Page 15 - Mid Valley Times 8-29-19 E-edition

T
Apaches crush Pirates in final rivarly game
hursday, August 29, 2019
Reedley College Football
Tigers set eyes on another title run
By Will Goldbeck
Special to Mid Valley Times
It will be a challenge to duplicate or improve on the success of the 2018 edition of the Reedley Col- lege football Tigers.
All the 2018 team did was win the Golden Coast Conference championship with a 10-1 record featur- ing three all-region selec- tions, 10 all-conference choices and at least 15 players (five to Division 1 schools) that went on to play at four-year schools. But head coach Eric Mar- ty believes his team will meet that challenge.
The new season got started on Aug. 28 with a scrimmage against the College of the Sequoias Giants before officially starting 2019 with a re- match of the 2018 NCFC American Championship Bowl against the DeAnza College Dons on Sept. 7 at the Reedley High Sta- dium.
Yes, the same school that ended the Tigers’
See TIGERS page B10
By Mike Nemeth
Mid Valley Times
Reedley secured pos- session at the start of the season’s first game with rival Sanger on Aug. 23.
And the Pirates made the most of it, bolster- ing coach Tony Gates’ program and giving the Reedley crowd on Sal Gonzalez Field reason to amp up the volume and roar school spirit back at the mostly red-clad op- position overflowing the stands across the artifi- cial turf.
Senior Gannon Gab- aldon, in the pocket for the Pirates, handed off to senior running backs Danny Cortez and Max Alvarez in a success- ful series transit of the entire field and into the end zone. Cortez carried the scoring run, putting 6 points on the board.
But that was all Reed- ley could muster. The kick for the extra point went wide, and the visit- ing Apaches took over, winning 49-6.
After the game, Cor- tez remained upbeat. Sanger, after spending a season in Division I, got dropped to Division II this year. And Reedley, which plays Sanger most- ly to maintain the 99-year
rivalry between the two communities, plays Divi- sion V.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Cortez said as his teammates marched to the locker room. “I believe in our coach. I believe in our kids. We’re going to do well this year.”
Sanger hopes for the same outcome.
Gates said in a con- versation with the Times’ Jon Earnest that his team had been practicing for Sanger since April. “They’re not a team that you can prep effectively for in a week,” he said. “Our kids knew what they were going to do. Offensively, we knew what they would do to us defensively. We were pre- pared for it. I think the opening drive showed it. I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“We had four drives of 10 plays or more. That’s the best defense we’re go- ing to see. I was proud of them overall. They didn’t back down. And Sanger said that as well. These kids, my message to them in the locker room was ‘If you trust me, then you have to trust that I know you have the po- tential to be a very good football team.’ What I
Mike Nemeth / Mid Valley Times
Apaches Pierce Jones, No. 5 top, Arturo Betancourt, No. 31, and Robert Lopez, No. 30, take down Reedley quarterback Gannon Gabaldon in a game Sanger won 49-6. Reedley found the Apaches’ defensive line unforgiving on their home turf Aug. 23.
saw proved it. We would move the ball against the best defense we’re going to see, and one of the best defenses in the Valley.”
“This is just icing on the cake,” said Dolce Calandra, Apache wide receiver and running back who caught three Noel Collazo passes for 66 yards.
But the rivalry won’t celebrate another game, which would amount to a centennial year of con- secutive games. School
officials said the annual Sanger-Reedley game will go on hiatus as of next season until a time when both high school programs are more even- ly matched. The Sanger freshman beat their Reedley counterparts 14- 0, and junior varsity pre- vailed by a mismatched 39-0.
Sanger master stat- istician Ron Blackwood said the two schools began playing football against the other in 1915
and have met 106 times. Sanger leads 71-33-2 and the last time the Apaches lost was in 2007. In the past dozen years, Sanger won every game by an average 36.5 to 4.5, Black- wood said.
Sanger and Reedley fans entered Sal Gonza- lez Field from separate entrances, and tempo- rary fences kept the two fan populations from mingling. David Vega, a
See RIVALRY on page B10
Emperors can't keep Panthers caged
Danny Jimenez / Photo Contributed
By Rick Curiel
Mid Valley Times
It wasn’t the way new Emperors’ head foot- ball coach Carlos Bara- jas hoped his first game would go, as Dinuba High ended up giving up four unanswered touchdowns in the second half of Fri- day night’s opener against Porterville to lose 49-42.
