School House Zach - zewing's Blog - Bakersfield.com

Week 9 running thread and scoreboard

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:06:32 PST

UPDATED, 12:20 a.m.: What a showdown at Stockdale and what a shocker of a week in other places around the county. As always, a complete score list is below, but it's time to get to to some major results:

Stockdale 17, Frontier 15: Stockdale won the game with a blocked-punt touchdown courtesy of Hank Hobson and Isaiah Turner that made it 17-7 with 5:08 left, but Frontier battled back, and the Titans won a bunch of respect from me even as they lost the game. Tulare Union will get the No. 1 seed in Division II with its 10-0 record, but they'd better be careful if they run into a battle-tested Frontier team. As for Stockdale, it has back-to-back league titles and can win it outright against West next week. Then it's time for a top-three seed in Division I. Defenses were big in this one, and that's what wins playoff football.

Wasco 27, Tehachapi 21: Another week in the SSL, another turn atop the standings. Wasco's Rene Medina stripped a Tehachapi runner and went 97 yards the other way for the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter, giving the Tigers a share of the league lead with Tehachapi and Taft. All three teams are 3-1, and all three will be favorites next week. Jesse Olofson ran for 210 yards for Tehachapi and Quentin Cheatham had 166 for Wasco.

Golden Valley 28, Ridgeview 2: What? That was my reaction when I saw this score for the first time. It's not that the Bulldogs were able to pull an upset — Erich Smith does a great job, and GV seems to come up with a surprise win every year — but it was the margin. Darrik Martin threw for 199 yards and four touchdowns and the Bulldogs defense held Tyler Dogins to just 58 yards on 24 carries. Add Golden Valley to the list of teams you've got to consider sleepers in Division III.

Centennial 49, North 13: Cody Kessler is back for the Golden Hawks, who had no trouble with the Stars whether Kessler, who missed three games with a high ankle sprain, or Mark Ritchie, who started the game, was playing. The Golden Hawks started the scoring with Thomas Grimes' 67-yard punt return touchdown. Kessler finished 12-of-21 passing for 157 yards and two touchdowns, including one to an end an impressive two-minute drill at the end of first half.

South 38, West 14: Win of the season thus far for the Rebels, who clinch a winning season for the first time in I don't know when (I'll find out, but it wasn't in this decade). John Wren really has that program on the upswing, and this is just the latest example of that. Lee West ran for 149 yards for the Rebels, who pulled away after a 7-7 first half.

Arvin 28, Bakersfield Christian 21: Another SSL surprise, and now we've got an odd situation in the league where you've got three 3-1 teams playing three 1-3 teams next week. Has a league ever consisted solely of two three-way ties?

Boron 38, Mojave 22: The champ beats the challenger, and the Bobcats win another Desert Mountain League title.

Kern Valley 28, Rosamond 0: No surprise here, but it is noteworthy because the Broncs clinched at least a share of the school's first High Desert League title since 1995.

UPDATED, 10:08 p.m.; A holding call and a sack force Frontier back 14 yards and to use its last timeout. Stockdale defenders pumping up the crowd on second-and-24. Pass thrown short to Adelman, incomplete, third down. The Titans were really only about 15 yards out of field-goal range when they started this drive, but it's more like 30 now. And Legorreta finds Adelman for 22 yards, but he's short of the first down, so there can be no spike. Frontier hurries to the line. Gets a play off,. Short pass to Webber, but he's tackled immediately, and the game's over. Stockdale wins a thriller 17-15. More later.

UPDATED, 10:03 p.m.: And Ian Driskill recovers the onside kick for Frontier! Looked like Ryan Barnett had the first look at it for Stockdale, but as he went down, Driskill hit him and took the ball. He wasn't called down, but it was close. Frontier ball at the 43.

UPDATED, 10:00 p.m.: Frontier goes from the left hash. Legorreta rolls to his right, looking for Webber. Thrown low and incomplete! Stockdale holds on to a 17-15 lead with 59 seconds left. Frontier has just one timeout left, so I think they need an onside kick to have a chance here.

UPDATED, 9:58 p.m.: A huge kickoff from Andre Heidari on that safety kick keeps Frontier from having great field position. They're starting at their 26 with 2:57 to play. Seventy-four yards to go, and then of course the two-point conversion would be needed for a tie. Still a longshot, probably, but a better chance than the Titans had a few minutes ago.
And though he hasn't really had to do it this season, Josh Legorreta apparently knows how to run a two-minute drill. He goes 4-of-5 for 51 yards to get the Titans down to the Stockdale 23 without using a timeout. Penalty pushes Frontier back five yards. Now incomplete, a throw behind the receiver. 1:17 on the clock, still two TOs. A draw to DeShaunte Webber, but Corey Childs makes a big play and stops him for just a yard. Third-and-14 now, and Frontier will call timeout No. 2. 1:07 left. And as he's hit, Legorreta lofts a ball to Jake Adelman in the end zone. Touchdown with 59 ticks left!
Now for the 2-point try. They've thrown into the flat with some success tonight. Will they try that again? Stockdale calls timeout.

UPDATED, 9:49 p.m.: Oh boy. Reports of Frontier's demise were greatly exaggerated. A host of Titans takes Malik Henderson down in the end zone for a safety, and it's a one-possession game at 17-9. Frontier will get the ball back with 3:07 left and two timeouts. Got to knock that fourth-down pass down, boys.

UPDATED, 9:46 p.m.: Really, Frontier can blame its first-half missed opportunities for being all but out of this one. The Titans out-played Stockdale for most of the first half and had just a halftime tie to show for it. When Stockdale got going in the second half, specifically on defense and special teams, it was too much for the Titans to handle.
The Titans do show some life again with the passing game here to get inside the Stockdale 40, and Josh Legorreta threw a perfect strike to BJ Nard in the end zone, but Nard couldn't come up with it. Instead of a touchdown, it's fourth-and-10. Legorreta is intercepted back at the Stockdale 2. Got to bat that ball down, but Stockdale will take over with just 3:23 left. If the Mustangs can get out from their goalpost's shadow, they can ice this game.

UPDATED, 9:35 p.m.: Three-and-out again. Frontier has run just 11 plays in the second half.
And now the back-breaker from Stockdale! Hank Hobsen smothers Matt Darr's punt, blocking it as soon as it got off his foot. Isaiah Turner picks up the bouncing ball and rumbles 27 yards for the touchdown. The baseball teammates are going to give Stockdale an SWYL championship in football barring a miracle from Frontier. It's 17-7 with 5:08 left.

UPDATED, 9:28 p.m.: Stockdale gets the ball back on an interception back at its own 10, and a penalty backs it up to the five. Josh Legorreta is now 0-for-his last 6 with two interceptions after a hot start.
Now an enormous risk taken by Mike Snow and Stockdale from their own 14-yard line, going for it on fourth-and-inches. Spenser Prince had it easily, but man oh man, that's trust in your offensive line. Now the Mustangs can really start chewing up clock, which is under 10 minutes. But the Titans hold on the next series, and they'll get the ball back. Win or lose, it's pretty safe to say the Frontier defense is for real.

UPDATED, 9:20 p.m.: End of the third quarter. Frontier ran just five offensive plays in the fourth quarter, but they've got the ball second-and-2 at midfield as we start the fourth, thanks to a big kickoff return by Kevin Schindler. He might have taken it all the way, but the last man to beat, the kicker Andre Heidari, laid a huge hit on him at the Frontier 42.

UPDATED, 9:16 p.m.: It's Henderson with the big play again, this time spinning away from a tackle to convert a third-and-15 with what turned into a 45-yard sprint up the middle. Stockdale set up again in Frontier territory, but they've got to stay out of these negative-play situations or they'll stall sooner or later.
And after a couple of more first downs, that's what happens. Matt Darr makes a couple of impressive tackles for loss there, and it'll force Stockdale into a 37-yard field-goal try. Tyler Schleicher gets it inside the right upright with room and plenty of distance to spare. 10-7 Stockdale, final minute of the third.

UPDATED, 9:06 p.m.: Stockdale's D yields only four yards, and that brings on Matt Darr. This time it's a real field-goal try, and Darr had to rush it because of some pressure, and he missed badly to the right. Another bullet dodged by the Mustangs, who are finding ways to stay in this game. Now let's see if they can come up with a drive against this rock-hard Frontier defense. 6:33 to go in the third.

UPDATED, 9:03 p.m.: Such huge implications for this game, both in the SWYL and in Division I and II section playoff seedings, and it's down to a second half now, with the game tied 7-7. Pretty fun stuff.
There aren't many offenses that can run the ball on third-and-13 against this Frontier defense, but that's what Stockdale did there, and Malik Henderson picks up 15 for a first down. But Nic Shannon is dragged down on the next play for another Frontier tackle for loss. Third-and-10 this time. Stockdale can't make a living that way, and Efren Venegas' pass is tipped and picked off by BJ Nard. That's Nard's second INT of the night and it sets Frontier up at the Mustangs 33.

UPDATED, 8:48 p.m.: Frontier leads 161-103 at halftime in total yards and has forced two turnovers to Stockdale's one, but that one was an interception with a retun and a huge penalty that eventually allowed the Mustangs to get into the locker room tied. Now they start the third quarter with the ball and can really change this game in a hurry. Then again, Frontier has mostly out-played the home team to this point and has to feel good about itself, too.
In some other action, Bakersfield and Centennial both have huge leads on East and North approaching halftime at those games, but there are some good games out there. West and South are locked in a 7-7 tie at the half, and Foothill is hanging with Garces, down just 14-7 at the break. All the scores I get are updated below.

UPDATED, 8:40 p.m.: A crazy end to the first half. Stockdale completes a bomb from Efren Venegas to Cory Dillard for 40 yards with 31 seconds left. But on the next play, Venegas mishandles the snap, and Josh Davis recovered for Frontier.
Still with some time, the Titans tried to push for more points, but Josh Legorreta was picked off the next play after the fumble by Jeremy Bispo, who returned the ball to the Frontier 30. A personal-foul penalty put it on the 15 with 10 seconds left, and Venegas found Spenser Prince over the middle for a TD with 9 seconds left (yeah, I don't get how that was only one second, either, but...). Anyway, a couple of huge turnarounds there, and Stockdale has evened things up, 7-7 at halftime.
Legorreta, after his hot start, has missed on five straight passes, including the interception.
Here are some other first-half stats, with Frontier up 7-0:
FRONTIER — Legorreta 5-of-11, 127 yards, TD, INT; DeShaunte Webber, 9 carries, 25 yards; Jacob Adelman 2 catches, 60 yards, TD; Ian Driskill 2 catches, 62 yards.
STOCKDALE — Venegas 3-of-5, 61 yards, TD, INT; Nic Shannon 5 carries, 25 yards; Malik Henderson, 7 carries, 26 yards; Cory Dillard, 1 catch, 40 yards; Spenser Prince 4 carries, -4 yards and 1 catch, 15 yards, TD

UPDATED, 8:26 p.m.: And this is why Matt Darr will be punting for the USC Trojans next year. Darr booms one 58 yards that isn't returnable, sticking Stockdale back at its own 11. The 'Stangs go three-and-out, and their punter, Andre Heidari, has a rare shank, giving Frontier the game's best field position at the Stockdale 25.
The Mustangs defense holds, but that brings Darr back out. And Frontier fakes it — don't get thiis, when Darr is capable of making that field goal. Darr is pressured and throws a jump-ball to the end zone that falls incomplete. Stockdale dodges a major bullet there and is still within 7-0 with 3:16 to play in the half.

UPDATED, 8:18 p.m.: Another big third-down play from Frontier's defense, this time from BJ Nard, a safety who's having himself a nice game. Stockdale was moving it a bit, but the Mustangs are forced to punt again.
So is Frontier, three-and-out. Big plays. Frontier has one, Stockdale doesn't. 7:09 to go in the second.

UPDATED, 8:11 p.m.: Efren Venegas stumbles on the fourth down play and then launches a pass that's off the mark and intercepted by Frontier's BJ Nard. He had a return set up, but as it turned out the Titans would have been better off if Nard had just batted that ball down.
Anyway, defense is the story so far. Another personal foul called against Frontier pins the Titans back at their 14, but Ian Driskill bails em out again, catching a strike from Legorreta for 40 yards and the ball on Stockdale's 46. Just looked like a seam route where Driskill beat a linebacker.
And speaking of beating defenders, a play later, Jacob Adelman torches a DB down the right sideline, collects a bomb from Legorreta and waltzes in for a 43-yard touchdown! I talked about big plays in my predictions column, and right now it's Frontier's passing game, not Stockdale's running game, that's providing them. Legorreta is already 5-of-7 for 127 yards, and it's 7-0 Titans with 10:14 left in the half.

UPDATED, 8:03 p.m.: Malik Henderson checks into the game for the Mustangs on their second drive, but the big blow early in the drive was a horse-collar penalty on Frontier that got Stockdale going.
Frontier's run defense has really been impressive, though, and Stockdale has a fourth-and-3 at the Titan 34 as the first quarter comes to an end in a scoreless game.

UPDATED, 7:55 p.m.: Stockdale immediately faced with its own fourth-and-short, and Spenser Prince gets the first down just past midfield with a yard to go. Nic Shannon broke a tackle on the play before to get the Mustangs close.
No Malik Henderson out there, by the way, though he is suited up on the sideline. It's been Jeremy Bispo and even Isaiah Turner at fullback instead for Stockdale.
Huge third-down play by Frontier linebacker Ian Driskill, who drags Prince down in the backfield to force a punt. Titans ball at their 24, still no score.

UPDATED, 7:49 p.m.: In front of a standing-room-only crowd (and really, there aren't many places left to stand, either), Frontier starts jumpy, false-starting twice before they can even get a snap off on offense. That obviously has to change, but the Titans make up for the lost yardage right away, with a 17-yard pass from Josh Legorreta to Jacob Adelman. Two plays later, Legorreta keeps on an option and gets barely the yard he needs for a first down. So penalty disaster averted on the game's first series.
From there, the Titans drive to the Stockdale 40 before running up to fourth-and-2. After a fruitless attempt to draw the Mustangs offside, Frontier calls timeout. Clearly, the Titans are willing to throw the ball; Legorreta is already 3-for-3 for 44 yards. But an interesting call here: Try to pin Stockdale deep, or go for the first down? They'll go for it. It's a long two yards, and DeShaunte Webber carries very close to the first-down marker. They'll need a measurement, but I think he's just short. He is, by about a football and a half. Stockdale takes over at its own 39, 8:07 to play in the first quarter.

UPDATED, 7:36 p.m.: For the record, Frontier is decked out in all-white uniforms with black helmets decorated with their dark blue logo. Stockdale is in all-blacks, with their silver helmet with a black stripe down the middle. Five minutes from kickoff.

UPDATED, 7:10 p.m.: We might be getting a sign of things to come in the Southwest Yosemite League here. Frontier holds on to beat Stockdale 28-27 in the JV game with the help of a couple of interceptions in the last four minutes. This after the Titans won last night's freshman game 6-2 (no, there were no home runs hit).
Now time for senior-night ceremonies for the Mustangs and 30 minutes on the clock until the varsity game gets going. The crowd is JACKED up already.

UPDATED, 6:54 p.m.: If you're planning on coming out to Stockdale for tonight's big game and haven't left yet, I wouldn't bother. Both of the school's parking lots are packed, all of the surrounding streets are filling up. I'm thinking they might actually have to turn people away at the gates, because there's not much room left in the stands, either. So stay at home, keep it here and follow the blog instead of battling the traffic and the crowds.
That's not to say I'm not geeked about being here. The atmosphere is already electric just for the junior varsity game, which Frontier just tied up with passing touchdown with 3:54 to play. The extra point could put the Titans ahead, 28-27. And it is good.
The varsity game is coming up. 7-1 Stockdale against 8-0 Frontier. Hold tight.

ORIGINAL POST: It's been a crazy, crazy week for high school sports — playoffs here, regular seasons wrapping up there, tournaments over yonder — and what a way to end it with Frontier at Stockdale tonight and a bunch of other key league football games.

(Actually, the week doesn't end tonight. The week ends tomorrow, when the individual tennis section championships conclude and when playoff volleyball seeding is announced. But it sounded better to say it ended with Frontier-Stockdale. So there.)

If you missed it, I posted a podcast yesterday after getting back late from Visalia and Garces' Division II girls tennis section-final victory against Redwood. And then the podcast I posted didn't work. So I posted another one and got it done around 11 p.m. or so. So most of you probably didn't even see it, so you should click this link and listen at your leisure.

Also, if you're into making fun of me or getting some sort of handicap on tonight's action, check out my Week 9 predictions. Then get ready for tonight. Someone asked me this morning what the second-best game is tonight if they didn't feel like driving to Stockdale or dealing with the parking and the crowds. And — without trying to offend anyone — I said that there isn't a second-best game. There are some other interesting matchups, to be sure: Bakersfield-East is perhaps the last time the county's oldest rivalry will be played in some time, and West-South is a key SWYL battle. But your second-best option just might be to stay home on the couch with some popcorn and your finger on the refresh button on this blog. Because I'll be updating from Stockdale like a madman all night, starting at about 6:30 p.m.

(Central Section ranking in parentheses; all games are at 7:30 p.m. Friday unless noted)

Kern County scoreboard
(4) Stockdale 17, (10) Frontier 15
(6) Bakersfield 61, East 15
(8) Liberty 49, Highland 6
Wasco 27, (14) Tehachapi 21
(15) Centennial 49, North 13
Garces 48, Foothill 7
South 38, West 14
Golden Valley 28, Ridgeview 2
Arvin 28, Bakersfield Christian 21
Taft 42, Shafter 7
Mira Monte 35, Tulare-Mission Oak 15
Independence 44, Kennedy 0
Delano 48, Tulare Western 14
Visalia-Mt. Whitney 34, Chavez 15
Orange Cove 49, McFarland 0
Boron 38, Mojave 22
Bishop 38, Frazier Mountain 13
Kern Valley 28, Rosamond 0
Desert 55, California City 33
Phelan-Serrano 29, Burroughs 12
Maricopa 26, Cuyama Valley 20
Trona 28, Immanuel Christian 0
Lighthouse Christian at Riverdale Christian, 1 p.m. Saturday

Other Central Section scores
(7) Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial 69, Fresno-McLane 6 (Thursday)
Visalia-Redwood 24, Hanford West 0 (Thursday)
(1) Fresno-Bullard 17, (11) Fresno-Edison 14
(2) Clovis-Buchanan 20, Clovis East 17
(3) Tulare Union 69, Porterville-Monache 0
(5) Fresno-Central 49, Clovis 14
(9) Clovis West 48, Madera 0
(12) Kingsburg 50, Exeter 13
(13) Visalia-El Diamante 48, Hanford 20
Fresno-Washington Union 42, Dos Palos 14
Reedley 26, Fresno-Hoover 13
Sanger 28, Clovis North 14
Dinuba 30, Oakhurst-Yosemite 27
Porterville 62, Porterville-Granite Hills 0
Lemoore 24, Visalia-Golden West 0
Coalinga 28, Reedley-Immanuel 21
Visalia-Central Valley Christian 40, Selma 0
Madera Ranchos-Liberty 22, Chowchilla 7
Tollhouse-Sierra 10, Kerman 3
Firebaugh 22, Cambria-Coast Union 21
Caruthers 48, Fresno Christian 21
Farmersville 19, Laton 18
Fresno-Roosevelt 21, Madera South 7
SLO-Mission Prep 42, Lemoore-Kings Christian 0
Lindsay 40, Orosi 19
Fowler 68, Riverdale 0
Strathmore at Parlier
Fresno-Sunnyside 34, Fresno 13
Tranquillity 19, Mendota 15
Corcoran 14, Woodlake 13
Clovis Christian at Visalia Christian
Coalinga-Faith Christian at Madera-Lighthouse Academy
Alpaugh at Atascadero-North County Christian, 1 p.m. Saturday

Week 9 HS football podcast (this one actually works!)

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:10:41 PST

UPDATE: Apparently the first version of the podcast was derailed by my less-than-stellar technological skills. Bummer. This one works, though!

ORIGINAL POST: Sorry this is so late into the evening, but I was out at Garces' girls tennis victory over Visalia-Redwood to give the Rams the Division II Central Section championship, and the match took longer than I — or about anybody else — thought it would.

Lots of Frontier-Stockdale talk on the podcast this week, as you'd expect, but we hit on plenty of other teams as well. Enjoy. A Week 9 thread will be up tomorrow morning.

Week 9 HS football predictions (finally here!)

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:30:52 PST

A quick note relating the World Series to Bakersfield on this, the night of Game 6: I ran into K.C. and Butch Hobson today at Stockdale while working on a story about this weekend's big football game. Butch said he's organizing Northwest and Southwest youth baseball camps in December and that as instructors, he'll have several college players, some players from the independent pro team he manages, the South Maryland Blue Crabs. And — here's the WS connection — he might get the Phillies' Chase Utley to come in, too. Utley, as you probably know, has tied a World Series record with five home runs this year and easiy could win the series MVP award if Philadelphia comes back and wins. The Hobsons are family friends of the Utleys, hence the connection. But since Utley is a little busy right now, we probably won't know for a while. I'll keep you updated.

Anyway, enough baseball for a brilliant November evening. Time to look back at last week's football predictions:

The good: Rolling up 20 out of 24 is always good, but in particular, I almost naied the Liberty-East final and also got toss-ups with Porterville over Chavez, Kern Valley over Bishop, Centennial over Ridgeview and Garces over West.

