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

Central Section football rankings, Week 13 (playoffs)

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

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

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

Let's examine:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Schoolhouse Jinx?

I'm not really sure I should be posting this, because maybe I'll get run out of town if I do, but I feel I have an obligation to admit my possible guilt.

There's a chance I've been jinxing Kern County high school teams (yes, I say this tongue-in-cheek, but it is interesting) by my attendance. It kind of started when Garces volleyball coach Kim Harper started jokingly telling me to stop covering the Rams' games, because, at the time, they were 24-2 when I stayed away and 0-2 when I was there. I didn't cover any of their playoff games, and they won a section title. Interesting.

Now, a coach joking around is one thing, but last week was downright weird. After The Californian ran in-depth stories on back-to-back days on two of the fall's better athletes, Foothill cross country champion Chris Schwartz and North football stud Julian Dean-Johnson, on Thursday and Friday.

Well, Friday, Dean-Johnson was ejected from a playoff game as the Stars lost to Sanger, and Saturday, Schwartz faded to a shocking seventh in the state's Division III race in Fresno.

But thinking back on it, this has been somewhat of a disturbing (at least for the locals) trend.

Take this track record:

— Way back on Sept. 5, I covered Bakersfield Christian's only loss, which came to Westlake Village-Oaks Christian. OK, nothing too shocking, considering Oaks Christian is a top-10 team in the state, regardless of division, but BCHS isn't really that far behind. They were when I was on the sideline.

— The next week, West High traveled to Visalia and was blasted 34-14 by El Diamante. Again, hardly a surprise, but last week, the teams played again — without me — and the Vikings almost pulled the upset.

— Garces was Kern's dominant team in girls golf all season, then went up to the Central Section team championships with high hopes and faded to fourth place. Frontier did turn in its best performance and make it to the SoCal regionals, though.

— Liberty, arguably playing the best football of any team in Kern County, went up to Clovis West and lost a tight one, 14-6, in the first round of the playoffs. Guess who was freezing his butt off in the press box. Yep.

— The night before that, Liberty's volleyball team was swept away by Clovis West in the Central Section championship after I made another trip up north.

— Add to that last week, when Taft was drilled by Kingsburg, North lost to Sanger and both Schwartz and favored McFarland in the Division IV race both failed to win state.

I should point out that I saw Stockdale beat Fresno-Bullard for the D-I tennis title and the Mustangs' doubles team of Frances Ellison and Julie Hutton win the section title. And Tehachapi beat Santa Ana-Segerstrom under my watch back in Week 0. That's got to count for something, right? Geez, I don't know.

Now, I've always been one of those people that says sporting events are going to come out the same way no matter what lucky clothes you wear, or where you sit, or what you predict. It doesn't really make a difference. But man oh man, it doesn't seem like that right now.

Week 12 (playoffs) running thread and scoreboard (UPDATED WITH FRIDAY NIGHT SCORES)

UPDATED, : It was a night of almosts.

West High almost finished off mighty Visalia-El Diamante. North High almost got back into a dogfight with Sanger. Highland almost got revenge on Foothill. Tehachapi is almost back in the Division III championship.

Even around the rest of the section, there was a bevy of near-upsets. Fresno-Edison, for a while one of the top-ranked teams in the state, needed a late touchdown to stave off 11th-seeded Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial 7-3. In Division III, Oakhurst-Yosemite rallied from a 17-0 deficit to beat 10th-seeded Dinuba. The only real upsets to develop, though, were No. 5 Clovis East over No. 1 Clovis-Buchanan in Division I (though I wouldn't even really call that an upset) and No. 6 Fresno-Washington Union over No. 3 Exeter in D-III.

Meanwhile, Kern County is now absent from Divisions I and II and has just three teams left in the Central Section playoffs: Tehachapi, Foothill and Bakersfield Christian. Here's the nitty-gritty on some of the local results:

Visalia-El Diamante 42, West 31: In a way, this game was nothing like the first meeting between the teams, which the Miners controlled from the start and easily withstood a couple of big plays from West to win 34-14. But in a way, it was. The difference in the end was El Diamante running back Stefphon Jefferson, who ran for more than 300 yards both times, and he wasn't going to let West win. Give the Vikings credit, though; they used a short passing game to move the ball and capitalized on five first-half turnovers from El Diamante to lead 31-14 at the break. But the game was too long.

Sanger 40, North 21: Bitter way to lose for the Stars, who played the Apaches at least close to evenly but fumbled twice and repeatedly gave away yards with dead-ball penalties. When John Northrop and Julian Dean-Johnson, arguably the Stars' best two players, were ejected for separate incidents within three minutes of each other in the third quarter (and at the same time Sanger was putting up two quick touchdowns), the game was effectively over. North kept fighting, but a great season has come to an end.

Tehachapi 48, Golden Valley 24: It's not too surprising to see the Warriors turn it up a notch come playoff time. The battle-tested team is, after all, the defending D-III champion. Now Tehachapi is two wins away from repeating. Those will have to come on the road, though. Up first is a trip to a different mountain, Oakhurst-Yosemite's. Not going to be an easy trip, but I won't count Tehachapi out for a second.

Foothill 9, Highland 6: Highland led this one 6-0 at halftime and 6-2 late in the third quarter but gave up tremendous field position on a botched punt snap and let the Trojans score the game's only touchdown. Foothill now advances to face No. 1 seed Hanford, one win away from reaching its third straight D-III final. Highland, meanwhile, has to be shaking its head. After a 6-1 start, four straight losses to end the year, all without an offensive touchdown.

Bakersfield Christian 52, Parlier 0: As expected, a rout and a big night for the Eagles passing game. Jake Peterson might have out-shined Derek Carr tonight, though: He caught seven balls for 152 yards — and four of them were touchdowns. For good measure, Peterson also returned an interception for a TD in the Eagles' first shutout of the year. Carr threw for 307 yards and a career-high six touchdowns.

