I was out at North Kern Golf Course today covering a Southeast Yosemite League mini-tournament, and as I was leaving, the Highland golfers were piling into their team van to head back down into town in the parking space next to mine.

Right before the door closed, one of them (it was dark in there, but I think it was Matt Hammons, though it could have been Sean O'Leary, a golfer who's also a Highland wide receiver) shouted my name out and asked me my prediction for the Arena Bowl on Friday.

I know I did predictions for every high school football game in the county last fall, and I plan to do the same thing in 2009. But for some reason, I hadn't thought about doing a prediction for Kern County's yearly indoor senior all-star game.

So when asked, I paused, then said "55-37." The obvious retort was, "55-37 for who?"

That's the tough part. I paused again, then blurted out "East side, baby!" causing the Highland van to erupt in cheers. Made some guys happy, that's cool. But will the East really win? Let's examine the game:

First off, if you want to consult rosters, they're here.

The East's strength lies in its speed — North's Julian Dean-Johnson and Golden Valley's Byron Newman are burners, in the mold of West's Ryan Mathews and East's Andre Smith, who ran the opening kickoff back in the past two Arena Bowls. If somebody does that for the East side, it's gonna be one of those guys.

The East also has the game's best defender in Highland's Patrick Su'a (along with O'Leary, the reason all those Scots were cheering in the van) and some unheralded players on the line like Arvin's Travis Hicks, Foothill's Angel Posadas and North's Ruben Suarez.

But the size advantage in this game goes to the West. They've got 330-pounder David Born from West, 285-pounder Yannis Mallory from Ridgeview, 210-pound WR/QB Jake Peterson from Bakersfield Christian, plus big receivers like West's George Robbins and Stockdale's Chris Bowie, etc, etc.

I asked each coach, North's Mark Camps for the East and South's John Wren for the West, what he thought his side needed for a win after a couple of weeks of practice. The answeres were predictable: Camps said his team needed to protect against the West's size, and Wren said the West needed to avoid letting Dean-Johnson and Newman make plays in space.

If this were a normal football game, I'd go with the West, hands down. Size on the lines would be too much. But the confined arena game — both in space (narrow, 50-yard field) and in alignment (rules prohibit having more than three offensive linemen) — favors speed, and I think the East has a bit more. Let's make it 55-47, but I'm sticking with the East.

On Saturday, in honor of the NFL draft, we detailed what a draft of Kern County's best seniors might look like if college teams were drafting them.

Today, the question is what a high school team would do for next season if the Kern High School District conducted a draft of all of the underclassmen football players in the city. What would the top 10 look like?

I'm going to give it a shot, but keep in mind this is really difficult to do, partly because not a lot of underclassmen get playing time, and partly because we don't really know who the best juniors will be, considering some of them played on JV teams last year and didn't have their names in the paper.

Here goes (all grades are what the player was this past year):

1. Cody Temple, soph DL, Liberty — I am really high on this kid after watching a few Patriots games in the last half of last year. He lived in the backfield in an upset win against Stockdale and was as big a reason as anything for Liberty's second-half resurgence. And he's just going to get bigger and better.

2. Cody Kessler, soph QB, Centennial — Even in the midst of the Golden Hawks' dismal season, Kessler showed his stuff with his arms and his legs. And if you take him with the first pick, you get a guy to lead the offense for the next two years. Plus, he'd help the basketball team a bunch in the winter! (not that that was considered for this draft)

3. Matt Darr, jr LB/P, Frontier — The most highly touted recruit to come through Bakersfield in years, Darr has nine scholarship offers from places like USC, LSU, Alabama and Arizona State to be a Division I punter. But he was also good enough at linebacker (93 tackles, 8 sacks) to be on the All-Area team for that.

4. Tyler Dogins, jr RB/DB, Ridgeview — Keep your eye on this lightning bolt, whose season was overshadowed a bit because the Wolf Pack struggled. He was a play-making machine on offense and on defense, where his pick-six keyed Ridgeview's upset of Stockdale.

5. Peter Welsh, jr, FB/LB, Bakersfield — There will always be a place for solid two-way players in high school football, and Welsh is among the best in town. At times, he was actually the Drillers' most effective runner last year — teams were worried about the raw outside speed of Jerek Johnson and Alphonso Jackson, but Welsh just went straight ahead and carved out yardage. He was probably even better on the defensive end, where he paced BHS' formidable defense.

6. Malik Henderson, jr RB/LB, Stockdale — Really, you could put Henderson or backfield mate Spencer Prince (also a junior) here, because they're both going to have huge years in a system like the Mike Snow's. Henderson averaged nine yards every time he ran the ball, and he caught six passes for 95 yards to boot.

7. Duane Seaton, jr OL/DL, Stockdale — Seaton probably is the area's most proven returning lineman, so let's use this pick to get some girth. Actually, Seaton only weighs 190 pounds, but he's savvy enough to make the running game go for the Mustangs.

8. Dylan Finch, jr QB, Golden Valley — After the loss of Byron Newman, the Bulldogs will need to air it out next year. Luckily for coach Erich Smith, they've got the man to do it. One of Bakersfield's most prolific passers over the past two years returns to rain down passes again.

9. Emilio Cantu, OL/DL, Bakersfield — This past fall, Bakersfield brought back experience at the line and young skill positiions. This year, it'll be the opposite, so the Drillers will really count on Cantu to provide production on the defensive line.

10. Cody Shirreffs, RB, Taft — Could the Wildcats emerge as the team to beat in the SSL? Tehachapi and Bakersfield Christian both lose the bulk of their stat-makers from last year, so Shirreffs probably is the league's head-liner. He's good for a 1,200-yard season, at worst.

OK, let me have it. Who did I forget? How would you change the order? Excited for next year yet?

