Prep football Week 1 rewind: Clovis has plenty of company in D-I race

Clovis High football coach Rich Hammond liked most of what he saw out of The Bee’s Central Section top-ranked Cougars on Friday at Lamonica Stadium.

He was also wary of what went on elsewhere around the Central Section.

“I’m excited to beat a quality program,” Hammond said after his section top-ranked Cougars beat No. 8 Lemoore 41-24 to improve to 2-0. “Things didn’t always go our way tonight, but the kids are responding. We’ve bowed, then come right back and made things happen.”

Hammond then took stock of scores from around the section, including:

▪ Fifth-ranked Clovis West storming back from down 15 at halftime to beat No. 14 Centennial 33-21 in Bakersfield. Adrian Martinez threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Kelly and rushed for a 10-yard score, Julian Hernandez returned a fumble 65 yards to the end zone and Darian Owens caught a 44-yard touchdown on a wide receiver pass from Jayden Helms as the Golden Eagles (2-0) scored 27 unanswered points in the second half.

▪ Defending Division I champion and No. 11 Edison (1-1), a week after stumbling at then-No. 11 Buchanan (1-1), marching into historic Griffith Field and upsetting third-ranked Bakersfield 14-7. The Tigers were bolstered by a trick play that saw running back Damon Rogers throw a 20-yard pass to quarterback Matthew Torres, setting up DeAndre Lockett’s 14-yard, game-winning run. The Drillers, D-I runners-up last year, are 0-2 for the first time in Paul Golla’s 11 seasons as coach.

▪ Fourth-ranked Bullard (2-0) roaring to a three-touchdown first-half lead behind two Jack Taylor scoring passes and a Sidney Washington run before holding off No. 7 Buchanan 21-16. A potential go-ahead touchdown for the Bears –who rallied with a safety and a 3-yard touchdown pass from Josh Friesen to Ezra Owens during the fourth quarter – failed to materialize when Isaiah Tigler was overthrown while streaking wide open down the right sideline in the final minute.

▪ And No. 2 Liberty-Bakersfield – playing without standout quarterback Jordan Love, who suffered a head injury in an opening-week loss to Mission Viejo – tripped up by No. 10 Ridgeview 29-14. Love is expected to return when the Patriots (0-2) clash with Central next week, according to the Bakersfield Californian.

The conclusion Hammond drew was his Cougars have plenty of competition in their pursuit of the D-I championship.

“I know Clovis West is good. I know Bullard is good. Buchanan and Centennial look strong. So do Edison and Bakersfield,” Hammond said. “There are a lot of good football teams out there.”

Buchanan coach Mike Jacot agreed.

“From what we’ve seen this year, this is as wide open as it’s been in awhile,” said Jacot, who noted running back Chuby Dunu (shoulder) and center Ardie Burton (knee) are day-to-day after suffering injuries against Bullard. “It really comes down to matchups. That will be the interesting thing week to week, how you match up with someone.”

Lemoore (1-1) ended up being no match for Clovis, which carved up a physical and fast Tigers defense for 527 yards, including 323 passing by Sean Kuenzinger in his fifth varsity start.

Kuenzinger’s two biggest strikes came in the final 15 seconds of the first half.

After Lemoore went ahead 17-14 on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Logan Ahlin to Reggie Davis, Clovis took possession at its 27. Kuenzinger immediately found JJ Wills for an 18-yard gain that saw 15 yards tacked on following a late-hit penalty on the Tigers on what should have been the second quarter’s final play.

An untimed play followed, with Kuenzinger hitting Coltin Velasquez for a 40-yard touchdown and a lead Clovis would not relinquish.

The Cougars pulled away in the second half behind its defense, which received a fumble recovery for a touchdown from Jared Hill and an interception from Dyllon Hudec that led to Josh Hokit’s 11-yard scoring run for a 34-17 advantage.

Offensively, the Cougars appear loaded with Kuenzinger (who completed 19 of 31 passes, including 11 for 15 or more yards) throwing to Wills (124 yards), Velasquez (91 yards) and Clayton Alexander (70 yards), and a running-back-by-committee led against Lemoore by Hokit (106 yards).

“We’re confident,” Kuenzinger said. “We put up 41 tonight and I think we can be putting up 50. We’re dangerous.”

Clovis avenged a 40-27 loss to Lemoore from last season and cleared its second big hurdle following an opening 27-24 win over Paso Robles, the defending Southern Section Northern Division champion.

“I think we’re playing good football now,” Hammond said. “But I want to be playing our best football at the end. We can’t play well now and lay an egg at the end.

“Our goal is to win a Valley championship.”

The streak continues

The cast has changed but the streak continues for Liberty-Madera Ranchos.

Markie Brandt threw two touchdowns and Chad Wallace added a pair of scoring runs as the two-time reigning D-IV champion Hawks won their state-best 21st straight game, a 33-13 road defeat of D-V No. 3 Mendota.