Hanford 48, Delano 6; Visalia-CVC 34, Arvin 7: I thought both Arvin and Delano had decent chances to go up and scare the top-seeded teams in Division III and IV, but it turned out those teams are No. 1 for a reason. You can't win if you don't score, and Arvin rushed for negative-2 yards (199 overall) and Delano only had 187 overall.

UPDATED, 9:14 p.m.: Sanger has run out the string against North here and is up 40-21 with seconds left on the clock. Meanwhile, El Diamante stormed back against West and leads 35-31 with about four minutes to play. The Vikings have the ball at midfield. Meanwhile, Fresno-Edison is struggling, trailing San Joaquin Memorial 3-0 in the fourth quarter. Tehachapi has a commanding lead, 27-3 against Golden Valley.

UPDATED, 8:38 p.m.: The Stars have lost a bit of control here. After yet another unsportsmanlike penalty on the kickoff return (looks like all of these are mouthing-off penalties; I didn't see any fighting or pushing or taunting or anything like that), Juan Rodriquez and Julian Dean-Johnson couldn't hook up on a pitch, and when the ball hit the ground, Dean-Johnson was fighting for the ball with a couple of Apaches. When the officials awarded Sanger the ball, Dean-Johnson said something else, got another penalty and got himself ejected as well. That's two of North's best players gone, and another Sanger score has made it 27-7. Not good news.

UPDATED, 8:23 p.m.: North comes out on fire in the second half, gambling and winning with an onside kick to open the half and then storming down for a 3-yard touchdown run from quarterback Juan Rodriquez to cut the Sanger lead to 14-7. Unfortunately, the Stars were on fire in more than one way. They tried another onside kick that didn't work, then committed two consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties — causing the ejection of one of North's best linemen, John Northrop and giving Sanger a first-and-goal at the North 8. The Apaches punched it in for a 21-7 lead midway through the third quarter.
Meanwhile, from another game, Derek Carr has thrown five touchdown passes in the first half as Bakersfield Christian has stormed to a 42-0 lead on Parlier in the D-V quarterfinals.

UPDATED, 8:11 p.m.: Not much has changed here, with Sanger ahead 14-0 at the half. But there's a shocker going on an hour north. West ran off 17 consecutive points against Visalia-El Diamante to take a 31-14 lead the half against the defending champion Miners. Californian reporter Jeff Evans checks in with a report that El D has fumbled four times and thrown an interception. Maybe the Vikings are finally reaching some potential, though you know the Miners will come out and make a run at some point.

UPDATED, 7:30 p.m.: Bogus start for North. The Stars are moving the ball, but stalled again inside the Sanger 40, then had a punt snap go over David Maciel's head. Maciel made a great play to retrieve the ball and get a good punt off, but Sanger's Mario Navarrete ripped off an 85-yard TD run up the right side on the next play. The PAT was no good, but its 14-0 Apaches very early in the second quarter.

UPDATED, 7:18 p.m.: Not the start North High wanted here at home. The Stars drove to the Sanger 32-yard line on the game's first drive, but Juan Rodriquez fumbled on a first-down play. The Apaches returned the ball 41 yards, then pounded six runs right at the North defense to take the lead. To make matters worse, North jumped offside on the PAT, and Sanger decided to pound in two more points to make it 8-0. Turnovers have plagued the Stars in both of their losses, and they can't afford any more tonight, for sure.

ORIGINAL POST: Happy (Black) Friday everybody. I hope enough of you are in town and not too tired from shopping this morning to create some good atmosphere for the playoffs tonight.

I'll be out at North High, where the Stars are attempting to win their first playoff game since 1994 against Sanger in a Division II quarterfinal. Check back often for updates from the game and for scores from around the Central Section.

If you're into predictions, you can check out this week's picks, though I should note that Mojave is at home this week. I initially wrote they traveled to Yermo to play Silver Valley. Prediction stands, though.

Also, if you missed it, you really need to check out Simon Samano's story on Julian Dean-Johnson, the North High stud back who leads Kern County in rushing yards a game. Simon does a great job weaving Dean-Johnson's difficult upbringing with his rise to football prowess, so check it out.

And The Californian's Thanksgiving story was on Chris Schwartz, the Foothill runner who will defend his state cross country title Saturday in Fresno. Schwartz has dealt with his own set of obstacles and is well on his way past them. The state meet starts tomorrow morning, with Schwartz and McFarland's boys team favored to win state championships.

Once you're done with those feel-good pieces, come back here and make this your base of operations for the second week of the football playoffs.

All games below begin at 7 p.m. Friday unless noted

Central Section scoreboard
Division I semifinals
(5) Clovis East 28, (1) Clovis-Buchanan 20
(2) Clovis West 24, (3) Fresno-Bullard 21
Division II quarterfinals
(1) Tulare Union 49, (9) Fresno-Hoover 6
(2) Visalia-El Diamante 42, (7) West 31
(3) Fresno-Edison 7, (11) Fresno-SJ Memorial 3
(5) Sanger 40, (4) North 21
Division III quarterfinals
(1) Hanford 48 (8) Delano 6
(2) Oakhurst-Yosemite 31, (10) Dinuba 24
(6) Tehachapi 48, (3) Golden Valley 24
(4) Foothill 9, (5) Highland 6
Division IV quarterfinals
(1) Visalia-Central Valley Christian 34, (8) Arvin 7
(2) Chowchilla 28, (7) Kerman 3
(6) Fresno-Washington 29, (3) Exeter 28
(4) Kingsburg 39, (5) Taft 0, Wednesday
Division V quarterfinals
(1) Corcoran 28, (9) Madera Ranchos-Liberty 17
(2) Bakersfield Christian 52, (7) Parlier 0
(3) Fowler 57, (6) Woodlake 28
(4) SLO-Mission Prep 41, (5) Firebaugh 10
Division VI semifinals
(4) Tranquillity 20, (1) Mendota 14
(2) Orange Cove 40, (3) Avenal 24

Southern Section scoreboard
Northeast Divsion quarterfinals
(16) Mojave 28, (8) Yermo-Silver Valley 22
(7) Arcadia-Rio Hondo Prep 42, (2) Boron 14

Week 12 (playoffs) HS football podcast (OK, at least I tried)

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Here's the deal with this week's podcast: Because the people who know what they're doing with these things are off for the holiday, I attempted to create this podcast file myself. Obviously, I haven't been able to embed it in the blog, but if you click on either (or maybe just one of?) the files to the left, you should be able to download the file into iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc., and listen (you'll have to wait for it to download). If that's too much work, just be patient. Hopefully I can fix the problem by Friday. Sorry for the inconvenience.

