VISALIA - Meet the new, sleeker version of the El Diamante High football team.
It looks a little different from the squad that reached the Central Section Division II final last season, but it's still registering the same dominating results.Aaron Sing, a running back who's probably 3 inches shorter and at least 35 pounds lighter than last year's featured back, broke free for 213 yards and five touchdowns to lead the 11th-ranked Miners to a 37-21 victory over crosstown rival Redwood on Friday night at Mineral King Bowl."Even though we're smaller, we're faster," said Sing, who got better as the game went on, as his second-to-last run went for a 64-yard, game-sealing touchdown with 1:50 remaining in the fourth quarter. "Everyone was counting us out this year because we're not the big, powerful team we used to be, but we're working hard."The Miners (7-1, 4-0) took control of the West Yosemite League race with the victory, their 20th straight in league play. El Diamante, the only team without a loss in the league, wraps up against Hanford and Golden West."We talked about league as a six-game series," Miners coach Mark Rogers said. "This was a big step, but we still have two left. This was just step four."El Diamante has put itself in position to win a third-straight WYL title without the players who helped make it happen the past two years, namely tackle Greg Capella, a UCLA recruit who anchored a huge offensive line, and 2,000-yard running back and Nevada recruit Stefphon Jefferson.The Miners remain a power running team behind an offensive line featuring five new starters: tackles Joe Ortiz and Kevin Brewer, guards Nelson Brasil and Jacob Valenzuela and center Taylor Morgan. Only Brewer, at 6-1, 280, compares in size to the person he replaced."We're kind of a mix right now," said the 5-11, 185-pound Morgan. "We use speed and intelligence."El Diamante's offensive line paved the way for Sing, Blake Shahan, Josh Lorentzen and Patrick Rubio to combine for 307 yards rushing.And those are numbers that fall in line with the best of previous versions of the Miners."It's all tradition," Brasil said. "We know we're smaller than last year's guys, so we work twice as hard to get the results."Sing's touchdowns covered 13, 4, 1, 32 and 64 yards. The 32-yarder came on the first play after Rubio's 58-yard kickoff return that immediately followed a 4-yard touchdown run by Redwood's Dillon Root. Sing's score gave El Diamante a 27-14 lead with 1:51 left in the fourth quarter."That killed us," Redwood coach John Yavasile said. "It put the dagger in our hearts. We were getting opportunities and we would end up giving it right back to them."The Rangers (3-5, 3-1) committed five turnovers."We established some drives but we didn't finish drives," Yavasile said. "That always haunts you in a game like this."