Page 13 - Mid Valley Times 1-16-20 E-edition

Th
Sanger splits
games before
starting league
ursday, January 16, 2020
Danny Jimenez / Photo Contributed
Reedley High forward Tomas Alvarez dribbled the ball upfield as he was chased by Roosevelt High’s Eric Contreras during the Pirates’ 1-0 victory on Jan. 9 at Sal Gonzalez Field.
MVT Staff Report
Before entering league play this week, the Sanger High varsity boys’ basketball team split their two non-conference games last week against two teams from Fresno. The Apaches beat Fres- no High, 82-66, on Jan. 8 before losing to Hoover High in a home game on Friday, Jan. 10, by a score of 69-44.
Last Wednesday’s vic- tory against the Warriors gave the Apaches double- digit wins for the season, as sophomore Jon Dillon led the way for Sanger with 19 points and fresh- man forward Kaleb Cole collected a double-double by scoring 16 points and hauling in 10 rebounds.
Also scoring in double-
digits were Sanger High senior guard Alejandro Mendibles, who finished with 11 points and four steals, and Luke Dillon, chipping in with 11 points and eight assists.
The victory over the Warriors gave the Apach- es yet another win over a higher division school. Fresno entered last week’s matchup with a 9-3 overall record and had won seven of their previ- ous eight games. Also, ac- cording to maxpreps.com, the Warriors are the No. 1 ranked team in the Cen- tral Section’s Division 2.
But the Apaches strug- gled with Division 3’s Hoover on Friday night. Coming in with a 7-7 over-
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Reedley boys' soccer begin NYL play with two wins, stay unbeaten
Sanger High's Kaleb Cole collected a double-double in the Apache's 82-66 win over Fresno High on Jan. 8, scoring 16 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.
Lady Apaches enter league play with best overall record
Emperors rise above Pirates
Rick Curiel / Mid Valley Times
MVT Staff Report
Reedley High School’s magi- cal boys soccer season moved into North Yosemite League play last week with more of the same results: victory.
The Pirates — who have yet to taste defeat this season with 12 wins and five draws in 17 matches — prevailed in a pair of 1-0 thrill- ers to open the NYL season. The first was a double-overtime road win at Fresno High on Jan. 7, fol- lowed by a regulation decision over the Roosevelt Rough Riders on Jan. 9 at Sal Gonzalez Field.
“If you would have told me we would have been undefeated at this point of the season, after 17 games, I wouldn’t have believed it,” said RHS coach Eric Velarde. “Even though I know how good this team is. But we played four
games in two days in a tourna- ment [the Pirates collected two wins and two ties] and we were missing some players [during win- ter break].”
Senior striker Phillip Rico scored both goals for RHS; against Fresno in the second extra session and in the first five minutes of action against Roosevelt. He has 24 goals on the season, a number Velarde said is threatening the single-season school record for goals set by the coach’s brother, Anthony Velarde.
Rico has received solid sup- port from fellow seniors Tomas Alvarez (leading the team with 10 assists) and Junior Elizondo, according to coach Velarde. The Pirates have excelled despite a rugged pre-league schedule, and have earned a high ranking while competing in Division 2.
Reedley had two NYL road matches this week, playing at McLane on Jan. 14 (results were unavailable at press time) and at Sunnyside on Thursday, Jan. 16 in a 5 p.m. start. The Pirates close out the first round of play with a 5:30 p.m. home match against Hoover on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
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Reedley High’s girls split their two matches to open North Yo- semirte League play last week. The Pirates (3-14-2) edged Fresno bya2-1scoreatRHSonJan.8, then fell 2-0 in Fresno against Roo- sevelt High on Jan. 10.
The Pirates hosted McLane on Jan. 15, then are home against Sunnyside High in a 5:30 p.m. start at Sal Gonzalez Field on Friday, Jan. 17. Reedley closes out the first round of league on the road at Hoover on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
MVT Staff Report
Sanger High juniors Taylor Roth and Andrea Chapa once again led the Lady Apaches to another victory, as the team col- lected their thirteenth vic- tory of the season by beat- ing Sunnyside, 48-36, on Thursday, Jan. 9.
Sanger took an early 17-10 lead after the first quarter against the Wild- cats and never looked back, taking a 25-17 lead into halftime.
Roth led the Lady Apaches in scoring with 13 points. She also had six rebounds and five assists. Chapa chipped in 11 points as she knocked down three from beyond the arc. She also had four steals in the game.
Sunnyside was led by sophomore Briajane Wheeler who finished with
14 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
With a 13-5 overall re- cord, the Lady Apaches en- tered CMAC play on Tues- day with the best record in the league. Edison, who Sanger played in their first league game on Tuesday, came in with a 7-4 record – second best in league.
Results for Tuesday night’s game were unavail- able at press time.
Sanger will host Made- ra South in their second league game tomorrow night. As of Jan. 14, the Stallions were 10-6 overall, the third best record in the league.
The team will be on the road next week when they travel to take on Madera High on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Varsity tipoff for both Madera and Madera South games is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
George M. Villagrana / Mid Valley Times
Dinuba High's Elias Flores goes in for two of his 15 points during a late 17-0 scoring run for the Emperors.
By George M. Villagrana
Mid Valley Times
It didn’t take long for Dinuba High’s boys bas- ketball team to get going in its non-league basket- ball showdown with Reed- ley High on Jan. 11.
The Emperors put the pedal to the metal from the start, rolling to a 73-44 non-league win over the visiting Pirates.
The Emperors full- court pressure forced several Pirate turnovers, leading to fast break op- portunities and quick ball movement that led to open perimeter shots. The re- sult was a 20-0 lead, much to the delight of the home crowd and coach Jeff Schofield.
“When we move the ball like that, we’re pretty effective offensively,” he said.
The Pirates ended the scoring drought a basket by Leo Hernandez with just under 4 minutes in
the first quarter. Reedley was never able make a significant run in the first half as it trailed 29-9 after the first quarter and 42-21 at the break.
Momentum began to shift in the opening min- utes of the third quarter. Reedley hacked the defi- cit to 11 points with a 16- 6 run sparked by Auggie Villareal, who scored eight straight points. Schofield then called a 30 second timeout with under 1:30 in the third quarter.
“We knew Reedley was not going to quit, they play really hard,” he said. “We got away from what we wanted to do offensively and the kids did well.”
Dinuba’s Josh Magaña, who led all scorers with 17 points, recorded a pair of assists to Brian Campbell and Elias Flores before draining a 3 to start a 17- 0 run. Reedley wouldn’t score again until 4:25 in
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