So I was partaking today in a great American tradition — sitting on the couch with a frosty beverage in hand (Coke, in my case today) with the NFL draft on the tube — when I actually stopped vegging out and got to thinking: What if college teams had to draft players instead of recruiting them?

It's not feasible, of course, with thousands of high schools spread throughout the country and multiple levels of play in college, but it's a fun idea. What if we confined it to Kern County? If you were a college coach, which senior would you take with your first pick? Who would make your top 10? Your top running back taken?

For a pool of players, let's use the Arena Bowl rosters from the senior all-star game that takes place May 1 (six days from today) at Rabobank Arena, adding a few guys who aren't playing in the game for various reasons — West High quarterback Ben Jarvis, Highland offensive lineman Jordan Austin, Stockdale running back Stephen Silva, Liberty defensive lineman Trent Eskew, Liberty linebacker Angelo Ornelas and Golden Valley defensive back Michael Pulley.

Make your picks and leave 'em in the comment thread below, and we'll come up with a consensus top 10 in a few days. Also, tomorrow, we'll do Day 2 of the high school draft by coming up with a top 10 of returning players — i.e., if you were starting a new high school in Bakersfield and could pick any 10 returning players, who would you draft?

For now, here's my senior top 10:

1. Derek Carr, QB, Bakersfield Christian — Well, duh. Carr has the body and the arm and the smarts and the pedigree to be a college star. Don't be surprised if the guy's starting as a true freshman for Fresno State next year (right now, he's one of three candidates).

2. Patrick Su'a, LB, Highland — Another Fresno State recruit who was a blast to watch with the Scots. The guy was literally everywhere. I don't think three plays went by without him streaking to the sideline or into the backfield to make a tackle.

3. David Born, OL, West — Every team needs beef inside, and no senior in town offered more than Born, who had offers on the table from Pac-10 and Big 12 schools before he waited too long, so those scholarships offered elsewhere and ended up at Sacramento State.

4. Jake Peterson, WR, Bakersfield Christian — A playmaker of the highest order, though it remains to be seen if Jake would be a great receiver without Carr throwing to him. We won't know for a while, either, because Peterson is going to walk on at Fresno State where he hopes to get some playing time with Carr. Remember, before Carr arrived, he was athletic enough to be a pretty darn good high school quarterback. We might see him in that role in the Arena Bowl, especially if Jose Ramos is injured.

5. Byron Newman, RB, Golden Valley — No disrespect to the defensive guys on the board, but there are some playmakers in this player pool. Newman is a horse — he carried more than 30 times in a game for the Bulldogs more than once — with breakaway speed.

6. Brache Hayes, LB, West — This is the type of guy college coaches love to have — quick enough to where he could probably drop back and be a dynamite safety, big enough to where he could hit the weights and the protein and become a defensive end, or good enough to mature into an all-conference linebacker. The upside with this pick is tremendous (wow, I think I've been listening to Mel Kiper too much).

7. Tevin Jackson, DL, Bakersfield — I want some muscle on my line, and Jackson offers it on the defensive front. Remember, there were (some) times this year when the Drillers' defense was downright dominant, and Tevin was a big reason for that.

8. Ben Savaii, OL, Taft — Using this pick on some more girth. One of the reasons high school coaches rave about Savaii is that he weighs 250 (with a frame that can hold more weight), and he moves his feet incredibly well.

9. Trent Eskew, DL, Liberty — Could have gone with teammate Angelo Ornelas here or with Bakersfield Christian's Ryan Boschma, but I love Eskew's big frame and — get ready for another Mel Kiper word — neverending motor. Should be a sack machine after we bulk him up during a redshirt year.

10. Jose Ramos, QB, South — Never underestimate the power of a dual-threat quarterback in college. Ramos won at a high school that didn't see a lot of victories before he got there, and he's good enough to win somewhere in college, should he get the chance.

Guys who would go in the next 10 picks (alpha order): Jordan Austin, OL, HIghland; Ryan Boschma, DL, Bakersfield Christian; Chris Bowie, WR, Stockdale; Julian Dean-Johnson, RB, North; Adam Mullen, RB, Tehachapi; Angelo Ornelas, LB, Liberty; Daniel Swainston, OL, Liberty.

What gesture shows the most respect? Is it a bow? A salute? A blog post? Whatever it is, we owe it to Anna Jelmini, because the Shafter throwing standout, her of the double state championship last year, is at it again.

Today at the Triton Invitational in San Diego, Jelmini tied the national high school record with a discus toss of 188 feet, 4 inches. The mark equals what Suzy Powell of Modesto-Downey threw during her senior year, 1994.

That's the national high school record. As in, the whole country. As in, never been bettered anywhere, any time.

Powell has gone on to compete in three Olympics. Jelmini has already competed in a junior world championships and is a junior national champion in the shot put.

Folks, do yourself a favor and get out to see Anna at one of the few meets you'll be able to see her again in town. The SSL meet is scheduled for Cal State Bakersfield (though I hear the throwing events might be moved to the nicer facility at Shafter) on May 5. If you can't see her there, try to make it up to Clovis-Buchanan on May 20 for the Central Section meet or on June 5-6 for the state meet. She really is something special, and she's right here in Kern County.

The last coaching vacancy in Kern County for the year was filled today, with Foothill calling up defensive line and wide receivers coach Mike Gregg to the big-boy job.

I chatted with Gregg and Foothill athletic director Kevin Platt earlier today, and both sounded pretty excited about the opportunity that Gregg is getting. He's pretty raw, compared to a lot of the coaches around town — he's had five years as an assistant at Shafter and Foothill, just two of them as a coordinator. He played baseball, not football, in college. And he's just 38 years old.