In the mean time, check out high school predictions and a running thread of last night's Taft-Kingsburg game to keep you busy after dinner until football Friday is here again.

Taft at Kingsburg, running thread

UPDATED, 10:30 p.m.: Sorry for the update drought, but there was really not much to say. More Tyler Bray, more London Lacy (that's Bray's backup), continuing to torch the Taft secondary. Kingsburg wins it 39-0 and will go on to the semifinals to play either Arvin at home or Visalia-Central Valley Christian on the road. For the record, I was extremely impressed with the Vikings, who could quite easily be your Division IV champion coming from a No. 4 seed.
Taft coach Steve Sprague was disappointed after the game, more with getting shut out and missing some opportunities than with losing itself. I think he knew his team was up against a pretty good test tonight. But the Wildcats are young, and they returned just seven starters from last year's 12-1 Division IV championship team. They'll be back, you can be sure of that.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Check back for a podcast, and we'll talk more football Friday.

UPDATED, 8:21 p.m.: Not good news for the folks who drove up north from Taft tonight. Kingsburg leads 26-0 at halftime behind a phenomenal first half from Tyler Bray. The Vikings quarterback is 17-of-26 passing for 223 yards and three touchdowns and has 41 rushing yards and another score on the ground. He's completed passes to nine different receivers.
Kingsburg has exactly 300 yards of total offense; Taft has 51. Funny thing is, I'm not sure Kingsburg is that much better than Taft. But the Vikings have run 42 plays to Taft's 19. They've consistently moved the chains on offense and come up with big plays when they needed them on D. I can't say Taft has much hope here, but there's still time on the clock, so we'll see what the defending D-IV champs can do.

UPDATED, 7:52 p.m.: The Tyler Bray show continues. The junior escapes pressure, rolls out and finds tight end Jason Linman wide open for a 24-yard touchdown to make it 19-0 with about four minutes to play in the first half. Taft has had the ball in the red zone both times it's had the ball, but the Wildcats have missed a field goal and failed on a fourth-down attempt. It's an uphill climb now with a running offense, but Taft is driving again.

UPDATED, 7:34 p.m.: Kingsburg's passing game hasn't been slowed by the steady downpour here, as Tyler Bray has moved the Vikings easily down the field twice, scoring once with his arm and again with his feet. He already has 97 yards passing and 29 rushing early in the second quarter. Kingsburg leads 13-0, but as I type, Taft has driven inside the Kingsburg 20. Important series here.

ORIGINAL POST, 7:12 p.m.: Greetings from rainy Kingsburg, where it's a good thing that (a) the school district here installed artificial turf on its new field a few years back and (b) they have a press box with a roof so I'm not electrocuted while blogging.
Probably not so pleasant for those in the stands or down on the pitch (that's a soccer term, for the uncultured).
Anyway, should be a good battle here tonight. Kingsburg took the opening kickoff and marched inside the Taft 10 and now faces a third-and-goal from the 6. And it's a touchdown pass from Tyler Bray to Caleb Fink for an early 7-0 lead. Bray was 5-of-7 for 60 yards to four different receivers on that drive, so Taft at least knows what it has to fix.
I'll update here as much as possible, but we have early deadlines due to Thanksgiving, so forgive me if I'm busy writing the story instead. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody, by the way.

Week 12 (playoffs) HS football predictions

A happy Thanksgiving Eve to everyone. I'll be heading up to Kingsburg in a couple of hours for the Vikings' Division IV game with Taft, which the teams mutually agreed to move up to save holiday plans.

I love the idea, not only because it gives the players, their parents and coaches some time off for the holiday, but because it puts a couple of schools in the spotlight that wouldn't normally be there. I don't know that The Californian would send a writer to this game if it were Friday night with everything else, nor The Fresno Bee, nor TV stations nor radio. All of those things will probably be there tonight. So spend your Wednesday with the Wildcats and Vikings. I'll be doing a live blog from Kingsburg tonight during the game.

So who's going to win? I'd better get these predictions in pretty quick or I'll miss my chance.

Tomorrow, slip in a Thanksgiving podcast between turkey and football, and then we'll gear back up Friday. For now, a look back at last week's predictions:

The Good: Calling for Liberty to lose a tough one, for West to handle Garces again and for Tehachapi and Arvin to get by first round games.

The Bad: Expecting Stockdale to keep it close and for Bakersfield High to find itself for the playoffs.

The Ugly: Well, then. Turns out Delano was pretty insulted by that No. 8 seed, as it rolled past South 42-0 in Division III. That's a bit different than the close Rebels win I predicted.