Liberty won its last five games in 2013, including a 31-19 defeat of Mendota in the D-IV final, before going 14-0 last season capped by a 24-6 win over Central Valley Christian for a second consecutive D-IV title and third straight section championship overall.

The Hawks have kept the ball rolling this season, starting with a 21-13 defeat of Firebaugh, despite returning only one starter on offense (center-turned-right tackle Brett Cazares) and two on defense (strong safety Wallace and inside linebacker Hunter Gray.)

Liberty is now led by the dynamic senior backfield duo of Wallace (127 yards against Mendota) and Jackson Watts (102 yards, one touchdown), and junior quarterback Brandt, who piloted the junior varsity to a 19-1 record the past two seasons.

“Last year’s team was a pretty special group. Coaches are lucky to get one of those teams in a career,” Liberty coach Mike Nolte said. “Going into this year, we had question marks. I knew we had talented kids coming back, but there were questions at the line of scrimmage on both sides and the inexperience we had at the varsity level. There have been times we’ve been worried about it, but the kids have answered the bell. Hopefully, they keep getting better.”

The opportunity for 22 straight comes Friday against D-IV rival and neighboring school Madera South, not that the Hawks talk much about it.

“It might sound cliche or whatever, but we focus on one week at a time, one game at a time,” Nolte said. “(The streak) is enjoyable for sure, but we don’t pay much attention to it. You work hard and play hard and let the chips fall where they may. It’s a great thing going on, but I don’t want to built it up so much that if we drop one, it’s not the end of the world.”

Fast start for Fresno

The last time Fresno was in this position, Gerald Ford was president, Apple was in its infancy and ABBA ruled the music charts.

The Warriors are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 1976, section historian Bob Barnett said, following a 35-14 defeat of Livingston from the Sac-Joaquin Section that featured the team’s fourth defensive touchdown of the season and a 142-yard, two-touchdown performance from running back Nyric Hinton.

“It’s exciting at my old age to see the kids excited about football,” said 65-year-old coach Ray Reyes, in the second season of his second stint as Fresno’s coach.

There’s excitement again after a 7-5 season in 2014 that saw Fresno beat Golden Valley 20-14 in its first playoff game in seven years before losing to eventual D-III champion Hanford 41-16 in a game Reyes said was more competitive than the score indicates.

That comes on the heels of a 21-72 skid in the nine seasons following Reyes’ resignation for health reasons in 2004.

“That was very big for our confidence,” Reyes said of the playoff win. “And even though (Hanford) beat us pretty good, we felt we did a lot of good things in that game. We shoved them around and moved the ball, we just had some fumblitis.

“The six most important inches in football, and in life really, is the space between the ears. Our kids came with confidence and it’s carrying over.”

Fresno’s defense has seven turnovers – including Qevon Harvey’s 35-yard interception return to open the scoring against Livingston – through two games, which is as many as the Warriors had all of last season according to Reyes.

“That’s a good sign for us,” Reyes said. “If we can build on that, with our running game, I like the direction we’re headed.”

Harris moving on up

Tulare’s Romello Harris continued his pursuit of the section’s career rushing record with a 224-yard performance during the No. 9 Redskins’ 35-14 victory at Garces.

Harris increased his three season-plus total to 5,925 yards, passing former Corcoran standout Brant Botill (5,846) for eighth-best all time, Barnett said. Harris needs 2,105 yards to surpass the 8,029 of Mendota’s Edgar Segura (2011-13).

Harris scored three touchdowns – on runs of 25, 36 and 19 yards – to help Tulare improve to 2-0.

Harris, hoping to draw scholarship offers from USC and Florida with a strong early-season showing, has 557 yards and eight touchdowns.

And the band played on (and on)

Harry Kargenian has announced 515 football games over 44 years at Tulare’s Bob Mathias Stadium.

Mission Oak’s five-overtime, 25-19 win over Washington on Friday was the longest, clocking in at 3 hours, 31 minutes.

“It was pretty crazy,” Hawks coach Mark Gambini said. “Both teams had numerous opportunities to put it away and neither took advantage. We were lucky to get out of there with a win.”

Mission Oak, ranked 19th in the section, finally brought the game to an end at 11:05 p.m. on Jeffrey DeMacabalin’s 1-yard run.

The teams traded touchdowns in the second extra session, but otherwise mostly met with frustration after the final gun of regulation. Both missed field goal attempts in the third OT.

Mission Oak’s Jose Polamera had two interceptions to stop Washington drives in overtime. Jamaza Williamson, who finished with 17 tackles for the Panthers (0-2), blocked a field goal to thwart one Mission Oak attempt at ending the game.

“The kids were exhausted physically and emotionally, but I was proud of them,” Gambini said. “They kept battling.”

The five overtimes ties for second-most in section history, according to Barnett, behind the 62-56, six-overtime thriller Clovis and Porterville played in 1993.

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Prep football Week 1 rewind: Clovis has plenty of company in D-I race."