But before you write this off as a desperation hire (it is awfully late in the spring to be hiring a new coach, not that that's Foothill's fault), remember that Gregg will bring some continuity to Foothill — and that's a good thing when the Trojans have had more success in the past three years, with 21 wins and two Division III Central Section championship appearances, than they had in the previous 10 years combined. Gregg has coached the past three years and watched how experienced head men like Dennis Manning (who left the school for Ridgeview), Kevin Sneed (who followed Manning) and Jim Maples (former East coach) organized and coached. He can draw from the best of all three.

Gregg said he'd be the team's defensive coordinator and keep Foothill's 50 front D in place. As for the offense, whether Manning's Wing T will be kept depends on what Gregg's offensive assistants are comfortable with. As of Wednesday night, he was fairly certain on who those would be but wanted to confirm the positions with Foothill before he disclosed any names.

— In other coaching news, one section powerhouse will be run by an interim coach this year. Clovis East's Tim Murphy is taking the year off to spend time with his family, according to this Fresno Bee story. Ryan Reynolds, one of Murphy's assistants, will take over for 2009.
This is definitely an unusual move, though I don't see any reason to believe there's anything else going on here than what Murphy says about his family up front. And while Reynolds will run the same system Murphy had in place, it's going to be a bit scary for the Timberwolves to be without a coach who's 77-22 in eight years with two Division I section titles, two runner-up finishes (including last year) and six TRAC titles and who has never lost consecutive games.
What does this mean for the Kern locals? Might open a door for someone like Bakersfield or Stockdale to take a step in the playoffs against an inexperienced coach. Then again, it's the same system, same players and mostly the same coaches.

It's funny: With high school athletics and demographics the way they are, you can usually tell if a school is going to hit the ground running with its sports teams. Frontier, says anyone you ask, is going to be a powerhouse at some time or another. That's why the Central Section put the Titans (along with even newer school Independence) in Kern County's power league with Bakersfield, Centennial, Liberty and Stockdale, all schools that have had sustained success, and why it's putting Mira Monte in a "lower" league.

But even those schools that you think will eventually contend for league and section titles in many a sport (like the Bakersfields and Libertys and Stockdales) are going to have a few growing pains. They start with just a freshman and small sophomore class, then get a varsity year with only three classes, then one with a small senior class — where Frontier is now. In girls sports, where freshmen and sophomores are already fully developed physically, competitiveness tends to happen faster than in boys sports. But either way, a program needs a signature win before it can really put itself on the map.

That happened for Frontier twice today. The Titans' softball team was good; everybody knew that. But they hadn't had a win to show the section that they'll be a force to be reckoned with — a win over another top-10 team, say — until a few weeks ago, when they beat a young Stockdale team. Today they cemented that with a thrilling, come-from-behind, 2-1 victory against Centennial at home. Megan Sweet singled home Traci Schnaidt with the winning run and Tayler Ward out-dueled Ensley Gammel for victory.

That's pretty good for Frontier, which celebrated like it had won a section title — and in essence, maybe it had with a victory over the defending Division I champs. Even better for the Titans is that a few hundred feet away, the school's baseball team was putting a beating on perennial power Centennial in a game that finished 12-1.

Frontier already owns a couple of wins against Liberty and now has a signature league victory behind Blaine Ontiveros' pitching; two doubles, four hits and four RBIs from Mike Polley; and four more RBIs from Luke Pomases.

Neither one of these teams may win their league (they probably won't, if you take a look at the standings) or the Division II section this year (they'll both contend), but if both programs take a few more steps and start competing with the section's Division I powers on a regular basis, you can bet they'll look back on Tuesday with pride.

Speaking of which, now that league play is back in full swing, I'll make up some new baseball and softball rankings at the end of this week.

The Kern High School District waited until after spring break to fill its open positions, so it come as no surprise that this week has seen two football coaching jobs open. A day after Dennis Manning left Foothill to coach Ridgeview, Shafter has hired Garces freshman coach Ben Ansolabehere as its head coach.

Ansolabehere has never been a varsity head coach, but he has nearly 20 years of experience as an assistant, including five in the 1970s at Shafter. He's also been an assistant at Las Vegas-Bishop Gorman and at East High under Rick Van Horne, Steve Napier and Jim Maples from 1998-2005 before he moved to Garces for the '06 season.

He's an interesting choice but one that just might work for Shafter. The Generals have been down in the dumps a little bit, and Ansolabehere, even at age 59, looks like he has the fire to get something started.

My personal opinion is that Ansolabehere might be keeping the Shafter job warm for a younger guy like Rickie Ishida, a Shafter player who graduated a few years ago. An experienced guy like Ansolabehere could start a turnaround and groom a younger guy until he's ready to retire a few years from now. At least that could be the plan. In the meantime, Ben Longlastname will just be a nightmare for our headline writers here at The Californian.

That leaves one job open in Kern County, that at Foothill. It's getting late in the game now (with summer workouts just a month or so away), so I'd expect the Trojans to move as quickly as possible on that one. I'll bet we hear by the time the Arena Bowl is played in two weeks.

Also, a quick baseball note regarding the "showdowns" I was touting at the beginning of the week. Liberty pounded East today, 15-0. The Patriots got back-to-back-to-back home runs in a six-run first inning by Chris Neal, Cody Bryan and Jordan Howard. Liberty led 10-0 after two innings, hit seven home runs in all (including two from Neal) and held East's previously potent offense to two hits behind a complete game from Howard. Pretty impressive stuff on the road from the Pats. This comes on the heels of Stockdale's 14-1 beatdown of Centennial in my other "showdown" on Tuesday. Shows how much I know (or else it just shows how well Stockdale and Liberty are playing right now).

This is the second part of a rare April treat: a two-part football blog. Catch the first half, a note on rosters for the annual Arena Bowl all-star game, at this link.

Dennis Manning, the coach responsible for turning around Foothill's program in the past three years, has moved to Ridgeview, another program in need of uplifting.

