against the undefeated but unproven Redskins. The result? 63-14, in favor of El Diamante and its strong schedule. Will anything change this year? Well, the section has flip-flopped and rewarded Tulare Union with the No. 1 seed and the home-field edge, for one thing, and I think the Redskins have a better team overall. Enough for a 49-point turnaround, I don't know. Either way, this one will be fun to watch, with perhaps the section's best two running backs, El D's Stefphon Jefferson and TU's Jontell Reedom.
Prediction: El Diamante 42, Tulare Union 37

DIVISION IV
KINGSBURG (11-1) AT CHOWCHILLA (11-1) — It's nice the way these championships have set up, with the matchup you'd most like to see  — and, in every division except I, not a rematch — coming to fruition. This one will come down to Kingsburg's prolific offense, led by dual-threat QB Tyler Bray, against Chowchilla's stalwart defense, which has given up more than 17 points just three times — and won all of them. I'm going to regret this, because I'm in doubt and should just go with the home team, but I loved what I saw from Bray and Co. a couple of weeks ago against Taft. It's the Vikings in a back-and-forth barn-burner. MIght it come down to a two-point conversion?
Prediction: Kingsburg 29, Chowchilla 28

Last week: 5-0 (1.000)   Season: 182-67 (.731)

A little late-night blogging for some late-season football rankings, with championship week left:

1. Clovis West (10-3, Division I, last week: 1) — What a culmination for the Golden Eagles in the Division I championship game: A stifling defense shut down a good offense, and CW got enough big plays on offense to run away with this one. Truly the best team in the Central Section this year.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 2 Clovis East, 24-7. THIS WEEK: season over

2. Fresno-Bullard (9-3, Division I, last week: 3) — Take out the Knights' two games against Clovis West, and they were 9-1 with a more-than-respectable loss to Orange-Lutheran out of the Southern Section and victories against Clovis East, Buchanan, Edison, Bakersfield and Sanger. But Bullard will have to be content to be No. 2 this year.
LAST WEEK: season over

3. Visalia-El Diamante (11-1, Division II, last week: 4) — I was tempted to move Tulare Union ahead of the Miners, but it's not like a win against Edison, even in a struggle, is something to sneeze at. And until El D falls to Tulare, I'm not going to forget about last year's D-II final.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 8 Fresno-Edison, 21-15. THIS WEEK: at No. 4 Tulare Union

4. Tulare Union (12-0, Division II, last week: 5) — Yes, the Redskins needed to battle to get by Sanger. But so did nearly everyone who beat the Apaches. And an 18-point victory actually is pretty impressive. It easily speaks more of TU than any of the other 11 wins.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Sanger, 38-20. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 3 Visalia-El Diamante

5. Clovis East (9-4, Division I, last week: 2) — Another team foiled by Clovis West — two of four losses are to the Golden Eagles — but I expected the Timberwolves to put up a better fight than that in the final.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 1 Clovis West, 24-7. THIS WEEK: season over

6. Clovis-Buchanan (9-3, Division I, last week: 6) — There was a time I thought Buchanan was the hands-down favorite to win the section. If the Bears had stayed healthy, they might still have been.
LAST WEEK: season over

7. Liberty (7-4, Division I, last week: 7) — Expect The Californian's All-Area team to be littered with defensive players from Liberty. Remember when the Patriots were supposedly in the running for Derek Carr? Yeah, they'd have been scary.
LAST WEEK: season over

8. Hanford (11-1, Division III, last week: 9) — The Bullpups will have their hands full with No. 6 seed Tehachapi in the section championship. But it's safe to say they've found the going easier than last year, when they lost to Tulare Union in the D-II quarterfinals.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Foothill, 24-0. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 15 Tehachapi

9. Bakersfield Christian (11-1, Division V, last week: 10) — I'd like to see the Eagles take on Westlake Village-Oaks Christian at the end of the season instead of the beginning. I don't think they'd turn a 35-7 loss into a win, but I guarantee it'd be closer.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Fowler, 62-20. THIS WEEK: at No. 12 Corcoran