The bad: I predicted a one-point Taft victory, and the Wildcats were four minutes away from delivering. But the risk didn't pay off when Tehachapi made the big plays down the stretch. I also took Highland over Foothill, and the Trojans made me look bad.

The ugly: Not sure why I thought Desert had enough firepower to beat Rosamond, when in fact the Roadrunners had no troubles in a 30-8 victory. Ouch.

Now on to Week 9:

Friday, Nov. 6
FRONTIER (8-0, 4-0 SWYL) AT STOCKDALE (7-1, 4-0) — Quite simply, this is the one we've been waiting for since about Week 4, when it became apparent that these two — apologies to Bakersfield, Liberty and maybe Centennial or Garces — were the most complete teams in Kern County and two of the best in the Central Section. That last distinction will be decided later, but first we'll see how the Titans and Mustangs shake out against each other. Both have terrific, constantly improving defenses that are led by homing-missile linebackers like Isaiah Turner and Max Goosen for Stockdale and Ian Driskill, Will Harvey and Matt Darr for Frontier. Both teams also sport the best special teams in town, both in the kicking game and with the ability to make a big play on a return. Both have offensive playmakers, though here's where I think the difference might come: Even if Frontier can shut down Malik Henderson and Spenser Prince, Stockdale has proven it has no shortage of playmakers, whether they be other running backs like Eddie Gutierrez and Nic Shannon or quarterback Efren Venegas and receiver Kyle Desimone. Frontier's offense is efficient, but if Stockdale is on top of its game, the Titans will have trouble making big plays with either running back DeShaunte Webber or receiver Jake Adelman. Take those away, and the Frontier offense will have trouble keeping up. Add to that what should be a rocking home crowd, and I think Stockdale wins the game by winning the fourth quarter.
Prediction: Stockdale 27, Frontier 17

TEHACHAPI (7-1, 3-0 SSL) AT WASCO (6-2, 2-1) — The last piece of the SSL puzzle will be fit in after this game, and all signs point to a Tehachapi victory en route to another league championship, what would be the Warriors' ninth since joining the league 17 years ago. Any reason to believe the Tigers can spoil the party and create a three-way tie with Taft atop the league standings? Well, a few. Taft did a great job of not letting Quentin Cheatham and Jacob Salinas bust the big plays that have hurt every other team on Wasco's schedule; Tehachapi has the goods to do the same, but if it doesn't execute on D, those guys will be gone in the blink of an eye. But even if Wasco throws the first punch or two, Tehachapi has shown its resiliency and, maybe more important, its ability to score in different ways. In a game closer than they'd like, the Warriors come through.
Prediction: Tehachapi 26, Wasco 15

WEST (4-4, 3-1 SWYL) AT SOUTH (5-3, 1-3) — Perhaps the toss-up game of the week here, with a team that's done well in the league but not elsewhere against a team that's struggled in the league but dominated elsewhere. Garces ran wild on the Vikings last week, but (a) Garces has been doing that to everyone lately, and (b) South doesn't run a Wing T like the Rams do. Still, I think Lee West ought to be able to make some plays against West for the Rebels, and that will be enough to turn this one into a shootout. In the end, though, I trust West's defense more than I trust South's, and that will give West an edge in a close game and allow it to somewhat improbably stay in the league-championship hunt with a home game against Stockdale looming next week.
Prediction: West 38, South 30

BAKERSFIELD (6-2, 3-1 SEYL) AT EAST (3-5, 3-2) — It's got to be fun for East to have a solid grasp of Jerald Pierucci's offense in year two of that coaching regime and thus be able to bomb away on some teams that really handed it to the Blades a year ago. Bakersfield was one of those teams, and it won't be so easy this year. But still, East hasn't proven that it can stop anybody — other than a shutout against Highland in which the Blades had turnovers bouncing their way, they've given up 50 points a game. Yep, that's a Barry Switzer half-a-hundred we're talking about. And the scary part is, East might not yet have faced a team with the pure offensive explosiveness that BHS has.
Prediction: Bakersfield 54, East 17

CENTENNIAL (5-3, 2-2 SWYL) AT NORTH (1-7, 0-5) — For the second straight year, Centennial won't win an SWYL title after eight years in which it seemed like that was the Golden Hawks' birthright. But no matter: There are still plenty of things to play for, starting with a revenge game against North for a shootout loss against the Stars last year, the first such loss in Centennial's school history. Also worth keeping an eye on in this one is Cody Kessler's status. If he plays and gets back in the flow of things this week, Centennial suddenly is a very viable threat next week against Frontier and then in the Division I playoffs. If he doesn't, one starts to wonder if he's going to risk coming back at all this year. Either way, Kessler won't be playing in the fourth quarter of this one.
Prediction: Centennial 44, North 10

GARCES (5-3, 3-1 SEYL) AT FOOTHILL (2-6, 1-3) — We thought the Rams were facing a good defense when they went up against Highland, and they rolled up 62 points to really begin this offensive onslaught they've had in the past five weeks. Bakersfield was able to slow the Rams down in the second half of that game, but other than that, Garces has been able to name its score since league season began. That probably changes this week (if not, it will in Week 10 against Liberty) against a Foothill team that has steadily improved, especially on that side of the ball. But the Trojans are going to have a hard time keeping up with this Garces attack even if they can hold it to half of what it's had the past couple of weeks — which would be 30-some points and 300-plus yards.
Prediction: Garces 38, Foothill 7

RIDGEVIEW (5-4) AT GOLDEN VALLEY (2-6) — The Wolf Pack has stumbled through a brutal league schedule, losing to Frontier and Stockdale in blowouts and then last week in a close game to Centennial to bookend the stretch that started with a shootout loss to West. Now Ridgeview goes out of the league and figures to get a breather here. Golden Valley, a year after boasting one of the area's top offensive threats in Byron Newman, has become more of a grind-it-out team. I expect the Wolf Pack defense to force a few mistakes and make enough big plays on offense to keep the Bulldogs at bay for most of the night.
Prediction: Ridgeview 34, Golden Valley 14

HIGHLAND (2-7, 0-4 SEYL) AT LIBERTY (5-3, 4-0) — With how much Highland has struggled, it's got to be daunting to see trips to Liberty and Bakersfield left on the schedule. I bet the Scots would be happy just to get through these two with competitive results. For the Patriots, pencils need to be sharpened for next week's increasingly big trip to Garces and the playoffs after that. Liberty hasn't won back-to-back league titles in school history, and though they're well capable of the two more wins they need to get there this year, just a win here will clinch them a share of that crown.
Prediction: Liberty 38, Highland 0

ARVIN (1-7, 0-3 SSL) AT BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (3-5, 1-2) — James Haupt has taken over for Arend Bos at quarterback for Bakersfield Christian (I think because of an injury problem, though that's no confirmed), and he helped the Eagles snap a five-game losing streak at Shafter with 227 passing yards and three touchdowns. You can expect that kind of production again, I would think, at home against Arvin as BCHS tries to climb its way back towards .500. I don't think this really is a lost season, though, considering that the Eagles still might be good enough to throw a scare into some of Division V's top teams in the playoffs.
Prediction: Bakersfield Christian 28, Arvin 16

SHAFTER (2-6, 1-2 SSL) AT TAFT (6-2, 2-1) — Knowing how fiery Taft coach Steve Sprague can be, I'd expect him to get in his team's ear all this week and make sure that there's a redemptive quality to this game rather than a hungover one after the Wildcats let one get away at Tehachapi last week. Sprague said in the aftermath of that one that Taft probably had given away a home game or two in the playoffs by losing its second game, and that his team "had better win these next two." I think they'll follow through in convincing fashion this week.
Prediction: Taft 51, Shafter 3

TULARE-MISSION OAK (1-7, 1-3 SCSL) AT MIRA MONTE (4-4, 4-0) — I'm looking forward to Mira Monte-Independence Round 2 next week after the teams' first meeting came down to a Falcons two-point conversion, but first the Lions and Falcons have to take care of the other teams in their league again. Neither has had much trouble doing that to this point, and though it gets tougher to beat a team the second time around, I can't imagine the gap closing so much that it makes 30 points' difference.
Prediction: Mira Monte 41, Mission Oak 18

KENNEDY (0-8, 0-4) AT INDEPENDENCE (4-4, 3-1) — Same song, different verse here, as Independence tries to roll up some more South Central Sequoia League offense against a group still looking for its first win as either a JV team or a varsity team. Kennedy changed coaches after just its first season, so it's no surprise things have been tough again. They'll have one more decent shot at a win next week against Mission Oak, but that elusive first victory won't come this week as both new Bakersfield schools clinch .500 seasons.
Prediction: Independence 51, Kennedy 13

TULARE WESTERN (3-5, 2-2 EYL) AT DELANO (6-2, 2-2) — The focus for the Tigers has shifted from the league season to securing a good seed in the Division III playoffs so they can stay at home in The Jungle for as long as possible. What's realistic? Maybe as good as a No. 2-4 seed and home through at least the quarterfinals if Delano wins out. Tulare Western and Chavez, the last two opponents, are both fairly stout defensively, so this isn't going to be a cakewalk. But Delano will shake off the cobwebs from that Tulare Union game and get it done here.
Prediction: Delano 27, Tulare Western 14

CHAVEZ (5-4) AT VISALIA-MT. WHITNEY (5-3) — Two up-and-down teams playing a non-league game late in the season the week before they need to get geeked up for crosstown rivalry games in Week 10 means that literally anything could happen in this one. But wild games with big plays on either side often come down to the last few minutes, and time and again, you see teams used to success and teams at home come through in those situations. Both of those descriptions fit Mt. Whitney in this case.
Prediction: Mt. Whitney 27, Chavez 21

McFARLAND (5-4, 2-1 ESL) AT ORANGE COVE (4-4, 2-1) — If you're interested in how Division VI section playoff seeding will shake down, this game is for you. Didn't pique your interest? How about watching the Cougars try to rebound without running back Frankie Gonzalez, who had racked up 840 yards in the past two weeks but hasn't played since then? Or just some good old-fashioned evenly matched high school football. As for who will win, I'll go with the home team and the comparitive-score theory, which saw McFarland squeak by Laton 23-20 last week and Orange Cove beat the same team 56-6 a few weeks back.
Prediction: Orange Cove 33, McFarland 16

MOJAVE (7-1, 3-0 DML) AT BORON (6-2, 3-0) — The first of a few Southern Section showdowns in the next couple of weeks comes in the Desert Mountain League, where the Mustangs and Bobcats have been the class of the league from the beginning of the season. Boron had a surprising struggle with Lancaster-Desert Christian last week but still got through to this game. So what shakes? It's the newcomer to the league, Mojave, which dropped down from the High Desert League when its enrollment was cut against the DML's perennial powerhouse. It'll be close, but I think it'd be dumb to pick against the champion, especially at home. The Bobcats will need to be better than last week, but I'll say the title stays in Boron.
Prediction: Boron 37, Mojave 33

FRAZIER MOUNTAIN (7-1, 3-0 HDL) AT BISHOP (3-4, 2-1) — Another huge league match-up. Bishop proved it was more than game against Kern Valley last week by taking forcing the Broncs to stage an improbable rally to get to overtime before KV won it. I'd think this will be a simiarly good game, but maybe the ball will roll the other way. One thing is for sure: This has to be the longest bus ride (Google Maps puts it at 5 hours, 44 minutes) for a league opponent that any team in California has to make. If we're going to make teams do this for a league game, tell me again why we can't have a state tournament in football. Travel, schmavel. Anyway, that trip won't help Frazier Mountain this week.
Prediction: Bishop 33, Frazier Mountain 28

ROSAMOND (2-6, 1-2) AT KERN VALLEY (7-1, 3-0) — The Broncs, meanwhile, will be at home waiting for the result of that Frazier-Bishop game after they presumably beat Rosamond, which has shown improvement but doesn't figure to challenge Kern Valley. If the Broncs win, they clinch a share of the league title with a Frazier Mountain loss or travel to Lebec next week an unbeaten showdown with a Frazier Mountain win.
Prediction: Kern Valley 35, Rosamond 13

CALIFORNIA CITY (0-7, 0-3 HDL) AT DESERT (1-7, 0-3) — Meanwhile, the other two High Desert League teams will be battling to stay out of the cellar. It's been quite a fall for Desert just two years after the Scorpions won the league title, but that's the way it goes in high school football. Still, I think they'll have at least one league to hang their hats on after facing another winless new school from the county.
Prediction: Desert 24, California City 10

PHELAN-SERRANO (6-2) AT BURROUGHS (4-4) — A non-league break for the Burros, who are in the midst of a fierce battle for the third playoff spot in the Desert Sky League. This will be a good test that should prepare Burroughs for a must-win against Victor Valley next week. Serrano is tough, though.
Prediction: Serrano 30, Burroughs 20

CUYAMA VALLEY (2-6, 2-1 CVL) AT MARICOPA (5-3, 2-1) — Speaking of getting into the playoffs, a win here would clinch a spot for the Indians in their final game of the season. A loss puts them in jeopardy of falling out of the league's top three. It would also be nice for Maricopa to beat a perennial Coast Valley League power like Cuyama Valley that's having a tough year.
Prediction: Maricopa 29, Cuyama Valley 23

IMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (5-3, 3-1 HLL) AT TRONA (6-2, 4-0) — Being upset by Big Pine last week threw a wrench into the Crusaders' Hi-Lo League title plans, but it would have been a challenge for Immanuel to go on the road and beat Trona, anyway.
Prediction: Trona 51, Immanuel Christian 34

Saturday, Nov. 7
LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN (4-4, 1-1 CVSSL) AT RIVERDALE CHRISTIAN (5-0, 1-0) — Seems like Steve Sprague from Taft, in describing his team a year ago, found a pretty good way to talk about this year's Lighthouse team, too: The Guardians are a light heavyweight, and they've been able to dominate against other light heavyweights. But step up a weight class, and they're in trouble. Riverdale Christian is a true heavyweight, maybe even a super heavyweight. Expect a TKO.
Prediction: Riverdale Christian 49, Lighthouse Christian 20

Last week: 20-4 (.833)
This year: 152-47 (.764)

Central Section football rankings, Week 9

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:20:31 PST

I just got back from the Central Section girls golf championships, where Frontier won the Division II section title with a 419, good enough for second overall behind Clovis West's 404. That moves the Titans to the Southern Cal regionals in a couple of weeks. So congrats to the Titans. Stockdale was a distant second in the D-I race and fourth overall with a 463. Individual championships are next week.

Also, Bakersfield Christian took the Division V girls tennis section title, beating Fowler 8-1. No surprise there, but kudos to the Eagles for getting it done.

Now on to football.

Pretty stable week in the rankings, but that's something that's going to change after Week 9, I think. when Stockdale plays Frontier down here and Edison plays Bullard in a crosstown Fresno battle. Could have two new faces in the top three by this time next week. Or none, for that matter.

1. Fresno-Bullard (8-0, Division I, last week: 1) — The Knights' latest wins haven't looked impressive, but they've gotten them despite missing some key players to injuries and discipline. Now if they can do that against Edison and Hoover, their final two opponents, you might be looking at your Division I No. 1 seed. Slip up, and Buchanan and Stockdale are waiting for that spot.
LAST WEEK: won at Sanger, 20-14. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 11 Fresno-Edison

2. Clovis-Buchanan (8-0, Division I, last week: 2) — Meanwhile, the Bears have been getting more impressive each week. Outside of the game I saw, against Bakersfield, the defense has been really good. Is that a measure of how good Buchanan is all-around or a measure of some bad offenses that they've faced? The answers will come next week against speedy Fresno-Central and then again in the playoffs.
LAST WEEK: won at Clovis, 28-7. THIS WEEK: vs. Clovis East

3. Tulare Union (8-0, Division II, last week: 3) — There's no such thing as an East Yosemite League showdown with the Redskins. Every time someone tries to create one — Porterville two weeks ago or Delano last week — Tulare Union wins by 35 points or so. That's impressive, but can they get through a deep Division II for the second straight year without being tested in the regular season?
LAST WEEK: won at Delano, 49-14. THIS WEEK: vs. Porterville-Monache

4. Stockdale (7-1, Division I, last week: 4) — I love teams that seem to get better every week, and the Mustangs seem to fit the bill. Every week, they do what you expect them to and then some more, even as those expectations rise. If that theory means Stockdale beats Frontier easily, then you can bet they'll at least be in the three spot next week.
LAST WEEK: won vs. North, 45-0. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 10 Frontier

5. Fresno-Central (6-2, Division I, last week: 5) — Speaking of impressive, Central opened Week 8 with a Thursday night smackdown of Madera. It's the Grizzlies' second game over 70 points and fifth over 40 (they did lose one of those games). Methinks there will be a heck of a shootout in Week 10 when Central goes to Buchanan.
LAST WEEK: won at Madera, 77-14. THIS WEEK: vs. Clovis

6. Bakersfield (6-2, Division I, last week: 6) — I still say no team in the section has more talent than Bakersfield (possibly excepting Buchanan), and when the Drillers put it all together, they have 49-0 first halves like they did last week. Showcased was RB Walter Hunt, who might be the best backup back in Kern County, with apologies to Stockdale's Eddie Gutierrez. Hunt had 105 total yards and four touchdowns last week.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Golden Valley, 56-7. THIS WEEK: at East

7. Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial (7-1, Division II, last week: 7) — Allowing 14 points to Fresno-Roosevelt doesn't seem like an awful thing, but for Memorial, it represents a bad week (or a couple of garbage-time TDs, maybe). The Panthers have allowed more than 10 points just four times now — and the other three were toYosemite, Buchanan and Hoover.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Fresno-Roosevelt, 42-14. THIS WEEK: at Fresno-McLane (Thursday)

8. Liberty (5-3, Division I, last week: 8) — Do these rankings look familiar yet? The Patriots took care of an East team that had the potential to score some points, holding Kern County's leading passer Joe Pearson to 124 yards anda touchdown; the Blades had just 164 total yards.
LAST WEEK: won vs. East, 49-14. THIS WEEK: vs. Highland

9. Clovis West (3-5, Division I, last week: 9) — A good win for the Golden Eagles last week against Clovis East probably gives them third place in the Tri-River Athletic Conference and puts them in a spot to at least salvage a .500 season in their first year under coach No. 4 in four years. Whether that translates into any kind of a playoff run remains to be seen, but this is about the most dangerous 4-6 or 5-5 team you'll ever see in Division I.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Clovis East, 21-14. THIS WEEK: vs. Madera

10. Frontier (8-0, Division Ii, last week: 10) — It's not like the Titans' schedule has been particularly tough to this point, but win or lose, you have to think that playing Stockdale and Centennial in the final two weeks could give Frontier an edge over other principal D-II contenders — Tulare Union, Memorial, El Diamante — that play in leagues that don't challenge them much at all late in the season.
LAST WEEK: won vs. South, 43-19. THIS WEEK: at No. 4 Stockdale

11. Fresno-Edison (5-3, Division II, last week: 11) — Here is a Division II team that sees plenty of tests in its league. Edison has faded at the finish in recent years past, so the onus is on this year's group to finish strong — and a stomping of last week's No. 15, Fresno Hoover is a shining example of how to do that, as would a win against No. 1 Bullard.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 15 Fresno-Hoover, 43-7. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 1 Fresno-Bullard

12. Kingsburg (8-0 Division IV, last week: 12) — The mark of a consistent team is that it does what you expect it to, and the Vikings have fit that bill, being tested by the best teams on their schedule and blowing away the weaklings. Next up is another test: Against Exeter, a team that gave Frontier fits. But it's at home, and if Kingsburg stays consistent, it'll have only minimal problems.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Kerman, 38-14. THIS WEEK: vs. Exeter

13. Visalia-El Diamante (7-1, Division II, last week: 13) — Here's an interesting team. El Diamante has been to the last three Division II section finals, finishing second last year, and while I still don't think the Miners are quite as good as the '07 or '08 versions, they've been rolling lately. This isn't a team you want to play come playoff time, especially if they're disrespected with a low seed.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Visalia-Redwood, 37-21. THIS WEEK: at Hanford

14. Tehachapi (7-1, Division III, last week: 14) — The mountain mystique continued for the Warriors against Taft, and that's enough to put them in the driver's seat for the South Sequoia League title and the No. 1 seed in Division III. Can anyone say three-peat? Though I wonder if Taft's defensive success against Tehachapi's ground game will prove to be the game that showed off the Warriors' weak link.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Taft, 16-7. THIS WEEK: at Wasco

15. Centennial (5-3, Division I, last week: NR) — A lopsided loss from Fresno-Hoover provides Centennial the final spot in the rankings and gives us the only change from last week. The Golden Hawks clearly aren't the same team without Cody Kessler, though, so getting him back at least in time for Frontier in Week 10 will be paramount.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Ridgeview, 31-25. THIS WEEK: at North

Dropped out: No. 15 Fresno-Hoover
Waiting: Fresno-Washington Union, Taft, Fresno-Hoover, Reedley, Clovis East, Garces, Sanger, Dinuba, Porterville, Delano, West, Exeter

Non-football sports update, Nov. 2

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:05:23 PST

We're beginning to hand out the first batch of Central Section titles of the fall, beginning tomorrow with the girls golf team championships in Tulare and then a couple of team tennis finals later in the afternoon. One of those is Division V, where Bakersfield Christian will host Fowler in what will be basically a formality for the Eagles.

Anyway, I thought it would be a fine time for a non-football sports update before we get into regular gridiron coverage with tomorrow's Week 9 rankings.

