Page 9 - Sanger Herald 10-18-18 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2018
XC runners break personal records at Woodward
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Sanger High sophomore Luis Lopez set his sights on the fleet-footed members of the Granada High team.
The Livermore school brought a group that all but dominated the Roosevelt High Rough Rider Invitational on Oct. 12 at Woodward Park in Fresno. The event drew thousands of runners from 88 schools across California.
Lopez, running the junior varsity 2.2 mile cross country race, kept in mind a simple premise — one that enabled him to finish sixth. He was the highest placing non-Granada finisher, a feat he acknowledged with a slight grin.
“Every mile, reset your mind,” he said after the race in full sweat. “Act like it’s a whole new mile.”
In essence, Lopez ran a mile full-tilt — twice. He finished with a time of 11:37.1 minutes. Junior
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Luis Lopez finishes strong for the Apache JV boys.
in the girls large schools freshman/sophomore 2.2 mile race with sophomore Haley Wtrago essentially finishing exactly like Lopez in her race, fifth behind the four top finishers from Granada. A parent of one of the student athletes from the Livermore school said the program hasn’t always been a powerhouse but that the coaching staff has done wonders in the past few years.
Witrago, who finished with a time of 14:06.8, said her plan was to finish in the top 10. And she said her plan had two components. “Don’t think about the pain and keep pushing through,” she said. “My goal was to finish.”
Teammate Melody Salazar, a freshman, was right on her heels in seventh place with a time of 14:22. “I wanted to get a good start,” she said. “I was nervous because my leg.” Salazar had been
strain.
“Then my coaches
helped me a lot. They told me to take it easy the past week. And it worked. I’m really grateful.” And she said she’s improving. “I’m feeling it,” she added. “The more pain you have, you’re going stronger and faster.”
And Witrago said coaches helped her push her pace. It worked. Witrago, Salazar scored personal record times as did sophomore Leslie Zarate, third for Sanger at 14:24.8. Jennifer Esparza and Victoria Magnone, both freshmen, also scored their fastest times.
The boys varsity team ran the 3.1 mile race in the fourth fastest team time in Sanger history at the park, Marzolf said. Sophomore Danny De Loera finished with 16:42, freshman Emanuel Salas 16:49, junior Juan Zamora 16:53, freshman David De Loera 17:00 and Ben Awad 17:53.
“The girls filled in some major pieces coming away with even faster times then last week,” Marzolf said via email. Lifetime bests were turned in by sophomores Kaley Cardenas with 20:12, Jessica Recinos 20:41 and Jahari Garcia 21:05, and freshman Diana Garcia 21:09, freshman Sienna Bianchi 21:40 and sophomore Juliet Garza 21:58. The varsity girls placed eighth out of the 29-team field.
The junior varsity girls also did well, with junior Karisma Rodriguez and seniors Krista Picquette and Jackie Valencia notching personal record times. Rodriguez said she was “running to run. It was fun to get back out especially after getting hospitalized for an injury. I tested my limits to see how far I could go.”
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerheraldsports@gmail. com or at (559) 875-2511.
Ivan Topete followed close behind in 13th place with 11:49.2. Sophomore Anthony Gonzalez finished 33rd with 12:05.7. Lopez said his initial strategy had been to keep up with people around his pace and “take off at the end.”
Sanger placed 12th overall for the race. Granada was first.
Topete said he did better than he expected. He’s using the cross
country season to hone his performance for track in the spring in the 400 meter dash.
“It’s all about personal records,” said head coach Sean Marzolf. “Our main goal is to run faster than last year.” He said his team works hard and puts in the time to train.
Lopez said they put in a lot of miles.
And it paid off.
Sanger placed second recovering from a quad All had lifetime bests.
Apaches dust Stallions on way to Tigers
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Apache running back Kosi Agina exercised his scoring prowess in the first quarter of the Oct. 12 game at Madera’s Lee DaSilva Field with touchdowns of 5, 30 and 36 yards.
Agina, a junior and a key element of the Sanger offense and defense all season, answered the unexpected exuberance shown by Madera South’s Jaden Cisneros in a game-launching 18-yard touchdown run and subsequent fumble return for a touchdown by the Stallions’ Matthew Posas with 4 minutes remaining in the quarter.
Then senior Damian Duarte dominated the game, whispering past Stallion defenders for another three touchdowns. The tally would have included a fourth in the second quarter, but that one was called back because of a Sanger penalty.
