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UPDATED, 9:28 p.m.: Clovis East gets out to its 42 but faces a fourth-and-7. QB rolls out, nowhere to go with it. Incomplete. Ball fluttered out of bounds, and Centennial is going to take over and hang on to win this one, 16-14. Clovis East had spiked the ball on second-and-11, which seems...
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See, I went and tried to make fun of coaches everywhere with a bunch of cliches about our podcast without checking to make sure the thing was actually going to play. It's like talking about your playoff chances without realizing two of your best linemen have swine flu. Epic fail on my part....
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UPDATED: Use this one instead. Trying to make up for my ineptitude.
Todd Camps was under the weather for this week's podcast and powered through anyway. That's what you do when you're in playoff podcasting. If we win this week, we'll be lucky enough to go to the podcasting quarterfinals...
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It's a great time of year because the postseason for most fall sports is winding down (a couple of exceptions to that which I'll note below) and football playoffs are just gearing up, so I'm able to turn focus almost completely to them.
The two exceptions are tomorrow, when volleyball has its...
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Yes, the playoffs have started, so my opinion (or anyone else's) doesn't really matter on who the best team is anymore. Well, OK, it never really did. But that's not going to stop me from pressing on with Central Section rankings, and it probably won't stop all of us from dissecting them every...
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Sorry this is so late on a Sunday, but I got a bit carried away with the playoff brackets yesterday and forgot to recap Week 10's games, which were quite thrilling in some cases and very important in almost all cases.
— Liberty stumbled a bit on offense in the first half, turning the...
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Week 10 will showcase a battle of quarterbacks when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots travel to Indianapolis to take on Peyton Manning and the Colts. Can the Pats end the Colts unbeaten streak? It will definitely be the game of the week. Lot’s of football this week with only two teams...
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UPDATED, 5:36 p.m.:
Division VI — Quarterfinals: (5) Orange Cove at (4) Farmersville
(6) McFarland at (3) Mendota
BYES: (1) Tranquillity, (2) Strathmore
Off-the-cuff predictions: Semifinals, Tranquillity d. Orange Cove, Strathmore d. Mendota. Final, Tranquillity d....
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UPDATED, 12:40 a.m.: One more important score to report, and that's Burroughs 49, Victor Valley 20. The Burros get into the playoffs in emphatic fashion.
OK, as for the Central Section, here are my best guesses as to playoff seedings that will be unveiled tomorrow (probably late morning, maybe...
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This is late, I know, but I was in Fresno all day for cross country and it fell to the backburner. Lots of good stuff on here, though.
As for the XC, McFarland's boys and girls both won section titles, as did three individuals. Centennial reached the Division I volleyball semifinals by...
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Down to the final eight in volleyball playoffs. Here are the Division I quarterfinal matchups for Thursday:
(8) Stockdale at (1) Clovis-Buchanan
(5) Fresno-Bullard at (4) Bakersfield
(6) Liberty at (3) Centennial
(10) Clovis East at (2) Clovis West
Other Kern teams still alive: In Division...
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I really thought I had this ranking thing figured out, especially at the top, and then Week 9 happened. Tulare Union, the team I was thinking about dropping despite its season-long dominance against a weak schedule, went out and rolled another overmatched foe. The other three top teams...
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Before we get to football, I wanted to mention a couple of other sports that are getting down to the postseason. In girls tennis, after Garces and Bakersfield Christian won team section titles earlier in the week, the season ended with a showdown between sisters Lyndsay and Chelby Cooke of BCHS...
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West High graduate Ryan Mathews currently leads NCAA Division 1 football in rushing, and at least one member of the media thinks the Fresno State junior deserves serious respect for college sport's top award: The Heisman Trophy, which is awarded to the so-called best player in college football....
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Week 9 is always an exciting week as teams gear up for the second half of the season and the fight for the playoffs become even more intense. My choice for game of the week is the Dallas Cowboys at the Philadlphi Eagles. These two exciting teams should put on a great show in Philly. Teams with...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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We are halfway through the 2009 season and Week 8 hosts three of the best NFC match ups all year. The Philadelphia Eagles play host to rival New York Giants, the Arizona Cardinals get a home game against the Carolina Panthers and, the New Orleans Saints will square off against the Atlanta Falcons...
