Prep football Week 4 roundup: No. 1 Clovis holds off Centennial 28-27
Top-ranked Clovis escaped a late scare, beating Centennial 28-27 on Friday night when Cesar De Leon’s fourth-down pass went incomplete with just seconds remaining.
Fabian Serna’s 15-yard touchdown run, on a drive helped by 55 yards in penalties, gave the Cougars a 28-21 lead in the third quarter.
That came just after the No. 16 Golden Hawks (3-2) had tied it on Cole Beaty’s kickoff return to start the second half.
Clovis enters its bye week 5-0 and will host Clovis East in a Tri-River Athletic Conference opener Oct. 9.
Trailing 28-21, Centennial endured a series of missed second-half opportunities. It appeared the Golden Hawks would forge another tie late in the third quarter on Hunter Giuletti’s 1-yard touchdown run, but Clovis blocked Jacob Benjamin’s extra-point attempt.
Benjamin later missed a 37-yard field goal, Beaty had a would-be 67-yard punt return touchdown called back by a holding penalty and Centennial also wasted a first-and-goal situation with less than 5 minutes left when it lost a fumbled snap.
Clovis drove inside the Centennial 20 in an attempt to run the clock out, but the Cougars turned the ball over on downs with 1:13 to play. Centennial drove to its 42 before stalling with four straight incomplete passes. On his final pass, De Leon was hit hard and remained on the field for several minutes before walking off under his own power.
Beaty, who scored three of Centennial’s four touchdowns, also returned a kickoff for a score in the first half — after Clovis had marched 73 yards in 56 seconds for an opening touchdown. Beaty has four kickoff returns and a punt return for a touchdown this season.
Centennial never led in this one, as Nash Vidmar, who finished with 93 rushing yards, scored on a 44-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.
The Golden Hawks answered with De Leon’s 11-yard TD pass to Beaty. Clovis retook the lead before halftime with a 40-yard scoring strike from Sean Kuenzinger to J.J. Wills, but Beaty’s return to open the second half knotted it at 21.
Kuenzinger came into the game averaging more than 300 yards per game with 15 touchdowns and just one interception, but he struggled in this one. He finished 6 of 18 for 107 yards, two touchdowns and a Beaty interception.
Centennial finished with a 345-335 edge in total yards.
No. 6 Clovis North 38, Merced 35
Springboarding off a 17-10 conquest of defending section D-I champion Edison, the Broncos received 165 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Jayson Lee, a 75-yard interception return for a score from Jay Vidinoff and a 55-yard punt return for a TD by Andrew Tockey to win the nonleague game against the Bears of the Sac-Joaquin Section on the road Thursday.
Tockey’s score gave Clovis North (2-2) at 31-14 lead in the second quarter.
Merced (1-3) had reduced the gap to 31-28 on a 2-yard run by Ulonzo Gilliam with 8:41 remaining before Lee hurdled Bears safety Paul Scoggins en route to a 30-yard scoring run that made it 38-28 with 4:33 to go.
“I saw their last man and I saw him duck his head,” Lee told The Merced Sun-Star. “I just jumped at the last second. It was a natural reaction.”
Jeremy Miller, a left-hander and one of several juniors having impact seasons passed for the Broncos, passed for 88 yards and a TD.
Clovis North had gathered momentum with the win two weeks ago against Edison after having lost 30-24 to Franklin-Elk Grove and 42-25 to Folsom, which is 5-0 and ranked No. 5 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports.
Further, at 0-2, the Broncos had a game aganst Buhach Colony-Atwater canceled because of poor air quality.
“It was a difficult way to start the season,” Clovis North coach Tim Simons said. “So we needed a good, positive football game (against Edison), and we got it.”
Juniors playing well defensively for the Broncos have been cornerbacks David Akande and Isaiah Cordorva and linebackers Noah Haupt and Erick Kroll.
Porterville 28, No. 18 Dinuba 27
Justin Duran caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Alfredo Verduzco and Lenny Martinez added the point-after kick with 9 seconds left as the Panthers rallied past the Emperors.
Dinuba (3-2) had pulled ahead 27-21 earlier in the fourth quarter on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Leppke to Adrian Garza. The Emperors came back from a 21-7 halftime deficit on touchdown runs of 2 and 21 yards by Elijah Benham.
Porterville received scoring runs of 1 and 5 yards from Isaiah Jones and a 1-yarder by Verduzco in the first half.
No. 19 Clovis East 62, Overfelt 12
Marcus Washington rushed for 319 yards and five touchdowns as the Timberwolves – a week after allowing 61 in a loss to Sunnyside – routed the Mustangs from San Jose.
Trey Semien passed just 11 times but completed seven – three for TDs, including a pair to Tanner Tucker during a first quarter that saw Clovis East (3-2) blow out to a 34-0 lead while tuning up for No. 1 Clovis.
The Timberwolves will be looking to break a five-game losing streak against the Cougars, a skid that includes a 61-35 defeat in the TRAC opener a year ago.
No. 20 Madera 45, Tulare Western 24
The Coyotes stormed back from a 24-0 halftime deficit by returning two interceptions for touchdowns in the second half against the Mustangs.
Rhett Lopez brought a pick back 3 yards for a score in the third quarter, while Ralph Rodriguez went 35 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown that sealed the win for Madera (4-0), also second-ranked behind Hanford in Division III.
The Coyotes comeback also featured Jerry Hernandez touchdown passes of 13 yards to Chris Molina and 36 yards to Kristopher Bueno, scoring runs of 8 and 9 yards by Pablo Villasana and Christopher Chapa, respectively, and a 37-yard field goal by Evan Rios.