Wednesday, Nov. 26
DIVISION IV
NO. 5 TAFT (7-3) AT NO. 4 KINGSBURG (9-1) — Somehow, the Vikings were seeded No. 4 when they beat No. 1 seed Visalia-Central Valley Christian by 10 points a few weeks back. Now they get a tough Taft team in the first round. Of course, the Wildcats can't be too happy, either. They've lost three games to three very good teams and will absolutely have their hands full tonight. I think they'll play better than they have in a couple of their losses, but the Division IV title defense comes to an end tonight.
Prediction: Kingsburg 28, Taft 16

Friday, Nov. 28
DIVISION II
NO. 7 WEST (6-5) AT NO. 2 VISALIA-EL DIAMANTE (9-1) — West was able to throw a few haymakers against El D in the teams' Week 1 meeting before ultimately falling 34-14. The temptation is to say that because West found its groove and started playing much better late in the season, this rematch will be closer and might even go the Vikings' way. Not so fast. Remember, too, that El Diamante was a young team early and had lost many starters from last year's D-II championship team. The younguns are grown up now, which means the Miners have improved maybe even more than West has.
Prediciton: El Diamante 49, West 14

NO. 5 SANGER (6-5) AT NO. 4 NORTH (8-2) — One of the more interesting matchups in any playoff bracket takes place in Oildale on Friday night, with a team that's lost five times against a hellacious schedule facing a team that's run more or less easily over a much weaker slate. It's been a while since the Stars have won a playoff game, and I don't think this is the night, unless (1) North doesn't turn the ball over a single time and (2) Seth Vlach and company grind out yards and time off the clock while Julian Dean-Johnson busts a couple of his trademark long runs. It could happen, but I think it's too much to ask.
Prediction: Sanger 34, North 28

DIVISION III
NO. 8 DELANO (8-3) AT NO. 1 HANFORD (9-1) — I fear picking the Delano games, because, much like Bakersfield High was, the Tigers are capable of getting hot and beating about anybody in this bracket. That would include the top-seeded Bullpups. But Delano also has laid a couple of eggs this year, and I won't trust them against a dangerous Hanford team that very well could roll to a section title.
Prediction: Hanford 31, Delano 18

NO. 6 TEHACHAPI (7-4) AT NO. 3 GOLDEN VALLEY (6-4) — It's almost too bad these teams are meeting up in the quarterfinals, because I think they're both great sleepers in the bracket. Both were hot at the end of the year and both are built like playoff teams. I can guarantee Oakhurst-Yosemite, who'll likely end up facing the winner in the semis, isn't looking forward to either matchup. I think the Warriors have enough playoff acumen, plus defense at the line of scrimmage, to keep Byron Newman and the Bulldogs from running completely wild. If Tehachapi can get the ground game going, it'll have the upset.
Prediction: Tehachapi 30, Golden Valley 26

NO. 5 HIGHLAND (6-4) AT NO. 4 FOOTHILL (5-5) — Any respect Highland gained in its 6-1 start has probably been lost with three meager efforts to close the season — three weeks with two points, both of which came in a 24-2 loss to Foothill in Week 8. Can the Scots get some offense going? If they can, they can win this game behind a still-strong defense. It'll be closer than the last meeting with the Trojans. But I don't think the Scots can make up 22 points in four weeks.
Prediction: Foothill 21, Highland 13

DIVISION IV
NO. 8 ARVIN (5-6) AT NO. 1 VISALIA-CENTRAL VALLEY CHRISTIAN (8-2) — By one very important measure, the Division IV bracket is the most wide-open of all. The No. 1 seed does not appear invincible like many of the others do. But CVC is on a roll, no doubt there, and Arvin will need the game of the year to crack a Cavaliers defense that allowed Bakersfield Christian just 27 points (trust me, that's pretty good) and gave up 16 points in its final three regular-season games combined. A Bear-sized upset wouldn't surprise me, but I'm not that confident.
Prediction: Central Valley Christian 23, Arvin 14

DIVISION V
NO. 7 PARLIER (8-3) AT NO. 2 BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN (9-1) — The Panthers do bring some punch, but they simply haven't played a team like this yet. That's going to be the case for just about every team in Division V. BCHS will be able to name its score this week and then gear up for (most likely) Fowler and Corcoran.
Prediction: Bakersfield Christian 52, Parlier 14

SOUTHERN SECTION
NORTHEAST DIVISION
NO. 7 ARACADIA-RIO HONDO PREP (7-3) AT NO. 2 BORON (10-1) — This is a major trap for the Bobcats and potentially their biggest test on the way to a possible section championship. Both teams can score; Rio Hondo Prep seems to have a bit better defense. Does that mean it's the end of the line for Boron? I'm going to go with my gut on this one and say the Bobcats, at home, pull another close one out and make it to the semifinals.
Prediction: Boron 37, Rio Hondo Prep 33

NO. 16 MOJAVE (6-5) AT NO. 8 YERMO-SILVER VALLEY (7-4) — Fresh off a massive upset of San Juan Capistrano-Saddleback Valley Christian, the Mustangs tackle what will become a league foe next year. These teams could become pretty big rivals, battling for the right to be a league challenger to Boron. But this year, I'm going with Silver Valley. This year as a freelance team was kind of a lost one for Mojave as it transitions into being a much smaller school, and it's already been a success. But the buck stops here.
Prediction: Silver Valley 31, Mojave 16

Last week: 8-4 (.667) Season: 169-65 (.722)

Central Section football rankings, Week 12 (playoffs)

Sorry for the lack of posts around here lately — I've been busy with a few things, namely working on some non-football stories and proposing to my girlfriend (she said yes, for the record).

But to make up for that, I'm going to do a very abbreviated version of Most Important Things for the first week of the playoffs.

— Don't be too depressed/apathetic about the results in Division I. Like I said Friday night, this was going to be a rebuilding year for most of the D-I teams in Kern County anyway. That's why the league races were so wide-open and why neither Bakersfield, Liberty or Stockdale received a great seed in the playoffs. So the fact that all three were wiped out by a combined 101-40 score shouldn't surprise anyone all that much. I got an e-mail this morning from a fan who wanted to remind everyone that BHS and Liberty (and you can throw Stockdale in this statement, too) were very young teams this year and that all had talent on their JV and freshman teams. Things will be looking back up soon.

— Division III is going to be a wild ride. Out of the four quarterfinals, there are no gimmes. Delano is a very, very dangerous No. 8 seed traveling to face No. 1 Hanford. Highland and Foothill have both been competitive at one time or another during the year. Tehachapi, the defending champ, and Golden Valley are both big-time sleepers to win it all. Could look totally different next week than you expect it to.