Girls golf
The section finals set up as a battle of Clovis West from the north and Frontier from the south, but that can't be exactly right because technically, the Titans are Division II. Those are your heavy favorites in each division, then, but all eyes will be on the overall crown as well. Two teams go to the Southern Cal Regional Tournament from all divisions, and those should be your two for the second straight year, though last year we thought that about CW and Garces, and Frontier came in and stole the second bid.
So who will take it? Clovis West lowered its own section record for a round by shooting 378 at last week's North Area tournament, while Frontier also set a school record by shooting 395 at the South Area finals. This tournament is at Tulare Golf Course, so that's neutral ground, so to speak, but Clovis West sure looks like the team to beat. Frontier is very balanced, but so are the Golden Eagles, and they've also got Asia Odell at the top of their lineup to keep scores even lower.
As for individuals, that title will be decided next week at Rio Bravo Country Club east of Bakersfield. Odell is the favorite there, though any of those Frontier girls is capable of going low, as are Stockdale's Abby Marina, Garces' Jasmine Rodriguez and a few other locals.

Volleyball
Still a week to go in the regular season here, with all three major league title in Kern County still up for grabs. Well, technically speaking anyway; Centennial is 10-0 has wrapped up a share of the SWYL crown and can win it outright with a Tuesday victory against Ridgeview or a loss by 8-2 Frontier against West. In the SEYL, Bakersfield is unbeaten and Liberty is 9-1 with only a loss to BHS. The Patriots visit the Drillers on Thursday, and assuming both win Tuesday, the result will determine if Bakersfield will share the title with Liberty or win it outright. That's basically the situation in the SSL, too, where 7-1 Bakersfield Christian needs to win at 7-0 Tehachapi on Tuesday to force a tie atop that league.
The bigger story on the horizon, of course, is the playoffs. Centennial still is line for a No. 3 or maybe even a No. 2 seed in the Division I playoffs, with Bakersfield and Liberty looking like pretty good 4 and 5 candidates — meaning, of course, that they could play each other again at BHS just a week after their meeting to decide league. Garces and Frontier will probably be the top Division II seeds, and I'd think Tehachapi would be a prime candidate for the top seed in D-III, especially if it can complete the sweep of BCHS. Centennial, Garces, Bakersfield and Liberty all spent the weekend at tough tournaments on the coast that gave each a pretty good pre-playoffs measuring stick: In Redondo Beach, Centennial went an impressive 5-1 before losing in the tournament semifinals to Placentia-El Dorado, Frontier went 3-3 and Garces went 2-3; and in Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, which had been charging hard late in the year, went 0-2 while Liberty went 0-1 against some primo competition.

Girls tennis
Bakersfield Christian will win that section-title match tomorrow, you can bet the mortgage on that. The Eagles are too deep and too strong at the top of their ladder for any team in the section and almost any in the state, so forget poor Fowler, It'd be ecstatic just to earn a set.
No, the real intrigue tomorrow comes not at the BCHS coronation but in the semifinals of other divisions. Stockdale, seeded fourth, could see its run of six consecutive Division I championships come to an end at top-seeded Buchanan, which beat the Mustangs 8-1 back in the first match of the year. Certainly things have changed since then, but have they changed that much? Garces and Visalia-Redwood in Division II are trying to get to a Thursday title match, where they might duke it out for title of second-best team in the Valley. In Garces' way is third-seeded Frontier, which played the Rams reasonably close in a Lewis Cup match earlier this year. But the playoff format allows Garces to flex even more depth. Tehachapi also will try to keep its year going when it hosts Clovis North in the Division III semis.
As for individuals, all of the upsets came in doubles in the first two rounds of the singles and doubles tournament Saturday. Six seeded singles players — BCHS' Lyndsay and Chelby Cooke, Garces' Gracie Jacobs and Abby Wattenbarger, Frontier's Danisa Hromadkova and East's Nancy Ramirez — are still in it as the round of 16 begins Friday. The semifinals and finals are Saturday. In the doubles bracket, there are four local teams left, two from BCHS and two from Garces. All three of Stockdale's teams, two of them seeded, didn't survive the first day.

Cross country
The Kern County Championships gave us a great glimpse at some local showdowns — Ridgeview beat McFarland in the boys team race after the teams had split two earlier meetings. Robbie Baker and Alex Garcia finished 1-2 individually. For the girls, Ridgeview's Tijerra Lynch won the Wolf Pack another title, holding off Bakersfield's Sarah Baker by five seconds in the first race those two had ran against each other. Stockdale, though, beat the Wolf Pack in the team race after upsetting them in the regular season, too. This was a more dominant victory, aided, I think, by a shorthanded Wolf Pack lineup.
As for league titles, they'll be decided Wednesday (SSL) and Thursday (SEYL and SWYL). The smaller league will run at North Kern Golf Course, and the other two at Hart Park. More showdowns await at Woodward Park in Fresno, where the section meet is held Nov. 12 and the state meet Nov. 28.

Water polo
This is a one-school update, obviously, because Garces is the only Kern school that carries the sport. But it's carrying it mighty well in just the second year for the program. The boys had won nine games in a row before losing to Clovis in the Clovis West Tournament this past weekend. The Rams are 10-8 overall heading into next week's Division III section playoffs.
As for the girls, the news is even better. They're 12-3, with a victory in the Tulare Tournament early in the season and a third-place finish in the Clovis West tourney this past weekend. The Fresno Bee, whose rankings I'll trust because all of the section's teams are out of this area but one, has Garces ranked 10th in the section overall and second in D-III, behind Visalia-Redwood. Could be another Valley title to add to the Rams' list.

Week 8, most important things

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:26 PST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fresno State vs. Utah State running thread

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:50:51 PDT

UPDATED, 6:49 p.m.: Official stats have Mathews with 185 yards on 23 carries. So I was off by one. Sue if you want, but I don't think you'll get anywhere.
I'm headed out, but check The Californian tomorrow morning for a story about Ryan. In the meantime, for those interested, here's the link where you can purchase those "No. 21 Heisman Hopeful" T-shirts.

UPDATED, 5:12 p.m.: Ryan Mathews and the Fresno State offensive line have put this game on ice. Mathews carried twice for a first down, and then converted a third-and-7 with an 11-yard scamper to seal the deal. Knees from here, and FSU survives 31-27.
Again, it's unofficial, but I've got Mathews down for 184 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner on 23 carries.

UPDATED, 5:04 p.m.: As bad as the Fresno State defense was in the first half, it has really stepped up in the second half. That's another stop on a three-and-out. 3:35 and ticking on the clock, and Utah State is going to punt and try to get the ball back. Not a good situation for the Aggies.
Fresno State has it at its own 6 with 3:13 left. Utah State has two timeouts.

UPDATED, 5:00 p.m.: By my count, that's now 160 yards rushing for Mathews, his eighth 100-yard game in as many tries this season.

UPDATED, 4:59 p.m.: Ryan Mathews might have just saved the day for the Bulldogs. He carried once for 6 yards, then finally got loose in the secondary and went wild, getting 47 yards to the USU 25. We'll see what the Bulldogs can do with it. Pass interference on Utah State will give the Bulldogs the ball first-and-goal at the 10. Inside of five minutes to play now.
Mathews again. Touchdown. Slipped through two linebackers, and if they touched him, it was just a scrape. Fresno State takes a 31-27 lead with 4:53 left. It's on the Bulldogs' defense now.

UPDATED, 4:55 p.m.: A big stop on an option pitch sets up fourth-and-1 for Utah State. They'll go for it. Taking a huge risk from their own 47. Timeout first. Fresno State also burned its first timeout on defense on this drive, by the way.
We'll see if the Aggies will keep the offense on the field out of the TO. There's 6:10 left, and if they don't get it, Fresno State will be within 15 yards of tying field-goal range. If they do, though, they can keep milking the clock. Punt formation it is. OK, now Fresno State's second timeout. There was some apparent confusion there on defense, maybe expecting a fake? No, it was because they had 12 men on the field. Boy, would that have been costly. Rather burn the timeout, even though that leaves them with just one.
The punt takes an enormous Utah State bounce and goes all the way to the 3-yard line. 5:59 left, and Fresno State has a lot of green in front of it if it wants to even this game or even take the lead.
Nevermind on that. Apparently, the ball hit a Utah State player at the 22. Fresno State will get the ball there. That's a huge break for Fresno, but still a long way to go.

UPDATED, 4:47 p.m.: All of Fresno State's victories have come by 20 points or more. They're 0-4 in games decided by less than that big number, a trend they'll have to reverse to get a win here. And while the Bulldogs' defense has recovered nicely from a bad first half, pitching a shutout in the second, the offense is the problem now. A three-and-out, and FSU has to punt again. Time is becoming more and more of a factor. 7:49 left.

UPDATED, 4:43 p.m.: The Aggies are showing no fear here, risking a deep play-action pass down the right sideline from the 1 on first down. Incomplete. RB Robert Turbin leaps out to the 3 on second down. Jefferson made the tackle, by the way. BIG third down here as we go inside 11 minutes. Converted, pass from Borel to a big tight end on a drag, Kellen Bartlett.
A couple of runs sets up another third down, this one six yards to go. And an open man, Mikahil Morgan, drops the ball. Was running before he secured it, and Fresno State has an important stop. A good punt, though, and though Chastin West had a nifty return, the Bulldogs are back at their own 39. Still good field position with 9:18 left.

UPDATED, 4:37 p.m.: Fourth-and-inches for Fresno State at the USU 47, and they're going for it. Big boys sub in. And a false-start penalty. What a killer. It was Devon Cunningham, and now the Bulldogs will have to punt. All the ingredients for an upset are here, and Utah State is going to have the ball with 11:37 left. But — and this is big too — the Bulldogs were able to down the punt at the USU 1-yard line. So the Aggies have a hole to dig out of on offense. Still 27-24.

UPDATED, 4:31 p.m.: What a bullet dodged there by Fresno State, which forces an incomplete pass with some tight coverage from Isaiah Green on third down and then watches Chris Ulinski's 31-yard field goal attempt sail wide left to keep the score 27-24. Bulldogs take over, and Mathews is back in there. Injury scare averted, apparently.

UPDATED, 4:27 p.m.: No Ryan Mathews on that last drive. Fresno State goes three-and-out with Anthony Harding at tailback, and the timing of that is very strange to me. FSU often gets its other backs some carries, but Mathews ran so well on the last drive that I wonder if he wasn't banged up. Something to keep an eye on, anyway.
As the third quarter clock melts away, Utah State has a third-and-5 from inside the 40 after a Matt Akers tackle. Akers is a redshirt freshman from Liberty playing defensive end. But the Aggies convert the first down, Diondre Borel to Nnamdi Gwacham. Another first down later, the third quarter ends. Utah State is in the red zone to begin the fourth, up by three.

UPDATED, 4:18 p.m.: A.J. Jefferson made about the first open-field tackle on Diondre Borel on a first-down play that Fresno State has all game, but now the Utah State QB is moving the ball through the air, down to the FSU 41.
Crowd is easily the loudest it has been all game, by the way, and Fresno State makes a big stop. Bakersfield High grad Phillip Thomas, the Bulldogs' nickelback, made a third-down tackle for loss to get FSU out of the drive.
Bulldogs' ball again, back at their own 11. 4:08 to go in a fast-moving third quarter.

UPDATED, 4:12 p.m.: Three more plays, and Fresno State scores. There's that Bulldogs ground game. Mathews busted a counter play for 24 yards down to the 3, and Lonyae Miller went in untouched from there to cut the Utah State lead to 27-24. Mathews has 48 yards in the second half already after just 40 in the first half.

UPDATED, 4:08 p.m.: We didn't have a punt from either team in the entire first half, but both teams are forced to kick it away on their first second-half possession. Fresno State ball again.
There's lots of time left in this game, but this feels like an important drive. After the defense finally found a way to contain Diondre Borel, who reminds me a lot of Missouri quarterback Brad Smith from when I was in school there — very mobile, hard to tackle, strong arm, not necissarily the most accurate guy in the world. A good drive here and Fresno State would have some real momentum.
First play, a 36-yard catch and run from Seyi Ajirotutu. Second play, a 13-yard bulldozing run from Ryan Mathews. This is a good start.

UPDATED, 4:01 p.m.: Well, Mathews got carries on second and third down on the Bulldogs' first series, but he came up two yards short of the first down (after no gain on a first-down passing play). Colburn still is in there, by the way. Don't think we've seen anything drastic enough for Carr to come in yet.
But if Fresno State's D can't come up with a big play, it might be time for drastic measures soon.

UPDATED, 3:55 p.m.: I just re-read what I wrote in the previous update and want to clarify: I don't think Ryan Colburn is playing poorly. For the most part, he's done a nice job, both today and on the season. The Bulldogs are 4-3, and in at least two of those losses, the defense has been more to blame than Colburn or anyone else. That's the case again for the deficit today, with Utah State racking up 363 first-half yards, 179 of them on the ground.
But it just seems like Colburn is being set up to fail. Every time he makes a mistake or doesn't execute, someone somewhere thinks of Carr, who's a big-time recruit and the brother of a popular former Fresno State great. That's not fair to Colburn.
The other thing I want to add is more of a question: Where is Ryan Mathews? I know Utah State dominated time of possession in this game, nearly 20 minutes to just more than 10, but Mathews has eight touches. There have been 23 other offensive plays where the Bulldogs haven't utilized their best player. Yes, balance is important, and yes, there are other playmakers in this offense, but that still seems low to me, especially considering Mathews has performed well when he has gotten the ball.
Second half kick-off is in two minutes. FSU gets the ball first. We'll see how it shakes out.

UPDATED, 3:36 p.m.: It didn't take long for a few boo-birds to turn on Ryan Colburn and Fresno State offense there. Colburn didn't look good in the two-minute drill, and though the Bulldogs converted a couple of third downs, Colburn threw a bad interception and gave the Aggies a shot at points before halftime.
Diondre Borel rallies his guys down into field-goal range with a few seconds left, also in part thanks to a pass-interference call in the end zone on A.J. Jefferson. Not a good first half for that former Viking. And Chris Ulinski hits a 23-yard field goal as first-half time expires to make it 27-17 Aggies. Big-time turnaround in this second quarter. More boos as the teams head to their locker rooms.
Don't get me wrong: Ryan Colburn has played well for the most part in this first half. But he's flashing some of the inconsistency that has Bulldog fans waiting for Derek Carr to get his chance. Will Pat Hill's hand be forced? It almost seems like Colburn is hurt by the perception that Carr can do better, even when the starter's playing well. And maybe Carr will get his chance. I don't think it'll happen right away, but if Colburn struggles on another drive, there will be pressure on Hill to give the freshman from BCHS a try.

UPDATED, 3:23 p.m.: If you want an upset, you've got to play well and get a few breaks, and that Jefferson fumble just might help Utah State to a halftime lead here. The Aggies took seven plays to punch in a touchdown with 1:57 remaining in the half. It's 24-17. We'll see how Fresno State responds here in front of what's become a bit of a stunned crowd (it has gotten a bit bigger, by the way, though still pretty small).

UPDATED, 3:17 p.m.: Robert Turbin busts loose for 36 more yards on another third-and-1, and two plays later, he gets in from a yard out on third-and-goal to tie us up, 17-17 with 5:02 to play in the half. Fresno State's defense has looked porous, even as they've made a couple of big plays. Turbin and mobile QB Diondre Borel have really come through when they've needed to on offense.
I know the passing game is working, but it might be time to get the nation's leading rusher some more carries on this drive before the half. He's had seven touches, five of them rushes.
Or not. Mathews' West High teammate, A.J. Jefferson, had a big kickoff return there, but perhaps the last man he had to beat stripped him of the ball. USU recovers the fumble and has it back at the Fresno State 40. Ouch.

UPDATED, 3:05 p.m.: They actually count an incompletion against the quarterback on an intentional-grounding penalty (the defender also gets a sack, which is kind of a double standard, if you ask me), so Colburn didn't have a perfect first quarter after all. All the stats I give you here are my own and thus unofficial, by the way. I'll update with official stats as I get them. Colburn is unofficially 11-of-14 for 170 yards now, still very good numbers. And Ryan Mathews has five carries for 41 yards, plus the 26 receiving yards.
And though that last Bulldogs drive stalled at the USU 33, Kevin Goessling nailed a 50-yard field goal to give Fresno a 17-10 lead. Special teams, folks. Utah State missed a mid-range field goal and Fresno State hit a long one. That will make a huge difference in the course of a game, and it's given the Bulldogs a full touchdown lead here with 9:48 to go before halftime.

UPDATED, 2:54 p.m.: An amazing diving catch near the sideline from USU's Xavier Bowman sets the Aggies up at the 20, but Fresno State's D stiffens from there, and they get a stop when Chris Ulinski pulls his 32-yard field goal attempt wide to the left. Any stop is a big stop in a game like this, and the Bulldogs have the first one. Now we'll see if Colburn and Mathews can separate from Utah State a little bit.

UPDATED, 2:48 p.m.: Looked like Fresno State, aided by Utah State penalties, had the first stop of the game, but Chris Carter's sack on third-and-27 came with a face-mask penalty attached. That's a personal foul and an automatic first down. Pat Hill must want to pull his mustache out at this point. First quarter over, still 14-0, but the Aggies have a first down in Bulldog territory.

UPDATED, 2:40 p.m.: No matter on the long down-and-distance. Pass to Mathews in the flat, makes a man miss, 15 yards. Pass to Ajirotutu, leaping catch in the end zone, 18 yards, touchdown. 14-10, STILL 4:21 left in the first quarter.
By the way that's two catches for 26 yards for Mathews, who had just five catches for 68 yards coming in. He's also got four carries for 33 yards and a TD. Colburn, by the way, is 8-for-8 passing for 147 yards and a TD already. Wow. Everything working for Fresno State, except the defense. There's another first down for USU.

UPDATED, 2:34 p.m.: I know a lot of us in Bakersfield would like to see Derek Carr get his chance at quarterback in a close game, but with the way Ryan Colburn is playing, there's no reason. He's made mistakes early in games this year, but not today. He was spot-on on the play-action to Ajirotutu on the first play of the game, and he just hit Chastin West on a seam route with beautiful touch from the lefty QB. That set Fresno State up in Utah State territory, and with the Bulldogs sporting a balanced offense, they moved the ball down quickly in position for another score. From there, though Colburn took an intentional-grounding penalty (he was going to be sacked, so it wasn't really a bad play), and FSU takes a timeout facing a second-and-22.

UPDATED, 2:24 p.m.: By the way, they're passing out or selling, I'm not sure which, "Ryan Mathews Heisman Hopeful" T-shirts out there. I've seen a few of them. I had heard in the past month that there wasn't really a budget for a Heisman campaign for Mathews, but it's good to see they're doing something.
Meanwhile, a long kickoff return and a bomb complete to Stanley Morrison gives Utah State a first-and-goal. This thing is a shootout. The pass went for 54 yards, and Morrison beat West High's A.J. Jefferson in coverage.
Jefferson did make the touchdown-saving tackle at the 5, though, but Utah State converted a third-and-goal on a pass from Diondre Borel to Xavier Bowman to retake the lead. It's 10-7, still with 8:20 to play in the first quarter. Could be a long, offense-filled afternoon.

UPDATED, 2:19 p.m.: Ryan Colburn looks just fine on the first drive for Fresno State, and so does Ryan Mathews. Colburn used play action to deke the Utah State defense, then went deep up top to Seyi Ajirotutu for 46 yards. An 11-yard pass to Mathews, then a 14-yard Mathews run, and then a 9-yard tackle play that ended with Mathews diving for the pile-on and the touchdown. Just like that, 7-3 Fresno State. Mathews is helped by the threat of a passing attack, and though Colburn has made his mistakes, he has undoubtedly been providing that this season.

UPDATED, 2:14 p.m.: On the first drive of the game, it looked like Utah State's Robert Turbin is the nation's leading rusher, not Ryan Mathews. Turbin carried for a 43-yard gain on third-and-1 on a counter play. He ran up the gut for 16 yards on the next play, and two plays after that, the Aggies had first-and-goal at the 4. Fresno State stiffened from there, though, and the Bulldogs force USU to kick a 26-yard field goal. Nice response by the FSU defense, and it's 3-0 Utah State.

UPDATED, 1:58 p.m.: A couple of things: First, it's either a very small or very late-arriving crowd on Halloween afternoon (or both). Even the student section isn't half-full.
Also, a couple of fun facts. This is Fresno State's first Halloween game at home since 1992. It's the second straight week and the third week this season they've played a team nicknamed the Aggies (UC Davis to start the season and New Mexico State last Saturday). Coincindentally, it's also the second straight week Utah State has played a team named the Bulldogs (Louisiana Tech being the other). Pretty funny stuff.
As for the game itself, I don't think we'll see a real barn-burner. Utah State lost to New Mexico State three weeks ago, and FSU beat those other Aggies 34-3 last week. That should tell you a lot, though USU (2-5 overall) has given Texas A&M, Utah and Nevada tough games this year.
My pick? Fresno State keeps rolling, 41-24.

ORIGINAL POST: About 20 minutes from gametime here at Bulldog Stadium, where Utah State is in town to try its hand against red-hot West High grad Ryan Mathews and his Fresno State team. The Bulldogs have won three in a row after a 1-3 start and are mowing through the WAC; Mathews is mowing through everything in his path. He leads the nation in rushing with 1,131 yards, and he might keep that lead even if he didn't play today. But he will, and he'll probably rack up more yardage.