Manning was a wee bit squeamish on the phone with me today when I asked him a few (what I thought were) innocent questions. He said the move from Foothill was for "personal reasons" and that he hopes it works out well for both schools and his family. Usually in this situation, a coach will just say how much better of an opportunity he has at the new school, or how it's easier on his family or something. It's hard to ignore the fact that there was tension between Manning and Foothill's administration last year.

Anyway, the point is that Ridgeview is getting a guy who has proven to be a heck of a coach who really knows how to put together a staff. He had two former area head coaches, Jim Maples (formerly of East) and Kevin Sneed (West) on his staff at Foothill. Sneed will follow him to Ridgeview. From talking to Foothill athletic director Kevin Platt, it sounds like Manning's third assistant, Mike Gregg, is staying at Foothill for the time-being (might be a candidate for the Trojans job). No word on Maples, who I think will also be a candidate at Foothill.

Foothill was 9-41 in the five seasons before Manning arrived. He went 21-17 in three season, taking the Trojans to the Division III Central Section championship game twice and as far as the semifinals this past year.

Ridgeview went 10-3 under Mike Crews in 2005 but slipped to 5-6 the next year and is 3-18 over the past two seasons — though this year's 2-9 effort was littered with heart-breaking losses. Crews resigned this past winter.

It'll be interesting to see if Manning can work some magic again — again, he didn't sound terribly excited about the job, saying more than once simply that it was "a new challenge." I'll bet he warms up to it eventually and the Wolf Pack make a run at a .500 record or better next fall.

I also think this makes the SWYL tougher. Seems like every program in that league has a top-notch coach who's happy in his situation and has some talent to go with it. The SEYL (and even the SSL in the past two) has been the better league in recent years, but that might change before too long.

Will keep you updated on the Foothill opening and that at Shafter, the other school still searching for a head coach.

This is the first of a rare April treat, a two-part football blog. Catch the second half, on Dennis Manning's move from Foothill to Ridgeview, at this link.

I caught the press conference today where the rosters and coaches were announced for the eighth annual Arena Bowl, Kern County's indoor football senior all-star game, which will take place at 7 p.m. May 1 at Rabobank Arena.

The rosters are split into East and West teams, which are pretty well geographically aligned — the SWYL teams minus North are in the West, along with Liberty, Bakersfield Christian, Taft and Shafter, and the SEYL teams minus Liberty are in the East, along with North, Wasco, Arvin and Tehachapi.

The coaches are North High's Mark Camps for the East and South High's John Wren for the West, two guys who took stagnant programs and had terrific seasons this past year. North beat South in the Civil War game this year, so Wren will try to get a revenge of sorts at Rabobank.

Both teams look loaded with athletes — Byron Newman, Julian Dean-Johnson, Patrick Su'a, Noel Lopez to name a few for the East, and Jose Ramos, Jake Peterson, John Wimberly, Ben Savaii, Chris Bowie for the West. Pretty sure they'll be fast action and lots of points in this one.

Hard to tell who has the advantage in this one, though I'm leaning towards the East, especially because Wren said Jose Ramos is battling a knee injury and is questionable for the game. Take a look at the rosters below and give your prediction:

EAST
Coach: Mark Camps, North
Matt Guerra, Foothill
Byron Newman, G. Valley
Garrett Pierce, East
Patrick Su’a, Highland
Edgar Contreras, Arvin
Riley Scott, Garces
Lawrence Weldon, Foothill
Garrett Coontz, Tehachapi
Nick Salvucci, Garces
Noel Lopez, Arvin
Alex Mitchell, Bakersfield
Ruben Suarez, North
Adam Mullen, Tehachapi
Josh Strauss, Tehachapi
Matthew Macanas, Chavez
Julian Dean-Johnson, North
Aaron Brown, North
Brandon Grider, East
Tevin Jackson, Bakersfield
Brandon Core, North
Andrew Fanucchi, Garces
Andrew Putman, Garces
Angel Posadas, Foothill
Travis Hicks, Arvin
Anthony Perez, G. Valley
Sean O’Leary, Highland

WEST
Coach: John Wren, South
Dion Curry, West
Colton Schmidt, Liberty
James Armenta, South*
Derek Carr, BCHS*
Demarques Sanders, West
Amandeep Singh, Delano
Christian Taylor, BCHS
John Wimberly, Wasco
Jake Peterson, BCHS
Ethan Fausto, Frazier Mtn.
Blayne Davidson, South
Brett Wallace, Centennial
George Robbins, West
Jose Ramos, South
Ryan Roman, Frontier
Levi Chavez, South
John Manuel, Frontier
Brache Hayes, West
Patrick Allen, BCHS*
Kiefer Davenport, South
Ben Savaii, Taft
Terrell Moya, South
Shane Sefo, Taft
Daniel Swainston, Liberty
Blake Walker, Frontier
Kyle Starr, West
Yanis Mallory, Ridgeview
Ryan Boschma, BCHS
David Born, West
Jordan Green, Stockdale
Chris Bowie, Stockdale
* — honorary member

The first baseball showdown of the week was today at Centennial, and though I told you to get there early if you wanted a seat and yada, yada, yada, that wasn't the case, because there was a nasty wind blowing and even a little rain falling at the beginning of the game.

At Centennial, it seems like whenever there's a wind, it's always blowing out of that small ballpark, and Tuesday was no exception. The flag was rippling stiffly out to left field, which made me figure that when Stockdale's K.C. Hobson hit a two-run blast in the first inning (though that one was a moonshot to right and would have been out of any high school park in America), that it would only be the first blow in a game full of runs.

That was true to an extent, but it was Stockdale that did all the punching. The Mustangs, to continue yesterday's boxing analogy, scored a third-inning knockout of Centennial and cruised to a 14-1 win. Hobson hit another home run, this one somewhat wind-aided, in the third inning to make it 5-0 and to start an eight-run inning for Stockdale.

