Page 9 - Mid Valley Times 4-8-21 E-edition

Thursday, April 8, 2021
Reedley High pounds Fresno, improves to 2-0
Pirates show offensive balance in 34-7 victory
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Two down, three to go for the Reed- ley High football team against North Yosemite League competition.
The Pirates amassed 346 total yards — 244 of them through the air — jumping on the Fresno High War- riors for three touchdowns in true sec- ond quarter on their way to a 34-7 win in an April 7 late afternoon contest at McLane Stadium in Fresno.
Reedley (2-0, 2-0 NYL) faces its big- gest league test of the season this Fri- day, April 9, in a 7:30 p.m. home game against Roosevelt (1-0). The Rough Riders defeated defending league champion Sunnyside by a 13-10 score in their season opener on March 26.
"They're a well-coached team, and the fact they beat Sunnyside tells you
all you need to know," RHS coach Tony Gates said of Roosevelt.
Reedley, playing without top run- ning back Ryan Warkentin because of injury, switched the emphasis to the passing game against Fresno (0-2) be- hind its two-quarterback attack of Ja- cob Rocha and Nick Quezada. Senior receiver Mike Rios had 11 catches for 95 yards and rushed for a touchdown, and also saw spot play at QB.
After Rocha's touchdown on a keep- er and a two-point pass from Rocha to Quezada made it 8-0 in the first quar- ter, senior receiver Chris Sanchez col- lected a pair of touchdown receptions in the second quarter including a leap- ing grab for the Pirates' third score.
Sanchez then made an intercep- tion to set up Reedley's fourth TD, an 8-yard run by Rios who then threw a two-point pass to Rocha for a 28-0 cushion. Reedley's final TD came ear- ly in the third quarter on a long scor- ing reception and run by Joey Ramos.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Reedley High wide receiver Chris Sanchez lunges into the end zone for a second quarter touchdown reception during the Pirates' 34-7 victory over Fresno High on April 2 at McLane Stadium in Fresno. Sanchez had two touchdown catches in the win.
Sanger rallies past Bullard, 14-6
Sanger, Reedley
baseball teams go
2-2 at tourneys
Kingsburg keeps Dinuba winless, Orosi routs Fowler
MVT Staff Report
Just a quarter away from a potential 0-2 start, the Sanger High Apaches rallied for two touchdowns to down the Bullard Knights by a 14- 6 score at Tom Flores Stadium on April 2 in their County Metro Ath- letic Conference opener.
Trailing 6-0 enter- ing the final 12 minutes, Sanger quickly drove for the tying score on Ashton Rodriguez's 13-yard run and went up a point on Mark Botello's PAT kick. On the ensuing Bullard possession, Alan Pelayo intercepted a Bryce Weiner pass and raced 82 yards for the Apaches' second touchdown.
Nick Wise led a spir- ited Sanger defensive effort with 12 tackles, seven solo, while Ga- briel Olmos had seven tackles and one of three SHS sacks. Offensively, Rodriguez rushed for 35 yards and quarterback Josh Pena threw for 39 yards.This Friday, April 9, Sanger plays Edison High in a 7:30 p.m. var- sity start at Sunnyside Stadium in Fresno.
Kingsburg 35, Dinuba 0
At Dinuba on April 2, the Emperors (0-2) were
Reedley
By Will Goldbeck
Contributed
A new season for the Reed- ley College baseball team will start on Saturday, April 10, at Merced College.
"We have a good mix of vet- erans and new players that we look to build off the team that went 15-6 last year," said vet- eran Tiger head coach Steve Pearse.
ABOVE: Sanger High's Ashton Ro- driguez soared into the end zone on a 13-yard scoring run, one of two fourth quarter touchdowns in the Apaches' 14-6 comeback vic- tory over Bullard on April 2.
George Armenta / Photo Contributed
LEFT: Dinuba High's Franscisco Aburto hauled in a pass against the tight coverage of Kingsburg defender Connor McFall (11) dur- ing the Emperors' 35-0 loss on April 2.
MVT Staff Report
Sanger High fin- ished 2-2 at last week's Tulare-Visalia baseball tournament, closing play with a 5-4 loss to the Tulare Western Mustangs at Rawhide Ballpark in Visalia on April 1.