There's also some increasing talk up here about Bakersfield Christian grad Derek Carr getting some more playing time at quarterback. Fresno State coach Pat Hill was asked earlier in the week if he thought about pulling inconsistent starter Ryan Colburn, and he hesitated for a few seconds before giving a drawn-out "Naah. I don't think so." Doesn't sound too convincing to me, and Hill also has talked before about getting Carr some action other than mop-up time. Maybe today will be the day.

Keep it here for updates on the game and for Bakersfield's favorite Bulldog sons.

Week 8 running thread and scoreboard

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:10:21 PDT

UPDATED, 12:32 a.m.: A thriller in Tehachapi tonight, and a few other good games around Kern County made it a good Week 8. Let's recap:

Tehachapi 16, Taft 7: It was a defensive battle until the final four minutes, when the Warriors hit two long pass plays, the second one an 18-yard touchdown pass to Zach Maravigli on fourth down that erased a 7-6 deficit. Obviously, I don't need to tell you how big of a win this is for Tehachapi; we've been harping on it all week. The Warriors are a win next week at Wasco away from an SSL championship, and they've probably sewn up the No. 1 playoff seed on their quest for a third straight Division III section title.

Centennial 31, Ridgeview 25: This time, Centennial was able to answer the bell even without quarterback Cody Kessler, who was rumored to possibly be returning from his ankle injury tonight but didn't. Instead, Myren Moore scored three TDs to match Tyler Dogins' output for Ridgeview, and the Golden Hawks erased a 17-14 deficit at halftime for an SWYL victory that keeps them on pace for a winning season and possibly a home game in the first round of the playoffs.

Tulare Union 49, Delano 14: Too much talent from the Redskins for Delano, though the Tigers still accounted well for themselves in that they weren't totally blown away like some of Tulare's other EYL opponents. Delano now can focus on finishing strong and getting a high seed in D-III — at this point, the Tigers look like Tehachapi's biggest challenger, maybe with Ridgeview and Clovis North.

Garces 56, West 42: Another week, another offensive explosion for the Rams, who had more than 400 rushing yards at halftime and more than 600 by the end of the game. Garces is really rolling right now, and I think it's safe to call them a sleeper in a very deep Division II race. Also, that Week 10 game with Liberty likely will still have an impact on the SEYL race, and I wouldn't pencil the Patriots' name in on that trophy just yet — the game's at Garces.

Stockdale 45, North 0; Frontier 43, South 19: Both SWYL leaders take care of business without many problems at home in Week 8 to set up their juicy Week 9 matchup at Stockdale. The winner there can probably take (or keep) the title of Kern County's best and earn itself a pretty seed come playoff time. Can't wait for that one.

Don't forget we'll have a live-blog of Fresno State's game with Utah State tomorrow at 2 p.m., and Sunday I'll be back with most important things for Week 8.

UPDATED, 9:42 p.m.: Fourth-and-goal Tehachapi with 1:09 left, and the Wildcats just called their last timeout. Interesting here, because the Warriors don't have a kicker tonight. But either way, the best Taft can hope for is a long field with no timeouts to tie the game.
And a fourth-down penalty lets Tehachapi milk the clock even more. Taft does get the stop on fourth down, so they've got the ball at their own 5 with 28 seconds left. It would truly be a miracle on the mountain if the Wildcats could pull this one off.
Nope. Cody Shirreffs tackled in the end zone for a safety, and the final will be 16-7 Tehachapi. The Warriors found a way to make the big play at home, and they win another one from Taft on the mountain, and, most likely, the SSL championship.

UPDATED, 9:34 p.m.: And Corey Lange makes a diving interception of Hunter Liljeroos on the first play of the drive. Jesse Olofson has a couple of big runs, and it's first-and-goal Tehachapi. That might just ice this one.

UPDATED, 9:30 p.m.: Fourth and a couple of inches for Tehachapi at its own 35. The Warriors have 6:12 and only one timeout, so it's go-for-it time. Out of a timeout, Michael Lowden carries up the middle for the first down. Bullet dodged there, and now Rush hits Travis Farwell on a post pattern deep! Farewell fumbles, but it goes out of bounds at the Taft 19. Wow. But Jesse Olofson is stuffed twice, and it's third and long. Remember, Tehachapi has no kicker in this game. They have to score. Low throw from Chris Rush, and it's fourth down. Inside of four minutes left. Fourth and about 9. Taft calls timeout.
Out of the TO, Rush has Zach Maravigli wide-open for an 18-yard touchdown! The play of the night, most likely, and it has Tehachapi up with 3:54 to play. Rush also completes a pass for the two-pointer, and the passing game has the Warriors up 14-7. This place exploded. One more chance for Taft.

UPDATED, 9:20 p.m.: And Tehachapi fumbles it back, but the Warriors defense comes up big again, forcing a punt that's shanked and gives Tehachapi the ball back at its 26. About seven minutes left. This could be the drive of the game.

UPDATED, 9:14 p.m.: Quite a turnaround within a few seconds here. Taft was forced to punt from the Tehachapi 41, and the snap sailed far over Ada Figueroa's head. Figueroa retrieved, it though, back at his own 30, and got a blind kick off that bounced to the Warriors 30. That had to be the world's best 11-yard punt, because it keeps Tehachapi back in its own end. Still 7-6, inside of 10 minutes to play.

UPDATED, 9:07 p.m.: At the end of the third quarter, still 7-6 Taft in a defensive battle. Taft has the ball back again, though Tehachapi was able to move the ball enough on that last drive to get out of bad field position. Taft has a second-and-1 from midfield as the fourth quarter begins.
I think we'll see some offense in the fourth, though. Both offensive lines look like they're starting to wear down the defense just a bit.

UPDATED, 8:56 p.m.: Tehachapi jumped offside on a fourth-and-2, keeping a Taft drive alive at about midfield. Big mistake, but it only costs Tehachapi field position. The Warriors hold on the next series but they're pinned deep again, at the 11. Less than five minutes to go in the third quarter.

UPDATED, 8:44 p.m.: Second half under way.

UPDATED, 8:40 p.m.: Ridgeview and Centennial have played a turnover-filled fest that's led by Ridgeview 17-14 at halftime. Cody Kessler is not playing for the Golden Hawks.
Here are some very even stats from Tehachapi:
TAFT (123 total yards) — Shirreffs 17 carries, 68 yards, TD; Eric Foch, 1 carry, 25 yards; Hunter Liljeroos, 1-3 passing for 15 yards
TEHACHAPI (119 total yds) — Olofson 11 carries, 38 yds; Michael Lowder 4 carries, 31 yds; Chris Rush 1-2 passing for 42 yards and a TD to Travis Farewell

UPDATED, 8:28 p.m.: Taft runs the first-half clock out in a bit of a strange sequence. The Wildcats risked going for it on a fourth-and-3 from their 47 with 25 seconds left (and Tehachapi had all three timeouts left). But Taft converted, then picked up 8 more yards on the next carry. Taft's kicker, Ada Figueroa, has a great leg, but Taft went into the locker room with a timeout in its pocket instead of trying what would have been about a 55-yard field goal. Doesn't seem like Steve Sprague to play it safe, but there you have it.
Some other scores, all in the first half — Bakersfield, Liberty and Garces are having no trouble with their opponents, the most significant of those scores probably being the Rams' 28-7 lead at the end of just a quarter against West. I'll try to get a Ridgeview-Centennial score and be back with stats in a few minutes.

UPDATED, 8:20 p.m.: A couple of mistakes that will cancel each other out. A 15-yard punt from Tehachapi gave Taft the ball at the 20 going in, but the Wildcats fumbled the ball back on the first play of that drive. Late first half now, Taft has it back still up 7-6.

UPDATED, 8:12 p.m.: Tehachapi answers very quickly, getting a 23-yard run from Michael Lowden, who bounced, literally bounced, off a tackler before streaking down the sideline. Then the Warriors struck stealthily through the air, using play action to freeze the D and getting a 42-yard touchdown pass from Chris Rush to Travis Farewell to make it 7-6. Tehachapi's kicker, Jake Reimer, however, is hurt, I just learned, and the Warriors tried a swinging-gate handoff to Jesse Olofson that didn't work at all instead of the normal PAT. So it's 7-6 Taft, which just stalled but pinned Tehachapi inside its 10-yard line.

UPDATED, 8:02 p.m.: A personal-foul penalty for a late hit on Tehachapi set Taft up with field position at the Warriors 38, and a long Shirreffs run and a 15-yard pass from Hunter Liljeroos to Drew Powell set up Shirreffs for a 9-yard TD run. Tehachapi makes the first big mistake in this one, and it cost 'em. 7-0 Taft, 10:28 left second quarter.

UPDATED, 7:55 p.m.: That was Michael Lowder, not Jesse Olofson, who muffed that first punt. Taft had a drive going inside the Tehachapi 40, but the Warriors stiffened and forced Taft to punt. A defensive battle thus far, and right on cue, Taft forces a three-and-out inside the Tehachapi 20 as the first quarter comes to an end.
Taft has fumbled once and Tehachapi twice, by the way, but the fumbling team recovered all three.

UPDATED, 7:45 p.m.: Thirteen yards on the first play from scrimmage for Cody Shirreffs, but Tehachapi holds three-and-out from there. Jesse Olofson muffed the punt but got back on top of it, and the Warriors took over from there.
Same deal for Tehachapi. One first down, to get across midfield, then stall. 0-0, midway through the first.

UPDATED, 7:13 p.m.: I need to make a quick update about the JV game, which was a classic. Taft scored twice on passing plays in the fourth quarter to take a 27-26 lead with exactly a minute left, but Tehachapi scored on its own long pass play — what's with the aerial attacks? — of 76 yards to win it 32-27. I don't harp on JV a lot, but what a classic. Let's hope the varsity equals it for drama.

UPDATED, 6:55 p.m.: I've arrived in Tehachapi, and I'm much obliged to the press-box crew here for squeezing me in, actually right on the 50-yard line. Can't ask for much better than that.

A quick programming note before we get going here: I will once again be doing a Fresno State live game thread for tomorrow afternoon's home game with Utah State. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.; the live thread will be posted a few minutes before that.

Here, it's going to be a heck of a game, of that I have no doubt. I probably don't have to tell you how difficult it was to make this prediction Wednesday, because it's tough to pick against the Warriors on their home turf. But Taft has one of those teams that only comes along every now and then, and I think the Wildcats just might have their first road victory at Tehachapi since 1992 in them. For some insight on just how tough it can be to win up here — and just how good of a matchup this is — check out this story from this morning's Californian.

Now they've brought me a tri-tip and a bottle of water. That's what I call service. Check back with you in a few minutes.

ORIGINAL POST: Time to turn our focus to the mountain tonight. Will it be the Wing T and the cold weather of Tehachapi? Or the smashmouth bravado of Steve Sprague and big, bad Taft? Should be a doozy.

Speaking of big bad, Tulare Union invades Delano tonight for the Tigers' biggest game of the season. You can bet the jungle will be rocking and rooting for the upset.

In town, you might be paying attention to Ridgeview-Centennial, West-Garces or a host of other games. No matter what your flavor is, make School House Zach your home base of operations. I'll have a live blog from Tehachapi tonight and update the scoreboard below as often as possible. You can also follow me on Twitter, @zewing, for on-the-go updates.

It's worth noting that Independence got Week 8 started last night with a 45-7 victory at Tulare-Mission Oak. The Falcons scored a couple of defensive touchdowns and had a 45-0 lead at halftime as they improved to 4-4 in their inaugural season.

If you missed it, I posted a great Week 8 podcast last night that you can find here. If you want to catch up on my (very controversial) predictions, you can do that as well.

(Central Section rankings in parentheses; all games 7:30 p.m. Friday unless noted.)

Kern County scoreboard
Independence 45, Tulare-Mission Oak 7 (Thursday)
(3) Tulare Union 49, Delano 14
(4) Stockdale 45, North 0
(6) Bakersfield 56, Golden Valley 7
(8) Liberty 49, East 14
(10) Frontier 43, South 19
(14) Tehachapi 16, Taft 7
Centennial 31, Ridgeview 25
Garces 56, West 42
Foothill 21, Highland 7
Bakersfield Christian 20, Shafter 14
Wasco 41, Arvin 7
Porterville 28, Chavez 14
Mira Monte vs. Kennedy (at Chavez)
McFarland 23, Laton 20
Kern Valley 41, Bishop 35, OT
Frazier Mountain 49, California City 21
Rosamond 30, Desert 8
Victorville-Silverado 35, Burroughs 21
Boron 28, Lancaster-Desert Christian 20
Mojave 34, Yermo-Silver Valley 0
Lighthouse Christian 64, Coalinga-Faith Christian 14
L.A.-Windward 58, Maricopa 8 (Saturday)
Big Pine 62, Immanuel Christian 42 (Saturday)

Other Central Section scores
Reedley 28, Clovis North 7 (Thursday)
(5) Fresno-Central 77, Madera 14 (Thursday)
(1) Fresno-Bullard 20, Sanger 14
(2) Clovis-Buchanan 28, Clovis 7
(7) Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial 42, Fresno-Roosevelt 14
(9) Clovis West 21, Clovis East 14
(11) Fresno-Edison 43, (15) Fresno-Hoover 7
(12) Kingsburg 38, Kerman 14
(13) Visalia-El Diamante 37, Visalia-Redwood 21
Fresno-Washington Union 45, Chowchilla 26
Dinuba 37, Visalia-Central Valley Christian 13
Lemoore 25, Porterville-Monache 22
Tulare Western 68, Porterville-Granite Hills 20
Hanford 46, Visalia-Mt. Whitney 22
Hanford West 41, Visalia-Golden West 34
Exeter 21, Coalinga 0
Reedley-Immanuel 47, Selma 21
Dos Palos 27, Oakhurst-Yosemite 14
Tollhouse-Sierra 22, Madera Ranchos-Liberty 21
Corcoran 31, Lindsay 3
Strathmore 54, Orosi 14
Fowler 18, Woodlake 13
Fresno-Sunnyside 28, Fresno-McLane 0
Madera South 25, Fresno 21
Caruthers 72, Riverdale 12
Parlier 32, Fresno Christian 26
Tranquillity 27, Cambria-Coast Union 14
SLO-Mission Prep 41, Farmersville 0
Firebaugh 20, Acton-Vasquez 19
Mendota 55, Avenal 12
Orange Cove 56, Lemoore-Kings Christian 0
Riverdale Christian 51, Clovis Christian 38
Visalia Christian at Alpaugh, Saturday
Santa Rosa-Rincon Valley Christian 50, Madera-Lighthouse Academy 0 (Saturday)

Week 8 HS football podcast

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:07:52 PDT

I know it's getting late, but here's your Week 8 podcast. Had to cover some playoff tennis (Stockdale over Liberty) this afternoon, so we got started late on producing this one, but here it is, and I think it's a pretty good one. Lots of Taft-Tehachapi talk and quite a few other things for your enjoyment.

Week 8 HS football predictions

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:43:11 PDT

This is the time of year when upsets happen. That's because teams get worn out, or they try to get away with resting someone, something clicks for a teams that's been struggling, or someone notices a tendency on film. But it's also because of the way the Kern County schedule is set up. The biggest games, for the most part, are played early in the season — your Stockdale-Bakersfield, Garces-Tehachapi, Centennial-Liberty, etc. — and then the league season is set up with a couple of Division I teams in each league, a couple of D-IIs and a couple of D-IIIs. Those games are ripe for upsets because there's familiarity between the teams, too.

We saw it last week, when West tripped up Centennial. We saw it last year, when Bakersfield lost this same week to Golden Valley. For whom will the bell toll this week? It's a safe bet that someone will be upset, but since it's nearly impossible to predict who, I'll stick with picking mostly favorites. But keep your eyes open for that upset.

Looking back at last week's predictions:

The good: I took Taft to win its first road game at Wasco, Garces to end East's perfect SEYL season in a shootout and Stockdale to cruise by Ridgeview. Nailed toss-up games with Burroughs and South.

The bad: Margins were all off, especially with Taft. I missed toss-up games by failing to take Mira Monte, Shafter or Chavez.

The ugly: Totally didn't see that West upset coming, and looking back on it, the signs were all there. McFarland and Kennedy didn't stand a chance, and I had picked them both to win.

Thursday, Oct. 29
INDEPENDENCE (3-4, 2-1 SCSL) AT TULARE-MISSION OAK (1-6, 1-2) — The second half of round-robin play in the South Central Sequoia League begins. The first time around, just two weeks ago, the Falcons took apart their visitors from Tulare, 50-22. Any reason it should be different just 13 days later? Well, the Falcons couldn't be happy with a home loss to Mira Monte last week, and I think their lack of depth has hurt because of some key injuries. Still, there should be more than enough left for Independence to take care of business here, setting up a shot at a .500 season and a winning record in the last two weeks of the season.
Prediction: Independence 38, Mission Oak 17

Friday, Oct. 30
TAFT (6-1, 2-0 SSL) AT TEHACHAPI (6-1, 2-0) — I'm not completely ready to write Wasco off, but the winner of this game — especially if it's Taft, which has already played the Tigers — is in the catbird's seat in the SSL for sure. I was more impressed with the Wildcats last week than I was with Tehachapi when it beat Garces in Week 2, but it was close. And you've also got to consider the Warriors likely have significantly improved and that they're at home. There's something about that mountain mystique, and though the weather won't be bad (forecast is a low of 39 and clear), it will be loud, and Tehachapi doesn't often lose up there. Still, I got a feeling about the Wildcats last week — they've got a good team that has a chip on its shoulder ever since losing a controversial road game in Week 0 — and they're out for respect. Tehachapi will battle, no doubt, and both teams will go over 250 yards rushing, but in the end I think this is the year Taft goes up there and pulls out a victory.
Prediction: Taft 31, Tehachapi 30

TULARE UNION (7-0, 3-0 EYL) AT DELANO (6-1, 2-1) — There's been a lot of Delano fans clamoring for respect out there, and I have to admit that the Tigers have caught me by surprise this year. I thought the loss of a few key players like Mychal Quiddam, Amandeep Singh and Alex Cabalona would hurt enough to force Delano into a rebuilding year. That obviously hasn't happened, and here they are with a winning season already clinched and likely a fairly high Division III seed to come. And a league championship is still in play, at least until they kick off in The Jungle this Friday night. I think that dream is one that's going to end early in the game — Tulare Union is a different animal than anyone the Tigers have seen, and I think speed and size will be as overwhelming as it has been the past few years. Delano will hit a few big plays, but don't expect the world.
Prediction: Tulare Union 55, Delano 27

RIDGEVIEW (5-3, 1-3 SWYL) AT CENTENNIAL (4-3, 1-2) — Speaking of predictions, it would have been hard to guess that teams would have a combined 2-5 league record coming into this one. Which team is more snakebitten? Both lost fourth-quarter leads to West, and both gave up 40-plus to Stockdale. The game is huge to both teams. Centennial could be looking at a first-round 8/9 game against Clovis East in the playoffs. They'd love to have a few wins under their belt to get that one at home. Ridgeview needs a scalp to sort of legitimize its hot start, not to mention trying to snap out of a funk. Tyler Dogins may be able to do his thing enough for Ridgeview to score some points and stay in this one, but I think the Golden Hawks are due a break after last weekend's fourth quarter, in which they fumbled twice, lost both and saw both returned for touchdowns.
Prediction: Centennial 30, Ridgeview 17

WEST (4-3) AT GARCES (4-3) — Word in cyberspace is that West running back Mustafaa Cobb is academically ineligible to play for the rest of the season, or so a source close to the Vikings program has told me. That's a blow to the Vikings, who obviously are coming off their win of the year. It's possible that will end up being their high-water mark for the whole season, with a tough game here and another against Stockdale in Week 10 still left. But Chad Grider's defense has also been tough, so the loss of Cobb isn't an end-all. Garces' offense has been very, very good too, though, so this will be an interesting matchup. But unless West can find a way to hold the Rams below 20 or so points — something that's been done sparingly this year — I don't think they'll be able to keep up.
Prediction: Garces 24, West 14

EAST (3-4, 3-1 SEYL) AT LIBERTY (4-3, 3-0) — Speaking of interesting matchups, it will be fun — and probably pretty eye-opening — to see what East's (sometimes) high-flying offense can do against the Patriots. Defensive back Zach Vasquez leads a secondary that's one of the best around, and you can bet Liberty will get some pressure on Joe Pearson, the county's leading passer. I don't think the final outcome is really in doubt, because even if the Blades can score a few points, they've had trouble stopping people even in games they've won. Liberty's once-struggling offense will continue to fatten up in league play.
Prediction: Liberty 41, East 14

SOUTH (5-2, 1-2 SWYL) AT FRONTIER (7-0, 3-0) — Next week, at long last, is Frontier's game at Stockdale. But first things first: The Titans play their last regular-season home game this weekend, and if they're at all distracted by Senior Day and whatnot, South is good enough to put a scare in a team that otherwise should breeze to 8-0. I say that because Frontier has faced good backs like West's Mustafaa Cobb, Tehachapi's Jesse Olofson and Ridgeview's Tyler Dogins and more or less shut them down. Could be a big night again for the Titans' defensive line and a long one for Lee West and a pretty good South offense.
Prediction: Frontier 42, South 13

NORTH (1-6, 0-4 SWYL) AT STOCKDALE (6-1, 3-0) — Think back to last year at this time, and this was the Halloween game of the week, with North rolling in at 4-0 in the SWYL and Stockdale hanging on in the league race after losing to Ridgeview the week before. A few mistakes buried North, and though the Stars rebounded to out-gun Centennial the next week and win a share of the league title, they seemingly haven't been the same since. A lopsided playoff loss to Sanger and then a struggle of a 2009 later, North is just a speed bump for Stockdale on its way to Frontier next week and what's looking more and more like a deep run in the Division I playoffs.
Prediction: Stockdale 49, North 6