10. Fresno-Edison (9-3, Division II, last week: 8) — Going from dominant to ordinary isn't always easy, but the loss of Rolando Jefferson and some big-time attrition seems like it's done that to the Tigers. In the end, this team was about as good as last year's.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 4 Visalia-El Diamante, 21-15. THIS WEEK: season over

11. Stockdale (8-3, Division I, last week: 11) — It's worth repeating: Mike Snow did a hell of a job with the Mustangs, taking a team that was 2-8 last year, lost some talent and installed a brand-new offense and turned it into 8-2 with a league championship and a playoff game.
LAST WEEK: season over

12. Corcoran (12-0, Division V, last week: 12) — We'll find out very quickly whether Corcoran really deserves a top-15 spot or if it's just another Division V team. The Panthers need to be more than that if they're going to compete with BCHS.
LAST WEEK: won vs. SLO-Mission Prep, 49-10. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 9 Bakersfield Christian

13. Bakersfield (7-4, Division I, last week: 13) — I swear I didn't mean it to come out this way, but I've given Kern County the 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 spots in this week's rankings. Odd place, isn't it?
LAST WEEK: season over

14. Kingsburg (11-1, Division IV, last week: NR) — A pair of wins against CVC and an impressive beatdown of Taft a couple of weeks ago has made a believer out of me. I'll take the Vikings to win the D-IV championship on the road.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 14 Visalia-Central Valley Christian, 14-13. THIS WEEK: at Chowchilla

15. Tehachapi (9-4, Division III, last week: NR) — Nothing against Chowchilla, which fell out of the rankings, but I felt the Warriors deserved a spot after a 110-point effort the past two weeks against good teams. Can they stun Hanford? Not likely, but I wouldn't want to play this team right now.
LAST WEEK: won at Oakhurst-Yosemite, 62-41. THIS WEEK: at No. 8 Hanford

Dropped out: No. 14 Visalia-Central Valley Christian, No. 15 Chowchilla
Waiting: Chowchilla, Sanger, Visalia-Central Valley Christian, Oakhurst-Yosemite, North, West, Golden Valley, Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial, Delano

In the middle of high school football playoffs, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that winter sports have also begun, and, actually, are humming right into league play this week.

In basketball, these early-season tournaments and non-league games are often the key to a nice run when things really count — or not. Soccer doesn't have enough weeks after holiday break to finish the league season before the postseason begins, so it sneaks one in before finals. And wrestling matches are equally important all season long for seeding purposes later in the year. I haven't actually seen any teams in action from winter sports, thanks to all-area business and football playoffs, but I'm going to tell you what I've gleaned about basketball from talking to coaches and looking at box scores.

First off, on the boys side, Garces is the real deal. The Rams beat Fresno-Washington Union by 38 and won close games against Clovis and defending Division II section champion Fresno-Edison up at Clovis West's Nike Invitational last week. Their only loss was in overtime to Corona-Santiago, which went on to beat Clovis West by three in the championship. Safe to say that Garces and Clovis West, last year's Division I runner-up, would have played a close game had they met up.

Remember, Garces itself is up to Division II this year, so the going will be tough, even though the Rams return the key triumvirate of wing Stephon Carter, forward Chris Dixon and guard Ryan Bush. Not only has Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial, Garces' rival and longtime nemesis, moved up as well, but now the teams that have long dominated D-IV have to deal with teams like Edison, East, Lemoore and Liberty.

Speaking of the Patriots, a disappointing and injury-riddled 12-16 last year, including 3-9 in the SEYL and a first-round playoff loss, look like they've done a complete 180. Calen Coleman and Westin Hill have averaged double figures thus far, and Cody Darling and Jeff Hicks are close as Liberty has opened with some big out-of-town wins against L.A.-Crenshaw, Atascadero and Mill Valley-Tamalpais.