Now on to some rankings:

1. Clovis West (8-3, Division I, last week: 1) — There's a reason Clovis West was a bad matchup for Liberty — the Golden Eagles are a tough, defensive team like the Patriots, but they're a little bit better at it.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 8 Liberty, 14-6. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 2 Fresno-Bullard

2. Fresno-Bullard (9-2, Division I, last week: 2) — The way I see it, the second D-I semifinal at Clovis High will be a 1 vs. 2 matchup, one that Clovis West dominated 28-10 the first time around. I'm not sure if I totally believe that, but for now, consider the Bullard-Clovis West winner the favorite to win it all the following week.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 12 Bakersfield, 35-14. THIS WEEK: at No. 1 Clovis West

3. Visalia-El Diamante (9-1, Division II, last week: 3) — The Miners open their playoff run with a rematch against West. And the Vikings aren't bad or anything, but it's a very safe match-up for El D. Bring on Edison.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. West

4. Clovis East (8-3, Division I, last week: 4) — Is it possible to underrate the team you have at No. 4? The Timberwolves gave Stockdale a lesson in playoff football with a quick-strike fourth quarter Friday. I now like them to knock off top-seeded Clovis-Buchanan.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 9 Stockdale, 52-20. THIS WEEK: at No. 6 Clovis-Buchanan

5. Tulare Union (10-0, Division II, last week: 5) — The Redskins get one more warmup before a mere two-week stretch that will make their season success or failure: vs. Sanger or North, then vs. (likely) Edison or El Diamante.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Fresno-Hoover

6. Clovis-Buchanan (9-2, Division I, last week: 6) — It's difficult to rank the Bears this low, but they've been scuffling for more than a month since beating Clovis West. Plus, starting QB Lance Orender is out for the remainder of the playoffs. How long can backup Taylor Genuser keep winning?
LAST WEEK: won vs. Clovis, 14-6. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 4 Clovis East

7. Fresno-Edison (8-2, Division II, last week: 7) — Tough team to predict here. I could see the Tigers folding after all the stress and troubles of a season that saw All-American cornerback Rolando Jefferson lost to academics, or I could see an uber-talented team rallying around itself.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial

8. Liberty (7-4, Division I, last week: 8) — No sense in punishing the Patriots, who were easily the most impressive of the four losers in the D-I playoffs and who I think probably were the second or third best team in the division at the end of the year.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 1 Clovis West, 14-6. THIS WEEK: season over

9. Hanford (9-1, Division III, last week: 10) — It's been since Week 2 that the Bullpups won a truly meaningful game. Of course, their only loss since then was to El Diamante. They can't fall asleep at the wheel against Delano.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Delano

10. Bakersfield Christian (9-1, Division V, last week: 11) — The Eagles' first-round game is a name-your-score affair. After that, Fowler and Corcoran will present more challenges. But honestly, this team could win Division IV or maybe even III.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Parlier

11. Stockdale (8-3, Division I, last week: 9) — Don't let a lopsided playoff loss taint what a great job Mike Snow and his kids did this year. A year after going 2-8, the Mustangs were Southwest Yosemite League champs and a legitimate playoff threat.
LAST WEEK: lost vs. No. 4 Clovis East, 52-20. THIS WEEK: season over

12. Corcoran (10-0, Division V, last week: 13) — Perhaps the single biggest question mark in the Central Section playoffs this year: How good is Corcoran, really? We won't find out this week, but things get much more interesting after that.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Madera Ranchos-Liberty

13. Bakersfield (7-4, Division I, last week: 12) — Does this ranking mean BHS would lose to Corcoran or Hanford or Bakersfield Christian? Maybe not every time. But the Drillers were plagued by inconsistency this year, and it didn't get any better in the playoffs.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 2 Fresno-Bullard, 35-14. THIS WEEK: season over

14. Visalia-Central Valley Christian (8-2, Division IV, last week: 14) — Here's an example of a team that's gotten hot at the right time and parlayed that into a No. 1 seed in the playoffs. But a week off and a tough No. 8 seed in Arvin makes for a daunting quarterfinal.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Arvin

15. Chowchilla (9-1, Division IV, last week: 15) — The Redskins have nice victories against Oakhurst-Yosemite and a couple of Sac-Joaquin Section schools, and you can bet they'd love a rematch with CVC in the D-IV final.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Kerman

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

Week 11 (playoffs) running thread and scoreboard (UPDATED WITH FRIDAY NIGHT SCORES)

UPDATED, 10:52 p.m.: Looks like all of the Central Section finals have rolled in for the evening. All three Bakersfield teams go down in Division I, with only Liberty in the game at the end. Bakersfield, riddled by mistakes, fell to Bullard 35-14 and Stockdale lost at home to Clovis East, 52-20. The Patriots stayed with their underneath passing game on the final drive and got it all the way to the Clovis West 20 before stalling out into a fourth-and-7 with 15 seconds left. The Golden Eagles dropped about nine into coverage and came up with a pick from Jordan Pirtle, the last big defensive play on a night full of them. Pretty good spirits from Liberty after the game, though they obviously felt like they had blown a great chance to win.
So what to make of the Fresno-area whitewash? Well, the power clearly was up in Fresno this year, though I maintain that "Good" Bakersfield (and tonight against Bullard was definitely "Bad" Bakersfield) and Liberty could be any team in the Valley on a given night. Just not tonight. It also was a rebuilding year at several places around Kern County after a banner year last year. At any rate, the D-I semifinals will be Clovis East at Clovis-Buchanan and Fresno-Bullard against Clovis West.
Elsewhere? There are still four other titles to play for, though the other brackets don't reach their quarterfinals until next week. All scores are listed below, but let's take a peek at the Kern County ones. I think it's safe to say defense rules in the playoffs. Look at how many of these games are won without rolling up big offensive numbers.

West 35, Garces 21: The Vikings trailed 14-0 early but rallied and kept an up-and-down season alive. Next up? A second chance at No. 2 seed Visalia-El Diamante, which beat West 34-14 back in Week 1.