Tulare Western (2-2) went up big early courtesy of touchdown passes of 54 and 29 yards from Damarin Patterson to Jesse Macias, a 1-yard Patterson run and a 45-yard field goal by Cameron Horsting.
Washington 21, Hoover 0
Quarterback Ashanti Ross scored three TDs – two passing and one rushing – to lead the visiting Panthers (2-2) over the Patriots (0-4) for their second win in a row.
Ross’s favorite target was receiver Johnny Rodriguez, who had three catches for 114 yards, two of them for scores – including a 93-yard strike in the fourth quarter.
Ross hit 6 of 16 passes for 150 yards.
Jose Medina led Hoover with 40 yards rushing on 19 carries and 119 yards passing on 11 of 22 attempts.
Kingsburg 35, Reedley 20
The Vikings (2-2) scored 14 unanswered points on the heels of running back Seth Brooks and sank the Pirates (0-4) on their home field.
Brooks put Kingsburg on top via a 15-yard scamper in the first quarter and kept his team in front by adding three more scores on runs of 28, 2 and 1 yards to finish with 285 yards rushing on 30 carries.
Reedley quarterback Kevin Valladares had two touchdowns, including a 1-yard dive to bring the Pirates within one before halftime. Valladares finished with 118 yards passing on 7 of 16 attempts to go with 76 yards rushing on 14 carries.
Mendota 53, Yosemite 14
Down 7-0 in the first quarter, the Aztecs (2-2) scored 46 unanswered points as seven different players scored touchdowns in a thrashing of the winless Badgers (0-3) on Friday.
Quarterback Junior Cardenas threw three scores to three separate receivers and finished the night with 212 yards passing on 14 of 19 attempts. Marquez Navarro led the Aztecs on the ground, running for 93 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown. He also caught a 15-yard score.
Tristan Eames put Yosemite ahead first on a 15-yard touchdown pass to Austen Burgano. Eames was 12 of 24 passing for 102 yards.
Central 38, Buhach Colony 15
Nick Spzor threw touchdown passes to three different receivers to help the Grizzlies (1-3) post their first win of the season against the Thunder (2-2) of Atwater and the Sac-Joaquin Section.
The game on Thursday was a late addition to Central’s schedule, coming on what was planned to be a bye week, after a having a game against Liberty-Bakersfield canceled because of poor air quality.
Spzor’s first scoring toss, a 15-yarder to Nate Howard in the first quarter, tied the score at 7-7. His second, a 42-yarder to Cameron Johnson, sent Central into halftime with a 21-7 lead. And his third, a 2-yarder to Javon Bigelow, helped put the score out of reach in the fourth quarter.
Spzor finished 15 of 25 for 192 yards.
The Grizzlies also received 93 yards rushing and a touchdown from Dennis Laney, a 20-yard touchdown run by Johnson and a 42-yard field goal from Tiago Piam.
McLane 31, Kerman 28
Julian Kelley and Ricardo Arias connected for three touchdowns, including a 60-yard strike, to lead the Highlanders (2-2) past the Lions (1-2) in a nonleague game Thursday.
Kelley finished 16 of 25 for 242 yards, while Arias hauled in six of Kelley’s passes for 120 yards.
Fowler 42, Lindsay 7
Matt Kahaian was near-perfect under center, going 16 of 18 for 220 yards and four touchdowns as the Redcats (2-1) cruised past the visiting Cardinals (1-4).
Raymond Ramirez rushed for 128 yards on five carries to lead D-V second-ranked Fowler, which finished the game with 491 yards of total offense. Ethan Duran rushed for 97 yards on 21 carries and scored a touchdown for Lindsay.
Mt. Whitney 22, El Diamante 14
Isaiah Salazar passed for a touchdown and rushed for another as the Pioneers (3-2) defeated the Miners (2-3) in a West Yosemite League opener.
Isaac Campos scored on a 2-yard run, giving Mt. Whitney a 22-7 lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter.
Sierra 15, Parlier 12
Jake Figgs caught a 62-yard touchdown pass from Tim Lee and scored on a 10-yard run in the first half to help the Chieftains (1-3) down the Panthers (0-4).
The difference came on special teams, where Sierra got a PAT kick from Chad Fisher and a 2-point run from Cole Menininger.
Parlier failed on its point-after attempts, missing a kick following Victor Cisneros’ 1-yard run and failing on a 2-point run after Cisneros’ 15-yard score in the third quarter.
Selma 62, Roosevelt 0
Jordan Dominguez rushed for 95 yards, including touchdowns of 1, 8 and 50 yards, to power the Bears (4-0) over the Rough Riders (1-3).
Selma got off to a quick start behind Tiveon Stroud and Joel Aranda. Stroud returned a punt 56 yards for a score and caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Henry Ramirez Jr. Aranda caught a 42-yard strike and rushed for a 38-yard score in the first half.
Chowchilla 55, Dos Palos 6
Alex Gutierrez scored on runs of 31, 39 and 32 yards, caught a 4-yard scoring pass from Ryan Selby and returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown as the D-IV third-ranked Redskins (4-1) rolled over the Broncos (1-3).
Gutierrez rushed for 196 yards on 10 carries while Anthony Stewart added 118 yards rushing, including 66-yard scoring run. Stewart also caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Selby.
The Merced Sun-Star and Bakersfield Californian contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Prep football Week 4 roundup: No. 1 Clovis holds off Centennial 28-27."