Back in town, Bakersfield High dominated Ridgeview's season-opening tournament, beating Lemoore, Ridgeview, Highland and Sanger. The Drillers have added a solid nucleus from their elite junior-varsity team of last year — get used to hearing the names Tim Billingsley and Cody Stapp — to add to a returning corps led by forward Dijon Henry.

Ridgeview will be a favorite in the SWYL along with Centennial and Stockdale. The Wolf Pack, led by Kaylin Evans on the inside and Trey Wesson on the outside, will also be a big threat to win Division III after dropping from D-I last year. As for Centennial and Stockdale, they'll be led by a couple of youngsters. Junior Jordan Burris is averaging 23.8 points a game on 52-percent shooting for the Mustangs, and sophomore point guard Cody Kessler, averaging 20.3 points and 7.0 assists a game. All three of those teams have just one loss.

Bakersfield Christian, which will be led by Marcus Hall once he's done with football, will likely be the class of the South Sequoia League and a threat to win a section title, even though they've moved up to Division IV.

This week is a good time to start paying attention to basketball, too. Fourteen local teams are playing in the Kern Schools Shootout starting Wednesday at North and Bakersfield High, plus defending Division I champion Clovis East. BHS, Liberty, Centennial and Stockdale are all on the Bakersfield High side of the bracket, with East, Clovis East, North, Golden Valley and Porterville-Monache on the North side.

I'll try to get to a girls hoops preview later in the week, and soccer and wrestling will be along too, hopefully before Christmas.

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

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

Let's start in Kern County.

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

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

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

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

UPDATED, 11:41 p.m.: Offense carries the night in Kern County. With Bakersfield Christian, of course, that's the routine. Derek Carr threw for 417 yards and six more touchdowns tonight. I wrote that so non-chalantly that it makes me feel dirty. Let me try again: FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTEEN YARDS AND SIX TOUCHDOWNS!!!!

Bakersfield Christian 62, Fowler 20: It wasn't entirely a rout from the start, as Fowler actually stopped BCHS three-and-out on its first drive and then went down and scored rather easily, with Jose Mendez toting 33 yards for the score and the 6-0 lead. But once BCHS got rolling, there was no stopping it. Christian Taylor 1-yard TD run. Jake Peterson 71-yard punt return. Carr 64 pass to Marcus Hall. Carr 43 pass to Peterson. Carr 19 pass to Colby Herron. Carr 25 pass to Peterson. Halftime, finally. Carr 13 pass to Herron. Carr 13 pass to Peterson.
Are you kidding me? This offense was moving so well that's hard to imagine anyone shutting it down completely. I know Oaks Christian beat BCHS 35-7 in Week 0, but I'd sure like to see that game again, now that Carr has the hang of this spread attack. I'd put a lot of money down (if that sort of thing were legal, of course), that the Eagles would score more than 7. Up next is Corcoran, which is 12-0 and has had a nice season. But yeah, the nice part is going to end, I think, and that's a non-partisan opinion.

Tehachapi 62, Oakhurst-Yosemite 41: Adam Mullen is making his case for one of the most valuable players in Kern County. He had 195 rushing yards, 108 receiving yards and six total touchdowns in the Warriors' road upset in Oakhurst. That's 10 touchdowns in two weeks for Mullen, about the best you can do this side of Derek Carr.
The other story here was turnovers, just like Warriors coach Steve Denman said it would be. Tehachapi had six takeaways and converted most of them into points, giving the Warriors a chance to defend their Division III championship next week against...

Hanford 24, Foothill 0: Not much room for the Foothill offense to move. Lawrence Weldon finished with just 52 yards rushing, and Matt Guerra had 20 yards passing. That's not going to get the job done, but then that's why Hanford is the No. 1 seed. That sets up an intriguing final next week, with Tehachapi's suddenly explosive offense taking on a Bullpups team that doesn't allow a lot of yardage.

In other news, which you can see in the score list below, Clovis West was crowned the Division I champion with a 24-7 victory against Clovis East, and Tulare Union and Visalia-El Diamante set up a rematch in the D-II final next week. Something tells me it'll be different from El D's lopsided win last year.

