Page 9 - Mid Valley Times 2-24-22 E-Edition

Thursday, February 24, 2022
Sanger trounces Dinuba, but falls in semis
Immanuel girls notch 2 road upsets to reach D-V semifinals
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The Sanger High Apache boys made a powerful statement last week in their bid for a Central Section Divi- sion II championship.
The seventh-seed- ed Apaches (17-13) jumped to a 10-point halftime lead on No. 2 Dinuba High, then put the game away with a dominating 22-3 third quarter to trounce the Central Sequoia League champion Emperors by a 75-45 score at Wash- ington Intermediate school on Feb. 17. That gave Sanger a home semifinal game, but the Apaches' playoff run ended with a 49-46 loss against No. 14 Frontier on Feb. 22.
The cinderella Ti- tans from Bakersfield now advance to a finals matchup against top- seeded Mt. Whitney (29-2), which downed
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
ABOVE: Immanuel High's Liz Davila emerged in the scramble for a loose ball against Reedley High's sprawling Miah Paz on Feb. 16. The No. 14 seed Eagles knocked off the No. 3 Pirates and No. 6 Rosamond High to reach the Division V semifinal round,
LEFT: Sanger High's Luke Karle went up over Dinuba's Isaiah Mar- tinez for two of his 21 points in the Apaches' 75-45 Division II quarterfinal winovertheEmperorsonFeb.17.
CENTRAL SECTION HOOP PLAYOFFS BOYS
DIVISION II
Quarterfinals — Feb. 17
Sanger 75, No. 2 Dinuba 45
Semifinals — Feb. 22
Frontier 49, Sanger 46
Championship — Thursday, Feb. 24
No. 14 Frontier at
No. 1 Mt. Whitney, 6 p.m. Mt. Whitney HS, Visalia GIRLS
DIVISION II
First round — Feb. 16 Roosevelt 51, Sanger 35 (Apaches finish at 16-10) DIVISION III
First round — Feb. 16 Dinuba 47, Kerman 37 Quarterfinals —Feb. 18 Orcutt Academy 59, Dinuba 32 (Emperors finish at 19-9) DIVISION IV
First round — Feb. 16 Kingsburg 66, Orange Cove 54 (Titans finish at 12-8) DIVISION V
First round — Feb. 16 Immanuel 52, Reedley 49 (Pirates finish at 10-16) Highland 42, Orosi 32 (Cardinals finish at 10-18) Quarterfinals — Feb. 18 Immanuel 40, Rosamond 38 Semifinals — Feb. 23 No. 14 Immanuel at No. 7 South Bakersfield Championship — Feb. 25 Immanuel (if wins) at either No. 1 Highland or No. 12 Washington Union
Mission Prep 55-47 in the semifinals. The championship game takes place Thursday, Feb. 24 in Visalia.
"We just told the kids to come out with a lot of energy and get up early," SHS coach Al Al- varado said of the rout at Dinuba. "We knew it was going to be a tough one here. We got up by 10 and told the guys hold on to that lead. We
don't want anything close."
The Apaches three- quarters and full-court trapping pressure took care of the close part, forcing numerous turn- overs and an ice-cold shooting night from the Emperors, whose record-setting season
ended at 26-4.
"We hadn't seen that
level of pressure from any team," said DHS coach Jeff Schofield. "We've played some really good teams this year, but Sanger's at an- other level. They were a different animal to- night."
Sanger controlled the inside with the 1-2 punch of Jon Dil- lon (18 points, four
rebounds) and Kaleb Cole (16 pointsm five boards), and that forced the Emps to collapse into a zone scheme. That opened things up for Luke Karle, who drained four of the team's eight 3-pointers to post a game-high 21 points.
"We were hyped up coming in, we knew we
See ROUNDUP on page A16
George Armenta / Photo Contributed
PREPS ROUNDUP
Reedley, Sanger boys soccer teams advance to finals
MVT Staff Report
The Sanger High and Reed- ley High boys soccer teams will battle for the prestigious Central Section Division I championship on Friday, Feb. 12. Start time will be 6 p.m. at Tom Flores Stadium in Sanger.
The second-seeded and de- fending DII champion Apaches (21-2-1) held up their seed to reach the finals, getting a 3-2 overtime victory over No. 7 Clovis West on Feb. 18, then de- feating No. 3 seed Clovis East for the second time this season with a shootout decision on
Feb. 22. Top scorer Isaiah Vil- lalobos had two goals, including the game-winner in OT against the Eagles, Against Clovis East. the teams were deadlocked 3-3 after two overtime periods, be- fore the Apaches prevailed 5-4 in a dramatic shootout.
