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UPDATED, 11:41 p.m.: Offense carries the night in Kern County. With Bakersfield Christian, of course, that's the routine. Derek Carr threw for 417 yards and six more touchdowns tonight. I wrote that so non-chalantly that it makes me feel dirty. Let me try again: FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTEEN...
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After some more technological hand-wringing on my part and a very big assist from The Californian's photo/video department, we have a workable podcast once again. It's semifinals time, ladies and gentlemen.
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Fourteen weeks into the 2008-09 season and the Raiders continue their downward spiral. At 3-9, one can only be thankful that you are not a Detroit Lions fan.
Who said Christmas doesn’t come early? According to the latest CBS Sports line Playoff tracker. The...
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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...
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What a Beaver bummer. Things have been pretty solemn around our house the last three days as my wife is an alumnus of OSU, and now one of the “Griever Nation”. I should be a good husband and console her, but there isn’t much to say after Oregon crushed Oregon State posting up...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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....
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We're about 26 hours away from playoff football, folks. Hope you're getting as excited as I am.
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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...
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Ladies and gentlemen, you have entered The Twilight Zone.
Courtesy of The Fresno Bee, the Fresno Unified School District finished up its investigation into Edison High School and found ... that the accuser is the guilty party. What?? Yep, that's right. Jeff Powell, the math teacher who said an F...
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Sorry this post is a bit late, but I we have such a good discussion going on playoff seedings that I wanted to hold off a bit. But let's not let go of the regular season just yet, not before a quick Week 10 recap. And click the above link to join the playoff seedings talk. I'll try to limit any...
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UPDATED, 8:42 p.m.: There's more to this seeding story than I initially thought. Turns out there was a Division I bracket released before the one that I've posted (and before I checked the site this morning) that had Liberty as the No. 4 seed hosting Clovis East. Stockdale as the No. 6...
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UPDATED, 12:42 a.m.: The regular season is in the books, folks, and we'll know playoff seedings tomorrow. I'm headed to Clovis for the individual section tennis championships, but when I get back, I'll put up a post on seedings. In the mean time, here are some scores pulled out from the list...
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Live to you from Fresno, where some congratulations are in order to the Stockdale girls tennis team for its sixth straight Division I Central Section championship. The Mustangs won it today with a 6-3 victory at top seed Fresno-Bullard.
Can you imagine a football team winning six straight D-I...
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We're going to shake things up just a little bit here in Week 10 because I'm on the road up to Fresno for Stockdale's Division I girls tennis championship with Bullard this afternoon and then for cross country divisional championships tomorrow morning.
So, I'll give you time to digest this...
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Before we get to the final rankings of football's regular season, it's time to offer a couple of shout-outs from other sports:
— To Deidre Crabtree, a Liberty senior who took home the Central Section's individual golf title Monday by shooting a 1-over-par 73 at The Links at RiverLakes...
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The entire Raiders franchise as well as Al “Da Rat” Davis is in the beginning stages of rigormortis. The last 5½ seasons Oakland has won 21 games. Oakland last won a Super Bowl in 1984 and last made the playoffs in 2003.
The Oakland Raiders currently sit atop the NFL with a...
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You know when a cartoon character gets his bell rung? He comes to, and for a few seconds we get to see the world from his point of view. At first, it's always blurry and wobbly, and then, suddenly, everything clears up.
Welcome to Kern County football, ladies and gentlemen. Week 9 helped...
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After three weeks of speculation, the highly controversial A-11 offense made its debut Friday night in Kern County by not one, but two teams.
What was thought to be a chance to see offensive fireworks, turned out to be a complete dud for both East High and Bakersfield High. In the four...
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UPDATED, 12:24 a.m.: Sorry for the lack of updates, but things get crazy when games drag on Friday night. I told you this was stressful for us scribes. But a fun game to watch at Centennial nonetheless, with North hanging on for a 49-42 victory — its first win against CHS in school history....
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Check out tomorrow's print edition of The Californian for a short piece on changing — or not-so-changing — offenses in Kern County. For now, enjoy the podcast.
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I think I might need to see a psychologist or something: I can't even make up my own mind. This prediction blog becomes the highlight and lowlight of my week every Wednesday.
On one level, I love doing it and love going out on a limb and taking a shot at what's going on. But at the same...
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When one thinks of football, there are a few things that come to mind. Ass slapping, inside penetration, and a hot receiver. The new Lingerie Football League (LFL) should bring a new perspective to those common football terms.
Looking like a game that might be played out on Hugh Hefner's...
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It's Election Day, and if you haven't voted, go out and do so before you read this. I don't care if you write in your own name, but you owe it to the country and to its people to make your voice heard.
OK, now that that spiel is out of the way, let's get to something decidedly undemocratic...