UPDATED, 9:04 p.m.: Derek Carr just threw his sixth touchdown pass, matching his output from last week, a 13-yarder to Jake Peterson that gave him 404 yards on the night. I hope, for the sake of Fowler, and sportsmanship, that that's the last pass Carr throws tonight. BCHS leads 62-14 as the third quarter comes to a close.
In the meantime, it looks like Foothill, down 21-0, has put up a fight at Hanford but won't have enough offense to pull off an upset. Might it be Tehachapi at Hanford for the D-III title next week?

UPDATED, 8:30 p.m.: Carr has 290 yards and four touchdowns passing at halftime. Ho-hum. Just another day at the office, right? BCHS leads it 41-6 as we kick off the second half. Jake Peterson has 124 of those yards and two scores, and Marcus Hall has 91 yards and another score.
More interesting news elsewhere. Tehachapi has roared back from an early deficit and leads Yosemite 34-20 at halftime.
If there aren't many more updates, it's because my fingers are cold. Eh, I'm a trooper, I'll get you another.

UPDATED, 7:46 p.m.: Fowler Redcats, meet Derek Carr. He's the guy who just lasered a couple of perfectly placed passes, first to Marcus Hall and then to Jake Peterson, for touchdowns of 64 yards and 43 yards. It's now 27-6, and the Eagles are not disappointing. Both balls were put exactly where the receivers could make a play after the catch. Both ran across the face of the secondary and then freely up the right sideline.
On defense Christian Taylor had an interception in the red zone for BCHS. Fowler is really up against it now. A score on this drive certainly would help.

UPDATED, 7:25 p.m.: After some temporary technical issues, I'm up and running here at what Bakersfield Christian has taken to calling the Eagles Nest.
Not an auspicious start for the Eagles, though, as Fowler forced a three-and-out and then marched down the field behind running back Jose Mendez, who scampered for a 33-yard touchdown to give the Redcats the lead.
But BCHS has responded, scoring to take a 7-6 lead on a balanced drive that ended with Christian Taylor's 1-yard plunge, and then, just now, extending the lead to 13-6 on Jake Peterson's 71-yard punt return for a TD. Fowler needs to make this a shootout, so this is an important possession.

ORIGINAL POST: Anyone up for an encore?

Tonight brings a rematch of perhaps last year's most exciting football game. Bakersfield Christian went up to Fowler, fell behind 28-6 by halftime before rallying for a dramatic 35-34 overtime victory for the title.

This year's version comes in the semifinals, with No. 1 seed Corcoran likely waiting for the winner in the championship. The other big difference? This guy named Derek Carr, who will pass the 3,500-yard mark early in the Eagles' first drive and still has a good chance at a 4,000-yard, 40-touchdown season.

Oh, and if you didn't hear, Carr got some good news about his college team of choice this week.

In other area games, it's Foothill at No. 1 seed Hanford and Tehachapi at No. 2 seed Oakhurst-Yosemite in Division III. Might BCHS be the only Kern County team left in the Central Section playoffs by 10 p.m.? Find out by keeping your mouse on the refresh button. I'll have live updates (internet willing) from Bakersfield Christian as well as scores from Hanford and Oakhurst, plus updates on an intriguing Division I final and Division II semifinals.

Central Section scoreboard (all games 7 p.m.) (seeds in parentheses)
Division I championship
(2) Clovis West 24, (5) Clovis East 7
Division II semifinals
(1) Tulare Union 38, (5) Sanger 20
(2) Visalia-El Diamante 21, (3) Fresno-Edison 15
Division III semifinals
(1) Hanford 24, (4) Foothill 0
(6) Tehachapi 62, (2) Oakhurst--Yosemite 41
Division IV semifinals
(4) Kingsburg 14, (1) Visalia-Central Valley Christian 13
(2) Chowchilla 26, (6) Fresno-Washington Union 17
Division V semifinals
(1) Corcoran 49, (4) SLO-Mission Prep 10
(2) Bakersfield Christian 62, (3) Fowler 20
Division VI championship
(4) Tranquillity 30, (2) Orange Cove 26

Southern Section scoreboard
Northeast Division semifinals
(4) Riverside Christian 34, (16) Mojave 7

After some more technological hand-wringing on my part and a very big assist from The Californian's photo/video department, we have a workable podcast once again. It's semifinals time, ladies and gentlemen.