It was a day to forget for Centennial, which couldn't even get its bally-hooed offense going against a banged-up Stockdale pitching staff. Hobson (blister), Philip Valos (hip) and Shane Kotz (inexperience) all overcame an ailment to combine limiting Centennial to five hits. Kotz, a side-armer who looks ready to slide into the ace's role when Hobson and Valos graduate, didn't allow a hit in three innings of work.

And so Stockdale has a two-game edge on Centennial in the loss column in the SWYL standings and a bunch of momentum heading into this week's later game with North (one league loss to Centennial) and then the second half of the league season.

Very impressive stuff from Stockdale today, all around.

High school sports aren't normally the most predictable thing under the sun, but here's something you could have bet the farm on before the season started: Tuesday, April 14, would be a big day in the Kern County high school baseball season.

And you wouldn't have lost your farm, either. Tuesday is a big day. Centennial welcomes Stockdale to the Hawks Nest for the first of two meetings between the SWYL powerhouses and rivals — and the latest meeting between the past two Central Section Division I champions.

How to break this one down? I'm a sucker for boxing analogies.

In one corner, you've got the heavyweight champion of the Valley, the Stockdale Mustangs! The Mustangs enter this bout with a record of 15-4 with a whopping 9 knockouts (wins by 10 runs or more). They're big and bad, loaded at every position. You can bet they'll send senior ace Philip Valos, he of three playoff victories a year ago, to the mound to battle Centennial in a hitter-friendly park. They'll send K.C. Hobson out to first base, where scouts have been drooling over him since his monster year last year (and before that, really). They'll also send out a lineup loaded with veterans from last year's championship like Scott Denesha and talented newcomers like Kyle Desimone and Isaiah Turner.

In the other corner, the challenger, the former heaveyweight champion of the Valley, the Centennial Golden Hawks! The Hawks enter with a record of 16-3 with 8 knockouts. They have a few new faces, but, as usual, they can rake. Five regulars are batting at .400 or better, and the team has 24 home runs. Josh Dickey and Joe Riddle lead the offense, while the quartet of Drew Watson, Bryan Maxwell, Isaac Richert and Tyler Painton have been effective on the hill. Watson, a good choice to start Tuesday, has an ERA of 0.83 with 30 strikeouts and just seven walks in 25 1/3 innings. They're unbeaten at home, where they've scored at least 8 runs in all but one game.

Ladies and gentlemen, LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!

OK, enough of that. But seriously, I'm pretty pumped about this one. Game starts at 4 p.m., but get there early (or bring a lawn chair, or both) if you want to actually sit during the game. My pick? Stockdale, because I think Valos is good enough to quiet the Hawks' bats. Let's say 7-4. But this one really could go either way.

OK, so that's the hyped, long-foretold showdown. The one you might not have expected before the season (by which I mean, nobody expected it) is between the two remaining SEYL unbeatens, Liberty and East. They play at East on Friday.

This one is almost as interesting to me because the Blades have been pounding opponents about as much as Centennial has. Granted, it's been mostly against a patsy-parade schedule, but the Blades are 14-3 and average more than 10 runs a game.

Liberty, of course, is Liberty. The Patriots lost some great players from last year — Andrew LeTourneau, Byron Campbell and Greg Ziegeler come right to the front of my mind — but they're still as loaded as Stockdale or Centennial. Shortstop Chris Neal is hitting .482 with 15 extra-base hits, and, perhaps of more interest in this matchup, pitcher Omar De Haro has an ERA under two in 29 innings pitched.

East hasn't faced anyone remotely this good, except for maybe Frontier (11-0 loss), Ridgeview (11-3 loss) or North (7-6 loss). Liberty hasn't had a real challenge for the SEYL crown in years. Will this be the year? Or will the Pats pummel the Blades back into mediocrity or worse?

Good week of baseball, coming right up.

In case you missed the baseball rankings posted yesterday, here's a link.

Remember, I haven't listed out each team's schedule for this week and next week because the tournaments have been so crazy this week with travel and rain and some teams playing games that haven't yet been reported. That feature will be included when I update the softball and baseball rankings, which I hope to do at least a couple more times before the playoffs start the week of May 18.

Softball
1. Centennial (13-1-1, 4-0 SWYL, Division I) — CalHiSports, a division of ESPNRise, has the Golden Hawks ranked seventh in the state and 21st in the nation. So yeah, the defending champs get the nod as the section's team to beat.

2. Clovis-Buchanan (14-3-1, 1-1 TRAC, Division I) — The Bears got to Centennial ace Ensley Gammel for a couple of runs in the sixth inning when the teams played at Buchanan and came back to win 2-1. But Buchanan has lost three games in its last five againt good-but-not-great opponents.

3. Clovis (15-5, 1-1 TRAC, Division I) — Five wins in a row, including quality victories against Memorial, Frontier and Madera, have wiped away he sting of a 6-1 loss to Madera and have the Cougars roaring back towards contention in wide-open Division I.

4. Madera (15-5-1, 1-1 TRAC, Division I) — It seems as if the Coyotes struggle agains the upper echelon of the TRAC in just about every sport, but softball is an exception. This was your No. 1 seed in last year's Division I playoffs and is in contention again.

5. Tulare Union (15-3-1, 3-0 EYL, Division II) — After the top four, the rankings are a complete jumble. Give the 5 spot to a Redskins team that has quality wins against Bullard and North and even better losses to Centennial and Madera.

6. North (19-4, 2-1 SWYL, Division II) — The Stars had their young eyes opened a bit in a 10-0 loss to Centennial, but they've been playing exceptionally well otherwise. Few in the section can swing the bats with the likes of Brooke Sampson and Brenna Moss, though North will go only as far as its pitching can take it.

7. Fresno-Bullard (8-6, 0-0 CMAC, Division I) — The record isn't impressive, but all six losses have been to teams in the top 10 in these rankings. The Knights also have wins against Clovis, Buchanan and Fresno-Central.