“Coming off our scrimmage I knew there were some things we need to improve on,” said first year coach Carlos Barajas. “We needed to take care of the ball. We didn’t do that and it ended up costing us.”
The game ended as it began, with Panther’s quarterback Hector Na- va Jr. connecting with sophomore running back Isaiah Ellis for one of his four touchdown recep- tions. Dinuba’s defensive forced a third and long on Porterville’s first posses- sion when Ellis beat the Emperor’s secondary for 65-yard touchdown recep- tion to put the Panthers on the board first. A failed point-after attempt gave the visitors a 6-0 lead.
Dinuba would re- spond with just under six minutes left in the first quarter when senior quarterback Josh Maga- ña found senior wide re- ceiver Cameron Amador near the right front pylon for an 8-yard touchdown pass.
The first quarter ended with both teams
Reedley High’s Jamian Villarreal fired a shot on goal against Kings- burg on Aug. 20. The senior scored eight goals against the Vikings, including the decisive score in the first overtime period.
Reedley boys water polo off to solid start
Rick Curiel / Mid Valley Times
Dinuba High senior Devon Mendoza (above) and the Emperor's rushing game will need to improve if they want to find sucess this season. The Emperors were held to just 16 rushing yards in their 49-42 loss to Porterville on Aug. 23.
MVT Sports Staff
The Reedley High School boys won three of five games last week – defeating all of its Cen- tral Section competition – to open the water polo season.
The Pirates pulled out a 10-9 overtime deci- sion against Kingsburg on Aug. 20, with Jamian Villarreal capping off an eight-goal performance with the decisive score in the first overtime period. Reedley then rolled to a 17-3 victory against Mo- nache in Porterville on Aug. 22.
On Aug. 23-24, the Pi- rates competed at the Ar- royo Grande varsity tour- nament on the Central Coast and opened with a 12-6 victory over Central on Aug. 23. Later that day, the team suffered its first
loss of the season by a 14- 2 score against host Ar- royo Grande. On Aug. 24, the Pirates dropped a 15- 8 decision to College Park of Pleasant Hill.
Villarreal, a first team all-North Yosemite League and all-Valley se- lection in 2018, converted on an isolation play to score the winner against Kingsburg. Goalie Hunt- er Shamp preserved the victory with a number of crucial plays in the over- time. Miles Yada, like Villarreal a first team all- NYL selection, added a goal against the Vikings while Tyler Collin also scored.
The Pirates return to action Thursday, Aug. 29, with a non-league match against Madera at the RHS Aquatics Complex. Game time is 5:30 p.m.
tied at 6 points apiece. In the second quarter, how- ever, both teams began to exchange blows as six touchdowns were scored between them. Dinuba got the best of the exchange, scoring four of the six touchdowns to take a 35- 21 lead into halftime.
All four touchdowns came through the air, with Magaña connecting with senior Ronnie Rubalcaba from four yards out, then senior Brian Campbell, also from four yards out, to give the Emperors a 21- 13 lead.
After the Panthers tied the game at 21-21, Dinuba responded by scoring twice in the fi- nal minute of the second quarter. The first came on a 21-yard touchdown pass
from Magaña to Amador with just 44 seconds left in the half. Dinuba than recovered a live ball on the kickoff, deep in Pan- ther’s territory. Pushing their way to the 1-yard line, Magaña then hit se- nior wide receiver Justin Gonzalez in the middle of the end zone to close out the half.
The Emperors took their largest lead of the game with just over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter after they were able to push the ball down the field and cap off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by senior running back Devon Men- doza, the point after giv- ing Dinuba a three-touch- down lead at 42-21.
But a Panther’s inter-
ception deep in Dinuba territory proved costly for the Emperors, as Por- terville was able to capi- talize on the error when Ellis punched it in from two yards out, his lone rushing touchdown of the game.
That’s when the wheels came off for Dinuba.
“It snowballed from there,” shared Barajas. “They got the momentum after that and ran with it.”
Ellis would score again with just over three min- utes left in the quarter, hauling in a pass at mid- field as a Dinuba defend- er cut in front of him, attempting to make an interception. Instead, El- lis took it to the house for
See EMPERORS on page B2