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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...
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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)...
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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...
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Week 7 is here and we are one third of the way through the season. Three of the remaining four unbeaten teams – Indianapolis (5-0), Minnesota (6-0) and New Orleans (5-0) – will be in action this week. Denver (6-0) has a bye in Week 7 after a 34-23 win at San Diego on Monday night. The...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Week 6 is here and there a couple of great games on the schedule. Looking back to 2008 Week 6, the Dallas Cowboys lost starting quarterback Tony Romo to a fractured left pinkie, forcing Romo to miss the next four games and quite possibly ruining the Cowboys playoff hopes, as they dropped 3 of 4...
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UPDATED, 12:12 a.m.: Scores are piling up all over the section, so check the list below for updates. One note I want to make is that the Delano final was Porterville 23, Delano 14, not 33-14 as I said originally.
Let's take a look at the big results:
Stockdale 17, Liberty 3: This...
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Here is your Week 6 podcast, and with it I offer this bit of news: The Central Section has rescinded its decision on Wasco's forfeit to Fresno-McLane.
Wasco athletic director Raul Rangel told me that section commissioner Jim Crichlow told him earlier today that the Tigers' scheduled Week 5 game...
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Bulldogs' Mathews is a national treasure
Catch the Fresno State running back while you still can.
Published online on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009
By Bryant-Jon Anteola / The Fresno Bee
E-Mail Print
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I have been remiss in my keeping anyone interested up on Ryan's, and by extension, the Fresno State Bulldogs, this year..Well, on here anyway! My facebook friends are getting it shoved down their throats!
I don't know what happened to my week one post, but Fresno trounced UC Davis...
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Lots of little news items this week, for those interested: Centennial's Cody Kessler is hurt, but not too badly, and Frontier's Matt Darr will be punting in the Alamodome in January, to an All-American punt returner and behind an All-American offensive line. That is, if his team's All-American...
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Went out to Frontier at noon today for an announcement that Matt Darr has been named to the West roster for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a punter. Darr is a USC commit who punts, kicks and plays linebacker for 5-0 Frontier.
This is a pretty big deal for Darr — it's most of the...
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It's a good-news, bad-news situation for Cody Kessler and Centennial: Kessler, one of the section's best quarterbacks (and basketball players, for that matter), has a high ankle sprain and possibly a partially torn ligament in his ankle. But x-rays were negative, and Kessler most likely will be...
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Everytime I talk about my grandson, Ryan, everytime I am watching a game in a public place and say "That's my grandson", people look at me like I have two heads, and I find myself explaining the technical aspect of our kinship.
Ryan is my ex-wife's grandson. She is a little older...
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Before I get started wrapping up Week 5, I want to point out that this weekend's running thread was a great one for several reasons, all courtesy of you guys, the readers. First off, any time we can get 10 people to comment on a football blog and join in an intelligent discussion about...
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Week five is here and we are already one quarter of the way through the 2009 NFL season. This week teams will begin to spread out and separate themselves in the standings. The Titans are still looking for a win at 0-4, a long way from the 13-3 they were in 2008. After losing two straight, last...
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UPDATED, 12:12 a.m.: it was another night of the blowout in Kern County — and I think that might remain the case throughout a lot of the league season, with maybe a close game or two in town and the rest convincing victories. We've got a serious case of the haves and the have-nots....
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Here's your Week 5 podcast, though there are again changes to what Todd and I are talking about (we often record these on Mondays). Wasco will not be playing Fresno-McLane this weekend, and I just spent a couple of hours on the phone trying to figure out exactly why. I'm still not sure, actually....
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I know it's football season now, but I have to say, there's something about playoff baseball that absolutely captures my attention. These guys play 162 games in a game that's all about repitition and longevitiy and then have their entire seasons come down to one game. That said, the...
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I usually close one week of high school football with some idea of how I'm going to start the next — what game I'll cover, who I'll assign to cover other games, who I like to win some of the big games and how I might arrange the teams in Tuesday's set of Central Section rankings. Things...
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