Eighth-seeded Reedley, meanwhile, advanced with a pair of upset road wins. The Pirates (18-6-3) dominated the second half in blanking top- seeded Central 3-0 on Feb. 18, then prevailed by a 2-1 score in overtime against No. 4 Clovis North on Feb. 22. Kevin Gar- cia, Esteban Baca and Gustavo
Ledesma had the goals for the Pirates against Central while Jose Segovia was stellar in goal. Ledesma had the decisive OT goal at Clovis North
"The boys knew coming in as an eight seed what we had to do," said RHS coach Eric Velarde, whose squad avenged a 2020 playoff loss to the Griz- zlies on Feb. 18. "We felt we were a little more prepared as a staff. We spent all week watching film of our previous games and looking to see what we could do to hurt them."
See SOCCER on page A16
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Reedley High's Esteban Baca raced upfield on a second half offensive rush during the Pirates' 3-0 victory over top-seeded Central High in the Central Section DIvision I quarterfinals on Feb. 18.
Tigers baseball snaps mini-slump with home rout
By Will Goldbeck
For The Times
After being held to six hits in two losses, the Reedley Col- lege baseball team exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning of a 9-4 win over Mon- terey Peninsula College on Feb. 19.
The Tigers took a 9-2 sea- son record into its scheduled Feb, 22 Central Valley Con- ference opener at Fresno City College. The three-game series continues with a 2 p.m. Thurs- day, Feb. 24 game in Reedley and a 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26 contest at John Euless Park in Fresno. Reedley travels to Taft on Tuesday, March 1 to start another three-game series.
The latest state poll, taken after a 5-3 loss at Cuesta Col- lege on Feb. 15, has the Tigers ranked sixth in the state in second in Northern California.
On Feb. 17, the Tigers were
held to two hits and blanked 7-0 by Sacramento City College.
While Alec Trukki was blanking Monterey Peninsula on six hits over six innings, Reedley opened the scoring without a hit in the second in- ning. Roman Rosales walked, stole second and went to third on a passed ball and scored on a ground out by Isaiah Ochoa.
The Tigers sent 10 batters to the plate as they scored seven runs in the sixth. The big blows included a double by Koby Kropf, a two-run single by Leo Arrequin and a three- run homer over the right field fence by Orin Hirschkorn. Justin Tiger scored in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Hirschkorn.
BASKETBALL
Win over FCC highlights Tiger men's tough season
The Reedley College men’s basketball team finished the 2021-22 season with only five
wins in 28 games. But the fifth win was an unforgettable one. Coach T.J. Jennings’ Tigers defeated the Fresno City Col- lege Rams 75-71 on Feb. 17 in Reedley. The win broke a 16-game losing streak and was the team’s lone CVC triumph. It also assured that FCC would finish with a losing season for the first time in several years. In the final game of the season on Feb. 18, Porter- ville downed the Tigers 88-82 despite 28 points and 10 re- bounds by Juelz Fox and 26 points by sophomore Dwayne Howell. Other sophomores Jonathan Marks and Hakeem Primes were honored along with Howell before the game.
Women close out by routing Porterville
With four games in five games to finish the season, the
Reedley College women’s bas- ketball Tigers saved the best for last on Feb. 18 in Reedley;
The Lady Tigers closed out the 2021-22 season facing a Porterville College squad that only suited up five players. Coach Dan Kilbert’s squad led all the way in posting an 84- 69 victory. Reedley started the week Feb. 14 with a 70-60 lost at conference champion Col- lege of the Sequoias before a 116-64 setback to Fresno City on Feb. 16 and a 54-53 loss to Merced on Feb. 17.
In the win over Porterville, Makaiyah Randle led the win- ners with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Chastity Martinez followed with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Mia Garcia came off the bench to finish with 12 points while Amanpreet Kaur added 11 points and five blocked shots.
Martinez finished with 18 points in the loss to Merced
while Kaur added 11 points and six blocked shots. The Fresno-Reedley game featured 22 3-point baskets; 17 by the Rams. Randle led Reedley with 22 points and 10 rebounds. SOFTBALL
Tigers surpass '21 win total
With three wins in four games last week, the 6-4 Reedley College softball team already has more wins than last season.
On Feb. 21, Annabelle Bu- chanan led the Lady Tigers on the mound and at the plate in the 4-0 and 8-4 victories over the 2-12 Cerro Coso College Coyotes. Buchanan was the winning pitcher in both games and went 5 for 6 at the plate, improving her season batting average to just above .500.
The Lady Tigers had split a doubleheader on Saturday, de- feating College of the Siskiy- ous 13-3 before falling to host Cabrillo 12-4.
REEDLEY COLLEGE