Earlier in the tour- nament, the Apaches (4-2) bounced back from an opening loss to Central Valley Chris- tian on March 29 by scoring double-digit wins over Porterville (14-1 on March 30) and Tulare Union (12-3 on March 31).
Sanger hosts Fire- baugh in the Central Valley Diamond Classic at 6:30 p.m. on Thurs- day, April 8, then hosts Reedley in another CVDC matchup at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 10.
Pirates knock off Clovis
Reedley High capped off a 2-2 fin- ish at the Fresno Eas- ter Classic in style on March 31, pushing across a run in the top of the eighth inning to knock off the previ- ously unbeaten Clovis High Cougars by an 11- 10 score in Clovis.
Hector Palmero belted a two-out triple
and then came home with the deciding run on David Pimmentel's single. Reedley (4-2) erupted for six runs in the second inning to wipe out an early three- run deficit, and pulled out the victory in the eight after Clovis (3- 1) had rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Reedley played at fellow city school Im- manuel High in an eve- ning contest April 6 (re- sults were unavailable at press time).
SOFTBALL Apaches host unbeaten Broncos
Sanger (2-1) hosts unbeaten Clovis North in a 3:30 p.m. start Thursday, April 8, then has a 3:30 p.m. non- league home game against Fowler on Tues- day, April 13.
Dinuba sweeps
Tulare Western
At Dinuba, the Em- peror girls improved to 2-1 on the season with a doubleheader sweep of the Mustangs on March 31.
The hosts pushed across the deciding run in the fifth inning of a 5-4 victory in the opener, then prevailed 3-2 in eight innings in the nightcap.
overpowered by a strong Kingsburg passing game featuring three touch- down passes from quar- terback Jett Jackson. It was the Vikings' second impressive road win, coming on the heels of a 7-6 win at Sanger High on March 26.
Jackson threw had a 20-yard scoring pass to Blake Spomer, a 38-yard scoring hookup with Micah Spoomer and a
20-yard TD pass to tight end Kaden Tate.
This Friday, April 9, Dinuba will play at Selma High in a 7 p.m. kickoff at the Bears' newly remodeled Staley Stadium.
Orosi 35, Fowler 7
At Orosi on April 1, the Cardinals (2-1) wiped out an early deficit as quarterback Evan Lara passed for 157 yards and three touchdowns, all to
Andy Gonzalez / Photo Contributed
senior Aidan Rodriguez. Lara completed 5 of 7 passes, four to Rodri- guez who had 123 receiv- ing yards.
Running back Domi- nic Martinez rushed for 110 yards and a touch- down, giving him 475 yards and seven TDs in three games.
Orosi travels to play Minarets High in a 5 p.m. varsity kickoff on Friday, April 9.
College baseball opens season on April 10
"We have a shortened 28-game season (24 conference games) so we are jumping right into the fire. We are excited to get going and the players have done a good job with the COV- ID protocols and getting their work at practice. Playing four games in four days will be dif- ferent but we feel we will able to be able to handle it.”
The Tiger roster includes a lot of experience players. "We
do have our number one starter Matt Mathis (Clovis East) and our closer in Cameron Gallardo (Redwood) back," Pearse said. "They both had solid years for us in a shortened season."
Pierce expects the fresh- man will give the team some quality innings in the mound. They are Alex Trukki (Made- ra), Isaiah Gastelum (Selma), Ryan Friesen (Immanuel), Ronald Rockey (Central),
Jayden Jones (San Joaquin Memorial) and Ryan Garza (Central). “We believe they will make up the innings that we lost off last year's staff. We had no left-handed pitch- ing on the roster last year so having a couple of left-hand- ers will be obviously be good for us going into the season.”
The newcomers that Pearse feels will contribute are BJ Vela (Pleasant Valley
Chico), Leo Arreguin (Selma), Nilen Peoples (Bullard) and Koby Kropf (Clovis).
After facing Merced on Saturday at noon, Reedley will open its home season on Tuesday, April 13, at 4 p.m. with a non-conference game with Cerro Cero. As of this writing, no fans are being al- lowed but officials are work- ing on a possible live feed of the home games.