With the football season winding down, I'd like to take this chance to remind you (sounds like a Public Service Announcement, doesn't it?) that this blog does have year-round service. Football, I think, is the sports fan's entreé, but I will be here through Kern County basketball and wrestling in the winter and baseball, softball and track in the spring and through — well, through whatever I (and you) want during the summer until football starts again. So don't go away when things on the gridiron are settled.

That said, there's still some settling to be done. Four Kern County teams are still alive in postseason play: Bakersfield Christian, Tehachapi and Foothill from the Central Section and Mojave from the Southern Section. After four section champs called Kern home last year, it's down to slim pickins.

But — because there are only those four games to predict this week, I'm going to add a bonus prediction of the Division I Central Section championship between Clovis West and Clovis East. Keep in mind, since I've seen the teams a combined one time, this is only an educated guess ... eh, who am I kidding, they're all educated guesses. Anyway, I'll try my hand at predicting all four of the section finals next week, also.

First, a glance back at last week:

The Good: Picking Foothill to knock off Highland again; predicting the end of the road for North and Taft; calling on Tehachapi to win the Sleeper Game in Division III

The Bad: Expecting West High to get beat down by El Diamante — the Vikings very nearly pulled it off.

The Ugly: I've been surprisingly good on the Southern Section for most of the year, but picking Boron and not Mojave to reach the Northeast Division semifinals left me 0-for-2 there last week.

On to this week:

Friday, Dec. 5
DIVISION III
FOOTHILL (6-5) AT HANFORD (10-1) — There are two schools of thought, I think, surrounding the Trojans this year: One, they've been playing up and down but will kick into another gear and make a playoff run like they have the past two years, or two, Foothill isn't as good as it has been under Dennis Manning and the Trojans struggle whenever they step up to a truly tough test. The truth, as it usually does, probably lies somewhere in between, though it's true Hanford is a tougher opponent than Foothill had in either of its semifinal victories from the past two years. Can the Trojans hang with a balanced Hanford offense in front of what should be a noisy, hostile crowd?  Sorry, but Foothill hasn't showed me enough to make me a believer. Hang around for a while, sure. But the No. 1 seed is too tough.
Prediction: Hanford 38, Foothill 10

TEHACHAPI (8-4) AT OAKHURST-YOSEMITE (8-3) — Here's betting Steve Denman and company broke out some Bakersfield Christian game film this week. The Eagles are the only team Tehachapi has faced that throws the ball nearly as much as Yosemite will try to do Friday night. The bad news is, the Warriors didn't do a great job against BCHS, allowing more than 400 passing yards in a 42-35 loss.
The good news? Yosemite doesn't have Derek Carr at quarterback, and the weather in Oakhurst, I've heard, isn't always pleasant in December. The forecast looks nice for Friday night, but I'm thinking Josh Strauss and Adam Mullen might do a little running around anyway. It takes quite a bit of moxie to knock off the defending champions, unless you're clearly the better team. I'm not so sure Yosemite is.
Prediction: Tehachapi 33, Yosemite 28

DIVISION V
FOWLER (10-1) AT BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (10-1) — Looking at what Fowler lost and returned from last year, I don't think the Redcats are quite as good this time around, but it's not really fair to say. Bakersfield Christian, and probably Corcoran too, have ratched up the Division V level of competiton two or three (or 12) notches, so that a Fowler team that's gone 10-1 is completely under the radar.
That could be a scary thing for the Eagles. Teams like that tend to play better than what you bill them for, so I think the Redcats can come down and give BCHS a good battle for two or three quarters. But I don't think there are many teams in the state that can shut down Derek Carr, Jake Peterson and the Christian offense, and even with the aid of some good offense and a few turnovers, that wears on you. Fowler will eventually be buired.
Prediction: Bakersfield Christian 41, Fowler 17

