Page 11 - Mid Valley Times 8-22-19 E-edition

hursday, August 22, 2019
Cardinal's offense may rely more on passing game
T
Goerge M. Villagrana / Mid Valley Times
Orosi Cardinal's quarterback Evan Lara is expected to use his arm more this season. Fullback Freddi Arciga, right, is epxected to carry the ball this year for Orosi.
Tiger's womens
soccer returns
key starters
By George M. Villagrana
Mid Valley Times
The Orosi High foot- ball team’s rollercoaster season ended with a tough 28-14 loss to Sierra Pacific in the Central Section Divi- sion VI playoffs.
The Cardinals were hit by the injury bug late in the year.
“The injuries killed us in that playoff game,” said coach Ben White.
Orosi, who finished with a 7-4 overall record and 4-2 in the East Se- quoia League, will have their work cut out as the Cardinals try to replace one of the school’s top run- ning backs, Jerry Huerta. Huerta, who rushed for more than 3,600 yards and 48 touchdowns, along with
Ismael Perez led the Oro- si’s potent ground game.
White will look to se- nior Freddi Arciga. Arciga, a three-year starter at full- back, rushed for 573 yards and seven touchdowns. He was also a major force de- fensively at linebacker,
according to
White.
Junior Dominic Martinez
saw some ac-
tion at run-
ning back last
year behind
Huerta and
this season he will have ample opportunities to showcase his talent.
White said last year opposing teams keyed on
Huerta.
“Teams loaded up the
box because of Jerry, but we’ll be able to throw the ball more because of our quarterback [Evan Lara].”
Lara, who played well down the stretch for the Cardinals as a freshman, will look to improve up- on last year, according to
White.
“He’s do-
ing really well,” White said. “He threw eight
touchdowns with maybe one or two interceptions the last few games. He’s picked up where he left off.”
One of Lara’s top tar- gets from last season was classmate Aidan Rodri- guez. Lara ended the year with 1,109 yards and 10 touchdowns. Rodriguez, a special teams threat on kickoff and punt returns, was the team’s second leading receiver with 27 catches for 339 yards.
Another target for Lara will be tight end Nathan Lopez.
“He played tight end forusattheendofthe year, he’ll also play defen- sive end,” White said.
White said they do not have as much depth but they will be very competi- tive.
“We’re going to be al- right as long as we don’t get hurt,” White said.
By Will Goldbeck
Special to The Times
Will the third season of Reedley College wom- en’s soccer be a charm?
Third-year head coach Onesta Francis thinks so. “This is our third year of existence and the first year that we have freshmen and sophomores that we re- cruited,” said the coach. “It will be an exciting year where we expect to continue to build off of last year’s progress.”
The 2018 Tigers fin- ished fifth in the then- seven team Central Val- ley Conference and were 5-11 overall. This year, the CVC is down to six teams with the loss of
Cerro Coso College. Reedley has added two new assistant coach- es with tremendous ex- perience. Claudia Diaz is currently the head coach at Dinuba High School. She also played at UC Merced. Francis says that Maria Magana is a local legend. “She played for Reedley High, UC Ir- vine and professionally in Iceland. So our coach- ing staff is looking great. On the field, the Tiger roster features several returnees with high ex- pectations. Leading the way is 2018 CVC Out- standing Player of the year in Reedley High grad Kalese “Kiki” Su-
See TIGERS page B2
By Mike Nemeth
Mid Valley Times
David Ayala and Jake Boust stood on the side- lines during the Aug. 16 football scrimmage be- tween Sanger, their alma mater, and Visalia’s Red- wood High at Tom Flores Stadium.
“Just to watch our old guys,” Boust said. This fall the former wide re- ceiver heads to Fresno City College. “And offer support.”
The two teams met a year ago on Redwood’s turf for the same thing — a practice contest in which points aren’t tal- lied. The Rangers went onto compile a 4-7 season, while the Apaches fin- ished 7-4. And this year, the Rangers appeared to have improved. Some Sanger players recalled a relatively lopsided con- test in 2018. This year,
Mike Nemeth / Mid Valley Times
Dolce Calandra runs the ball with a group of Apache teammates at Tom Flores Stadium on Aug. 16 against Redwood of Visalia. The scrimmage was a chance for both teams to give players time on the field to see what they had to offer. Sanger plays Reedley on Aug. 23 in an away game.
Lady Emps look to build
on rising success
Dinuba's new head volleyball coach thinks momentum, returners can make for a winnig season
By George M. Villagrana
Mid Valley Times
Last year, the Dinuba High vol- leyball team made some noise as the Emperors won two Central Sec- tion Division III playoff matches before falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Yosemite.
With a new season and a new head coach, the Emperors are look- ing to continue their success from a year ago.
“We’re looking to build off the momentum we gained from last year,” said Scott Simoni.
Simoni is in his first stint as head varsity coach at DHS. Simoni is no stranger to the program hav- ing served as the junior varsity coach.
Dinuba, which posted a 22-11 overall record and 6-6 in the Cen- tral Sequoia League, will be led by the senior group of Ally Garcia, Azlynn Villalobos, Bethany Gonza- lez, Yazmine Villareal-Harris Kae- lyn Barrela and Amanda Valdez.
Garcia and Villalobos are in their third year of playing on the varsity squad, according to Simoni.
At 5-feet-9 inches, Garcia flour- ished as an outside hitter last sea- son. She was a CSL first-team all- league performer and led the team in kills (180) and recorded 25 ser- vice aces to go along with 26 blocks and 176 digs.
Villalobos (5-11) played very well down the stretch for Dinuba as she ended the year with 77 kills and 12 blocks. Villareal-Harris (5-
11) brings more height up front as a middle blocker for the Emperors. Gonzalez recorded 186 digs and was one of the top servers with 38
service aces.
Running the offense will be se-
nior setter Amanda Valdez.
“She was on the team last year, but this is going to be her first year where she about takes over the team setting,” Simoni said. “As she
goes, the team will go.”
Expected to play more of a role
this year are Barrela, sophomore’s Jada McMaryion and Emily Rico. who were moved up from the ju- nior varsity team during Dinuba’s post season run.
“We need others to contribute and I think we’ll be fine,” Simoni said.
George M. Villagrana / Mid Valley Times
Lady Emps third-year starter Ally Garcia (No. 9)returns this year to help push Dinuba to another winning season.
Sanger works out kinks in scrimmage
Redwood’s offensive and defensive lines showed significant improvement.
Ayala, a running back, defender and one of the Apache’s most dominat- ing players last season, said the returning Apache seniors this year are “a really good group” and
should provide strong leadership. He also add- ed, “We haven’t had this many sophomores move up in awhile.”
Coach Jorge Pena had said quite a few of the new players are untest- ed playing varsity. After the scrimmage, he said,
“There are some things we did very good and some things we did not so good. But that’s scrim- mage. We always want to show up. What I learned tonight — we’ve got a long way to go. We’re kind of a
See SANGER on page B2
Look for the 2019 Football Tab in this week's Mid Valley Times, featuring previews on local high school football teams as well as Reedley College.