GOLDEN VALLEY (2-5, 1-3 SEYL) AT BAKERSFIELD (5-2, 2-1) — The Bulldogs' coaching staff had a bit of a revelation last year at this time, realizing that switching from their balanced, maybe even leaning towards the pass, offense to an all-Byron Newman, all-the-time attack might trip up the Drillers. It did, and Newman's big night combined with a few timely forced turnovers from the Golden Valley defense sprung what was one of 2008's biggest upsets. This is a different year and a couple of different teams, however, and I don't think lightning will strike twice in one place. Bakersfield is mistake-prone again, but Golden Valley doesn't have a Byron Newman to make the Drillers pay.
Prediction: Bakersfield 47, Golden Valley 12

FOOTHILL (1-6, 0-3 SEYL) AT HIGHLAND (2-6, 0-3) — If it weren't for that doozy of a Taft-Tehachapi game, this might be the toss-up pick of the week. The Scots finally showed some life in sticking with Frontier for about a half last week. Don't forget this is a team we thought might be pretty competitve this year until they had a rough stretch against East, Garces and Golden Valley. And this is a team that still has some athletes in Alan Roy and John Oglesby. Conversely, I think the pantry at Foothill is pretty bare in terms of experience and experienced talent. Give the Scots their first win in more than a month.
Prediction: Highland 23, Foothill 16

BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (2-5, 0-2 SSL) AT SHAFTER (2-5, 1-1) — Hard to believe that it was just a year ago that BCHS was coming off of a scintillating shootout win against Tehachapi and blazing its way to an SSL title. Now the Eagles simply have to be worried about snapping out of this five-game losing streak. The good news is that Shafter, despite its own thrilling victory last week at Arvin, is more like the two teams Bakersfield Christian beat (Avenal and Kennedy) than it's like the five teams it lost to. Shafter will hang around, and a win here would really be huge for the program, but I think Arend Bos and the Eagles receivers hit enough big plays to give BCHS a much-needed victory.
Prediction: Bakersfield Christian 34, Shafter 24

ARVIN (1-6, 0-2 SSL) AT WASCO (5-2, 1-1) — The key here is Wasco's confidence. The Tigers were flying high a week ago but now are nursing the 42-0 welt Taft left them with last Friday night. If Wasco can shake that off mentally, they've got enough talent to roll past Arvin, but if the bad loss in their heads, that's when mistakes happen. Judging by an almost upbeat Wasco locker room after the Taft game, I'd say shaking it off might not be a problem. And it might not matter — Arvin has had trouble scoring all season no matter who it has faced.
Prediction: Wasco 41, Arvin 10

CHAVEZ (5-3, 2-2 EYL) AT PORTERVILLE (4-3, 2-1) — The Titans have been one of the toughest teams for me to predict all year. What's more, Porterville has played a number of Kern County teams, and I haven't done well there either, I think only 1-3. So to say this one strikes me as a toss-up is quite the understatement. It does seem to me like Porterville has been playing better the past couple of weeks — the Panthers snuck out a win against Delano in their last home game and then at least weren't totally embarrassed by Tulare Union — and they're at home. And I'm in doubt. You know what that means.
Prediction: Porterville 23, Chavez 19

MIRA MONTE (3-4, 3-0 SCSL) VS. KENNEDY (0-7, 0-3) AT CHAVEZ — Another rematch, one the Lions need to win if they want to stay ahead of Independence with those teams' own rematch coming in Week 10. The good news is that Mira Monte won the first meeting 36-6 in Bakersfield and that running back Tim Harris really seems to have hit his stride. Harris already has racked up 971 yards, including more than 200 in each of the past two weeks. He's averaging 203.3 yards a game in league play. Expect that to continue, and expect the Lions to roll and keep Kennedy winless.
Prediction: Mira Monte 42, Kennedy 7

McFARLAND (4-4, 1-1 ESL) AT LATON (1-6, 0-2) — Speaking of good running backs you might not have heard of, keep an eye on the Cougars' Frankie Gonzalez, who was up to 840 yards on just 96 carries as of two weeks ago (last week's stats weren't inputted on MaxPreps). Frankie, though, had only taken the ball into the end zone twice. Laton might be a tougher team that their record indicates — for small-school standards, they've played a decent schedule and they gave Mission Prep more of a test that McFarland did — but this is still a game the Cougars should win. Give Frankie another touchdown and McFarland a second-half pull-away.
Prediction: McFarland 28, Laton 14

KERN VALLEY (6-1, 2-0 HDL) AT BISHOP (3-3, 2-0) — Forget the records here, too: This could very well be the game of the weekend. Even though Desert and Mojave have won a couple of titles each this decade (and Rosamond won one in 2005), this has by and large been Bishop's league to lose for some time. Kern Valley, meanwhile, hasn't been in the picture until this year. So it's a classic case of the challenger against the champion, and it's in the champion's house. (To be fair, Frazier Mountain is going to be in this race, too.) But I like the Broncs with no O in this one for a couple of reasons — their offense has been terrific, and they've won a number of close games while the Broncos with an O have lost a couple. That sort of thing is contagious.
Prediction: Kern Valley 30, Bishop 27

FRAZIER MOUNTAIN (6-1, 2-0 HDL) AT CALIFORNIA CITY (0-6, 0-2) — Awaiting the winner of that game will be the Falcons, who should have no problem getting to 3-0 in league this week. Frazier Mountain must travel to Bishop next week before hosting Kern Valley in Week 10. In the meantime, it can sharpen its defense — even while winning, the Falcons have given up 20 or more points five times — against Cal City.
Prediction: Frazier Mountain 55, California City 14

DESERT (1-6, 0-2 HDL) AT ROSAMOND (1-6, 0-2) — For all the troubles the Scorpions have had this year, they've still been able to run the ball pretty effectively. They've got three kids over 300 yards, led by Chris Buchanan's 513, and they're averaging 4.2 yards a carry. But while offense was the problem early, defense has been the issue of late, and it's just shaping up to be one of those seasons where nothing goes right. Rosamond might be a bit of a respite, but the Roadrunners woke up last week and put some points on the board against Frazier Mountain in a 55-28 loss. Somehow, though, I think Desert's running game will have a big night and have enough to get out of the HDL cellar.
Prediction: Desert 28, Rosamond 19

BURROUGHS (4-3, 1-1 DSL) AT VICTORVILLE-SILVERADO (6-2, 2-0) — After splitting a couple of close games to open Desert Sky League play, the Burros likely need to take two of their final three games to reach the Southern Section playoffs for the second straight year. Unfortunately for them, that stretch begins with a road game at Silverado, a team that pummeled the same Barstow team that beat Burroughs in overtime a couple of weeks ago. The OT loss could haunt Burroughs if they don't get it done here.
Prediction: Silverado 37, Burroughs 20

LANCASTER-DESERT CHRISTIAN (2-5, 1-1 DML) AT BORON (5-2, 2-0) — I got a note earlier this week reminding me of what a great story the Bobcats are, and so I'll share the gist of it here: This is a football program that is a consistent winner, a consistent champion even, despite having a group of less than 20 players year in and year out. That's a testament to the players, the coaches and the small community, which will be able to enjoy another big victory this week.
Prediction: Boron 51, Desert Christian 14

YERMO-SILVER VALLEY (0-6, 0-1 DML) AT MOJAVE (5-1, 1-0) — Boron's run of dominance in the Desert Mountain League might come to an end, though, because of the presence of Mojave. While a much smaller school that it used to be, Mojave still has a consistent football program that produced a couple of champions in the much bigger High Desert League earlier in this decade. All signs are pointing to a battle royale between the Mustangs and Bobcats next week at Boron.
Prediction: Mojave 35, Silver Valley 6

COALINGA-FAITH CHRISTIAN (1-4, 1-1 CVSSL) AT LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN (3-4, 1-1) — A win here in its final home game would set Lighthouse Christian up with a chance to go on the road and get a really big victory, next week against undefeated Riverdale Christian. It would also be a giant step towards a .500 season.
Prediction: Lighthouse Christian 47, Faith Christian 12

Saturday, Oct. 31
MARICOPA (5-2) AT L.A.-WINDWARD ACADEMY (6-0) — This is a rare late non-league game for the Indians, and it should provide them with quite a stiff test. Windward is unbeaten, though that counts one forfeit win. The Wildcats' other five victories include one against a previously unbeaten team and another against another unbeaten team. So, yeah, the Indians are underdogs here.
Prediction: Windward Academy 49, Maricopa 21

BIG PINE (4-3, 2-2 HLL) AT IMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (5-2, 3-0) — Big Pine appeared to be one of the top dogs in the Hi-Lo League until last week, when the Baker Mad Greeks (er, Braves, and I know that's not the first time I've used the joke but I love that restaurant) took them out 40-20. That, combined with Immanuel Christian's momentum and the fact that the Crusaders are at home leads me to pick them to stay unbeaten, setting up a league-championship showdown at Trona next week.
Prediction: Immanuel Christian 33, Big Pine 24

Last week: 18-6 (.750)
This year: 132-43 (.754)

Central Section football rankings, Week 8

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:09:51 PDT

We're getting into crunch time in the regular season. Three games left for every team in the Central Section, many of them huge league tilts that will alter seeding for the playoffs. Still, the pecking order right now is pretty well established.

1. Fresno-Bullard (7-0, Division I, last week: 1) — For the first time since the early part of the season, I considered knocking the Knights off of their No. 1 perch, after they struggled to put away Reedley and Buchanan hammered Clovis West. But I think Bullard has earned enough benefit of the doubt for a shaky game. Just about everyone in the County-Metro Athletic Conference, though, seems dangerous.
LAST WEEK: won at Reedley, 52-42. THIS WEEK: at Sanger

2. Clovis-Buchanan (7-0, Division I, last week: 2) — You don't find many teams that can put up 38 points on Clovis West with 352 passing yards, but you don't find many teams that suit up QB Lance Orender and gifted receivers Jake East, Kyle Novak and Seth Moranda.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 7 Clovis West, 38-14. THIS WEEK: at Clovis

3. Tulare Union (7-0, Division II, last week: 3) — Every now and then, East Yosemite League fans try to manufacture a "showdown" between TU and another team that has a good record in the league. But there's too big of a gap for that description to be accurate. Porterville took a whipping in the EYL's big game last week; now, Delano will take its shot.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Porterville, 56-21. THIS WEEK: at Delano

4. Stockdale (6-1, Division I, last week: 4) — I was tempted to move the Mustangs into the three spot — no team has been more consistently impressive — but that one-point loss to Bakersfield still bothers me. Stockdale has gotten better, but there were times when the Drillers were running at will. No matter; if Stockdale keeps winning, it'll get that No. 3 spot and then some.
LAST WEEK: won at Ridgeview, 41-7. THIS WEEK: vs. North

5. Fresno-Central (5-2, Division I, last week: 5) — The rare sleeper that actually matierializes into a legitimate title threat, Central has taken a flashy offensive team and made it into a winner. The Grizzlies have allowed just 17 points in three quality wins over the past three weeks. Now they should cruise to 7-2 before a Week 10 meeting with Buchanan, probably with the Tri-River title on the line.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Clovis East, 20-7. THIS WEEK: at Madera

6. Bakersfield (5-2, Division I, last week: 6) — It's almost hard to fathom this, but is it possible the Drillers are flying under the radar a bit? Don't forget, Bakersfield was on its way to running Stockdale out of the building in the first quarter when the mistakes started coming, and while they haven't really stopped, the first California team to 700 victories is a threat to win it all if they can put everything together.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Foothill, 40-14. THIS WEEK: vs. Golden Valley

7. Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial (6-1, Division II, last week: 10) — The third member of Sleepers Row is Memorial, which notched its second shutout and fourth game allowing 6 or fewer points in Week 7. I'd like to see the Panthers get together with Liberty — it might end scoreless.
LAST WEEK: won at Madera South, 26-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Fresno-Roosevelt

8. Liberty (4-3, Division I, last week: 9) — In similar fashion, the Patriots got their second shutout of the year against Golden Valley. I doubt they'll shut out East and the county's passing leader, Joe Pearson, but they'll be able to show off an improved offense instead. By the way, the seeding I've done in my head has Liberty getting another shot against Stockdale in the D-I quarterfinals.
LAST WEEK: won at Golden Valley, 34-0. THIS WEEK: vs. East

9. Clovis West (2-5, Division I, last week: 7) — Another example of a team falling below one of its victims, but the Golden Eagles can't keep getting a pass on their hellacious schedule. There's certainly time for this ranking to improve, but what happens if the defending champs lose one of their final three? I guess they'll still go to the playoffs, but they'd be a 4-6 team.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 2 Clovis-Buchanan, 38-17. THIS WEEK: vs. Clovis East

10. Frontier (7-0, Division II, last week: 12) — It's one thing to have a good team and surprise people with a big early win, like the Titans did at Tehachapi back in Week 2. But Frontier has been consistently good, and even when they've slipped, like last week, they still pour on the points and win big. These last three weeks will be very interesting.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Highland, 36-10. THIS WEEK: vs. South

11. Fresno-Edison (4-3, Division II, last week: 8) — The shock of the week for me was the Tigers' Thursday loss to Sanger, the same team that lost to Buchanan by 43 and to Clovis East by 35 earlier this year. Granted, Edison was missing Tevin McDonald, a stud running back and defensive back, for the last three quarters, but he'll be gone against Hoover this week too, and the Tigers better figure something else out.
LAST WEEK: lost vs. Sanger, 21-19. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 15 Fresno-Hoover

12. Kingsburg (7-0, Division IV, last week: 13) — After seeing Taft last week, I'm not convinced anymore that the Vikings are a shoo-in to win Division IV. Then again, Kingsburg can score points and stop you, and they did both to the Wildcats in a 36-0 quarterfinal win on the day before Thanksgiving last year.
LAST WEEK: won at Visalia-Central Valley Christian, 49-7. THIS WEEK: vs. Kerman

13. Visalia-El Diamante (6-1, Division II, last week: 14) — With Hanford having a down year, El Diamante in the West Yosemite League is about as much of a mismatch as Tulare Union is in the East Yosemite League. This week against Redwood and next week against that down Hanford team are the two biggest tests El D will get, but those are relative terms.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Hanford West, 56-9. THIS WEEK: vs. Visalia-Redwood

14. Tehachapi (6-1, Division III, last week: 15) — A few ho-hum victories behind them, the Warriors can now start gearing up for the big game with Taft. And it's a good bet the whole mountaintop is almost foaming at the mouth for this one — likely an SSL title and, for Tehachapi, a No. 1 seed in D-III, are at stake.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Bakersfield Christian, 40-12. THIS WEEK: vs. Taft

15. Fresno-Hoover (6-1, Division II, last week: NR) — The easy victory against Sanger a couple of weeks ago looks very good now, and the big win against Clovis North last week will also have legs. Now come two really big games in the last three for a team not many expected to be this good. The season finale is against Bullard.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Clovis North, 37-19. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 11 Fresno-Edison

Dropped out: No. 11 Centennial
Waiting: Centennial, Taft, Fresno-Washington Union, Reedley, Clovis East, West, Clovis North, Sanger, Chowchilla, Garces, Dinuba, Porterville, Delano

Non-football sports update, Oct. 26 (postseason golf and tennis edition)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:28:37 PDT

I was out in Taft (near Taft, really) today for the section's South Area girls golf tournament, so I thought it'd be a good time to check in on our non-football sports, two of which are already into postseason and two more that are rapidly approaching that point.

Girls golf
Frontier stole the show Monday at Buena Vista, with five players among the 15 who get to advance to the individual section championships and a team title with a great score of 395. It's the first time the Titans have broken 400 in their school's history, and it's the first time in a number of years any Kern County has done it. Leading the charge was junior Jordanne Barr, who shot a 1-over-par 73. Frontier is certainly deep enough to win the Division II section title for a second straight year and has a great shot at being one of two Central Section teams through to the Southern Cal regional for a second straight year. As for being the overall top dog? It'll come down to the Titans and Clovis West, the defending Division I champ. Stockdale and Garces will be this area's D-I representatives, but neither has the guns to compete with CW or Frontier, it doesn't look like. The team championships are next Monday in Tulare. The individual titles are in two Mondays at Rio Bravo Country Club, where the Frontier five plus other standouts like Stockdale's Abby Marina, Garces' Jasmine Rodriguez, Ridgeview's Karly Lux, East's Micah Lopez and Bakersfield Christian's Megan Cho will compete.

Girls tennis
League championships last week brought us singles champions Danisa Hromadkova of Frontier, Gracie Jacobs of Garces and a co-championship of Lyndsay and Chelby Cooke of Bakersfield Christian, who for the second straight year didn't play their sisterly finals match, hoping for a later meeting in the section tournament. They just might get it, with Gabrielle Gatewood of Visalia-Redwood likely seeded No. 1 and Lyndsay Cooke No. 2 (they've met in the finals in the past two seasons), Chelby might get the No. 3 seed (it's probably between her and Jacobs). Seeding comes out tomorrow, and if that's the way it is, the potential semifinal match would take place in two Saturdays in Visalia. The individual tournament has its preliminary rounds this Saturday.
If the Cooke sisters do meet, it'll be about the only drama around BCHS' program this fall. The Eagles are the section's best team at any level, and so they will waltz through the Division V team bracket with their eyes closed, starting with a semifinal Thursday. The real team drama could come in Divisions I and II. Stockdale has improved throughout the year, but the young Mustangs will do very well if they come close to winning their seventh straight D-I title. Stockdale is the No. 4 seed and plays No. 5 Liberty in Thursday's quarterfinals. Get past that, and they'll likely have No. 1 Clovis-Buchanan in the semifinals next Tuesday. In Division II, Garces is No. 2 but much improved from last year, when it lost 7-2 to Redwood in the championship. Garces returns its entire lineup plus adds Jacobs and another talented freshman to help the cause. First, the Rams would have to get past No. 3 Frontier in a semifinal.

Cross country
The Ridgeview-McFarland battle will culminate Saturday in the Kern County Championships at Hart Park. Ridgeview won at the Cougars' home invite; McFarland won at the Wolf Pack's meet. Robbie Baker and Alex Garcia for Ridgeview and a host of Cougars led by Eddie Garcia and Francisco Nava will compete for individual honors. Also keep an eye on Highland and East teams as we head into the section and state meets later in November.
As for the girls, Stockdale threw a wrench into things by beating Ridgeview in a tri-meet a couple of weeks ago. Tijerra Lynch is far and away the individual favorite for the Wolf Pack, but Stockdale's depth ran down Ridgeview later in the race to tie them and win on a sixth runner. Ridgeview gets two chances at revenge, first Saturday at the Kern County meet and then Nov. 5 at the SEYL-SWYL league meets, also at Hart Park, where a first-place finish will at least win a co-league title for Ridgeview. The other thing to keep an eye on for Saturday will be the individual battle between Lynch and Bakersfield's Sarah Baker, who haven't met yet this year. There are other competitors, but those seem like consistently the top two dogs this year.

Volleyball
There are still two weeks left in the regular season here, but already the hierarchy among Kern County teams seems to be established: It's Centennial, closely followed by Bakersfield, then Liberty in Division I and then D-II rivals Garces and Frontier. Stockdale follows, along with Tehachapi and Bakersfield Christian in the SSL. BCHS lost its first SSL league match ever a couple of weeks ago in five games to Tehachapi at home; the Eagles return the trip up the mountain next week. Liberty also travels to Bakersfield in an interesting return trip. Garces and Frontier should be the top two seeds when the D-II bracket comes out a week from Saturday, and Centennial hopes for at least a No. 3 seed in Division I, and possibly a No. 2 ahead of North Area powers Clovis-Buchanan and Clovis West.

Week 7, most important things

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:01:42 PDT

Another great football weekend, another bunch of statements made by some Kern County football teams. Let's do the recap thing.

— The first big showdown of the year in the South Sequoia League came in Wasco, and the home team was showed down. The Taft Wildcats pounced, winning 42-0 in an utterly dominating performance, that, in my eyes, makes Taft the favorite in the SSL. We'll find out if I'm right next week in Tehachapi; a win there, and the Wildcats will be 3-0 with only struggling Bakersfield Christian and Shafter to go. Can Taft do it? If they play defense like they did in Wasco and spring Cody Shirreffs for another couple hundred yards, I say yes.

— Meanwhile, Centennial was tripped up in Game 2 without quarterback Cody Kessler. West High scored two defensive touchdowns in the fourth quarter to stymie the Golden Hawks 16-14, and this is a win the Vikings can feel really good about. They're now 3-1 in the SWYL with games against South and Stockdale left after stepping out of league to play Garces this week. Wouldn't it be something if Stockdale beat Frontier in their Week 9 showdown but then had to win a game against one-loss West in Week 10 to stay atop the league? On the other side, Centennial can regroup and hope for a better performance against Ridgeview next week. The Hawks still have a lot to play for.

— Speaking of Stockdale, it had no problems without one of its offensive stars. running back Malik Henderson. The Mustangs pulled away from what was shaping up to be a road test at Ridgeview behind Henderson's backup, Eddie Gutierrez, who ran for 177 yards and five touchdowns in an impressive 41-7 victory. Is there no end to Stockdale's stable of talented backs? The Mustangs led just 14-7 at halftime but showed again why they've got a team that can challenge for a Division I section title.

