Page 14 - Mid Valley Times 11-14-19 E-edition
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Thursday, November 14, 2019
IMMANUEL
Continued from B1
something defensively that we weren’t prepared for. A really well-played hard-fought game.”
Tiger wore down the Reedley defense with 229 yards on 28 carries, 177 yards coming in the sec- ond half when the Eagles broke open a 3-0 game. The senior scored on a 1-yard run and 59-yard run in the third quarter, while sophomore QB Da- vila added 111 yards on 22 rushes. Immanuel fin- ished with 349 rushing yards on 54 attempts and 394 total yards.
The near-capacity crowd was treated to a strong defensive effort by both teams, particu- larly in the first half. The Pirates turned away two Immanuel scor- ing threats, including a forced fumble by Ryan Warkentin at the goal line that Devin Decker recovered for a touch- back, while the Eagles’ defense turned away one RHS scoring threat.
Late in the half, the Eagles drove inside the Reedley 20 and freshman placekicker Matthew Azua drilled a 37-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining to break the scoreless tie.
Immanuel then took the second half kickoff at its own 35 and mount- ed an 11-play drive that consumed nearly 5 1/2 minutes off the clock. Tiger picked up 35 of the yards and Davila 30 yards, with Tiger scoring from a yard out to build the lead to 10-0.
Reedley converted on a fourth-and-short play to move near midfield, but a pair of incomplete passes forced a punt. On the second play from scrimmage, Tiger ripped through a hole up the middle and raced down
| B2 |
Mid Valley TiMes
CENTRAL SECTION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Game start 7 p.m. unless otherwise indicated
DIVISION 1
First Round — Friday, Nov. 8
Ridgeview 40, Tulare Union 27 Clovis 56, Arroyo Grande 7 Clovis West 34, Clovis North 14 Bakersfield 34, Clovis East 15
Quarterfinals — Friday, Nov. 15
Ridgeview (8) at Central (1), Clovis (5) at Bullard (4), Clovis West (11) at Liberty (3), Bakersfield (7) at Buchanan (2).
DIVISION 2
Garces 37, Frontier 7
Tulare Western 42, Nipomo 7 Dinuba 28, Sanger 14 Redwood 49, Atascadero 6 St. Joseph 27, Sunnyside 6 Stockdale 34, Righetti 24
First Round — Friday, Nov. 8
Quarterfinals — Friday, Nov. 15
Garces (9) at Hanford (1), Dinuba (13) at Tulare Western (5), St. Joseph (6) at Redwood (3), Stockdale (10) at San Joaquin Memorial (2)
DIVISION 3
First Round — Friday, Nov. 8
CV Christian 43, South 20 Lemoore 28, West 20
Quarterfinals — Friday, Nov. 15
Central Valley Christian (8) at Kingsburg (1), Golden West (5) at Highland (4), Madera (6) at San Luis Obispo (3), Lemoore (7) at Bakersfield Christian (2).
DIVISION 4
North 28, Kerman 21
Cesar Chavez 28, Morro Bay 7 Porterville 65, Hoover 0
Templeton 55, Roosevelt 21
Robert F. Kennedy 40, Santa Maria 29 Wasco 14, East Bakersfield 13
First Round — Friday, Nov. 8
Quarterfinals — Friday, Nov. 15
North (8) at Washington Union (1), Cesar Chavez (5) at Porterville (4), Robert F. Kennedy (6) at Templeton (3), Wasco (10) at Selma (2), game at Reedley HS
DIVISION 5
First Round — Thursday, Nov. 7
Madera South 35, Mission Oak (7) 34, OT
First Round — Friday, Nov. 8
Caruthers 27, Coalinga 7 Immanuel 16, Reedley 0 Arvin 41, Shafter 30 Strathmore 28, Taft 20 Dos Palos 34, Liberty 27 Exeter 17, Woodlake 12 Yosemite 54, Firebaugh 14
Quarterfinals — Friday, Nov. 15
Immanuel (8) at Caruthers (1), Arvin (12) at Strathmore (5), Exeter (11) at Dos Palos (3), Madera South (10) at Yosemite (2)
DIVISION 6
Bishop Union 16, Boron 0 Foothill 37, Minarets 20
Lindsay 42, Parlier 15
Riverdale 15, Corcoran 6
Orosi 56, Granite Hills 24 Mission Prep 49, Mira Monte 21 Sierra Pacific 40, Kern Valley 27 California City 20, McFarland 7
First Round — Friday, Nov. 8
Quarterfinals — Friday, Nov. 15
Foothill (8) at Bishop Union (1) Lindsay (5) at Riverdale (4)
Mission Prep (6) at Orosi (3)
Sierra Pacific (7) at California City (2)
Reedley High’s Kyle Doi (25) chased down Immanuel quarterback Hector Davila during the second quarter on Nov. 8 while the Pirates’ Antawn Cervantes (54) also pursued on the play.
the right sidelines for a back-breaking 59-yard TD with 2:56 left in the third. A two-point try failed, but the Eagles held a 16-0 lead.
Reedley’s comeback chances were hindered by the lingering shoul- der injury to quarterback Gannon Gabaldon, who returned to action after being injured against Fresno High on Oct. 18. The senior did complete 7 of 13 passes for more than 60 yards, including one long completion to Michael Rios in the first half, but his throwing abil- ity was hindered.