8. Stockdale (8-5-1, 2-1 SWYL, Division I) — Don't discount the Mustangs and new coach Amanda Hockett, who has another ace in Justine Vela and enough firepower to scare just about anyone in the Valley.

9. Hanford West (14-8, 4-0 WYL, Division III) — How's this for an Easter Classic? Wins against Clovis West, Buchanan and a 10-inning squeaker against Frontier. I wasnoting yesterday how it seemed Hanford High had all the athletic riches in that town. Looks like I was discounting the softball Huskies.

10. Clovis West (12-10-1, 1-0 TRAC, Division I) — There's some impressive results to show — wins against Stockdale, Buchanan and Madera, a tie against Centennial — but the Golden Eagles have been mighty inconsistent. They've lost two of their last three, against Hanford West and Memorial.

11. Frontier (16-6, 2-1 SWYL, Division II) — It's obvious the Titans are quality, but they lacked a signature win until nipping Stockdale 2-1 a couple of weeks back. You'd still like to see them back that up by turning a few more close losses into close wins.

12. Clovis East (10-4, 0-1 TRAC, Division I) — Another team lacking that impact win from its resume. The Timberwolves have beaten everybody they've supposed to, but their best wins — Liberty and Central — are good but lacking that certain oomph.

13. Ridgeview (12-5, 1-3 SWYL, Division III) — A fine example of how tough the SWYL is in the diamond sports is the Wolf Pack, which was rolling until it ran into a North-Centennial-Stockdale portion of the schedule.

14. Fresno-Central (13-3, 0-0 TRAC, Division I) — It's hard to know exactly where the Grizzlies fit in. They're the rare TRAC team that hasn't scheduled a rough-and-tough slate before a rough-and-tough league, and the games where they have, they've lost.

15. Golden Valley (18-5, 4-0 SEYL, Division III) — Winning 11 of your last 12 will land you a spot in the rankings, especially when you've taken out four league teams — including Liberty — in that stretch. It'll be interesting to see how long the upstart Bulldogs can stay here.

Waiting: Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial, Liberty, Garces, Fresno-Washington Union, Visalia-El Diamante, Tehachapi, Kerman, Porterville-Monache, Wasco, Sanger, Clovis North

Spring break brings to mind images of sun, sand, flip-flops, cold drinks (but we keep those margaritas virgin here at the school house), swimming pools, waves, and .... me sitting at my computer with nothing to do.

Not so surprisingly, the company didn't pay for me to accompany Liberty or Stockdale's baseball team to San Diego or Centennial to Las Vegas for their spring-break trips, so I covered a game in the Don Ward Spring Classic here in Bakersfield on Tuesday and have gotten friendly with the old Mac ever since.

Don't get me wrong; I'm all for a breather every once in a while, but I'm still eager to get back out to the action. To that end, I'm going to set up the rest of the baseball and softball season with some Central Section rankings over the next few days.

We'll start with baseball. I haven't listed the "THIS WEEK" and "LAST WEEK" schedules for each team like I've done in other sports' rankings; I'll start that next week. This week's spring break schedule has too many unknown games and unfilled scores to bother, but league play picks up again after Easter.

1. Clovis-Buchanan (13-3-2, 4-1 TRAC, Division I) — Honestly, you could throw any of the top three TRAC teams with Stockdale in a hat (maybe Centennial too) and pick the section winner that way just as easily as if you tried to analyze the teams. They're that close.

2. Clovis (13-4, 3-2 TRAC, Division I) — The Cougars have gone 1-1 against both Buchanana and Clovis West, but their biggest wins might have come before the season officially started. They swept a doubleheader from Stockdale. Last year, the Mustangs swept — and got to spend May at home on their way to a championship.

3. Stockdale (13-4, 3-0 SWYL, Division I) — It's hard to imagine this team not being the favorite, having added some talented JV players and Ridgeview transfer Isaiah Turner to an already loaded team, but recall that the Mustangs won three very close games to win the title last year. They're not totally clear of the field.

4. Clovis West (15-2, 4-1 TRAC, Division I) — Something tells me the section might come down to an initial war — J.D. Salles and the Golden Eagles against K.C. Hobson and the Mustangs. But for now, CW lands here based on head-to-head losses against both Clovis and Buchanan.

5. Centennial (15-3, 3-1 SWYL, Division I) — A surprising loss to Ridgeview aside, the Golden Hawks are still doing what they do best: Mash the ball to the tune of 10 runs a game. Will that carry them to their second championship in three years? They'll need some pitching somewhere along the line.

6. Visalia-El Diamante (14-5, 3-0 WYL, Division II) — The Miners are doing the Central Section some good during spring break. They're the only team I know of from the Valley that has a winning record thus far at the San Diego Lions Club Tournament, having defeated Oceanside and San Diego-Scripps Ranch. Stockdale is 1-2 and Liberty is 0-3.

7. Liberty (12-8, 3-0 SEYL, Division I) — In three games against Bakersfield's other presumed powers, Stockdale and Centennial, Liberty has lost all three by a combined four runs. They'd love to climb that mountain later, but first comes an improved SEYL that has talented landmines Bakersfield and East frothing at the mouth to knock off the perennial champs.

8. Fresno-Central (12-5, 3-2 TRAC, Division I) — It's really nice to have a winning record in the section's toughest league, but the Grizzlies need to avoid too many beatings like the 22-2 one Buchanan put on 'em if they want to keep respect.

9. Fresno-Washington Union (21-1, 0-0 NSeL, Division IV) — Tough to know exactly how good the Panthers are, but they won 19 in a row to start the season, and that's enough to earn some love. Dinuba finally beat Washington, 5-3 at this week's Easter Classic in Fresno.