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Now that we're all completely confused — and yet somehow even more mesmerized — by the high school football season, it's time to gauge where we are with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
A full Central Section and Kern County score list from Friday night can be found here....
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UPDATE, 12:13 a.m.: And I thought the football season was crazy before tonight. We had a fitting Halloween for Week 8, with the biggest upset this year to date — Golden Valley over Bakersfield — and a couple of other interesting results. All the available scores are below, and I'll...
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For once in my life, I don't have much to say. So re-read my rant from Monday or check out Week 8 rankings and predictions if this podcast isn't enough football for you.
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Things are getting serious in the Fresno-Edison grade-changing case. The school district has asked Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow to re-investigate the matter, which concerns a teacher's allegation that a player's grade in a math class was changed from an F to an A. Crichlow's first...
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For anybody looking for an exciting place to watch Monday Night Football we have found a great spot for you! RJ's has gone a step further than just having the game on the big screen. When you come in you get a raffle ticket for a drawing they do at the end of each quarter. Prizes range from...
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If you missed it, we've got a lively discussion going on the previous post about what is (in my opinion) a watered-down playoff system we've got going in the Central Section.
On to Central Section rankings, something that actually rewards teams for doing well instead of lumping them with...
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My wife and I decided to absentee vote this year to avoid the long lines. Probably the best decision, besides voting for (insert name here), we’ll make these next few days.
She filled out her ballot during the Colts-Titans game, while I was busy trying not to toss the remote control as I...
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Before I get to the topic at hand (and I have a heck of a rant ready, so be forewarned), I wanted to atone for a mistake.
I realized today that I gypped my loyal blog readers of a look-ahead to next week (this week's) big high school football games in my Week 7 edition of "most...
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What a year it's turned out to be in Kern County high school football, with upsets galore, many teams still in contention and an intriguing playoffs coming in just about every division. Let's recap the week that was.
— Bakersfield Christian and Tehachapi provided everything you could want...
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UPDATED, 12:08 a.m.: Here's a quick-reflex reaction of some of tonight's key results:
Bakersfield Christian 40, Tehachapi 35: BCHS coach Doug Barnett said after the game that Derek Carr doesn't yet have a full grasp of the spread offense. That's a scary, scary thought, considering Carr was...
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Here's the Week 7 edition of the football podcast. Check back later today for a quick note on Stephon Carter's announcement today that he'll play basketball for Cal State Bakersfield. Pretty impressive for the Roadrunners, considering Carter had offers from Arizona State and Colorado also on the...
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There comes a time in every season, I like to think, when the best teams start playing like the best teams and the pretenders start to fade and/or expose themselves. I don't think there's a set point in every season where it happens — in the baseball season, for instance, is it after the...
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To make up for my lackadaisical weekend, I'm giving you a double post Tuesday! The rankings haven't been shaken up too much this week, but there are some juicy matchups ahead in Week 7. Let's set things up:
1. Clovis West (4-2, Div. I, last week: 1) — No problem for Golden Eagles in their...
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Sorry this is a couple of days late. I've been out of town and haven't had a chance to group my thoughts. With four weeks left in the regular season, the high school season is starting to take shape.
UDPATED, 2:45 p.m.: Before we get to this week's Most Important Things, a quick...
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UPDATED, 12:24 a.m.: A full score list (of what we have) is below, but here are some that caught my eye:
Liberty 17, Stockdale 10 — Turns out I do know jack. Or maybe I'm just lucky. But whatever the case might be, Liberty found a way to win a close game and Stockdale finally...
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Here is the belated edition of the Week 6 podcast. Also be sure to check out Week 6 predictions that just went up.
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First off, sorry for the late post; we had technical issues all last night at The Californian and I was helping out with some other things — and coaches, if you tried to call in your score from a Wednesday event, you might try back tonight, as the phone lines were affected too....
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It's hard to believe it's Week 6 already. By the time the games are over with Friday night, we'll be four short weeks away from knowing all of our league champions and begin a weekend of waiting on playoff seeding.
Until then, here are some shaken-up Central Section football rankings. Losers...
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For those who were out and about this weekend (and first, a word of silence for my Missouri Tigers, who lost their perfect season in a Saturday night heartbreaker to Oklahoma State), there were a couple of notable games played a day later than usual.
First, Garces spoiled Highland's unbeaten...
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UPDATE, 3:30 p.m. Saturday: A quick halftime update from Highland, where Garces has more or less controlled action and leads 20-7 in its makeup game with unbeaten Highland. The Rams' Jalen Sykes, just a sophomore, has been the star, rushing nine times for 101 yards and a TD, plus opening the...
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Forgive me for the bad analogy at the beginning of this podcast. I wonder aloud whether it's the greatest or worst metaphor of all time, and I think I've settled on the worst. Luckily, fellow reporter Simon Samano and copy editor/Kern County football guru Todd Camps pick up my slack. Enjoy...
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