The Pirates did have one chance to get back in it, Davila was stripped of the ball and Warken- tin caught it and raced 70 yards to the end zone for an apparent Reedley touchdown. But the long return was nullified by an illegal block call dur- ing the return that instead gave the Pirates posses- sion at midfield. A replay showed very little contact, and Gates was visibly up- set about the call.
On fourth-and-1 from the Immanuel 41 Rios was stopped for no gain. Immanuel then chewed off more than six minutes of clock time on a 14-play drive that ended with a missed field goal.
Reedley’s final pos- session ended on the first play when Rios passed to Danny Cortez, who was stripped of the ball by Holden Thomas and the Eagles recovered at the RHS 32. Immanuel then burned off the final three minutes of game time.
Rios led Reedley rush- ers with 27 yards on five carries while Max Alva- rez added 19 yards on three attempts. Leading rusher Cortez was lim- ited to five yards on six attempts.
“The postseason comes down a lot of times to being healthy, and the reality was that Gan- non was banged up and Danny Cortez was pretty banged up,” Gates said. “I was really happy with our seniors and the way they laid the foundation here. We came up short for our
school, but in a couple of days when the hurt goes away I think we’ll look back and say we really set a tone that we want to continue to have.”
Winston Williams had 26 yards receiving yards for Immanuel and made five tackles on defense.
Halstead praised the grittiness of his team and how they controlled the line of scrimmage.
“That’s what’s amaz- ing about our team. We’ve got six seniors. We’ve got four sophomores and ju- niors in the starting line,” he said. “We’re going to come out with our 30 guys and they’re going to come out with whoever they have on their sidelines. But only 11 can play at a time.”
Halstead said the Ea- gles won’t be intimidated by a 10-1 Caruthers team that rolled to the West Se- quoia League champion- ship.
“I feel like with our athletes, we match up well with anybody we play in the playoffs,” he said.
Pirates' boys water polo move on, girls out after first round heartbreaker
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The Reedley High girls’ season ended in heartbreaking fashion last week while the RHS boys team post- ed two lopsided victories to advance to this week’s Central Section semi- final round.
The Pirates girls and Exeter battled through regulation and two overtime sessions before the Mon- archs rallied to pull out a 7-6 victory in the first round of the Division 2 playoffs on Nov. 6 at Exeter High pool. That ended the girls’ 21-7 sea- son that included a perfect sweep of North Yosemite League play but only a number nine playoff seeding.
The third-seeded boys, mean- while, registered easy home victo- ries over Bakersfield Christian (15-5 on Nov. 6) and Sierra Pacific (13-3 on Nov. 9) to advance to Division 3 semifinal matchup at No. 2 seed Tu- lare Western on Nov. 13. If the Pi- rates prevailed in the semifinal, they would likely meet top-seeded Mt. Whitney High on Saturday, Nov. 16, at a site to be determined in Visalia.
Reedley’s girls never trailed and led throughout most of regulation against Exeter, including a two-goal cushion in the third quarter. But the Monarchs tied the game at 5-5 on a 5-meter penalty shot with a little more than a minute in regulation. Morgan Gates seemed to have given the Pirates the lead in the final sec- onds of regulation with a goal, but the score was waved off because of a 5-meter violation on the shot. The Monarchs’ Megan Nickell then sandwiched two of her game-high
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Aidan Rodriguez
OROSI HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Orosi High football player Aidan Rodriguez is named the Athlete of the Week
as the Cardinals defeated Granite Hills, 55-24, in
the opening round of the Section Division VI playoffs. Rodriguez ended the game with 265 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.
Reedley High goalie Sadie Decker lunged to make a save against Exeter High dur- ing the Pirates’ 7-6 girls water polo playoff loss on Nov. 6. Decker collected eight blocks and four steals in the game.
four goals around an Abby Delport score; the game-winner coming with just 25 seconds remaining. A save by Morgan Weldon on a desperate shot preserved the victory.
The comeback spoiled a solid effort by RHS goalie Sadie Decker, who collected eight blocks and four steals including a pair of spectacular saves. But Nickell scored on two up- per corner shots in the second over- time. Alina Hodges led Reedley with three goals, Delport scored twice while Gates added the other goal.
“I am very proud at what the girls accomplished this season,” coach Kara Pavlovic said. “We set a few goals for ourselves, one being that if a team was going to beat us they would have to be better water polo players than us. We didn’t want to lose a game just because we weren’t in shape and a team outswam us.
“These girls worked extremely hard this season and this is the most fit team I have coached in Reedley so far. It’s tough to lose in the first round of playoff, but [this is] just more mo- tivation for next year.”
•••
It was an explosive offensive week for Reedley High boys senior Jamian Villarreal, who scored 10 goals in the win over Bakersfield Christian and nine more in the rout of Sierra Pacific. Miles Yada and Jacob Laine added three and two goals, respectively, in the first win. In the win over Sierra Pacific, Villar- real was supported by Yada, Adrian Figueroa, Tyler Collin and Laine with a goal each.
Pirates goalie had a relatively qui- et two games with six and nine saves, respectively. The defense helped lim- it scoring opportunities.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
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