SOUTHERN SECTION
NORTHEAST DIVISION
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN (11-1) AT MOJAVE (7-5) — Probably a good time to point out that The Californian will no longer be delivering papers to the east side of Kern County — Mojave, Boron, Ridgecrest, Cal City, etc. The cost of driving them out there was simply starting to outweigh the subscription and advertising benefits, so there goes that. I will say, though, that for you east-siders, School House Zach won't be closing its doors. We'll continue to preview and predict games for those teams here.
That might be a bad thing for me, seeing as Mojave continues to surprise and impress. The 16th-seeded Mustangs beat Saddleback Valley Christian in Round 1 and then took out Yermo-Silver Valley last week. Opponents are getting better and better, so it'll be interesting to see how far Mojave can keep it going.
Prediction: Riverside Christian 37, Mojave 21

And for your bonus prediction...
DIVISION I
CLOVIS EAST (9-3) VS. CLOVIS WEST (9-3) AT CLOVIS HIGH — Somehow, it seemed inevitable that this would be an all-Clovis Unified affair. The Timberwolves and Golden Eagles have been the most consistent section teams all year long, and it's probably fitting that they've made it to this showdown.
Clovis West beat Clovis East 19-14 in the teams' first meeting (a result I incorrectly reported in this week's podcast that will be released tomorrow), which brings to light an interesting point: They say it's difficult to beat a good team twice in the same year, but every example I can think of in the Valley this year has gone against that principle: West took out Garces twice but lost to El Diamante twice. Clovis East beat Buchanan twice. Foothill beat Highland twice. The list goes on and on.
Is there any evidence here to suggest we'll finally see a reversal? Well, some. Clovis East can run the ball on anybody, and a couple of big plays would put a sometimes-stagnant Clovis West offense in a pickle. But I'll say defense gets it done. Clovis West in a classic.
Prediction: Clovis West 23, Clovis East 20

Last week: 8-2 (.800)   Season: 177-67 (.725)

The worst fears of Kern County football fans have more or less been confirmed this year, with all but one of the teams thought to be the best around have been eliminated by the playoffs' third week. Most of that carnage happened in Division I a couple of weeks ago, but D-II lost North and West last week, and Golden Valley and Delano exited D-III as did Taft in D-IV.

What's left? Just three: Tehachapi, Foothill and Bakersfield Christian. Can't say that any are a surprise in the divisions they're in — Tehachapi and BCHS will be mainstays in their divisions for years to come, and Foothill, so long as it stays down in D-III, looks like that too.

So I'll trudge ahead with these rankings, ones that have shown throughout the year how the strength of the section this year lies northwards. It won't always be that way — wasn't last year, might not be next year — but 2008 is the year of Fresno-Kings-Tulare Counties.

Let's examine:

1. Clovis West (9-3, Division I, last week: 1) — Somehow, throughout a couple of lopsided losses to Southern Section powers, I never lost faith that this would prove to be the section's best team by the end. One more win, in a second straight 1 vs. 2 matchup, proves it.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 2 Fresno-Bullard, 24-21. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 2 Clovis East

2. Clovis East (9-3, Division I, last week: 4) — Bullard's loss and El Diamante's scare against West give the Timberwolves the No. 2 spot, setting that nice-and-neat showdown at the top. Maybe the BCS should take notes. I'll have a bonus prediction of the game in tomorrow's post.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 6 Clovis-Buchanan, 28-20. THIS WEEK: at No. 1 Clovis West

3. Fresno-Bullard (9-3, Division I, last week: 2) — I've been told the Knights play with a big-time chip on their shoulder against any of the Clovis Unified teams. It worked for them for much of the year but not quite come semifinal time.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 1 Clovis West, 24-21. THIS WEEK: season over