Tehachapi 28, Ridgeview 14: Another comeback, as the Warriors were down 14-7 at the half. I heard some rumblings that Tyler Dogins, a two-way Ridgeview star, was hurt in the second half of this one, which could have contributed to a 14-0 Tehachapi advantage in the final quarter. I still think the Warriors are a great sleeper in the Division III bracket, though they'll have to play better than this to get past No. 3 Golden Valley next week.

Delano 42, South 0: Just like Bakersfield High, the Tigers have a good version and a bad version. They apparently brought out the good stuff tonight, and they'll need it again next week at No. 1 seed Hanford.

Arvin 31, Selma 14: The Bears pull away in the second half and also advance to play a No. 1 seed, Visalia-Central Valley Christian in Division IV. I'll say it early: I think Arvin has a legitimate shot in that one.

UPDATED, 9:30 p.m.: Liberty drives to the Clovis West 20 but turns the ball over on a fourth-down interception with seconds to go. Clovis West 14, Liberty 6, final. Details later.

UPDATED, 9:17 p.m.: Two first downs for the Golden Eagles, and that should just about do it. Give credit to Clovis West. It came up with the big plays on defense when it had to. Liberty, meanwhile, is going to rue those couple of penalties when it had the ball well within Colton Schmidt's field-goal range midway through the fourth quarter, and of course the fumble on the next possession.
And here's an interesting development: Kendall Brock just sprung a 21-yard touchdown run for Clovis West, which is actually going to give Liberty some slim life. The extra point is good, but the score is 14-6, and Liberty still will have a shot with a touchdown and two-point conversion, to tie the game. So hold on to your hats for just a minute. There's 1:30 to play and the Pats have no timeouts.

UPDATED, 9:12 p.m.: And Clovis West pokes the ball loose from Dylan Slayton for a crucial fumble and recovery! The Golden Eagles have the ball and are trying to kill the clock inside the Liberty 35.

UPDATED, 9:09 p.m.: Liberty defense holds, three-and-out. First-and-10 on the Liberty 41 with 4:43 to go and one timeout. Should be a good finish.

UPDATED, 9:04 p.m.: Liberty could be looking at a huge wasted opportunity here. They had driven to the Clovis West 24 before a delay of game and a holding have pushed them back to the 41. It's now 3rd-and-20 ...
... and a Dylan Slayton pass falls incomplete. Liberty's punt goes in the end zone for a touchback, so it's Clovis West's ball at its 20 with 5:53 to play.

UPDATED, 8:42 p.m.: A 12-play drive for Liberty there, by far the most productive its offense has looked all night. The bad news for the Pats? They couldn't convert a third down inside the Clovis West 5 and settled for another Colton Schmidt field goal. It's 7-6. Dylan Slayton threw an interception earlier in the half but the Patriot defense stiffened and kept the Golden Eagles off the board. Good one here, late third quarter.

UPDATED, 8:16 p.m.: I've taken a closer look at the stats, and if you couldn't already tell, Liberty is lucky to be in this thing. Clovis West has a 164-30 edge in total yards, and a 7-1 edge in first downs. But the Pats can take advantage if they can turn things around a little bit here in the second half. They get the ball first.
In other scores, it's Clovis East running over Stockdale in a shootout, 39-14 at halftime, and Bullard leads Bakersfield 14-0 at halftime. Could Liberty be Bakersfield's last Division I hope? Stay tuned.

UPDATED, 7:55 p.m.: It's the end of a very quickly played first half here at Lamonica Stadium with Clovis West leading 7-3. The Golden Eagles have made two big mistakes with an interception deep in their own end and a fumble after a long first down, but Liberrty hasn't really taken advantage. The Patriots didn't gain a first down until the final minute of the half, when they were trying to work the ball out from their own 2-yard line.
Some halftime stats that will tell the story, I think:
For Clovis West, Braden Seibert has 85 yards and the long touchdown on nine carries, and quarterback Jeff Tuel has completed 7-of-10 passes for 55 yards.
For Liberty, quarterback Dylan Slaton is 4-of-5 for 23 yards, and Chris Neal has rushed eight times for just 4 yards. Ugh. That has to change if the Patriots are to win this game.

UPDATED, 7:41 p.m.: Colton Schmidt, who's basically a shoe-in for all-area kicker, just booted a 40-yard field goal that would have been good from about 55 to cut into the Clovis West lead. It's no 7-3 with just 3:42 left in a fast-paced first half. The score was set up by a Mason Urmston interception inside the Clovis West 20. But a couple of sacks forced Liberty into the field-goal try. The Pats are playing it conservative, and so far, it's kept them in the game but behind.

UPDATED, 7:24 p.m.: Bad news for a couple of Bakersfield schools. Stockdale has been blitzed early at home and is down 18-0 to Clovis East in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Liberty just surrendered a 54-yard touchdown run to Braden Seibert to fall behind 7-0 here in Clovis. Bakersfield and Bullard still scoreless.

UPDATED, 7:19 p.m.: It's going to be a low-scoring night like we expected, at least if ever drive takes up 8+ minutes and nets no points. Clovis West took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in 17 plays, only to be stopped on fourth-and-goal from the Liberty 4 to come away empty-handed. Brady Burk made the big play for the Pats on fourth down.
Now this is a field position game, though. Liberty just went three-and-out and will have to punt, resulting in some pretty good Clovis West field position. It's the Golden Eagles' ball at its own 42 with about 1:30 left in the first quarter.

UPDATED, 6:56 p.m.: A quick note I forgot to pass along earlier that I'd like to slip in before kickoff here. In the Central Section volleyball championships last night, Garces won the Division II title over Hanford and Bakersfield Christian took the D-IV title against Visalia-Central Valley Christian, both in sweeps. So congratulations to those schools, who will move on to the state playoffs.
Liberty fell to Clovis West in Division I and Tehachapi lost at Exeter in D-III, also both sweeps, though Liberty took the eventual champs to 28-26 in the third game. Both the Patriots and the Warriors are eligible for the state playoffs, but they'll have to get an at-large berth to make it. They'll find out their fates Sunday.
Meanwhile, stay tuned for updates from the other Liberty-Clovis West showdown of the week, kicking off in exactly 4:14.

