Page 11 - Reedley Exponent 2-21-19 E-edition

B3 | Thursday, February 21, 2019 www.reedleyexponent.com Central Section soccer playoffs
RHS teams' seasons end with quarterfinal losses
Boys stunned by Edison, girls fall at Mission Oak Staff Report
Reedley High School's dreams of Central Section soccer championships in 2019 evaporated on a rainy Feb. 15 evening of quarterfinal round matchups.
The second-seeded boys — defend- ing Division 2 champions and kings of the North Yosemite League for the first time since 2015 — yielded three first half
goals to the No. 10 seed Edison Tigers and couldn't get the equalizer the final 40 min- utes in a 3-2 loss at Sal Gonzalez Field. That ended the Pirates' 17-8-2 season which featured a road loss at Sunnyside in their league finale and the upset at the hands of Edison.
Reedley's girls, meanwhile, followed their NYL co-championship with a 4-0 shutout of Yosemite High on Feb. 13 at Sal Gonzalez Field. But two nights later in Tulare, the Pirates' offense was sty- mied by host Mission Oak in a 1-0 shut- out that ended a 16-8-4 campaign.
The boys match saw an Edison team pull off its second straight upset of a higher seed. On Feb. 13, the Tigers (10- 14-2) had blanked No. 7 Selma before jumping on top early against the Pirates.
Just five minutes into the match, the Tigers converted on a rifle shot from the right side into the upper corner of the net. About four minutes later, the Pirates answered when Phillip Rico converted on a loose ball in front of the Edison goal. Both teams opened up their attacks for
See SOCCER on page B4
Reedley High junior Rene Prieto, middle, heads the ball be- tween Edison High de- fenders Alberto Olivo (6) and Arjun Singh
(7) during the Pirates' 3-2 soccer quarterfi- nal playoff loss to the Tigers on Feb. 15.
Danny Jimenez / Photo Contributed
Preps
Titans to send 2, RHS 1 to state wrestling
Pirates baseball improves to 2-0
Staff, Contributed Reports
Reedley High and Or- ange Cove High will be represented by three wres- tlers at this week's CIF State Championship meet in Bakersfield.
The Titans' Martin Chavez is the lone boys qualifier, finishing with a 6-2 record good for fifth place in the 115 pound divi- sion at the Central Section Masters Meet Feb. 15 at Lemoore High School. On the girls side, the Pirates' Odalis Banda finished fourth at 150 pounds while OCHS' Clarissa Alvarez took third at 162 pounds in Masters' meet competition Feb. 16 at LHS. Alvarez posted a 5-1 record with four pins, avenging a loss in the quarterfinals to cap- ture third place.
Chavez' finished with the highest section placing by any OC boys wrestler in school history, and takes a 37-8 record into state com- petition. Sophomore Andy Tristan also competed for OC, finishing 2-2 at 122 pounds to close out a strong 26-11 season.
Sophomore 108-pound- er Julissa Martinez also competed at Masters, los- ing her two matches to close out the season.
In addition to Banda, Reedley High's North Yo- semite League girls cham- pions had three other wres- tlers place at the Masters meet although none quali- fied for state. Kamari Per- ez (160) and Esther Villa (170) both finished sixth while Jamilynne Gonza- lez placed eighth at 116 pounds.
Pirates freshman Phillip Arroyo failed to qualify at state in the 120 pound class, but posted a 1-2 record and finished a solid 23-10 in his first high school season.
See PREPS on page B4
Down 11 in
2nd half, IHS
nips Mustangs
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
When it was time for some “Immanuel magic,” Jor- dan Rodriguez and his team- mates delivered to keep the Eagles’ hopes alive for sixth consecutive Central Section basketball championship.
The senior guard helped his team wipe out a seven- point deficit with a little more than two minutes re- maining by draining a pair of 3-pointers and later two free throws, then played a big role in a late Tulare Western High turnover as Immanuel (20-8) held on for a 66-64 triumph over the Mustangs in a Feb. 15 quarterfinal matchup at a loud Immanuel gym.
The stirring comeback enabled the Eagles to ad- vance to the section semifi- nals on Feb. 20 against No. 6 seed North, which upended third-seeded Sanger High on Feb. 15. A victory there
See EAGLES on page B4
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Immanuel High guard Shawn Rodgers (11) stared down Tulare Western High's Mikev Ficher as he defended the sophomore guard in the first half of the Eagles' 66-64 comeback victory in the Central Section Division 2 quarterfinals on Feb. 15.