4. Visalia-El Diamante (10-1, Division II, last week: 3) — Here's betting I'm not the only one who feels less confident El D will roll Tulare Union or Edison if/when the teams get there. The Miners can't turn the ball over against Edison like they did against West.
LAST WEEK: won vs. West, 42-31. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 8 Fresno-Edison

5. Tulare Union (11-0, Division II, last week: 5) — Slowly, slowly, the Redskins have crept up these rankings with rout after rout. Easily the season's toughest test comes this week, though, as TU tries to remain one of two unbeaten section teams.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Fresno-Hoover, 49-6. THIS WEEK: vs. Sanger

6. Clovis-Buchanan (9-3, Division I, last week: 6) — No need to punish Bears after they fell behind against Clovis West, then rallied to give the Golden Eagles their second straight scare, all without starting QB Lance Orender.
LAST WEEK: lost vs. No. 4 Fresno-Bullard, 28-20. THIS WEEK: season over

7. Liberty (7-4, Division I, last week: 8) — Patriots move up a spot even though they're done playing. This is partly because of Edison's struggles and partly because I think the other teams on this list are glad Liberty's not still in the title discussion.
LAST WEEK: season over

8. Fresno-Edison (9-2, Division II, last week: 7) — The Tigers can regain the spot they lost and more with a win against El Diamante, but last week's escape just goes to show that compared to early this season, Edison is a shell of itself.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Fresno-SJ Memorial, 7-3. THIS WEEK: at No. 4 Visalia-El Diamante

9. Hanford (10-1, Division III, last week: 9) — I wrote last week that the Bullpups couldn't fall asleep against Delano. Looks like Red Bulls were handed out before the game. Now it's Foothill's turn to enter the den.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Delano, 48-6. THIS WEEK: vs. Foothill

10. Bakersfield Christian (10-1, Division V, last week: 10) — I read something from Andy Boogaard of The Fresno Bee a few weeks ago I thought was apropos: Teams in Division V are going to quickly find out that BCHS is on a different level than what they're used to. Parlier realized that about three minutes in last week. Fowler, you're up next.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Parlier, 52-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Fowler

11. Stockdale (8-3, Division I, last week: 11) — I'll throw this out there because they're ranked right next to each other: Wouldn't it be fun to see BCHS play Stockdale? Or the Eagles against any of the big teams in town? Not going to happen, because most year BCHS wouldn't compete and the big schools have nothing to gain, but for this season, it'd be a blast.
LAST WEEK: season over

12. Corcoran (11-0, Division V, last week: 12) — It's got to be getting to the point where Corcoran and BCHS are rooting for each other, doesn't it? I mean, not getting to settle their season-long arguments — who's disrespecting whom, who deserved the higher seed and most important, who's going to win — would be like Christmas without a tree.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Madera Ranchos-Liberty, 28-17. THIS WEEK: vs. SLO-Mission Prep

13. Bakersfield (7-4, Division I, last week: 13) — The more you think about it, the more BHS probably was over-hyped this year (I know, yours truly was culprit numero uno). The Drillers lost their quarterback, most of their offensive line and their top two receivers — who happened to be two of the best athletes in the section. A few struggles should have been expected.
LAST WEEK: season over

14. Visalia-Central Valley Christian (9-2, Division IV, last week: 14) — Cavaliers' defense makes them the toughest draw in D-IV. I don't mean to say they'll definitely win the whole thing, but you'll have bumps and bruises after playing. Just ask Arvin.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Arvin, 34-8. THIS WEEK: vs. Kingsburg

15. Chowchilla (10-1, Division IV, last week: 15) — D-IV is going to be very, very fun, because you can throw three of the remaining four teams in a hat and pick one out — these two, plus Kingsburg. It's too bad Exeter was shocked by Fresno-Washington in the other quarter, because the Monarchs would have made it a four-way toss-up.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Kerman, 28-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Fresno-Washington Union

Dropped out: none
Waiting: Kingsburg, Sanger, Tehachapi, Oakhurst-Yosemite, North, West, Fowler, Golden Valley, Foothill