High school football roundup: Central East rolls; Tulare, Edison win nail-biters
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- Central East opened 2025 with a dominant 41-12 win over Inglewood at home.
- Tulare Union secured a 27-24 comeback victory on a late TD by Jordan Crisp.
- Madera’s Anthony Estrada and Lawrence Flores delivered explosive scoring plays.
Beating Central East could be a tough task if Friday’s result is any indication.
The Bee’s top-ranked Bengals jumped out to a 14-0 lead over Inglewood and rolled to a 41-12 victory at Koligian Stadium in the season opener for Central East.
“The kids played hard,” Central East coach Kyle Biggs said. “That’s what I asked them to do. They played as hard as they could, and I was satisfied with the effort.”
Arizona commit Brandon Smith scored on a 31-yard run to open the scoring for Central East in the first quarter.
The Bengals were already too much for the Sentinels on the defensive side. Bayon Harris forced a fumble that was recovered by Lonzo Jenkins.
Central East capitalized on the turnover when Jelani Dippel connected on a 31-yard touchdown to EJ Morgan. Dippel finished with three touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown, and Smith had two TDs.
Biggs was pleased how the defense played throughout the game.
“We were just trying to take away the run, take away the easy throws and make them have to take shots to try to beat us,” he said. “We started to make them play a low-percentage volume, and our defense did a real good job. We won our one-on-one matchups on the outside, and did a good job of getting in those gaps.”
Clovis 48, Central Valley Christian 0
Deagan Rose threw for three touchdowns in the Cougars’ convincing win over the Cavaliers. University of Miami commit Israel Briggs had an 8-yard run in his debut with the Cougars. Briggs recently transferred from Redwood. He started his high school football career at Mt. Whitney.
Clovis North 42, San Joaquin Memorial 14
Carson Seiler (1-yard run), JR Cruz (25-yard run) and Lucas Smith’s 73-yard touchdown pass to Tyree Sams was more than enough for the Broncos. Smith had another touchdown pass in the second half.
Tulare Union 27, St. Joseph 24
Jordan Crisp ran for a 2-yard score to give Tulare Union the victory with 12 seconds remaining.
Trailing 24-21, the Tribe went for it on fourth down, with Crisp completing a pass to Demaje Riley to the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Crisp ran it in for a TD.
“Hell of a game,” Tulare coach Darren Bennett said. “It was a good win for us. We overcame a lot of adversity. We made some dumb mistakes and we overcame them.”
Madera 49, Sunnyside 15
Freshman RB Anthony Estrada scored on a 98-yard touchdown run to highlight the Coyotes’ domination over the Wildcats at Sunnyside Stadium.
While Madera’s offense was clicking, so was the defense.
Just ask Lawrence Flores who had a 104-yard interception return for a touchdown just before halftime for a 35-8 lead.
Flores wasn’t done.
He had a kickoff return that went 90 yards for a touchdown to give Madera a 42-8 lead.
Flores finished with two interceptions.
Edison 28, Templeton 20 (OT)
Kingston Johnson completed a pass to Jharon Biddix for the go-ahead TD and the duo scored on a two-point conversion to give the Tigers a dramatic win.
It is the first win for Johnny Sears as the Edison head coach. He took over last and when the Tigers finished 0-10.
The Bee’s predictions
The Bee went 7-1 in the first predictions of the 2025 season with the lone loss coming in the Madera and Sunnyside game.
The Coyotes overmatched the Wildcats 49-15. Or else it would’ve been a clean slate for The Bee.
The Bee correctly picked Clovis East, Clovis, Sanger, Roosevelt, Fowler and Clovis North to win, and they did.
Top 25 fared
1. Central East (1-0)
Defeated Inglewood 41-12
Up next: Aug. 29, at Grant-Sacramento, 7 p.m.
2. Frontier (0-1)
Lost to Oak Ridge 40-7
Up next: Aug. 29, Liberty-Brentwood at Frontier, 7:30 p.m.
3. Clovis East (1-0)
Defeated Bullard 26-7
Up next: Aug. 29 at Kingsburg, 7:30 p.m.
4. Clovis West (0-1)
Lost to Edison-Huntington Beach 20-13
Up next: Aug. 29 at Liberty-Bakersfield, 7:30 p.m.
5. Clovis (1-0)
Defeated Central Valley Christian 48-0
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Salinas, 7:30 p.m.
6. Clovis North (1-0)
Defeated San Joaquin Memorial 42-14
Up next: Aug. 29 at Redwood, 7:30 p.m.
7. Tulare Union (1-0)
Defeated St. Joseph 27-24
Up next: Aug. 29 at El Diamante, 7:30 p.m.
8. Liberty-Bakersfield (0-1)
Lost to Mountain Vista 49-45
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Clovis West, 7:30 p.m.
9. Bullard (0-1)
Lost to Clovis East 26-7
Up next: Aug. 29 at Mayfair, 7 p.m.
10. Sanger (1-0)
Defeated Dinuba 36-13
Up next: Aug. 28 at Hanford, 7 p.m.
11. Arroyo Grande (0-1)
Lost to Golden West 35-28
Up next: Aug. 29 at Newbury Park, 7 p.m.
12. Bakersfield Christian (1-0)
Defeated Faith Lutheran 28-20
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Tehachapi, 7:30 p.m.
13. Buchanan (0-1)
Lost to Bakersfield 28-13
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Kennedy, 7:30 p.m.
14. Bakersfield (1-0)
Defeated Buchanan 28-13
Up next: Aug. 28 at Garfield, 7 p.m.
15. Centennial (0-1)
Lost to Redwood 41-20
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Moorpark, 7:30 p.m.
16. Central Valley Christian (0-1)
Lost to Clovis 48-0
Up next: Aug. 29 at Tulare Western, 7:30 p.m.
17. Golden West (1-0)
Defeated Arroyo Grande 35-28
Up next: Aug. 29 at Dinuba, 7:30 p.m.
18. Kennedy (1-0)
Defeated Hanford 29-28
Up next: Aug. 29 at Buchanan, 7:30 p.m.
19. Redwood (1-0)
Defeated Centennial 41-20
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Clovis North, 7:30 p.m.
20. St. Joseph (0-1)
Lost to Tulare Union 27-24
Up next: Aug. 29 at Edison, 7 p.m.
21. Tulare Western (1-0)
Defeated El Diamante 55-0
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Central Valley Christian, 7:30 p.m.
22. Kerman (1-0)
Defeated Torres 48-0
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Caruthers, 7:30 p.m.
23. Kingsburg (1-0)
Defeated Paso Robles 24-14
Up next: Aug. 29 vs. Clovis East, 7 p.m.
24. Hanford (0-1)
Lost to Kennedy 29-28
Up next: Aug. 28 vs. Sanger, 7 p.m.
25. Porterville (0-1)
Lost to Wasco 14-7
Up next: Aug. 29 at Chavez, 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published August 23, 2025 at 7:55 AM.