— The other two teams in town who hope to compete for that title both notched easy SEYL wins Friday, Liberty 34-0 at Golden Valley and Bakersfield 40-14 at home against Foothill. It was the Patriots' second shutout of the year, and the fourth time they've allowed 10 or fewer points. For Bakersfield, the win was marred by 187 yards in penalties but was a great chance to celebrate the program's 700th win. That's more than any other school in California. Congratulations, BHS. Now they'll try to get to 703 against a weak finishing slate and add a few more in the playoffs.

— Garces dominated East offensively and won the shootout of the year, 67-41, to give the Blades an emphatic first league loss. I don't think East was ever a viable threat to win the SEYL, and the Rams showed that by running all day on the home team even without the threat of starting quarterback Blake Campbell, who broke his collarbone the week before. Jalen Sykes had 266 rushing yards, plus scores on a punt return and a fumble return for Garces, which totaled 479 rushing yards and came up one shy of the school's record for points, even though it didn't score in the fourth quarter. By the way, I also hear Garces parents were wearing "First Down Dave" T-shirts in support of coach David Fanucchi, who has resigned, apparently under some pressure, effective at the end of the year.

— A defensive touchdown for Highland kept the Scots with Frontier in the first half, and though the Titans eventually pulled away for a 36-10 win, this shows the Titans do have a few chinks in the armor. Most of them are on offense, I think, though it's interesting to note that Matt Darr also missed a couple of extra points. Didn't expect that. Frontier has a game with South to try to clean those things up and get to 8-0 before the tussle with Stockdale.

— The Rebels won't necissarily be a pushover, though. They won the Civil War game against North 28-26 in a thriller. The Stars came back late, but they missed an extra point on their third touchdown and so had to go for two to tie the game when they scored with about a minute to go. South held, and they've won their fifth game. One more to go for a winning season that not many saw coming. In another heart-stopper, Mira Monte stopped Independence's two-point conversion when the Falcons went for a win down 28-27. That's a big step towards a league title in their inaugural season for the surprising Lions, who still have to play Independence once more.

— After a disappointing loss at Porterville last week, Delano recovered to mercilessly pound lowly Porterville-Granite Hills 64-6 and at least get to 6-1 heading into an intriguing home game with 7-0 Tulare Union, the defending Division II champion. Are the Tigers up to the task? Seems unlikely, but they do have a great homefield advantage and a running game that could keep the TU offense off the field if it can find any holes.

— Congratulations to coach Ben Ansolabehere and his Shafter team, which got a goal-line stand in the final seconds to beat Arvin 23-19 for the Generals' first SSL win since Nov. 3, 2006. Also, with an eye to the Southern Section, a big Desert Sky League win for Burroughs against Apple Valley-Granite Hills that gives the Burros a big boost for their playoff hopes.

How about the big games in Week 8?

Taft at Tehachapi: Wasco still gets a shot at the Warriors, but this seems like an SSL championship to me
Ridgeview at Centennial: The Golden Hawks can't afford to let another one drop
Tulare Union at Delano: It would be monumental if the Tigers could pull this one off
West at Garces: A couple of improving teams that still have a lot to play for
East at Liberty: Not sure if the Blades' passing attack will hold up against Liberty

Week 7 HS football running thread and scoreboard

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:54:50 PDT

UPDATED, 12:06 a.m.: Quite a few blowouts around Kern County tonight, but there were a few exceptions to that — and one in particular. All the scores are updated below, but here's a few I've pulled out.

West 16, Centennial 14: The Vikings returned two — count em — fumbles for touchdowns in the fourth quarter to stun the Golden Hawks, who got 195 yards from Myren Moore on the ground but not much else in the way of offense until a desperation TD pass late that set up a failed onside-kick attempt. West is up to 3-1 in the SWYL and Centennial has fallen a long ways from its 2-0, win-over-Liberty days. The win last week was nice, but this is a different team without Cody Kessler.

Taft 42, Wasco 0: No doubt about it, Wasco is a contender in the SSL only if that means second place (and probably third, honestly, after Tehachapi comes to town in a couple of weeks. Cody Shirreffs exploded for 279 yards and Taft set up the real showdown for a league title, next week up the mountain.

Stockdale 41, Ridgeview 7: A relatively close game exploded in the second half, and that's a great thing if you're Stockdale, which is now just a win at home against North away from its meeting with Frontier. Eddie Gutierrez, by the way, filled in just fine for Malik Henderson, running for five TDs.

Garces 67, East 41: The shootout of all shootouts. Joe Pearson threw for more than 400 yards for the Blades, but Garces kept East at bay with a strong running game and some turnovers. Jalen Sykes ran for 266 yards, returned a fumble 60 yards and a punt 40 yards. Pretty good day for one guy.

Bakersfield 40, Foothill 14: That's No. 700 for the Drillers, and it could have been by a wider margin if it weren't for 187 yards in penalties against BHS. Those mistakes are an old foe for Bakersfield, and it's something to watch as it faces three more overmatched foes to end the season.

Mira Monte 28, Independence 27: Got to give credit to Falcons coach Sean McKeown, who went for two in the final minute to get a win instead of a tie, but give more credit to the Lions who stopped it. Tim Harris had a big day and Mira Monte takes control of the South Central Sequoia race.

UPDATED, 10:19 p.m.: This has to be the earliest I've ever been done with a story on a Friday night, but two running teams and a blowout will do that for you. 42-0 Taft the final here. I'll make the drive back and have another update with a bunch of scores a while later.

UPDATED, 9:40 p.m.: West recovers a fumble and scores a defensive touchdown to seal it, 16-7. Bigtime upset there, and all of a sudden the Vikings, at 3-1, are right near the top of the SWYL race.
Stockdale has dominated the second half against Ridgeview. Eddie Gutierrez, the back filling in for Malik Henderson, has five touchdown runs. That's a way to show you're up to the task.

UPDATED, 9:28 p.m.: It's now 42-0 Wildcats here with 9:21 left, but the bigger news on this night comes from West, where the Vikings have scored to take a 9-7 lead on Centennial with a little more than three minutes left. No Kessler, so Mark Ritchie might have to pass the Hawks into position for a score here with his arm.

UPDATED, 9:07 p.m.: A 57-yard TD run for Shirreffs. It's 35-0 and he has 257 yards rushing. This one has gotten pretty ugly fast.

UPDATED, 8:59 p.m.: To me, it was a bit predictable, but the Tigers still tried an onside kick to start the second half. Taft recovered and promptly marched 52 yards in four plays, capped by a 34-yard TD run by Kevin Rivera, who has touched the ball twice and scored twice, totaling 69 yards. Taft is either the real, real deal, or Wasco is being exposed a bit. Probably a bit of both.
20-0 BHS at halftime over Foothill. The Drillers have had four touchdowns called back because of penalties.

UPDATED, 8:54 p.m.: East's reign atop the Southeast Yosemite League will come to an end tonight, it looks like. Garces 41, Blades 14 just before halftime. Second half just starting here.

UPDATED, 8:35 p.m.: Stays 21-0 here at halftime. Wasco's offense just isn't equipped to pass on command, and a two-minute drill isn't an option unless someone busts a big run.
Elsewhere, Centennial scored late in the first half to break a scoreless tie at West. The Golden Hawks having some offensive trouble without Cody Kessler, evidently, but they're up 7-0. It's Bakersfield 6, Foothill 0 at the end of a quarter as the Drillers go for program win No. 700, and Stockdale leads Ridgeview 14-7 at halftime. Couple of close games there.
Not in Wasco, though. Here are some first-half stats:
TAFT — Shirreffs 13 carries, 167 yards, 2 TDs; Medina 1-35, TD
WASCO — Cheatham 15 carries, 69 yards; Jacob Salinas 8-13, 2 catches, 31 yards
Taylor Yursik 3-5 passing, 66 yards

UPDATED, 8:25 p.m.: Wasco did respond with its best drive of the night, keyed by a 35-yard pass from Taylor Yursik to Rene Medina, but Taft stiffened from there and took over on downs with a Lio Maino sack on fourth down.
And then Cody Shirreffs strikes, breaking tackles all the way down the right sideline until he reaches the Wasco 5. This would be a backbreaking turnaround before halftime if Taft can punch it in. Remember, the Wildcats get the ball first in the second half, too.
Out of a timeout, Taft gives it to Shirreffs, who finishes the job barely touched. He's got two TDs and — get this — 167 yards before halftime. 21-0 Taft, 1:47 before the break.

UPDATED, 8:11 p.m.: Cody Shirreffs is the definition of a downhill runner, and he's making Wasco work right now. An offsides penalty converted a fourth-and-1 for Taft, and Shirreffs pounded out runs of 11, 4 and 15 yards after that. From there, a speedy scatback named Kevin Rivera took it to the house on his first carry of the night, a 35-yard burst up the middle. 14-0 Taft, and I'd say it's pretty darn important for Wasco to do something in the 6:12 left before halftime.

UPDATED, 8:08 p.m.: A third-down pass from Taylor Yursik to Jacob Salinas nets 27 yards and finally gets the Wasco offense moving. Quentin Cheatham follows it with a first-down run before the first quarter comes to an end. Still 7-0 Taft. Defenses came to play tonight in a battle of Kern County's two leading rushers. He follows it up with another to start the second quarter, but Wasco stalls at the Taft 21, fourth-and-5. Tigers call their second timeout. And it's an incomplete pass on fourth down. Yursik had a man on the right sideline but overshot him.

UPDATED, 7:56 p.m.: Another three-and-out for Wasco, which couldn't convert third-and-2 when Jacob Salinas was stuffed at the line. The Tigers then lined up to go for it on fourth, but they were just trying to draw Taft offside. No dice, and a timeout wasted to boot with the punting situation.
I stand corrected! Wasco is going to go for it from their own 25. Risky, risky, and it costs Wasco, which is stuffed a yard short of the first down. Wow. That's a heck of a gamble and it could bury the Tigers quickly. Remember, neither one of these teams has a passing game to speak of, so comebacks will be tough.
But Chris Rocha comes up with Wasco's play of the game thus far, tripping up Brice Royal on third-and-4 in the backfield to force Taft into a fourth down. Tigers' defense trying to bail out their offense for the second time, but Taft also is going to go on fourth-and-7. Cody Shirreffs on a sweep, and he slips. Not sure he was going to get it anyway. Defenses controlling this one so far.

UPDATED, 7:46 p.m.: It took half a quarter, but at least one running game has gotten going here in Wasco. On a third-and-8, Cody Shirreffs ripped off a 22-yard gain on a pitch play, then ran a counter 30 yards for a touchdown on the very next play. Wildcats 7, Tigers 0.
Wasco went three-and-out in its second possession after fumbling on the first. Nerves? If it is, the Tigers had better get over them pretty quickly.

UPDATED, 7:39 p.m.: Not a good start for the home team. Jacob Salinas nearly busted a dive play for 76 yards, but he was caught and then stripped of the ball. Taft recovered and has a first down inside the Wasco 30. With a couple of potent offenses, turnovers are going to be crucial, so score one for the Wildcats.
But a defensive stand for Wasco. Three plays net Taft just a yard, and they'll have to settle for a 45-yard field goal try from Ada Figueroa. He's got a heck of a leg and easily had the distance, but it went wide left. Bullet dodged for Wasco, still scoreless.

UPDATED, 7:27 p.m.: Quite an entrance there for Wasco, with about 30 chopper motorcycles rolling across the field with cheerleaders on board (behind the drivers) as part of Homecoming festivities here, then with all 30 lined up and revving as the Tigers ran through. Big crowd here for Taft, too. Can't wait for kickoff. It's in about five minutes.

ORIGINAL POST: To set the stage for Week 7, take a look at a fun story I got to do this week on Wasco's re-emergence as an SSL contender from this morning's Californian.

I'll be up in Tigertown tonight to see the home team face Taft in probably its stiffest test yet. For the Wildcats, of course, it's a test too, their first road game since Week 0 and a quality opponent. Both teams will run the ball, and both teams will do it all night. Should be a lot of fun.

Week 7 got started in parts of the Central Section last night with a couple of games involving ranked teams. No. 3 Tulare Union pounced on Porterville, but No. 5 Fresno-Edison lost a bit of a shocker to Sanger, a good program having a down year. But it was the Apaches' night Thursday; they scored with 18 seconds to go to win 21-19 after a late Edison turnover. The Tigers are now just 4-3, albeit against a good schedule, but this loss certainly throws a wrench into next week's rankings and into the Division II playoff picture. Not even Friday night and we've had excitement.

Locally, Stockdale visits Ridgeview in a dangerous "letdown" game, Bakersfield High School goes for all-time win No. 700 (a state record including the rugby years), and East tries to keep its unlikely perfect SEYL record going at home against Garces. It's also homecoming for many schools this week and next, so if you're in town for that, have fun.

Also, I somehow left a game on the schedule off of my predictions post Wednesday, so here's the addendum:

KENNEDY (0-6, 0-2 SCSL) AT TULARE-MISSION OAK (0-6, 0-2) — Obviously one of these teams is going to win the first game in school history tonight, but it's difficult to tell which one.The Thunderbirds have scored just 33 points and gained 673 yards in six games, but this will be by far their weakest opponent to date. Mission Oak got 22 points on Independence last week, so it might have a little pop, but I can't get past the feeling that Kennedy is due for a breakout win. We'll see if Delano's third school can get on the left side of the ledger.
Prediction: Kennedy 34, Mission Oak 28

Schedule is below, to be turned into a scoreboard tonight. Also be sure to check out the Week 7 predictions and Week 7 podcast.

(Central Section ranking in parentheses; all games 7:30 p.m. Friday unless noted)

Kern County scoreboard
(4) Stockdale 41, Ridgeview 7
(6) Bakersfield 40, Foothill 14
(9) Liberty 34, Golden Valley 0
West 16, (11) Centennial 14
(12) Frontier 36, Highland 10
(15) Tehachapi 40, Bakersfield Christian 12
Taft 42, Wasco 0
Garces 67, East 41
South 28, North 26
Mira Monte 28, Independence 27
Shafter 23, Arvin 19
SLO-Mission Prep 30, McFarland 7
Chavez 46, Porterville-Monache 27
Delano 64, Porterville-Granite Hills 6
Tulare-Mission Oak 47, Kennedy 14
Kern Valley 33, Desert 6
Frazier Mountain 55, Rosamond 28
Bishop 43, California City 0
Burroughs 14, Apple Valley-Granite Hills 7
Boron 76, Lucerne Valley 0
Mojave 28, Lancaster-Desert Christian 6
Lighthouse Christian 46, Alpaugh 0
Maricopa 12, Atascadero-North County Christian 8
Immanuel Christian 68, Lone Pine 36

Other Central Section scores
(3) Tulare Union 56, Porterville 21 (Thursday)
Sanger 21, (8) Fresno-Edison 19 (Thursday)
Visalia-Mt. Whitney 13, Lemoore 12 (Thursday)
(1) Fresno-Bullard 52, Reedley 42
(2) Clovis-Buchanan 38, (7) Clovis West 14
(5) Fresno-Central 20, Clovis East 7
(10) Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial 28, Madera South 0
(13) Kingsburg 49, Visalia-Central Valley Christian 7
(14) Visalia-El Diamante 56, Hanford West 9
Fresno-Hoover 37, Clovis North 19
Fresno-Washington Union 14, Madera Ranchos-Liberty 6
Chowchilla 35, Tollhouse-Sierra 0
Dinuba 42, Coalinga 21
Clovis 49, Madera 12
Hanford 35, Tulare Western 8
Visalia-Redwood 56, Visalia-Golden West 6
Mendota 28, Cambria-Coast Union 6
Corcoran 63, Riverdale 0
Exeter 31, Selma 14
Firebaugh 46, Avenal 6
Fowler 29, Fresno Christian 0
Farmersville 36, Lemoore-Kings Christian 9
Orange Cove 56, Laton 6
Fresno 27, Fresno-McLane 14
Caruthers 45, Parlier 9
Lindsay 25, Strathmore 20
Fresno-Sunnyside 14, Fresno-Roosevelt 13
Woodlake 37, Orosi 0
Oakhurst-Yosemite 30, Kerman 13
Reedley-Immanuel 30, Dos Palos 15 (Saturday)
Visalia Christian 36, Coalinga-Faith Christian 35 (Saturday)
Clovis Christian 82, Madera-Lighthouse Academy 0 (Saturday)

Week 7 HS football podcast

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:30:26 PDT

Had some technical issues, but here is the Week 7 podcast, complete with a discussion from Todd Camps and I about the first four playoff divisions and who we might think the favorites are. It's still early for it to be anything but speculation, but it was a fun talking point.

Week 7 running thread will be up tomorrow morning. If you want some football before that, listen to the KRAB Radio (106.1 FM) morning show between 7 and 8 for a short segment with yours truly to discuss some Week 7 news.

Week 7 HS football predictions

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:32:42 PDT

It's absolutely amazing how fast some of these seasons fly by. Seems like we were just wondering about whether Liberty would win a big game this year as it entered its Week 0 showdown at Clovis West, and now the Patriots are about out of "big games" to win (they did beat Bakersfield, for the record, and are in pole position for the SEYL outright title). Seems like we were just wondering if any local team has what it takes to run the table (did anybody have Frontier in their last man standing pool?). We were just wondering who would win section titles.

OK, we're still working on that last one. The next few weeks are vitally important for seeding purposes in the playoffs. And yes, that obviously means the big games — Taft-Wasco in Division IV this week, Frontier-Stockdale in Divs. I and II in a couple of Fridays — but it also means the other games. You can't do what Bakersfield did last year and lose to a team you think you ought to beat — it cost the Drillers probably two seed lines and a home game in the quarterfinals. Any slip-up is a cause for a tougher matchup early in the playoffs, and so it hurts your chances at a section title. It's not quite college football, where teams are playing directly for their title hopes every week, but it does have an impact.

Before we get started on Week 7 predictions, a couple of notes out of Garces to pass along:

First, quarterback Blake Campbell broke his collarbone in the Rams' loss to Bakersfield last week, and though he actually continued to play with it (no one realized it was a break), he's now out for the remainder of the season. A big blow there to Garces, which had found some offensive balance with Campbell under center. Sophomore Phillip Anspach will get first crack at replacing Campbell.

Second, a bit of a breakthrough in the David Fanucchi resignation enigma. Neither Fanucchi nor the school has ever confirmed that the coach said he would resign at the end of the year, but now they don't have to. The school sent out a release yesterday saying it's started a statewide search for a football coach for 2010. Still nothing on the Garces website as of noon Wednesday, but you've got to think it's coming. So that's settled: David Fanucchi will not be the Rams' coach next year, at least not unless he somehow re-applies and gets the job, which seems highly unlikely.

Now on to the games. First, let's take a look at my predictive performance last week.

The good: Another solid week overall, with a better-than-75 percent winning percentage. Specifically, calling out Liberty mistakes as the reason in a defensive loss to Stockdale, taking Frontier easily over Ridgeview and picking East to get to 3-0 in the SEYL.

The bad: Missed by a lot on some margins. I thought Garces would give Bakersfield a better battle (the Rams did for a half), and I didn't think things would be so easy for Centennial and Taft, among others.

The ugly: I thought Delano could come up with a big victory at Porterville, but I underestimated the Panthers at home. Also missed for the second time this year on Golden Valley, this time against Highland. About time to think about a Bulldogs pick before too long.

