High school football Fresno-area preview: New leagues, new coaches and top games to watch
Fresno-area high school football is different this season, from new coaches to new teams playing their first varsity games to new leagues.
Here is a rundown of what to follow. The first games are Thursday, Aug. 18.
Get familiar with the new leagues, teams
Say goodbye to the West Sequoia and North Sequoia leagues.
And hello to the Northwest Sequoia League and Tri-County Conference.
The North Yosemite League and County/Metro Athletic Conference are still around, but with some new wrinkles. Same in the South Valley for the East Yosemite and West Yosemite leagues.
At least the Tri-River Athletic Conference stayed the same — the five Clovis Unified schools plus Central.
The shakeup is routine, part of regular cycles of realignment in the California Interscholastic Federation Central Section. Each school, district and league was able to make proposals, section Commissioner Ryan Tos said, and section offficers went through the proposals and created one proposal that was voted on. The realignment passed by a wide margin, Tos said.
Here are the notable changes:
County/Metro Athletic Conference: Bullard, Edison, Justin Garza, Madera, Sanger, San Joaquin Memorial
West Yosemite League: Dinuba, Hanford, Lemoore, Mission Oak, Tulare, Tulare Western
East Yosemite League: El Diamante, Golden West, Monache, Mt. Whitney, Porterville, Redwood
North Yosemite League: Fresno, Madera South, Matilda Torres, McLane, Roosevelt, Sanger West, Sunnyside
Northwest Sequoia League: Caruthers, Chowchilla, Fowler, Liberty-Madera Ranchos, Minarets, Riverdale, Yosemite, Parlier
Tri-County-Kings Canyon League: Central Valley Christian, Kerman, Kingsburg, Selma, Washington Union
Tri-County-Sequoia League: Exeter, Hanford West, Immanuel, Reedley, Sierra Pacific
(The Tri-County is unique in that the five-team alignments are fluid based on sport and program strength and can change annually. Each league acts independently.)
Top games to watch
Rivalry games endure with an allure all their own, no matter the records. Then there are the matchups that whet fans’ appetites. Here are 10 to watch.
Clovis vs. Long Beach Poly: This game will be played at Lamonica Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 18, a rare visit by the Southern California powerhouse to the Valley.
Bullard vs. Hanford: What a way to start off the season with two teams that made noise last season. This game will be played on Friday, Aug. 19 at Ratcliffe Stadium.
Central vs. San Joaquin Memorial: They met in the 2021 playoffs; now they have a regular-season date Aug. 26 at Koligian Stadium.
Kingsburg vs. Sunnyside: This game will be played Aug. 26 at Sunnyside Stadium, and it figures to be high-scoring.
Buchanan vs. Liberty-Bakersfield: Could this be a preview of the section championship? The Bears visit the Patriots on Sept. 9.
Central Valley Christian vs. Clovis North: The Cavaliers are loaded with a lot of talent, led by senior Jaeden Moore. The TRAC’s Broncos figure to be a test on Sept. 9 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Central vs. Liberty-Bakersfield: An alternative preview to the section championship? It’s Sept. 16 at Koligian Stadium.
Buchanan vs. San Joaquin Memorial: The Panthers wanted a tough schedule and they got it. This game will be hosted by Memorial on Sept. 16.
Central vs. Buchanan: This matchup has determined the TRAC title for several years. The 2022 game will be played Oct. 7 at Koligian Stadium.
Central Valley Christian vs. Kingsburg: This game could decide the league champion. The game will be played in Kingsburg on Oct. 14.
New coaches arrive in the TRAC
The Tri-River Athletic Conference welcomes three new coaches: Aaron Wilkins of Clovis; Ross Wood of Buchanan and Brandon Naegle of Clovis East.
Wood was promoted after Matt Giordano stepped down at the end of last season, after the Bears won back-to-back TRAC titles.
Wilkins takes over from Rich Hammond, who is now the Reedley College offensive coordinator.
Naegle replaces Ryan Reynolds after five seasons.
More new coaches
Here is a look at some other new coaches in the area.
Matt Logue, Sanger: Takes over the reigns for Jorge Pena who retired at the end of last season. Logue previously spent several seasons at Selma.
Dwayne Wright, Roosevelt: The former Fresno State star running back heads into his first head coaching after he was an assistant on the prep and junior college level. He takes over for Vince Branstetter.
Shannon Pulliam, Minarets: The former Lemoore coach is back on the sideline as the head man. He was also the coach at Hoover and Sunnyside.
Marty Martin, Mission Oak: Comes to the Hawks after previous stops at Kerman, Clovis West and Mt. Whitney. He replaces Michael Machado who is now at College of the Sequoias.
Travis Anderson, Golden West: He gets his first head coaching opportunity after he was the defensive coordinator at Mt. Whitney. He played at Bullard, College of the Sequoias and Humboldt State. He takes over for Brian Allen.
Damon Jenkins, Kerman: The former Fresno State standout makes his coaching debut this season. He was an assistant at Clovis West and Justin Garza.
Devin Ramos, El Diamante: The interim tag was taken off in December 2021, replacing Chris Frankland.
Welcome to varsity football
Robinson Thompson at Sanger West and Yosef Fares at Justin Garza will lead the way in first varsity games this season.
Thompson was hired to be the Hornets’ coach after spending time at Sanger High.
Fares guides Justin Garza after he previously coached at Madera and Bullard.
Sanger West opens at Sanger while Justin Garza hosts Immanuel at Koligian Stadium, where a dedication will be made to the late Justin Garza, who coached at Central.
Yosef Fares learns with NFL’s Falcons
While Justin Garza got ready for its first varsity game, Fares spent three weeks in Atlanta getting plenty of knowledge to bring back to Fresno.
He was on the NFL sidelines when the Falcons visited the Detroit Lions on Friday.
Fares was at the Falcons’ training camp as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, thanks in part to Falcons special teams coordinator Marquice Williams, a Fresno native and Bullard graduate.
Williams had a similar role in 2013 when the Chicago Bears selected him to participate in the Bill Walsh fellowship.
The program is designed to give coaches an opportunity to observe, participate and gain experience in hopes of a full-time NFL coaching position.
Williams was in the program again with the Lions in 2015 before beginning his full-time NFL career with the Chargers as an assistant special teams coach in 2016.
This story was originally published August 13, 2022 at 12:23 PM.