Central Section basketball playoffs
Eagle boys rally, reach semifinal
Pirate teams close out with road losses
Staff Report
The season ended for Reedley High School's varsi- ty basketball teams last week with road losses to highly- seeded opponents in the Cen- tral Section Division 4 opening round.
The Pirate boys (9-17) nev- er recovered from a 20-0 run to open the game by second seed Central Valley Christian in a 78-38 defeat in Visalia on Feb. 13, while the girls (14-15) trailed throughout in a 53-30 setback at third-seeded Sierra Pacific on Feb. 12.
Reedley's boys were overpowered by a taller and defensively aggressive Cava- liers squad, which received 21 points and 13 rebounds from senior forward Grant High- street. The hosts limited Reed-
ley to just 23 percent shooting from the field and controlled the boards by a 39-19 count.
Senior Roger Ortiz ac- counted for more than half the RHS offense, scoring 20 points including a trio of three-point baskets. He added six rebounds and five steals. Sophomore Aaron Todd add- ed six points and four steals for the Pirates, whose sea- son highlight was a road win at North Yosemite League champion Fresno High.
Reedley's girls, mean- while, broke through with the team's best record in 15 season, capped by 14 wins including the Parlier Tourna- ment championship. Fresh- man Miah Paz — who scored
See BASKETBALL on page B4
Danny Jimenez / Photo Contributed
Reedley High's Miah Paz drove to the basket during the Pirates' 53-30 loss at Sierra Pacific High on Feb. 12 in the first round of the Division 4 Central Section playoffs. Freshman guard Paz scored 10 points, and finished as the team's leading scorer with a 16 ppg average.
Rains puts a chill on Reedley College softball's hot streak
Contributed
After sweeping a doubleheader over previously undefeated Sacra- mento City College in Sacramento on Feb. 12, the 9-1 Reedley College soft- ball team was hoping for some Val- entine's Day magic at home against Bakersfield and San Joaquin Delta.
But Mother Nature had other ideas. The rain caused postponement of the three-way doubleheader. Tiger Head Coach Kathy Kuball hopes to reschedule the games but no date had been announced at press time.
Five games remain on the sched- ule before the start of Central Valley Conference action at home on March 5 against West Hills Coalinga. This weekend, Reedley is scheduled to
face Diablo Valley on Friday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. before a doubleheader the next day in San Mateo. The Tigers face an always tough College of San Mateo at 10 a.m. before taking on Shasta at 2 p.m.
Reedley returns home on Tues- day, Feb. 26 for a noon doubleheader with Ohlone College.
Sophomore Emily Grimbeby was the winning pitcher in the 4-0 and 2-1 wins over Sacramento City on Feb. 12. At this writing, the Sierra High grad- uate leads the state in wins with six.
In the first game with Sac City, Grimbeby scattered six hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking only one.
Bobbie Falcon’s two-run single was the big blow in a three-run fifth
Colleges
inning rally. A bases loaded walk to Brianna Stephens scored Sandra Vallejo with the first run. A double by Vallejo brought in Sam Lizaola with an insurance run in the sixth.
In the second game, all the runs were scored in the third inning. Fal- con scored from second as Aunika Castellanos hit into a fielder's choice, which also scored Mariah Hernandez.
Reedley is now ranked seventh in the state and third in Northern Cali- fornia, just behind top ranked Mon- terey Peninsula and sixth ranked San Joaquin Delta.
MEN'S GOLF
RC bags 2nd tourney title of 2019
The Tigers, coached by Scott
Stark and John Perkins, won the Northern California Preview Tour- nament at Yolo Fliers Golf Club in Woodland on Feb. 11.
“The Tigers played solid golf from tee to green,” said Stark, “and also performed admirably once on the putting surfaces. The Reedley team averaged only 31 putts per player, which is very solid, and made 12 birdies on the day.”
Reedley won the tournament by nine shots with a 12 over par score of 372 for the five players.
Leading the way for the Tigers and shooting the second best round of the day was freshman Beau Willett, who posted an even par round of 72. Next was sophomore Morgan Cooper, who fired a very good round of one
over 73, also finishing in the top five scores of the day. Sophomore Bailey Flickenger was next with a 75 while freshman Tommy O’Rourke and soph- omore Xavier Coreno both shot a 76.
The Tigers were back in action Feb. 18 in another conference tour- nament at the Coyote Creek Golf Club in San Jose.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RC wrap up season at home
After dropping games to the top two teams in the Central Valley Con- ference, the Reedley College wom- en's basketball Tigers wrap up the season this week.
The Lady Tigers close out the season on Saturday, Feb. 23, with a
See COLLEGES on page B4