Page 13 - Mid Valley Times 3-5-20 E-edition

Rick Curiel / Mid Valley Times
Sanger High's Ezequiel Chavez celebrates after making the game-winning penalty kick in the Apache's first round game of the CIF Division 2 State playoffs. Chavez was the ninth Apache to attempt a penalty kick after their game against Central Valley High was locked up, 1-1, after sudden death overtime.
Sanger advances to State semi nals
Apaches win opening round of Division 2 state playoffs in thrilling fashion
er lost to the wrestlers who placed 4th and 6th, so he was right there with the wrestlers who placed. Martinez is only a sophomore, so we are really looking forward to next season.”
Wright said Cortez is one of the most talented wrestlers the program has had and it showed this past weekend.
“We were hoping for a little better placing but it just didn’t work out. He fought and did everything he had in order to get on the podi- um. He is leaving us as a two-time state placer, a Division 1 champion (second in school his- tory) and holds several statistical records.”
Martinez’s tourna- ment consisted of de- feating Eduardo Fuen- tes, Jr., of Alemany 4-3 and captured a close 2-1 decision against Andreas Argumedo of Monterey Trail. Marti- nez was pinned by No. 10 Jonah Scmidtke of Clovis East, dropping him to the consolations. He then followed with a 3-2 win over Jake An- drews of Frontier-Ba- kersfield and recorded a pin against Davis Salmon of Mitty. Mar- tinez’s tournament run closed when he was pinned by Lucas Cook of Lincoln High.
By Rick Curiel
Mid Valley Times
The Sanger Apaches varsity soccer team is heading to the semi- finals of the CIF Division 2 state playoffs after a thrilling victory on Tuesday night at Tom Flores Sta- dium.
After defeating Dinuba on Feb. 21 to earn their first every Valley title in soccer, Sanger entered the Division 2 state playoffs as the No. 3 seed and received a home match against No. 6 Central Valley High (20-5-3) of Ceres.
Sanger controlled most of the game on offense, pressing for most of the first period and was able to
have to win this game!”
It would nearly take all 28 as the
game remained tied after the sud- den death period, forcing the game to be decided by penalty kicks.
Nine penalty kicks later, Chavez would be the hero again. After a Hawks attempt sailed high, the door was left wide open for the Apaches, who rallied after missing their first penalty try. Chavez went right as the Hawks goalie went left to capture the first round victory.
As their reward, Sanger will travel to No. 2 Los Lomas High in Walnut Creek today. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. The winner will play for the Division 2 state title on March 7.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Reedley High’s Will Gagnon (15) and Gannon Gabaldon celebrated after Gabaldon scored in the sixth inning of the Pirates’ 14-5 victory over Selma High on Feb. 26. Gagnon picked up the pitching win while Gabaldon col- lected two hits.
get three shots on goal while pre- venting any by the Hawks. But it wasn’t until the 59th minute of the game that the Apaches were able to break the seal on the goal when sophomore midfielder Ezequiel Chavez struck from about 15 yards out to give Sanger a 1-0 lead.
But the Hawks would strike back with just 11 minutes left in regulation off a kick by Central Val- ley’s LeoGiovanni Ayala, tying the game at 1-1.
Ayala’s goal subsequently pushed the game into a 15-minute sudden death overtime period.
As the Apaches huddled near midfield, a Sanger coach could be heard telling the team, “All 28 of us
Wright added both Cortez and sophomore heavyweight Javier Martinez went into the tournament seeded.
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Dinuba's Cortez
places sixth
at CIF State
Championships
By George M. Villagrana
Mid Valley Times
Dinuba High senior Noah Cortez closed out his prep career as a two- time CIF State placer after finishing sixth in the 152-pound division at the state champion- ships held in Bakers- field this past weekend.
Cortez, a Cal Poly signee, was seeded sixth and opened the finals with a pin against An- drew Forman of Arch- bishop Mitty (San Jose). In his next match, Cor- tez was pinned by No. 3 Tyler Badgett of San Diego. Cortez bounced back with a 9-2 decision against Cole Sanchez of Northgate and another 9-2 win against Ty Mon- teiro of Garces. Cortez dropped a pair of hard fought 3-2 matches to Buchanan’s Reymundo Ruiz and Del Campos' Jed Campos.
“We were looking forward to the State tournament,” said coach Michael Wright.
Orange Cove's Alvarez places sixth in girls state wrestling
“Noah was 6th and Javier 7th, so we had some expectations go- ing in,” Wright said. “Noah ended up 6th and Javier was top 12. Javi-
Pirates' baseball
on five-game
win streak
MVT Staff Report
Orange Cove High’s Clarissa Alvarez capped off her stellar high school career with a sixth place finish in the girls 160 pound class at the CIF State Championships on Feb. 29 in Bakersfield.
Alvarez collected a pin and three decision wins, going 4-3 to medal at the state meet and cap off a 41-6 season. Of her 47 wins, 27 came by pin, and she was the Central Section Grand Masters champion in her weight class.
“Clarissa had a great run and wrestled like a champion,” said OCHS head coach Pablo Saenz. “She is the first state medalist for Orange Cove high School and becomes the winningest wrestler in school his- tory.”
Alvarez advanced to the state quarterfinals with decision victories over Montclair’s Jaeleen Robledo (7-2) and Live Oak’s Brooke Logan (8- 1). She then was pinned in the third period by San Fernando’s Alyssa Arana
to fall into the consola- tion round, but bounced back with a third pe- riod pin of West’s Kalila Shrive to reach the con- solation semifinals.
Alvarez was pinned in the second period by Val- ley Center’s Sierra Mef- ford, and then dropped a 5-0 decision to Corona’s Miranda Koppi in the fifth place match. She accounted for 11 team points.
Saenz said Alvarez has drawn interest from college programs in Iowa, Arkansas and Or- egon and will decide on her best opportunity.
Photo contributed
Orange Cove High's Clarissa Alvarez went 4-3 at the CIF State Championships on Feb. 29 to take 6th place.
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Reedley High’s base- ball team continued its early season hot streak last week, collecting two more victories to run its win streak to five games entering a March 4 game at Sanger High.
The Pirates (6-1) have one more game in the Central Valley Diamond Classic on Saturday, March 7. The opponent and game site will be de- termined by the results of the Sanger game.
Reedley’s two latest wins came in CVDC ac- tion — a 14-5 drubbing at Selma High on Feb. 26 followed by a 3-1 decision over Madera South on Feb. 29 in Dinuba. Those wins followed a 5-4 home comeback decision over Lemoore on Feb. 21, mak- ing Reedley a perfect 3-0
in one-run decisions.
The Pirates lit up Sel- ma's pitching for 15 hits, breaking open a tight con- test with seven runs in the seventh inning. Senior Aaron Larm had the big blow in the seventh with a bases-loaded double, fin- ishing the day 3-for-4 with five runs batted in. Felipe Renallo and Jacob Fran- co added three hits each while Gannon Gabaldon
collected two hits.
Larm was the winning
pitcher against Madera South, limiting the Stal- lions to three hits. Will Gagnon, who picked up the mound win at Selma, went 2-for-3 against the Stallions while Jacob Ga- gnon, Jacob Franco and Matt Vargas all collected doubles.
Vargas delivered the first big hit in the come- back against Lemoore, tying the game with two
After
Classic, the Pirates will host Orange Cove High in a 6:30 p.m. start on Friday, March 13.
outs on a single. Gabaldon later followed with a walk- off hit. Franco doubled and drove in two runs, while Matt Diaz picked up the pitching win.
the Diamond