Page 15 - Mid Valley Times 9-5-19 E-edition

Thursday, September 5, 2019
Late surge not enough, Dinuba loses to Redwood
Reedley College
Lady Tigers split opening soccer games
By Will Goldbeck
Special to the Times
The Reedley College women’s soccer team opened the new season last week by splitting two matches in Southern Cali- fornia. Head Coach Odes- sa Francis’ squad started 2019 with a 3-0 won over Oxnard College on Aug.
29. Sarah Cabrera (Dos Palos) opened the scoring against Oxnard in the 16th minute on an assist from her sister, goalie Sarah Cabrera. Cecelia Zuniga (Mendota) scored in the 62nd minute on an assist from Bianca Ramirez.
Dennisse Garcia (Reedley) closed out the scoring five minutes later on an assist from former Pirate Sumiko Sunamoto. Reedley’s Destiny Gon- zalez opened the scoring in the 16th minute of a 6-2 loss to Moorpark on Aug. 31 before the hosts answered by scoring the next three goals. Gonza- lez had the Tigers’ second goal in the 62nd minute.
The Lady Tigers opened their home season on Sept. 4 against Carrillo before hosting Cuesta on Fridayat4pmontheRC field.
Emperors will host Reedley tomorrow night
By Rick Curiel
Mid Valley Times
The first matchup between teacher and ap- prentice went the way of teacher, as the Redwood High Rangers survived a late rally by the Dinuba Emperors’ varsity foot- ball team to win 28-25 on Friday night.
The meeting between the Emperors and Rang- ers pitted former Dinuba head coach Kevin Schar- ton, now Redwood’s head coach, against his former defensive coordinator Carlos Barajas, now Di- nuba’s head coach.
For the Emperors, it was another rough night on offense, as they strug- gled to move the ball for- ward throughout most of the first half. Both teams struggled in the first quarter, as neither team was able to put any points on the board.
Redwood, however, was able to move the ball behind the legs of running back James Richardson, who put the Rangers on the board in the second quarter with a one-yard run with just over five minutes on the
Rick Curiel / Mid Valley Times
Dinuba High's Brian Campbell breaks free from a defender in the fourth quarter of Friday night's game against Redwood. The senior wide receiver had some big plays late in the game to help the Emperors cut into the Rangers' lead. Despite Dinuba's late surge, Redwood walked away with a 28-25 victory.
clock.
A costly fumble by
Dinuba deep in their own territory quickly put the Emperors down by two scores as Rangers’ Kaleb Wright was able to recov- er the ball in the end zone to help give Redwood a 14-0 lead.
Richardson scored his second rushing touch- down of the game with just over two minutes
left in the half from nine yards out. The point af- ter gave Redwood a 21-0 lead.
Things turned from bad to worse late in the first half when Rangers’ Edgar Jaurrietta inter- cepted a Josh Magaña and returned it to the Di- nuba 5-yard line. Threat- ening to extend their lead, Dinuba was only saved from further defi-
cit with a fumble recov- ery by Emperor’s Daniel Hernandez, III.
Adjustments in the second half allowed the Emperors to slowly get back into the game. They first got on the board with just under eight minutes left in the third quarter when Magaña was able to connect with Dinuba High senior Gabriel Moreno for a
10-yard touchdown pass. A missed extra point made the score 21-6.
Dinuba had a hard time containing Richard- son, as he was once again able to find the end zone with just under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, breaking free for a 21-yard touchdown run to help put Redwood up
See EMPERORS on page B12
Apaches fall in marathon match
Kirk Kawagoe / Photo Contributed
By Mike Nemeth
Mid Valley Times
After a first half that ended with Sanger’s arch rival Hanford a point ahead, many in Tom Flores Stadium on Aug. 30 knew this likely wasn’t an ordinary game.
The contest dragged deep into the night, fi- nally ending at 11:45 p.m. It featured a second half that seesawed until a de- termined Bullpups team delivered a final touch- down and field goal with just seconds on the clock.
The Apaches didn’t have enough time to complete a drive and a tie. But they tried. Hard.
The final score was 38-31.
“Oh, what a night,” wrote Ron Blackwood, Sanger’s master statisti- cian, in his game notes.
That this wasn’t last year’s matchup, in which the Apaches emerged with a 48-28 win, was made crystal clear in the opening minutes of the second half. Bullpups quarterback Juaron Watts-Brown, who played last year as a ju- nior, connected with wide receiver Taryn Rubalca- va for a touchdown in the opening seconds. And the team followed with a sec- ond 2-point conversion. Score was 16-7 Bullpups.
But Sanger wasn’t done. Sophomore run- ning back Fernando
Immanuel High’s Trace Pires (2) hauled in a long pass against the coverage of Farmersville’s David Gonza- lez on his way to a touchdown during the Eagles’ 31- 14 victory on Aug. 30. Pires had two catches for 104 yards and two scores.
Immanuel 2-0 after handling Farmersville
MVT Staff Report
The Immanuel High Eagles football team turned in another strong all-around performance to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Quarterback Hector Davila passed for two touchdowns and rushed for another, receiver Trace Pires had a pair of touchdown receptions and the Eagles’ defense held host Farmersville in check to post a 31-14 victory on Aug. 30.
Sophomores Davila and Holden Thomas both threw touchdown passes to Pires, who covered 104 yards on his two catches. Davila completed 4 of 8 for 47 yards and rushed
for 118 yards on 10 car- ries.
Senior Matt Tiger rushed for 98 yards on 19 carries and also regis- tered five tackles and a quarterback sack on de- fense. Thomas threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Friesen, and com- pleted 3 of 4 for 96 yards.
Leading the defensive charge was linebacker Michael Kawagoe (12 tackles) and linebacker/ DB Winston Williams (seven tackles, including a safety). Friesen added five tackles while Pires collected two tackles and intercepted a pass.
The Eagles limited Farmersville to just one
SeeIMMANUELonpage B2
Mike Nemeth / Mid Valley Times
Dolce Calandra, No. 11, gains yardage after a pass from Apache quarterback Noel Collazo.The Apaches played in what may have been their longest game on record, finally losing to Hanford just before midnight, 38-31.
Gonzalez re-energized the crowd with a kickoff return that looked like it wanted to go all the way. He racked up 81 yards on three kickoff return carries. And senior run- ning back Carl Hawkins powered through the Hanford defensive line for substantial gains.
Still, Sanger found it- self with a fourth down and 3 yards. Enter ju- nior Izaiah Romero, who split the uprights from 30 yards. Sanger was within a touchdown with 7 min- utes remaining in the third quarter.
And the battle con- tinued. Senior Kosi Agi- na ran 19 times for 137 yards and a touchdown, which, with a Romero kick, tied the game at 24 in the fourth quarter. Junior Morgan Privett ran 88 yards for a touch- down in the third quarter, slapping an exclamation point on the scoreboard when the Apaches had been down by 14 points. Privett raced for a total 124 yards.
And senior wide re- ceiver Dolce Calandra caught nine passes from senior quarterback Noel
Collazo for 137 yards and a touchdown. Calandra’s score tied the game at 31 with not much more than 2 minutes left in the fourth.
On the sideline, ju- nior defender Jaden Mu- noz whispered, “C’mon Izaiah. C’mon Izaiah,” as Romero stepped up to kick the extra point. (He got it.) And Calandra, at that moment off the field, walked the field gesturing to the Sanger crowd with both his arms to raise the volume.
See APACHES on page B12