ORIGINAL POST: I'm writing from Lamonica Stadium at Clovis High School, where seventh-seeded Liberty and No. 2 Clovis West will tangle in a Central Section Division I quarterfinal in about 40 minutes. Should be a very interesting, well-played defensive battle. First big mistake loses? Or first big play on offense wins? Could be; it's chilly and I don't know that either team will be able to move the ball consistently tonight.

Elsewhere, reporter Simon Samano will have a running thread from the Bakersfield-Bullard game at McLane High School in Fresno. You can catch that over on his blog, Hey Jude. Check here for as many scores as I can gather, plus some updates from Stockdale High back in Bakersfield, where the No. 4 Mustangs are hosting No. 5 Clovis East.

For the playoffs, I've decided to combine Kern County scores with the rest of the Central Section, because everyone's game affects everyone else in that bracket. The games listed by division and each team's seed is in parentheses. All Central Section games start at 7 p.m.; the Southern Section games, listed below the Central scores, start at 7:30.

Kern County scoreboard
Division I
(1) Clovis-Buchanan 14, (8) Clovis 6
(2) Clovis West 14, (7) Liberty 6
(3) Fresno-Bullard 35, (6) Bakersfield 14
(5) Clovis East 52, (4) Stockdale 20
Division II
(5) Sanger 47, (12) Fresno-Sunnyside 19
(11) Fresno-SJ Memorial 6, (6) Visalia-Golden West 2
(7) West 35, (10) Garces 21
(9) Fresno-Hoover 27, (8) Lemoore 6
Division III
(6) Tehachapi 28, (11) Ridgeview 14
(10) Dinuba 34, (7) Porterville 27
(8) Delano 42, (9) South 0
Division IV
(7) Kerman 44, (10) Fresno-Roosevelt 28
(8) Arvin 31, (9) Selma 14
Division V
(7) Parlier 32, (10) Lindsay 14
(9) Madera Ranchos-Liberty 19, (8) Caruthers 0
Division VI
(3) Avenal 32, (6) Farmersville 21
(5) Strathmore 27, (4) Tranquility 20

Southern Section Eastern Division
(9) Palm Desert 41, (8) Burroughs 7
SS East Valley Division
(3) San Bernardino-Aquinas 49, (14) Kern Valley 7
(7) Fillmore 48, (10) Desert 37
SS Northeast Division
(16) Mojave 35, (1) San Juan Capistrano-Saddleback Valley Christian 14
(2) Boron 72, (15) Inglewood-Amino Leadership 7

Week 11 (playoffs) HS football podcast

We're about 26 hours away from playoff football, folks. Hope you're getting as excited as I am.

Week 11 (playoffs) HS football predictions, plus some news and notes

It's shaping up to be quite an end of the month. Four Kern County volleyball teams are in Central Section volleyball championships Thursday, the football playoffs start Friday and the state volleyball and cross country championships will be decided in the coming weeks as well.

Both McFarland and Foothill senior Chris Schwartz will be favored to win state titles in cross country Nov. 29 at Fresno's Woodward Park, and several Kern teams could be in the state volleyball playoffs as well, depending on what happens in the section finals.

Here's the Thursday slate, with all championship games at 7 p.m.:

Division I — No. 2 Liberty at No. 1 Clovis West
Division II — No. 2 Hanford at No. 1 Garces
Division III — No. 3 Tehachapi at No. 1 Exeter
Division IV — No. 2 Visalia-Central Valley Christian at No. 1 Bakersfield Christian

On another note, Wednesday was the last day of the early signing period. Biggest news that we didn't already know (we already knew Garces' Stephon Carter to CSUB basketball, Centennial's Ensley Gammel to Florida softball and a few others) was that Stockdale baseball player K.C. Hobson, the Californian's Player of the Year last season, inked with Texas A&M. Of course, Hobson is projected as a second-round MLB draft pick, and if that holds true, he'll probably go pro and leave college behind. But he's got the Aggies to fall back on, and that's a good place to be. Read a complete list of Division I signings within this story.

As for football, it's a new year. The one positive about the achingly dilluted Central Section playoffs is that everybody gets a new start. Ridgeview, at 2-8, could end up as a Division III section champion (in fact, the Wolf Pack probably has a better chance than you realize). So with that, let's take a deep breath and delve in.

First, for vanity's sake, a look back at last week's predictions, which went very well for me. (I don't think I'll be so successful at calling the D-I playoffs, though)

The Good: 16-1 baby! Calling Liberty over Garces, Stockdale over West with 33 points and Bakersfield High over Highland with 33 points. Also, BCHS over Taft.

The Bad: Having Desert beating Bishop to win the High Desert League title; the Scorpions lost 43-36 to ruin my chance a perfect weekend.

The Ugly: My chances of coming close to perfect this weekend with all of the toss-ups scheduled in the playoffs.

