Page 9 - Sanger Herald 3-29-18 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018
Sanger football players to appear in North-South, City/County
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
The lineup for the 33rd Annual North-South Rotary Bob Green Football Classic has been announced, and the south team includes three from Sanger.
They include Robert Lopez, Jonathon Romias and Josiah “Yaya” Lopez, all seniors. Robert Lopez served as running back and defensive back as did Josiah, while Romias often anchored the offensive line or filled in wherever coach Jorge Pena wanted him.
“The kids will have a great time,” said Jim Pierce, organizer. He replaced Bob Green, who started the program more than three decades ago to recognize players from smaller schools overlooked in various city-county games.
Pierce visited Sanger Rotary on March 23 to make his pitch. He had a stack of raffle tickets to raise money for the scholarship programs. The organizers on the south side, including Pierce,
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Jonathon Romias, No. 62, is among the Apaches selected for regional games.
The North-South event outgrew the stadium in Chowchilla, where it traditionally had been held. “It’s a nice facility,” Pierce said of Veterans Stadium. “Almost as nice as Washington Union’s.”
Last year, the combined Rotary clubs gave away 34 $1,000 scholarships. This year, the clubs plan to give away 40. Applications for the scholarships can be found at rotaryfootball. org and are not limited to football players.
In fact, last year the organization selected 29 girls and five boys for the scholarships, Pierce said. They require an essay.
The north region includes the schools from Los Banos to Patterson, while the south is from Chowchilla to Kingsburg.
Digging through the photographs of the past football season revealed quite a few featuring the players the Rotarians selected for the all-star game. The athletes from Sanger were definitely standouts.
Here’s a highlight from Romias that appeared in a season retrospective I did. Romias said he feels the support throughout the community, from all the younger players to the average citizen. “The whole city,” he said. Romias said the highlight for him was “being able to play all of my senior season without getting hurt.”
Robert Lopez and Josiah Lopez were among the group who “stepped up, emboldened by their army of community supporters and high school contemporaries screaming encouragement from the stands” when injuries sidelined key members of their team. Robert said this after the game with Madera: “But we were shutting down the run,” he said. He said the Apaches are being really physical. “We have to be.”
It was a game in which Josiah scored the first touchdown, a 28-yard pass from Jalen Cropper.
All three of them and
See Football, Page 2B
handle the scholarship portion of the event. Their northern compatriots take care of the game. And this year, the game is at 7:30 p.m. June 23 at Veterans Stadium in Merced.
Meanwhile, the Fresno City County All Star Football Game, scheduled
for 7 p.m. June 15 at Lamonica Stadium in Clovis at Fowler and Barstow avenues, features additional Apaches. “Congratulations to Blake Wolf and Josiah Lopez!” head coach Jorge Pena posted on Facebook. “They were recently added to the County roster of the
City/County Football Game by the County selection committee and staff.
“Apache football is proud of you; good luck and Go Apaches!”
Admission for City County is $12 with proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Clubs.
Bottom of the 9th & Sanger digs deep
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
At the top of the seventh inning, Apache junior pitcher Alec Flores had walked one batter and struck out another.
Sanger led 3-2 on the Apaches’ home field. Neighbors had gathered in a large group on a nearby balcony in the adjoining subdivision just to watch. The March 23 game had been delayed from the night before when a deluge drenched many parts of the central San Joaquin Valley.
Neither team gave the other any leeway. This was hard-fought. The visiting Stallions knew they had to score, and Madera South senior Jeremy Flores singled. That put two on base. Oscar Velasquez subbed in to run the bases for fellow senior Thomas Kingsley, who Flores had walked.
At this point, all those in the stands and both benches played as big a role as those on the field. The animated and loud conversation didn’t let up from either side. But it was Velasquez who made the big play, stealing home during another at-bat and diving for home plate in a run the umpire ruled to be safe.
While that 3-3 tie didn’t sit all that well with the Apaches, they didn’t let it show. They would have won had Velasquez not found home. This meant extra innings on two teams already showing signs of weariness after two and a half hours of play.
After the game, Apache head coach David Cuellar explained his tactics. “I told them, ‘We have plenty of opportunities to win,’” he said. “I told them, ‘Let’s take care of it ourselves.’”
And they did.
What unfolded proved to be perhaps one of the most gripping baseball games in recent Sanger history, a 5-4 Apache win that ranks right up there with the home
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
The Apaches celebrate after their come-from-behind 5-4 victory against a tough Madera South team March 23.
home, and the extra innings began.
Harrell, who ended with five strikeouts, took the mound in the eighth. Later, Flores said he wasn’t at all tired but the exuberance on his face from the win likely would have enabled him to play another entire game, a late-night double-header. The team was that pumped.
Harrell struck out all comers. Three up three down, and Sanger took its shot at bat in the bottom of the eighth. For the Stallions, Frank Chavira took the pitcher’s mound from fellow senior Carlos Gonzales.
The cool night air, laden with moisture from the rainstorm night before, began to make itself noticeable as the clock rolled well past 9 p.m., and some of the Apaches took off sprinting down the sideline to the end of the field and back to warm up.
Senior catcher Jose Quinonez’s hit deep into right field was caught. Jaurique and Flores struck out, sending the Apaches back into the field and giving the Stallions another shot.
And that was when the excitement began in earnest. These Apaches showed just what kind of players they are and what kind of team they belong to.
Really.
Senior shortstop Justin Boissonneault explained. “We’re playing for this moment, exactly,” he said. The words poured from him at the game’s conclusion. He talked about 6 a.m. workouts, innumerable batting practices and exercises. “We’re doing everything we can to get better. That’s why it shows out here. All teamwork.
“I love this team. Everyone’s my brother. We’re all best friends. We’re riding the train together.”
See Baseball, Page 2B
win the boys basketball team got against a favored San Joaquin Memorial this year, the volleyball game last week against Clovis East or any of the football team’s nail-biters the past two seasons or the girls’ water polo team showing the Valley that Sanger does not give up or go home without leaving it all out there.
“Unbelievable,” said a thoroughly invigorated Zack Jaurique, a senior second baseman, afterward. “Everybody. The good thing about this
team is we fought. We felt cheated (by the umpire’s call on the Velasquez run).”
Jaurique said nobody let that call affect them. In fact, quite the opposite was true, he said. Sanger took it as a challenge. “We gotta man up,” Jaurique recalled of the words shared amongst the team. “We gotta let ‘em hang. We gotta play our game.
“This is banger ball. We grind.”
Flores, who had 11 strikeouts on the night, dispatched the next three Madera South players, and
it was Sanger’s turn to see if they could put something together in the bottom of the seventh inning. Meanwhile, a couple of (winged) bats flew in and out of the bright Friday night lights catching bugs. They shared the airspace with a drone piloted by one of the spectators.
On the Sanger bench, nearly everyone exploded in noisy anticipation when junior Alex Avalos’ bat blasted a hit deep into center field. A Stallion outfielder caught it. But the Apaches didn’t clam
up. Sanger athletic director Brian Penner had said earlier in the game, in the bottom of the third, that Sanger’s outfield is deeper than most and that at any other stadium in the league, an earlier hit by junior first baseman and pitcher Jake Harrell would have been over the fence.
Then with two outs, third baseman and junior Steven Martinez slugged a double, and the pitcher walked Harrell, who had previously shown he could do significant damage.
But nobody crossed