10. North (14-4, 2-1 SWYL, Division II) — There's a real chance for the improved Stars to contend in Division II, though a 10-1 loss to Centennial last week showed that they still might be a bit behind the leaders in their rugged league.

11. Hanford (11-5, 2-1 WYL, Division III) — Not sure how the demographics work in Hanford, but it sure as heck seems like the Bullpups are good in everything, and crosstown Hanford West — well not so much good at anything.

12. Fresno-Bullard (8-9, 4-1 CMAC, Division I) — Before you laugh at the record, consider that six of those nine losses came to teams  in the top six of these rankings. The Knights have hit their stride in the CMAC and own one-run wins against both Edison and Clovis North.

13. Fresno-Edison (10-9, 4-1 CMAC, Division II) — Another team with a bunch of losses to the top teams. Now comes a three-way dogfight for the CMAC title.

14. Clovis North (16-3, 3-2 CMAC, Division III) — If, like you might expect, it's Clovis North that joins the other Clovis Unified schools in the TRAC in 2010, then that league just got a whole lot better in baseball. Of course, you could say that if the section chooses Bullard to join the power league, too.

15. East (14-3, 3-0 SEYL, Division II) — I'm giving this spot as a nod to what the hard-hitting Blades have accomplished thus far — they've already passed up their win total from a year ago. Whether they can stay here remains to be seen — Liberty is up next week, followed by further tests down the road.

Waiting: Visalia-Redwood, Ridgeview, Porterville-Monache, Visalia-Golden West, Bakersfield Christian, Tulare Western, Visalia-Central Valley Christian, Kingsburg

First things first: Some School House Zach congrats are in order for Bakersfield High's Bryce Hammond and two of his sophomore teammates on the Drillers wrestling team. Hammond wrapped up a sophomore national championship Saturday night by beating a Florida wrestler 3-0 in the 152-pound bracket in Virginia Beach, Va. The National High School Coaches Association splits up its national championships by class. Timmy Box and Adam Fierro also became sophomore All-Americans by finishing seventh and fourth, respectively, on Saturday.

The senior nationals tournament started today and runs through Sunday. Seth Hicks, The Californian's Wrestler of the Year, lost his first match of 2009 in the second round of the 135 bracket. Goes to show you how tough these national tournaments are. Jonah Cruz, the BHS 140-pounder, is 2-0 after the first day of the senior tournament.

Now on to today's main event, where we'll conclude our glances at each spring sport as we enter spring break, the unofficial midway point of the spring season.

Track and field
I've touched on this before, but this has been a terrific year already for local runners, jumpers and throwers. The story starts, again, with Shafter's Anna Jelmini, who is throwing up national highs in both the discus and shot put. Opposite her on the boys side is Frontier junior Matt Darr, who leads the state in both throwing events as well. If you didn't know Darr from track last year (he qualified for state in the discus), then you probably know him from football season when he was a standout linebacker and the area's best punter for the Titans.
There are so many other track and field studs that I'll probably forget to mention them all. Start with Ridgeview. Johnny Carter won a shocking state title in the triple jump last year, and he's a threat to medal there again. Isaiah Purvis transferred from Liberty and will look to get back to state in the 200 or 400 meters and possibly a relay team. On the girls side, Tijerra Lynch, with newfound confidence from cross country success, has added the distance events to what was her staple, the 800.
There are other elite local athletes looking to get back to state, which, by the way, is held at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Clovis-Buchanan High on June 5-6. There's Frontier junior Taylor Jackson, who leads the section in the girls 300 hurdles and is second in the 110 hurdles. There's Centennial's Alana Alexander, who's a triple jump/long jump/middle distance standout (probably in that order). There's Liberty's Amanda Klinchuch, who'll challenge for the section pole-vault title. There's Stockdale's Alex Collatz, just a sophomore, who's carrying on her father Alan Collatz's legacy by starring in the discus and triple jump. And don't forget about Foothill's Chris Schwartz, who might be the state favorite in the 3,200 meters now that the freakishly good German Fernandez of Riverbank is off to college.
Prediction: In front of a pro-Central Section crowd at Buchanan, Schwartz, Jelmini and Darr all win at least one state championship. Jelmini wins two again. Carter comes up just short, but he reaches the podium along with at least two other Kern-ites.

Swimming/Diving
Emily Irvin and her four-year run of 100-yard breaststroke Central Section championships are gone, but Stockdale still has the best girls team around. Between the Ramos sisters, senior Olivia (best event: middle-distance freestyle) and sophomore Sara (butterfly), plus senior Tiffanie Boe (backstroke), junior Emily Myers (breaststroke, IM) and a host of talented teammates, the Mustangs are set to make another run at the powers that be from the Clovis area. Other individuals to watch include Frontier's Stevie Hughey (freestyle sprints), East's Karlee Grundeis (backstroke, IM) and Bakersfield's Erica Becker (middle- to long-distance freestyle). Garces and Centennial both have great teams, but they're built on solid depth, not necessarily the top swimmers who can score big points at a section meet (other than maybe Garces junior Paige Lifquist.
On the boys side, Stockdale gets a stiff challenge for title of area's best from Garces and perhaps Centennial. The Mustangs return senior Brian Collier (breaststroke, IM), senior Dan Wickensheimer (butterfly) and senior Jon Kim (backstroke, butterfly). Garces counters with sophomore Mac Aakhus (backstroke, IM), a transfer from Frontier, plus senior Kyle O'Malley (breaststroke, IM), junior Ryan Farrer (freestyle) and junior Andrew Whittington (freestyle sprints). Individuals to watch include Liberty's Justin Kraetsch (freestyle, backstroke) and Michael Rowe (freestyle), Frontier's Randy Aakhus (distance freestyle), Shafter's Jay Daniel (breaststroke, IM), Centennial's Logan Peeples (butterfly, IM) and Tehachapi's Wesley Schultz (butterfly).
On the diving board, there are a couple of obvious section contenders: Centennial's Bryce Ogden on the boys side and Liberty's Jordan Reed on the girls. Both finished in the top three at the section meet a year ago.
Prediction: The section's swimmers pick up where some great departed seniors left off and bring home a bevy of section titles, even if none sniff the team title away from powerful Clovis West. At least one of the area's two divers brings home a title as well.