Friday, Nov. 21
DIVISION I
NO. 7 LIBERTY (7-3) NO. 2 CLOVIS WEST (7-3) — So this is the punishment the Patriots get for that 1-3 start that easily could have been 3-1 or even 4-0. A road game at what has been the section's best team from start to finish this year. Looks like the six-game winning streak to end the year really didn't do Liberty that much good, but all is not lost. Any time you can play defense like the Patriots can, you'll be in games against anyone. Problem is, Clovis West plays defense just about as well, and it'll have a fired-up home crowd. I'd have picked Liberty against almost any other team in the bracket, but I can't pull the trigger on this one.
Prediction: Clovis West 17, Liberty 13

NO. 6 BAKERSFIELD (7-3) AT NO. 3 FRESNO-BULLARD (8-2) — When the Division I bracket was re-done a few minutes after it initially was released, BHS moved out of that matchup with Clovis West and into one with Bullard. There are two extreme ways to look at the Knights, i think: One is that they've overachieved and will be in over their heads in the playoffs. Another is that they're legit and have been battle-toughened by a tough schedule that included wins against Clovis East, Sanger and Fresno-Edison and losses to Clovis West and Orange-Lutheran. The truth, I'm sure, is somewhere in between, but I maintain that if Bakersfield High plays its best ball, it could be favored against anyone. Here's guessing Paul Golla has his boys ready to play.
Prediction: Bakersfield 28, Bullard 21

NO. 5 CLOVIS EAST (7-3) AT NO. 4 STOCKDALE (8-2) — Stockdale's Wing T offense can be a great equalizer against bigger or faster teams, and it gave Bakersfield fits earlier this season. But the Mustangs will need to be at their best in this one. If Stockdale can get contributions from multiple backs — which it's done with Stephen Silva, Spencer Prince and Malik Henderson throughout the year — some semblance of a passing game, a solid night from its defense and a turnover-free game, it'll advance to the semifinals. Here's guessing the plan slips up somewhere, though.
Prediction: Clovis East 33, Stockdale 24

DIVISION II
NO. 10 GARCES (6-4) AT NO. 7 WEST (5-5) — I hate that there are so many rematches in the section playoff brackets this year, and I hate even more that these teams played just a few weeks ago. I mean, couldn't we have bumped Garces down to No. 11, considering the No. 11 team is Fresno-SJ Memorial, which beat the Rams? Or up to No. 9 past a 5-5 Fresno-Hoover team? Anyway, I don't think there's any reason to think the teams are so much different than three weeks ago when the Vikings beat Garces 31-14. Except that West is wildly inconsistent. That's a good reason. But I'll say they have a nice week, which would set up — drumroll — another rematch, with Visalia-El Diamante. Yippee.
Prediction: West 21, Garces 16

DIVISION III
NO. 11 RIDGEVIEW (2-8) AT NO. 6 TEHACHAPI (6-4) — Both teams have lost some close decisions this year, making this one a chance for one team to get on a sleeper playoff run. On that train of thought, I'm taking the team that's been down that road before — defending champion Tehachapi. That's a smart choice anyhow, because the Warriors have been playing very well since a 1-3 start, mashing Taft, nearly beating Bakersfield Christian and dismissing everyone else.
Prediction: Tehachapi 27, Ridgeview 12

NO. 9 SOUTH (5-5) AT NO. 8 DELANO (7-3) — Both of these teams have reason to complain about their seed, so it might come down to which team can regroup from that disappointment fast enough. Delano has a reason for a vengeance of sorts; a blown halftime lead in the playoffs last year kept the Tigers from the semifinals. But I think South will really be champing at the bit for its first playoff game in a few years. Dual-threat QB Jose Ramos and the Rebels would love a shot at No. 1 Hanford and I think they'll get it with an upset of inconsistent Delano.
Prediction: South 33, Delano 31

DIVISION IV
NO. 9 SELMA (6-4) AT NO. 8 ARVIN (4-6) — Another intriguing matchup between a couple of running teams. Selma features running back Adrian Pacheco, who's rushed for nearly 1,400 yards this year at 8.7 yards a carry. That's obviously a concern for Arvin, but it's played a much tougher schedule than Selma and should be able to move the ball, win the battle of the Bears and prevent yet another rematch (Selma vs. CVC) in the quarterfinals.
Prediction: Arvin 31, Selma 23

SOUTHERN SECTION
EASTERN DIVISION
NO. 9 PALM DESERT (8-2) AT NO. 8 BURROUGHS (6-4) — A couple of weeks ago, this would have looked like a tough matchup for QB Derrick Dison and the Burros. But then, Palm Desert was 8-0 and has since lost twice, including to a 4-6 team. In fact, the Aztecs have played only three teams with a winning record all year. I'm going to say that gives Burroughs a home victory and a date with No. 1 seed Citrus Hill.
Prediction: Burroughs 29, Palm Desert 24

EAST VALLEY DIVISION
NO. 14 KERN VALLEY (5-5) AT NO. 3 SAN BERNARDINO-AQUINAS (9-1) — The Broncs outlasted Frazier Mountain in a defensive struggle last Thursday, 10-7, to make the playoffs. That was the biggest high in an up-and-down season for Kern Valley, which will bow out of the postseason this week. Aquinas is loaded.
Prediction: Aquinas 44, Kern Valley 6

NO. 10 DESERT (7-3) AT NO. 7 FILLMORE (8-2) — I know the Scorpions have struggled a bit down the stretch, losing games to Frazier Mountain and to Bishop, but I find this seed a little low. Desert now faces a tough matchup with a team that went 3-1 and hails from a tough league. I'd like to pick DHS to last another round, but I think the tough draw will mean the end of the road.
Prediction: Fillmore 38, Desert 28

NORTHEAST DIVISION
NO. 16 MOJAVE (5-5) AT NO. 1 SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO-SADDLEBACK VALLEY CHRISTIAN (10-0) — This probably isn't as much of a mismatch as it would seem. Saddleback has played only two teams with winning records, and one was Burbank-Bellarmine Jefferson, which beat Frazier Mountain by just one point. So, I don't know that the Mustangs will run back to Mojave with their tails between their legs or anything. But I can't call the upset, either.
Prediction: Saddleback Valley Christian 30, Mojave 13

NO. 15 INGLEWOOD-AMINO LEADERSHIP (4-6) AT NO. 2 BORON (9-1) — Pretty sure there wouldn't be a dry eye in the locker room if the Bobcats could make a run to a Southern Section title after the season they've been through, with Vinnie Rodriguez's death and a bunch of close games. But let's talk about on the field. Boron's offense, led by Israel Lucas and Josh Glass, is explosive and they won't have trouble with Amino Leadership, only the fourth-best team in its league.
Prediction: Boron 46, Amino Leadership 8

Last week: 16-1 (.941) Season: 161-61 (.725)