Yet, that aborted score actually appeared to launch what was to become the biggest offensive night of Duarte’s high school football career. “Out of nowhere” is how Sanger master statistician Ron Blackwood described the running and defensive back.
“One rush for 9 yards all season,” wrote Blackwood in his game notes of Duarte. “Wow of wowie, eight carries, 127 yards and three touchdowns.”
Sanger won the contest with a near-record score of 63-19, giving the Apaches a 7-1 record.
“I just saw it,” Duarte said, describing the holes in the Stallions’ defense. “I’m trying to finish this season off with an exclamation
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Damian Duarte, No. 23, said he wanted to make a statement in Madera on his way to three touchdowns.
Sanger Bangers and we have to play Sanger Banger football. And I didn’t want to let the team down. The second half, I started getting going.”
And Agina said, “We just came out strong on offense. Our offense was on from the jump.” On Edison, he said, “That’s a big CMAC (County Metro Athletic Conference) game for us.”
On defense, sophomore Isaiah Becerril played a big part of that third and fourth quarter shutdown of the Stallions’ momentum. He collected 11 tackles and sacked the quarterback twice. He shared one of those with senior safety Isaiah Gaucin. Robert Lopez had the third sack of Madera South’s junior quarterback Jaden Cisneros.
Becerril approached his role like many of his fellow Apaches, going full tilt as soon as his cleats bit the field. “Coach put in me in a different position,” he said. “Gotta do what you gotta do.”
Traveling Apache fans outnumbered Stallion fans 4 to 1, Blackwood estimated.
Also contributing to the win for Sanger was senior wide receiver Jake Boust who caught two Collazo passes for 69 yards. Agina had a single 22-yard reception and ran seven times for 96 yards. Douglas ran 11 times for 63 yards. Junior Mark Jones recovered a fumble. Junior Dolce Calandra returned the ball 40 yards on a pair of punt returns. Junior Fabian Lopez averaged 48.2 feet on 10 kickoffs. Pierce Jones had nine tackles.
And as Pena said, “We got a little tested tonight. They were a little fired up at halftime.”
point, especially for the seniors who went down.”
He referred to defensive tackle Gabriel Webb, who stood on the Apache sideline in crutches fresh from knee surgery last week; running and defensive back Alex Saefong, who also suffered a season-ending injury in a recent game; and Jackson Rocker, who has been sidelined most of the season.
Head coach Jorge Pena expressed his satisfaction with a couple of caveats. “That’s how you play defense right there,” he said just before huddling with the team for the after- game winning “San-ger, San-ger” chant. “Second half, whole different attitude.”
Pena underlined the importance of the Sanger defense playing at its play- stopping best because at
7:30 p.m. Friday at Ratcliffe Stadium, Blackstone and McKinley avenues in Fresno, the Apaches face arch-rival Edison (4-4). “With Edison, we’re going to have our hands full,” Pena said. “It’s one of those games where our kids get fired up.”
And to his team a little later in the Madera- provided locker room, he said, “It’s on. It’s Edison and Sanger. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Also contributing to Sanger’s offensive onslaught was senior wide receiver Ryan Esparza with his first touchdown from a 4-yard pass by sophomore quarterback John Pena to end the game. And senior Orlando Douglas scored twice, once on a single yard run into the end zone and again on a 61-yard pass play from junior
quarterback Noel Collazo. Collazo completed four of five attempts for 152 yards and that touchdown.
But Blackwood on the ride home that night pointed out that one of the real stars of the night proved again to be senior David Ayala, who kicked the game-winning field goal against Bullard to pull out a win in the final seconds in the previous week.
Ayala, a proven receiver, running back and defensive back, broke a Sanger High record for extra points in a row with 40. He scored nine of those in the game against Madera South, also a record. He also led the team with 12 tackles.
Blackwood also said the game marked the fifth time Sanger has met or exceeded 60 points in a game, with the most ever being 65.
After the game, junior
defenseman Jamarie Jenkins, who collected 10 tackles, said he felt a little woozy after colliding with a Stallions defender on one of the game’s final plays. “It was a good game,” he said. “In the first half, we came to a standstill a little bit. But came out with a different mindset (in the second).”
Jenkins said the whole team looks forward to the Edison game. “We’re going to practice right,” he said. “It’s going to be a good game. It’s going to be a challenge.”
Junior defender Anthony Nino-Pena agreed. “It’s goingtobeahellofa game.”
Nino-Pena, who had eight tackles, addressed the defense’s turnaround the second half. “Coach gave us a talk at halftime,” he said. “He told us we’re
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