A couple of quick notes to pass along:

— The Californian's winter sports All-Area teams have arrived. The boys and girls soccer teams are unveiled in Friday's paper, the wrestling team on Saturday and the boys and girls basketball teams on Sunday. A bonus for my blog readers is the Players of the Year:

Boys soccer
Matt Clemons, Golden Valley — A tough choice here, because there wasn't one — or two, or three — obvious candidates. Instead, there were a lot of good players (the first team could have easily had 20 viable recepients instead of the 13 we hand out) but none that stuck out as spectacular. I guess that's a year where it's good to have a lock-down defender as player of the year. Nobody scored on Clemons.

Girls soccer
Erica Shelton, Stockdale — Here, there were two pretty evident candidates: Shelton and Liberty's Mariah Alvidrez. We went with Shelton because coaches around town consider her the best all-around player in Bakersfield — she played midfield, while Alvidrez was a striker — and she led Kern County in points (assists plus goals times two) despite missing five games while she was out of town.

Wrestling
Seth Hicks, Centennial — No explanation needed. Hicks dominated the year from start to finish and ended it with a 48-0 record and a 135-pound state championship.

Boys basketball
Stephon Carter, Garces — He's won it three years in a row now, so this might be considered expected, but it was closer than you might think. Cody Kessler had a great year for Centennial and Sam Marcus was the glue behind Liberty's magical run. But in the end, Carter scoring 33 points with 19 rebounds in the Division II section title game against Liberty — with a broken hand, no less — was the clincher for me.

Girls basketball
Jalei Kinder and Melissa Sweat, Stockdale — Too hard to differentiate between teammates here. Kinder was a dominant scorer and on-ball defender during the Mustangs' dominant regular season, and Sweat took over in a few of the Mustangs' playoff games as Stockdale won the Division I section title.

Pick up a copy of The Californian this weekend for the rest of the teams and full feature stories on each player of the year and coach of the year.

— Speaking of Sweat, here's a bit of news that's too bad for the quality of play in Bakersfield: She's moved to Madera, where her father took a new job and will attend Madera Ranchos-Liberty in her senior season. That means Stockdale — and Kern County — is losing the winner of the past two Player of the Year awards and a surefire Division I recruit. But here's a thought someone in the office threw out yesterday: Wouldn't it be fun if Sweat was back in Bako for the state championships next spring? It'll be tough, but Madera-Liberty is a small school, and Sweat is a really good player.

— Another piece of info, courtesy of Californian correspondent Steve Lynch. Stockdale tennis star Jeremy Quiroz, who won the Central Section singles title last spring, has verbally committed to a near-full scholarship with Niagara University. He can sign as early as next week.

Now on to our continuing series of the spring sports at midseason. Today's subjects are boys golf and boys tennis.

Boys golf
The name everyone knows is Pete Fernandez, a junior who placed second in the state last year. But remember, Fernandez wasn't really dominant throughout the season, just good. That's what he's been this year in what's proving to be a pretty wide-open SWYL. Fernandez's teammate, Bryce Keene, Centennial's Manav Shah and Frontier's Chase Goodvin are all giving Fernandez a run at individual title, and the Mustangs and Golden Hawks are thisclose to each other in the team chase.
In the SEYL, it's kind of a changing-of-the-guard year, and Highland is taking advantage. The Scots lead the team race with a deep team that doesn't really have a single standout. Matt Hammons is the name to know, probably, but Dominick Stanley is having a very nice year as well. Bakersfield's Connor Huser, Liberty's Max Schmidt and Garces' Stephen Harmer all have experience from last year's section meet (which, by the way, will be held in town this year at Seven Oaks).
In the SSL, Taft's Blake McPherson and Bakersfield Christian's Brett Halstrom and Chris Underhill are the individuals to watch, and those two teams likely will battle for the team title, with Tehachapi a possible third challenger.
Prediction: Fernandez comes through again as the courses get tougher and tougher, and he wins a section title on his home course. The regional, though, is a crapshoot, and this year Fernandez doesn't squeeze through a very narrow door to the state tournament. Highland finishes its surprise run to a league title, and BCHS takes home the SSL.

Boys tennis
Perhaps the biggest news here is that Bakersfield Christian is not dominant, the first time that's been said about an Eagles tennis team in at least a couple of years. BCHS still is an SSL contender and a Division V section favorite, and its top player, Alex Nichols, will compete for the section singles title. But the Eagles are not the best team in town regardless of size.
That'd be Stockdale, which is led again by the aforementioned Jeremy Quiroz. Quiroz beat Visalia-El Diamante's Josh Lorentzen in a thrilling three-set singles final last year only after Nichols was withdrawn from the tournament after the quarterfinals because of a disciplinary reason. This year, two of those big three likely will meet in the semifinals, with the other potentially waiting in the championship.
In the SEYL, Bakersfield has a heck of a team again, though they were drilled (no pun intended) by Stockdale in what amounted to a championship dual in the Lynch Cup earlier this year. David Mossman is the Drillers' best player, and they're having no problems handling an otherwise balanced SEYL (Liberty, Garces and East have solid teams).
Prediction: Give it to Quiroz again in an all-Bakersfield final. Nichols has a great game, but Quiroz seems to be at his steadiest when the money's on the line. As for teams? Stockdale coach Dave Hillestad, after getting two monkeys off his back in the past year (Quiroz's individual title and a girls team title last fall) gets a third as Stockdale becomes the Central Section's tennis epicenter.

Tomorrow we'll handle swimming and track and field.