Friday, Oct. 23
TAFT (5-1, 1-0 SSL) AT WASCO (5-1, 1-0) — No secrets here: These teams will run the ball like it's the new fad instead of the old one. The inner battle between Cody Shirreffs and Quentin Cheatham's rushing totals will be interesting, though Shirreffs gets a few more carries a game. It's also interesting to note that Taft hasn't been on the road since Week 0, when they lost a close one at Templeton. Can Wasco turn its magical non-league run into true contender status in the SSL, or will the Wildcats make next week's trip to Tehachapi a league-championship showdown? I'm leaning with Taft, because (a) the Wildcats are a bit bigger and have played more consistent defense and (b) these kids have played in some big games in the past couple of years; for Wasco, the pressure might be on a little bit in front of a big home crowd. This one ought to be a doozy, though.
Prediction: Taft 34, Wasco 28

STOCKDALE (5-1, 2-0 SWYL) AT RIDGEVIEW (5-2, 1-2) — It's been a nice turnaround season for Ridgeview in Dennis Manning's first year at the helm, but I don't think the Wolf Pack really call it a success unless there is an upset in league or a deep playoff run in Division III. We'll see about the latter, but here's a chance for the upset. Last year, Tyler Dogins was a beast on offense and defense, and he led Ridgeview to an upset on the road of Stockdale. But while this year's Ridgeview team is better, so is this year's Stockdale team. The guys I saw on the field after the Liberty win were so amped up that I don't see Stockdale slipping here, even without injured running back Malik Henderson.
Prediction: Stockdale 30, Ridgeview 14

FOOTHILL (1-5, 0-2 SEYL) AT BAKERSFIELD (4-2, 1-1) — I mention this up high because it's a chance, a good one, for the Drillers to get program victory No. 700. Now that total includes 12 rugby victories earned between 1910 and 1914, when the Central Valley played that sport instead of football out of concerns for violence. But both CalHiSports and Central Section historian Bob Barnett count those victories towards a team's total, so that's good enough for me. Maybe they can celebrate 700 again when they reach that in football-only wins. The first milestone should come rather easily against a Foothill team that could have turned a corner offensively in a close loss to East last week but one that shouldn't be able to keep up with the Drillers.
Prediction: Bakersfield 48, Foothill 7

GARCES (3-3, 2-1 SEYL) AT EAST (3-3, 3-0) — Now that the Blades have knocked off the three Division III teams in the SEYL, they get a chance to prove themselves further against the big boys. They might have to settle for those three wins, though; Garces will be a different kind of team defensively than East has seen in league play, and it will make Joe Pearson (Kern County's leading passer, by the way) and company work for their yardage. East's defense, then, will have to step up, and while the Rams will be without Blake Campbell, I think they've got plenty of firepower in that running game to force the Blades into catch-up mode. Once that happens, Garces can feast on some turnovers and pull away. East will get some shots in, but it won't be enough.
Prediction: Garces 37, East 20

CENTENNIAL (4-2, 1-1 SWYL) AT WEST (3-3, 2-1) — The blowout loss to Frontier a couple of weeks ago took some luster off of their position, but the Vikings certainly are still a factor in the SWYL. Think about what a great spot West would be in with a win here — 3-1 in the league with South up after a non-league game with Garces. A win against South would then put the Vikes in position for a league championship with an upset of Stockdale. It's a long way off, yes, but don't discredit this team just yet. However, Centennial has seen West's type of speed before — think Stockdale (didn't fare so well) and Bakersfield (fared reasonably well). I think they keep West's attack at bay, and I think the Centennial attack, which last week proved it could be a lot more than Cody Kessler, scores enough points for an important two-score win on the road.
Prediction: Centennial 31, West 21

MIRA MONTE (2-4, 2-0 SCSL) AT INDEPENDENCE (3-3, 2-0) — One of the better games of the weekend could be between these two new schools, who have each notched blowouts against fellow South Central Sequoia League members Kennedy and Tulare-Mission Oak over the past three weeks. It's a little difficult to gauge teams that are so young, but it's safe to say we'll see Mira Monte's Tim Harris a lot — he of the 261 yards and four TDs last week — against an athletic Independence defense that just needs to keep Harris at bay while its offense puts up some points. The Falcons have averaged 46 in their first two league games, and that plus a home-field edge will be enough here in a great game.
Prediction: Independence 31, Mira Monte 26

HIGHLAND (2-5) AT FRONTIER (6-0) — Last year this game, a 16-3 Highland win, showed off the best of what the defensive-minded Scots and the rest of a deep Southeast Yosemite League could be. This year, it'll show off the opposite. Frontier is leaps and bounds better, and the Scots have stumbled on some hard times with the loss of Anthony Johnson and Patrick Su'a to Fresno State over the past couple of years and now a one-game suspension of running back Alan Roy that contributed to a three-game losing streak to start SEYL play, with none of the games particularly close. Roy is back, but wins are going to be tough to come by for Highland against its back-loaded schedule. Give the Titans another big win.
Prediction: Frontier 44, Highland 6

LIBERTY (3-3, 2-0 SEYL) AT GOLDEN VALLEY (2-4, 1-2) — Bulldogs coach Erich Smith might have found a mix he likes after an offseason in which he lost almost all his key parts from last year either through graduation or attrition of some sort (injury, discipline, grades, transfers, you name it). For instance, senior Manuel Vargas has had his coming-out party in the past couple of weeks, rushing for 105 yards against East and 196 in a victory against Highland last week. But Liberty is a different animal than either of those teams, and Vargas and Golden Valley will probably find holes quite a bit smaller. The real question here for me is whether Liberty's offense can show some real signs of life against a defense that's been torched at times this year. The Pats have scored against teams before, but I think everyone over at Liberty would like to see a real feast.
Prediction: Liberty 38, Golden Valley 7

NORTH (1-5, 0-3 SWYL) AT SOUTH (4-2, 0-2) — After a promising 4-0 start, the Rebels have confirmed some fears, going up against a couple of great offenses and getting hammered to the tune of 98 points over the first six quarters. The good news is that with Stockdale and Centennial out of the way, South should be able to continue its march to a possible winning record and a decent seed in the Division III playoffs. North is having trouble holding on to the ball and getting first downs, much less scoring like either the Mustangs or the Golden Hawks can. Give South's offense a quarter or so to get going, then watch a couple of big plays put North in a hole that it can't climb out of.
Prediction: South 29, North 16

BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (2-4, 0-1 SSL) AT TEHACHAPI (5-1, 1-0) — Tehachapi gave the best BCHS team in history all it could handle last year, nearly erasing a huge deficit and stunning the Eagles at home. This year's Warriors team isn't quite so veteran, but BCHS is merely a shell of what it was last year. Now up on the mountain, Tehachapi won't have trouble controlling the Eagles' passing game or ripping BCHS on the ground. The Eagles need to learn how to run and stop the run to get back on the winning track, but it won't happen this week. Tehachapi sets up next week's big game with Taft with ease.
Prediction: Tehachapi 41, Bakersfield Christian 9

SHAFTER (1-5, 0-1 SSL) AT ARVIN (1-5, 0-1) — Not to put too fine a point on it, but the loser of this game is going to going to find itself getting to know the SSL cellar, I'm afraid. Neither team has shown a propensity to even stick close to good teams. So who will get on the right track here? I'm tempted to call for an upset and pick the Generals, who have been showing signs of improvement in the past few weeks even as they lose. But the Bears have the benefit of recent history — they've handled Shafter easily the past few years — and the better win between the two, against Foothill. I think Arvin simply is a bit better at this point.
Prediction: Arvin 27, Shafter 21

SAN LUIS OBISPO-MISSION PREP (3-3, 1-0 ESL) AT McFARLAND (4-3, 1-0) — This is quite possibly the game of the year for McFarland, at least until the playoffs. The Cougars have been pretty good in their non-league season, a Division VI team beating a Division V and losing to two Division IVs. That alone should let you know they're capable of competing in the East Sierra League, which is five D-VI teams and D-V Mission Prep. If the Cougars can tame Mission Prep, they could very well win the league. So what to do? It will be close, one way or the other, and I'll give the nod to the home team. Cougars win a big one.
Prediction: McFarland 26, Mission Prep 23

PORTERVILLE-MONACHE (3-3, 2-1 EYL) AT CHAVEZ (4-3, 1-2) — Needing a win — or at least some points — in the worst way, the Titans got just what the doctor ordered last week with Porterville-Granite Hills on the schedule. They popped off a 49-0 victory after two straight shutout losses. In fact, if you take away that victory and a 33-0 win against Mira Monte in Week 0, Chavez has scored just 37 points in five games. That's not going to win you many games, even with a solid defense that has allowed only 28 points in six games against teams not named Tulare Union. Monache, though, can score a few points. If they get to 21, this one might be over.
Prediction: Monache 21, Chavez 13

DELANO (5-1, 1-1 EYL) AT PORTERVILLE-GRANITE HILLS (0-7, 0-3) — Here's a chance for the Tigers to get healthy after a bruising loss at Porterville and with a home date to take a shot at Tulare Union coming next week. The starters should be out by the start of the third quarter, and Delano should put up some big numbers. Granite Hills, by the way, has scored in exactly one game all year.
Prediction: Delano 55, Granite Hills 0

DESERT (1-5, 0-1 HDL) AT KERN VALLEY (5-1, 1-0) — At home for the fourth straight week, the Broncs shouldn't have much of a problem scoring in this one — they've scored 27 or more in five of their six games this year and Desert has given up 40 or more in each of the last three games. I don't see any reason to believe that will change — expect Kern Valley to gear up for a big trip to Bishop next week with a second straight High Desert victory.
Prediction: Kern Valley 42, Desert 17

ROSAMOND (1-5, 0-1 HDL) AT FRAZIER MOUNTAIN (5-1, 1-0) — Continuing with the undercard portion of the HDL schedule, the Falcons host the Roadrunners in an another apparent mismatch. It actually works out nicely for the High Desert this year: All three of the top teams, Frazier Mountain, Kern Valley and Bishop, should be 2-0 next week when they finally begin to duke it out amongst one another.
Prediction: Frazier Mountain 33, Rosamond 3

BISHOP (2-3, 1-0 HDL) AT CALIFORNIA CITY (0-5, 0-1) — Signs of progress for the Ravens last week in the form of a couple of touchdowns at Kern Valley last week, one of them even in the first half when KV likely had some starters left in the game. Cal City had scored just one TD in its first four games combined, garbage time or no. But any progress in terms of wins and losses will have to wait until Weeks 9 and 10, when Desert and Rosamond are the opponents. Bishop is too strong.
Prediction: Bishop 45, California City 14

APPLE VALLEY-GRANITE HILLS (5-1, 0-0 DSL) AT BURROUGHS (3-3, 0-1) — Few teams have played more close games than the Burros, who are 1-3 in games decided by eight points or fewer, including last week's 28-21 overtime loss to Barstow to open league play. I'm going to pick Burroughs again, simply because this ought to be another close one and luck is bound to change. It's also a must for Burroughs' playoff hopes. Backs against the wall, the Burros come through.
Prediction: Burroughs 23, Granite Hills 21

BORON (4-2, 1-0 DML) AT LUCERNE VALLEY (2-4, 0-1) — Three Bobcats backs — Reggie Heard, Leroy Taylor and DeAndre Golden — have at least 450 yards, six touchdowns and a run of 60 yards each. Those are pretty explosive stats. Here's a real prediction for you: Boron, as a team, will run for 450 yards, six touchdowns and have a long of at least 60 this week.
Prediction: Boron 56, Lucerne Valley 17

LANCASTER-DESERT CHRISTIAN (2-4, 1-0 DML) AT MOJAVE (4-1, 0-0) — Here's a scheduling quirk, thanks to Mammoth moving to 8-man football: Mojave had two straight bye weeks and hasn't played since Oct. 2. That's probably not a great position to be in — Larry Satterfield has had to find ways to keep his kids sharp — but Boron and Mojave are heads and shoulders above the rest of this league, and the Mustangs should show it in this, what could be a battle for second place but will end up a wipeout.
Prediction: Mojave 35, Desert Christian 13

MARICOPA (4-2, 1-1 CVL) AT ATASCADERO-NORTH COUNTY CHRISTIAN (0-6, 0-2) — A big win for the Indians against Shandon last week, and this now becomes a situation where Maricopa needs to root for the team it just played. Likely the only way it can win a Coast Valley League title is if Shandon beats Santa Maria-Valley Christian in the final game of the year to create a three-way tie. And oh yeah, Maricopa needs to continue to take care of its own business.
Prediction: Maricopa 37, North County Christian 19

IMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (4-2, 2-0 HLL) AT LONE PINE (1-4, 0-2) — Lone Pine is better than its record shows, with all four losses coming to teams at .500 or better, but this is a road game the Crusaders can win. That would guarantee a playoff spot for Immanuel Christian and set up a couple of showdowns in the final two weeks of the year with Big Pine and Trona for a Hi-Lo League title.
Prediction: Immanuel Christian 35, Lone Pine 30

Saturday, Oct. 24
ALPAUGH (0-4, 0-1 CSL) AT LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN (2-4, 1-1) — There are no eight-man playoffs in the Central Section because there's just one league, though it's been split into two divisions this year. That's going to make motivation a bit of a concern for Lighthouse Christian and coach Tony Martinez. But something the Guardians can chase is a .500 record. They need to win three out of four to get there, and this looks like an easy first step.
Prediction: Lighthouse Christian 47, Alpaugh 15

Last week: 19-4 (.826)
This year: 114-37 (.755)

Central Section football rankings, Week 7

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:53:51 PDT

I'm headed up to Wasco for some interviews on a story I'm working on for Friday in a few minutes, so I'll make this a bit brief.

The biggest shake-up of the week comes from the northern part of the Central Section, where Fresno-Central got a breakthrough win for its program, 24-3 over defending Division I section champion Clovis West. Gives you one of those tied round-robin situations: Central beat Clovis West, which beat Fresno-Edison. But Edison beat Central. Down in Kern County, we have the same thing between Liberty, Stockdale and Bakersfield after the Mustangs' win against the Patriots this week. Centennial's in that jumble too. Maybe Frontier will go 10-0 and clear things up for us. But the way this year is going, I'd expect more confusion.

1. Fresno-Bullard (6-0, Division I, last week: 1) — Every team has a letdown at some point, but the Knights' came against Clovis West and they still won by a touchdown. I maintain that Bullard has been the most consistent, well-rounded team in the section, and I think that lead is being extended rather than threatened.
LAST WEEK: won 42-0 vs. Clovis North. THIS WEEK: at Reedley

2. Clovis-Buchanan (6-0, Division I, last week: 2) — Keep in mind that Madera actually came into its game with the Bears at 4-1 when you consider that a supposedly pass-happy Buchanan offense finished with 286 yards passing, 284 rushing on Friday night. Looking forward to seeing what this team can do against a tough Clovis West D.
LAST WEEK: won 51-21 at Madera. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 7 Clovis West

3. Tulare Union (6-0, Division II, last week: 4) — As the Redskins continue to pound competition not close to their level, I'm going on faith from last year's D-II championship that this team really is that good. But it can't help that when TU runs into Edison or Memorial or Frontier in the playoffs, they won't have played anyone near that good all year. Can it?
LAST WEEK: won 50-19 vs. Visalia-Redwood. THIS WEEK: vs. Porterville (Thursday)

4. Stockdale (5-1, Division I, last week: 5) — I toyed with the idea of putting the Mustangs ahead of Tulare Union for that No. 3 spot, but I backed off. The loss to Bakersfield still bothers me a little bit because I'm not sure how well Stockdale will respond to great offenses. The D has appeared to turn a corner, though, and if the wins continue, I think I'll have to relent and push Stockdale ahead of TU.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 6 Liberty, 17-3. THIS WEEK: at Ridgeview

5. Fresno-Central (4-2, Division I, last week: 10) — The only way these rankings make sense to me is if the Grizzlies get the nod on the round-robin conundrum. Yes, they lost to Edison, but that was a close game, and yes, they lost out of section to Paso Robles, but there's not much shame in that and that was out of section anyway. The whooping they put on Clovis West, however, speaks triple-digit decibels. They'll have to be consistent to stay here, though.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 3 Clovis West, 24-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Clovis East

6. Bakersfield (4-2, Division I, last week: 7) — The second half of the win at Garces might show exactly what the Drillers are capable of when they put everything together. Expect a quartet of blowouts now as they rest up for the playoffs.
LAST WEEK: won at Garces, 42-16. THIS WEEK: vs. Foothill

7. Clovis West (2-4, Division I, last week: 3) — I know the record is ugly, and Edison is a quality team, but I'm all about what teams have done lately. That's why the Golden Eagles fall to seventh, but not below the Tigers, whom CW dominated in the second half just two weeks ago. But the road continues to stay tough.
LAST WEEK: lost vs. No. 10 Fresno-Central, 24-3. THIS WEEK: at No. 2 Clovis-Buchanan

8. Fresno-Edison (4-2, Division II, last week: 8) — Edison exposed previously unbeaten Reedley and rebounded nicely from the loss to Clovis West the week before. The County-Metro Athletic Conference, by the way, looked mighty good in the non-league season and is, at least at the top, every bit as good as the Tri-River Athletic Conference.
LAST WEEK: won at Reedley, 46-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Sanger

9. Liberty (3-3, Division I, last week: 6) — No need to count the Patriots out — not with close losses to Clovis West and Centennial and a win against Bakersfield on the resume — but Liberty didn't look like it was at Stockdale's level Friday night. Offense continues to be a problem, so key in on any improvement there as the schedule lightens.
LAST WEEK: lost vs. No. 5 Stockdale, 17-3. THIS WEEK: at Golden Valley

10. Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial (5-1, Division II, last week: 9) — The Division II playoffs are shaping up to be nearly as good — and probably more wide-open — than the Division I bracket. Memorial is an intriguing wild card: The Panthers don't have a really tough schedule, but when they have played good teams, the results have been great. A 41-17 beatdown of Oakhurst-Yosemite, a 20-0 win against Garces, a 15-12 win against Fresno-Hoover, and a 28-21 loss to Buchanan. The D is for real.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Fresno, 48-6. THIS WEEK: at Madera South

11. Centennial (4-2, Division I, last week: 11) — Speaking of wild cards, remember that the Golden Hawks have a manageable schedule and a perfectly good enough running game — enter Myren Moore and his 200 yards last week — to get through the next few weeks without Cody Kessler. Then comes a test against Frontier with potentially a huge amount of league and seeding impact on the line for both teams.
LAST WEEK: won vs. South, 48-6. THIS WEEK: at West

12. Frontier (6-0, Division II, last week: 12) — I've seen a couple of other sets of rankings around the section, and some don't have the Titans mentioned, others not until a few spots later than this. And I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to get them higher. People around the Valley might not have noticed, but Rich Cornford has this team rolling right now. And it won't stop for at least two weeks.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Ridgeview, 27-7. THIS WEEK: vs. Highland

13. Kingsburg (6-0, Division IV, last week: 14) — A key win against Division III Dinuba that will go a long way towards a Central Sequoia League title (or at least a Week 9 showdown with Exeter) gives the Vikings a bump at the expense of El Diamante. This team, by the way, is in the state's Division II for bowls — and still gets CalHiSports' mention as a top-10 contender in that bracket.
LAST WEEK: won at Dinuba, 14-0. THIS WEEK: at Visalia-Central Valley Christian

14. Visalia-El Diamante (5-1, Division II, last week: 13) — The Miners keep winning, and I keep sliding them down the rankings. Just correcting myself for starting too high, I think; it's clear that this team doesn't quite have the firepower of last year's.
LAST WEEK: won at Lemoore, 30-14. THIS WEEK: vs. Hanford West

15. Tehachapi (5-1, Division III, last week: 15) — I'm not sure which, but the Warriors either made a bunch of mistakes or took it awfully easy on Shafter last week. They had 412 rushing yards and yet only won 28-0 — and one of the touchdowns was a fourth-quarter fumble recovery in the end zone. Either way, this still is the SSL's force to be reckoned with. Taft against Wasco this week is only for rights to be the main challenger.
LAST WEEK: won at Shafter, 28-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Bakersfield Christian

Dropped out: none
Waiting: Fresno-Hoover, Clovis East, Fresno-Washington Union, Taft, Clovis North, Wasco, Chowchilla, Dinuba, Porterville, Delano

Malik Henderson's injury, Ryan Mathews' quotes

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:17:50 PDT

High school football update: Stockdale's Malik Henderson, who suffered one of those scary non-contact injuries Friday against Liberty, apparently is going to be OK.

Like Henderson's mom commented on an earlier post, the injury is just a bone bruise. His dad, Demetrius, said he'll be out 2-3 weeks while some swelling goes down and the knee becomes less painful. Henderson had injured the knee in a preseason camp in Madera and had been wearing a brace on it; this appears to be an aggravation of that injury but nothing new.

So we're 2-for-2 in terms of good news on injuries for high school stars: Looks like both Cody Kessler and Henderson will see the field again this season.

Now onto college football. If you've seen my live blog of Fresno State's game against San Jose State on Saturday night (or any other coverage of the game), you've certainly heard about Ryan Mathews, the West High alumnus who is running rampant over the college football world.

After a 233-yard night Saturday, one that could have been a lot bigger if Mathews had gotten more carries early or if the game hadn't been out of hand by late in the third quarter, the former Viking now has 974 yards rushing, an average of 162.2 per game, to lead the nation. Next closest is Pittsburgh's Dion Lewis, who has 918 yards. But Lewis has played seven games. Mathews has a 26-yard per-game edge on Marshall's Darius Marshall for the national lead.

But before you say Mathews is racking up numbers against lesser competition, consider that the Bulldogs also played Wisconsin, Boise State and Cincinnati, the last two of which make up Nos. 4 and 5 in the first BCS Standings. Check out this site, cfbstats.com. It allows you to break down rushing leaders in different situations. If you break it down to rushing leaders vs. Top 25 teams or vs. winning teams, Mathews still checks in at No. 2 nationally, behind only Alabama's Mark Ingram in both cases.

All of that is leading to quite a bit of hype surrounding Mathews. I think this column from the Fresno Bee's Matt James just about says it all — in fact, many of the answers you see below from Mathews were to questions asked by Matt.

Here, as promised, is some of what he and Fresno State coach Pat Hill had to say after the game:

On tight ends helping with blocking on the outside
"Just like the offensive lines, the tight ends did a good job, too. They put people on their backs, they keyed in on their assignments. They did a good job just breaking me free. I didn't have to do any of the work."

On whether not getting many carries early frustrated him
"Nah, I don't care about that. I'm just here to play the game and have fun. If it's not my time to go in, it's not my time to go in. Lonyae (Miller), all the running backs, Jamaal (Rashad), all the backs, that's how it is. I'm just glad we got the win and everybody got some playing time."

On watching other backs play
"It's fun like that. Everyone gets a chance to play, and everyone is real happy to be in there. Everyone came to this school for a reason, to play football. And it's fun like that. I'll get a break, and Lonyae or Anthony (Harding) will go in there and get the ball or Mike Harris or Robbie Rouse will go in there and just ball out. And I like watching all of them. Lonyae almost popped that one — I love that stuff. It's a good job out there, just watching them play."

On his stiff-arm, which was used multiple times with much success
"If corners or safeties have a good angle, it's a good weapon to use to get them off you. You can use it all different ways — get them to push off, or try to knock them down. It's a good weapon to use. ... I've got a dangerous stiff-arm, I think, and it's just one of the tools you use. ... I get juiced; there's nothing like it. They're coming over there trying to tackle you, and try and get the ball and stuff, and you know that you put him on his back and you've got the ball. It's a whole different thing."

On his 59-yard touchdown run in the second quarter
"I was untouched. I was just reading my blocks and my linemen, my fullback (Reynard) Camp, man, he's a beast; I owe a whole lot of credit to him, he did a lot of work. So I just hit it, and I was saying to myself 'I don't want to get caught.' It's embarrassing. It's little stuff like that that goes through your mind, don't get caught, you want that touchdown."

On if he's better this year than before
"I think I worked a lot harder in the offseason to get where I am. I had that injury last year with my nerve and everything, but I like to say I am a little bit better than last year. I think I'm running a little bit better, and my vision is better."

"The training staff has just been pushing me and pushing me and pushing me to do squats and keep my strength up and everything. I was coming in with tired legs, but after the first quarter, I felt like my legs were fresher than ever."

On whether he's the best running back in the country
"I don't like to say that. I don't think I'm better than anybody out there. All the running backs are good. I don't like to think about that. That's not me. Everyone has a different running style, the way they run the ball that makes them unique. I don't think I'm better than anybody, all the running backs who get good linemen and are working hard can be in the same position as I am."

On whether he notices rushing-yardage lists and national attention
"I don't like to pay attention to that stuff. That's just all numbers and stuff. I just want to stay focused on one game at a time and staying healthy for the rest of the season, helping my team out and getting some wins. Hopefully we can get rolling and get some more wins."

On how he's staying healthy
"I'm eating a little bit better, and like I said, I'm keeping my strength up in the weight room. ... It's little things like that that keep your body healthy."

"Sometimes I break a tackle, and I'm amazed at how I do it. I'm like, 'Oh, shoot, I'm in the open field now.'"

"This is my time. Last year I was doing good and on a good pace and that thing happened to my knee and everything. That's what I think, that this is just my time to shine. (Injuries) can happen to anybody. Anybody can get hurt. That's the one thing about getting hurt: It's stupid."

"I think the RB group is the tightest group in here. We don't fight with each other, we hang out all the time. We all support each other."

"I think we're a good team. I think we're kind of like figuring it out right now. I think we can play anybody; we just can't make mistakes like we did at the beginning of the game. But we've got playmakers on this team. ... I think we're just trying to figure out that we're really good and we can play with the best of them."

FRESNO STATE COACH PAT HILL
"I'm a lot different than most people; I don't care too much about stats. I care about getting to win the game."

On Mathews
"I think he's a very, very special player. I think he's pretty close to 1,000 yards after six games, and he only played one quarter against Davis and two quarters, two and a half against Hawaii, and not very much after the middle of the third quarter in the San Jose State game. I guess if you wanted to really build up his stats, you could, but I don't think there's any need to. I think he's proven himself to be a premium running back. He's strong. He is really strong."

"He played really good last year against Rutgers, Toledo, UCLA, and then he got hurt. He's played really well whenever he's played. He's an exceptional player."

A comment on Derek Carr getting in
"I'd like to see Derek in a situation where we can just turn him loose. We haven't really been able to turn him loose. I guess you could have gone in there and done that, run up the score if you wanted to try, but that's not the way I coach. Never will. That's not my deal. Never has been."

I then asked Hill if he'd configure a situation where he could let Carr "loose"
"Number one, we're going to make sure we're winning. Because right now, my starting quarterback is Ryan Colburn. I think Derek Carr is going to be a great player. There's no doubt in my mind about it. ... But late in the game, when all we're doing is running the ball, and not trying to do anything, we're playing against some pretty stacked boxes. So it's not going to be as efficient as you want it to be. But they get good reps, and they get chances to play, and that's why they sign up to play."

Week 6, most important things

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:47:05 PDT

I'm sitting on my couch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, trying to recover from a long Saturday night. To recap, I drove to Fresno to see Fresno State beat San Jose State 41-21 and West High grad Ryan Mathews run for 233 more yards, did this live blog, then did some interviews with FSU coach Pat Hill and Mathews after the game, from which I'll post some interesting quotes tomorrow. Then I drove back to Bakersfield, got home and stayed up too late.

So here I am, recovering. Now I'll try to rewind my head back to high school football on Friday night, which somehow seems like it was 10 days ago. No worries, though; I'll manage if you can.

— With all due respect to 6-0 Frontier, it's time to embrace Stockdale as the best team in Kern County. The Mustangs beat up and bruised Liberty 17-3, and it probably could have been worse. Other than a bad start and a bad finish in a one-point loss at Bakersfield, the Mustangs have been pretty darn good, and that includes offense, defense and special teams. All three contributed to the win against Liberty — though the defensive effort and Kyle Deismone's 87-yard kickoff return deserve extra props. This is the local team most likely to challenge for the Division I section title, if Malik Henderson is healthy. If not (and I hope to find out tomorrow), then the Mustangs might have some trouble on offense.

— The Titans will get their chance to disprove my statement above in Week 9. In the meantime, they got an important 27-7 victory against 5-1 Ridgeview, thanks in large part to a defensive front that held the talented Tyler Dogins to 15 rushing yards on 24 attempts (I'm betting a few sacks are included in that total) and 71 passing yards. Frontier plays struggling Highland next week, followed by a South team that padded its 4-2 record against a weak non-league slate. Two expected wins would put the Titans at 8-0 heading to Stockdale (and, don't forget, at Centennial in Week 10). I would think at least a No. 2 seed in Division II is within reach.

— A big third quarter led Bakersfield past Garces 42-16. The Drillers out-gained the Rams 160-26 in the third, and the two-touchdown edge that bought them gave them control of the game. Garces was game, but Bakersfield showed what it can do when all that talent gets rolling. Alfonso Jackson had 134 yards on just nine carries, and Brian Burrell threw for 141 yards and ran for 68 more. This really was Bakersfield's toughest remaining game; the rest of the schedule reads Foothill, Golden Valley, East and Highland. The road to 8-2 — and avoiding Buchanan and Bulard until at least the Division I semifinals — is wide open. Also wide is the road to school victory No. 700, most in California, next week against the Trojans.

— As we all know, though, it can be dangerous to look ahead. Golden Valley proved that against Bakersfield last year, and this year we have a surprise leader atop the SEYL. It's the East Blades, who are 3-0 in the league and lead Liberty by a half-game. With a thrilling, four-overtime, 48-42 victory against Foothill, East guaranteed itself a .500 record in the league. Even if they do end up 3-3 — and with games left against Garces, Liberty and BHS, that's still the safe bet — this has been a great season for the Blades. I don't know what the school's policy on qualifying for the playoffs is, but if East can win one more game (its final game is against North) and get to 4-6, I say let quarterback Joe Pearson and company in.

— If there was anyone left to doubt Wasco's place in the top half of this year's SSL, there shouldn't be after the Tigers dismantled defending champion Bakersfield Christian 34-6. Now Wasco has a huge home game, one of the biggest in recent school history, against 5-1 Taft, a 65-6 winner against Arvin, next week. When you get great athletes in a double-wing running system behind a solid offensive line, good things can happen to you. And methinks Quentin Cheatham is one of the best athletes in the county. Me also thinks I'll go see for myself next week up in Tigertown.

— Easy-peasy for Centennial against South. The Golden Hawks took apart the Rebels 48-6 and showed that a Cody Kessler-less Centennial team is still a dangerous Centennial team. Backup QB Mark Ritchie didn't have to do much in place of the injured Kessler, going 3-of-6 passing for 28 yards. But Myren Moore racked up 200 rushing yards and four touchdowns, including three in a first half that saw the Hawks take a 35-0 lead. I hinted at it before, but it bears repeating: It would be a mistake to forget about Centennial and its Week 10 game vs. Frontier in all this talk about Mustangs and Titans.

— There will be no pre-Halloween showdown of 7-0 teams in Delano in a couple of weeks, not after the Tigers were shut out in the second half at Porterville. Big disappointment for Delano, which lost an early 14-9 lead, and then, trailing 16-14 late, threw an interception that the Panthers returned for a touchdown to seal victory. That's probably enough to get to second place in the EYL for Porterville and to ensure that it, and not Delano, will get a shot at Tulare Union. The truth is, either team probably doesn't measure up to the Redskins, but Porterville was so excited about getting the inside path to second place in the league that they actually called the Californian to report the score — a rarity considering Porterville's not in our coverage area.

— Mira Monte and Independence easily dispatched Kennedy and Tulare-Mission Oak, respectively, in home games, the Falcons' 50-22 victory being their first under the lights at their new stadium. Those wins make it clear that the Lions and Falcons are the cream of the South Central Sequoia League, which is made up entirely of schools playing their first varsity seasons. The two new Bakersfield schools meet next week at Independence, and again in Week 10 at Foothill for Mira Monte's home game.

With that in mind, let's move on to next week's big games:

Taft at Wasco: The rushing yards will be fast and furious in the year's first SSL heavyweight bout
Stockdale at Ridgeview: A dangerous game for the high-flying Mustangs
Garces at East: Surely the Blades can't get to 4-0 in the SEYL — can they?
Centennial at West: A tougher test here for a short-handed Hawks team
Mira Monte at Independence: First meeting between two schools with a shared history

San Jose State at Fresno State running thread

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:59:35 PDT

UPDATED, 11:16 p.m.: Just got back from some postgame interviews, and while none of the quotes are going to make our print deadlines, I'll type some up and put them on the blog tomorrow or Monday. Some good stuff from Ryan Mathews — no, he doesn't care that leads the nation in rushing or that his name is being bandied about as a Heisman candidate. He just likes to win. He also gets so excited watching some of his fellow backs play that he lost where he was and almost slipped and cussed about it in the interview before catching himself.
One other thing about Mathews: When you see him in person, with no pads on (and I didn't get a chance to when he was at West High, so I don't have anything to compare it to) it strikes you as to how big and physical he looks. This guy is fast, but it's no surprise that he mows defenders down while he's busy being fast.
Anyway, that's a wrap from Bulldog Stadium. Fresno State gets back to .500 at 3-3, 2-1 in the WAC. Next week is a trip to my home state, where the Bulldogs will take on New Mexico State in Las Cruces. Shouldn't have many problems there. I think Fresno has a decent-to-good chance of being 8-3 when they head to Illinois to end the year, and I wouldn't put a win there past them, either. A trip to Nevada is the biggest WAC obstacle left.
Be on the lookout for a high school Week 6 most important things tomorrow and some Ryan Mathews and Pat Hill quotes when I can get around to typing them up.

UPDATED, 9:58 p.m.: Carr is in the game, and he almost threw his first career touchdown pass, barely overthrowing an open Ryan Skidmore — an East High product who's also entered the game — in the end zone. Carr is 1-of-2 for 9 yards and the Bulldogs are in the red zone again.

UPDATED, 9:48 p.m.: No Derek Carr sighting yet, but it might be coming on the next drive. Fresno State goes up 38-14 as its third quarterback, Ebahn Feathers out of Fresno-Washington Union, flips a 3-yard touchdown pass to Marlon Moore as he was being tackled on an option keeper. The guy's athletic as all get-up.
It'd be a bit of a shame, honestly, if Mathews' night is done. He's at 233 yards, one shy of his career high. But he took a shot on his last carry, and I wouldn't be surprised if that caught Pat Hill's attention. No sense in getting your best player hurt in a 17-, now 24-point game. The touchdown was the first play of the fourth quarter, by the way.

UPDATED, 9:37 p.m.: I probably should have mentioned some time ago that the Fresno State single-game rushing record is 295 yards, set by Dwayne Wright in 2006 against Louisiana Tech. Mathews busted out 26 more yards on two carries on this drive, so he's up to 224. If he stays in the whole game, or busts another big one, he'll challenge that record. His career high is 234, set earlier this season against Boise State. That seems like a shoo-in, unless he's done for the night.

UPDATED, 9:31 p.m.: A slowish start to the second half here, and I'm taking the time to catch up on my game story for the newspaper tomorrow. Safe to say that Ryan Mathews will be heavily involved. Anybody think the kid deserves some Heisman love? He was 14th on ESPN.com's Heisman Watch to start the week, getting just one fifth-place vote, but I bet that total goes up this week. More nights like this will help.
He had 4 yards on the Bulldogs' first second-half possession, so he's at 198 on 15 carries. The third quarter, thankfully for deadline purposes, is flying by. San Jose State will be forced to punt back to FSU with 6:30 to play in the quarter.

UPDATED, 8:54 p.m.: There was a long delay there for an injured San Jose State player who had to be carted off the field, but afterwards, Fresno State picked up right where it left off, forcing a three-and-out and then blocking a punt. I believe it was Seyi Ajiritutu who got his hand on it, but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, it came in the red zone but with just 15 seconds to go in the half, so FSU will try a couple of passes to the end zone here to get another score before halftime. Both fall incomplete, and it'll be a field goal from Kevin Goessling instead to end the half. The lefty drills it from 40 yards, and it's 31-14 Ryan Mathews, er, Fresno State, at the half on Homecoming.

UPDATED, 8:37 p.m.: And there it is! That same tackle play that Mathews has been gashing San Jose State with finally goes to the house, 59 yards for the former West High Viking. The guy is strong and agile with good vision, and when he uses those attributes to get into open space, he's darn fast, too, faster than he looks. Now 194 yards on the night on just 13 carries and into fifth place on Fresno State's all-time list, up seven spots in just a half. And, not to be forgotten, it's helped the Bulldogs pull away here — they're up 28-14 with 1:42 left in the half.

UPDATED, 8:33 p.m.: There's a sighting of Matt Akers, a redshirt freshman from Liberty High and the fourth Bakersfield product to get into the game. He might have been in on the punt-return team before; this is the first I've noticed. He actually got reasonably close to blocking that punt, but SJSU got it away and gives the ball back to FSU, 2:33 to play in the first half.

UPDATED, 8:30 p.m.: Scratch that. SJSU challenged the fumble (you can do that in the WAC) and the ruling was overturned — the receiver was down. Instead, the Spartans get a first down with four minutes to play in the half.

UPDATED, 8:25 p.m.: Wait a tick, I missed one Mathews run, a 6-yarder. Make it 132 yards on the night, 54 yards from sixth and 61 from fifth. He's still 1,135 yards from first-place Ron Rivers, if you're wondering. He'd need to come back next year for that.
Now San Jose State has returned the Bulldogs' favor from the first scrimmage play of the game, fumbling the ball away and setting FSU up with prime field position. First down at the Spartans 24.

UPDATED, 8:21 p.m.: Two plays later, it's a 23-yard touchdown toss from Ryan Colburn to Marlon Moore. 21-14 Bulldogs, 5:21 before halftime.
Mathews, by the way, is now seventh on the all-time school rushing list with 2,339 yards. He's 60 yards away from sixth place and 67 away from passing Lorenzo Neal for fifth. Don't think he's up for it, but I know who'd get my Homecoming King vote.

UPDATED, 8:18 p.m.: I know I sound totally infatuated with Ryan Mathews, but the guy is a threat to go all the way every time he touches it tonight. HEe just earned 17 more yards and was barely tripped up at the end of the run or it might have been 75. On the next play, he was dragged down by the last man to beat or he would have had 58. Instead it was 28. He's up to 126 already and Fresno State is down to the San Jose State 30. How high can Mathews go? If this game stays close, he'll keep getting carries. But if he keeps getting carries, it might not stay close.
San Jose State missed a 42-yard field goal to end its last drive.

UPDATED, 8:09 p.m.: Stanford ended up losing a shootout, 43-38 at Arizona, and Toby Gerhart finished with 123 yards. So he's got 869 on the year now. I'll try to see how a few other rushers near the national lead fared, but for now, let's assume Gerhart is the leader. Ryan Mathews, with his 81 thus far tonight, has 822. He needs just 48 more to pass Gerhart back, and he just got about 5 of them there. A sack on the previous play, though has Fresno State in third-and-long. And Ryan Colburn is sacked again. Still 14-14, now inside of 10 minutes to go in the second quarter. Bulldogs will punt.

UPDATED, 8:02 p.m.: I'm going to try to update more frequently while the live stats are out. Mathews went into the end zone from 28 yards out on the first play of the second quarter, but it was partially wiped out by a holding call. It'll go down as a 16-yard gain instead. If I had stats, I could tell you what his yards per carry is, but I can at least confirm that it's very good. And now Pat Hill and the Bulldogs are leaning on him a lot. Here, though, he'll get a rest on a third-and-1. Lonyae Miller and Robbie Rouse are the backs instead. By my gauge, Mathews has close to 75 yards already, but I haven't been keeping exact track like I do at high school games.
Bulldogs pick up the first down with Rouse, who spins and then picks up a bunch more. First-and-goal at the 3. Touchdown Rouse. That'll tie the game with 13:11 to go before halftime, and the live stats are back!
Mathews actually has 81 yards on just eight carries. I'm telling you, this guy has to be one of the best backs Fresno State has ever seen. To back that up, I'll tell you that he's moved into ninth on the school's all-time rushing list. He needs just 23 more yards to move all the way up to seventh.

UPDATED, 7:54 p.m.: There's a perfect example of why Ryan Mathews will be in the NFL in two years, if not by next spring. He can finish a run. The Bulldogs offensive line paved a great hole for him on second-and-10, but Mathews got about 15 extra yards on a 25-yard carry by stiff-arming and skipping past defenders. Then he did it on the next play with no hole, and it got him 6 more yards. There's a reason he leads the nation in rushing, folks. The Bulldogs have a first down inside the 30 as the first quarter comes to a close, but it's still 14-7 San Jose State.
I also understand they're having a problem with the live-stats system here. All of the FSU media relations folks are scrambling around trying to get it fixed, so if yours is frozen, a fix is hopefully on the way.

UPDATED,7:48 p.m. : Bakersfield High product Phillip Thomas had coverage on Jalal Beauchman on a third-and-10 for San Jose State, and Beauchman beat him on a slant across the middle for a key first down on a long drive for the Spartans. There was also a roughing-the-passer call that prolonged the drive on a third down earlier. Brandon Rutley finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run on a draw that Fresno State didn't see coming. 14-7 Spartans now with 2:06 to go in the opening quarter. It's early, but it looks like San Jose State came to play.

UPDATED, 7:31 p.m.: Make it two carries and two first downs for Mathews, who makes a man miss near the line of scrimmage and turns the corner, picking up about 10 more on that play. Next play, touchdown Bulldogs, 27 yards from Visalia-Central Valley Christian's Ryan Colburn to Devon Wylie. That ties the score at 7 with 7:11 to play in the first quarter. A fantastic diving catch from Seyi Ajirotutu got Fresno State to midfield on the drive and seemed to spark them, too.

UPDATED, 7:22 p.m.: The guy who was ahead of Ryan Mathews in total yardage, Stanford's Toby Gerhart, has 115 yards thus far with about 12 minutes remaining in the Cardinal's game against Arizona. That means Mathews, who began the night with 741 rushing yards, needs at least 120 to catch Gerhart, who has played in one more game than Ryan. Mathews' first carry, with Fresno State trailing 7-0, went for 12 yards. But he didn't touch the ball again, and the Bulldogs are punting now, three plays later.
That 12-yard carry, by the way, extended Mathews' national lead in yards per carry among backs with at least 100 carries. He had 6.68 yards per rush on 111 carries coming into the night; Marshall's Darius Marshall had 6.64 on the same number of carries entering the Thundering Herd's game today against West Virginia. That number will go down after a 25-carry, 82-yard performance for Marshall (the player, not the team).
Meanwhile, Fresno State looks stuck in its own tracks in the early going. A missed tackle by cornerback Lorne Bell let San Jose State score a touchdown after the Ajiritutu fumble, and then the Bulldogs had to punt after just one first down. Time to get going for FSU.

UPDATED, 7:10 p.m.: I don't expect this to be a terribly close game — though Mathews could rack up some big yards against a bad rushing defense and Bakersfield Christian grad Derek Carr could get into the game late — so I'm going to try to keep things fresh with some other stuff. Like how about this: San Jose State has 114 players listed on its roster. Obviously some are walk-ons and redshirts, but let's look at everyone for accuracy's sake. Of those 114, 107 are from California. Of those 107, NONE are from the Central Section. Zero. You'd think a program that has historically struggled might try dipping in somewhere where it can nab some high-end high school players, rather than taking Pac-10 leftovers in the other parts of the state. It's no secret the Pac-10 doesn't pay too much attention to the Central Valley.
Meanwhile, Fresno State has 103 players listed. Of those, 96 are Californians. How many from the Central Section? Twenty-nine, including the top two quarterbacks and starting running back and a total of nine from Bakersfield. Let's see which team fairs better tonight. If it's the Bulldogs by a bunch, like it has been in the past in this series (Fresno State has won 14 of the past 15 games between these teams), then maybe that's a sign the Valley needs a few more recruiters making some long, flat drives.
Of course, now that I say that, one of the non-Central Section Bulldogs, wide receiver Seyi Ajirotutu from El Dorado Hills, fumbled after making a catch on Fresno State's first play from scrimmage. SJSU recovered inside the FSU 35, but the play is under review.
Call is confirmed, and the Spartans are set up with great field position.

ORIGINAL POST: About to kick off from Bulldog Stadium with San Jose State (1-4, 0-1 WAC) at Fresno State (2-3, 1-1). In fact, they just finished the national anthem, and then we were treated to a B-52 flyover. I couldn't see the jet with the press-box roof over my head, but Lordy, could I hear it.
Anyway, we'll get going here in about 10 minutes, with West High grad Ryan Mathews looking to re-take the national lead in rushing. He entered the day about 5 yards out of first place, though he was first in yards per game. I'll get an updated list for you based on today's games as we go forward.
Now seven minutes from kickoff. Will update shortly.