Week 2 prep football rewind: Fresno-area schools take financial hits on cancellations

Walked out to my truck today, found a disgusting layer of ash, grabbed the California Duster and cleared it off – temporary relief, of course, as the gray rain continued to pour.

All of which further substantiated what Fresno County high school athletic officials had been telling me all morning as we deal with the fallout from the Rough fire to our east: Players’ health is of ultimate concern when canceling or postponing football games because of foul air quality, and nothing else matters.

True, but with an asterisk.

Football revenue carries athletic department budgets, and to lose a home game is to lose a bundle.

“Ten grand,” says Washington athletic director and former football coach Jeff Freitas, estimating the loss of having the Panthers’ game with rival Kingsburg called off Friday night – one of at least nine Central Section cancellations, most to the north. That included Liberty-Bakersfield at Central, which had been moved from Friday to Saturday, then was scratched a second time.

“This is all about safety,” Freitas is quick to add. “Finances are a secondary issue.”

Clovis Unified officials, who lost home games for Clovis North (vs. Buhach Colony-Atwater at Veterans Memorial Stadium) and Clovis West (vs. Turlock at Lamonica Stadium), say the combination of tickets, concessions and parking is generally good for $6,000 to $12,000 a Friday night pop.

And, again, an athletic director takes a stance.

“There’s no money amount whatsoever that enters into the conversation,” says Clovis North’s Coby Lindsey.

No doubt.

But no doubting this, either: A school like Washington, which can use every buck, will now find it a bit more difficult to purchase uniforms, equipment and tournament entry fees.

“Mother Nature,” Freitas sighs. “It is unfortunate.”

Clovis QB among state’s hottest – Sean Kuenzinger is throwing deep, he’s throwing accurate, and Clovis, consequently, is 3-0, top-ranked in the section, No. 22 in the state and rising.

“He’s been very aggressive getting the ball downfield but, at the same time, very safe with it – and that’s not an easy thing to do,” Cougars coach Rich Hammond says. “Yes, we’ve got guys who get open, but you have to complete the passes.”

Kuenzinger, a senior and 6-0 as a starter in two seasons, completed 14 of 21 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns without an interception in a 28-0 nonleague win at Atwater on Friday.

That further polished season numbers that rank with the state’s finest: 43 of 69 (.623) for 906 yards with 10 TDs and one interception.

Kuenzinger has the section’s top receiving combination in Coltin Velasquez (15 receptions, 385 yards, six TDs) and J.J. Wills (15-318-3).

And the quarterback also has an elite tight end, Clayton Alexander, who teams with additional excellence up front in tackles Seth Nevills and Shayne Valdez, guards Tyler Collier and Bubba Hernandez, and center Eric Delk.

Josh Hokit, the latest in a line of outstanding Cougars safeties, delivered 16 tackles and a fumble recovery at Atwater in a game Clovis led 28-0 at halftime.

Outside linebacker Jared Hill and end Daniel Varian have also had dominant defensive seasons for the Tri-River Athletic Conference’s Clovis, which has made the D-I semis in four of the past five seasons but hasn’t won section gold since 2002.

The Cougars will return to Lamonica Stadium on Friday night to play Stockdale of the Southwest Yosemite League in a game sure to impact the D-I seedings in two months.

Hanford trio throttles Dinuba – Clearly, Hanford has the goods to capture a second consecutive section championship for a 116-year program that had zero before last season.

The Bullpups unleashed their offensive trifecta of Ryan Johnson, Joseph McDaniel and Juwuane Hughes on Friday, and the defense was as effective as the section’s eighth-ranked team coasted 45-21 at No. 13 Dinuba.

Johnson passed for 168 yards and two touchdowns, McDaniel rushed for 104 yards and three scores, and Hughes caught seven passes for 115 yards and a TD as 3-0 Hanford turned an expected nonleague showdown into its own showcase for the second straight year.

Johnson, McDaniel and Hughes returned from a team that blasted the Emperors 30-7 in a 12-1 season that closed with a 35-14 D-III title win over Madera. Dinuba would go 11-2 and place second to Ridgeview in D-II.

In a game purposely delayed because of air quality considerations – beginning at 8:50 p.m. and finishing at 11:10 p.m. – Emperors senior star quarterback Isaac Leppke was benched midway through the third quarter after being intercepted by McDaniel, also a linebacker standout.

Leppke would not return as Gustavo Villarreal entered and threw TD passes of 50 and 47 yards to Jacob Paradine.

But Dinuba never threatened after falling behind 29-7 at halftime.

McDaniel, cornerback Hughes, linebacker Kaipo Barnes and end Ellix Jimmeye were outstanding defensively for the Bullpups, who will play at Porterville in another nonleague game next Friday.

Jimmeye, however, departed for good in the third quarter with a hyperextended elbow.

“His elbow is sore and a little swollen,” Hanford coach Josh Young says, “but he should be OK.”

Hilliard joins Sanger RB lore – On a toasty stage seemingly set for Clovis East super sophomore Marcus Washington, it was Sanger’s Isaiah Hilliard who stole the show and powered the Apaches to a 32-15 nonleague win Thursday night at Lamonica Stadium.

In a game that kicked off at 100 degrees and ended at 91, Hilliard carried 27 times for 207 yards and two touchdowns and ran in two conversions as 15th-ranked Sanger rallied from a 7-0 halftime deficit while improving to 3-0.

He became the 16th Apache in program history to rush for 200 or more yards in a game, school historian Ron Blackwood said. The 207 ranks 10th on a school list topped by Pete Hingano’s 410 against Reedley in 1999.

When it was over Thursday, the senior fullback wasn’t even breathing hard – remarkable, given his workload and the weather conditions.

“It’s all right. We run in the summer all of the time,” he said, smiling.

The 5-foot-10, 185-pounder didn’t play running back last year because of a knee injury. He did play four games at nose guard.

Washington, meanwhile, was a big-time force in 2014, rushing for 1,800 yards while pulling a rarity – making All-TRAC as a freshman.

And he marched into Lamonica with 395 yards rushing and seven touchdowns following No. 17 Clovis East’s victories over Golden Valley-Merced (56-30) and Redwood (41-24).

But the Apaches, led by lineman Angel Alvarez and linebacker Miguel Garcia, kept Washington out of the end zone while limiting him to 61 yards on 16 carries.

That bought Sanger’s wing-T offense some time, and the Apaches needed it after losing four fumbles in the first 27 minutes.

Timberwolves senior quarterback Trey Semien rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown and passed for 121 yards and another score.

Looking ahead – The Stockdale-Clovis game is one of five hanging high on the section marquee next week.

Additional duels with D-I seeding implications will match Liberty-Bakersfield and Buchanan at Veterans Memorial Stadium and Clovis North and Edison at Sunnyside Stadium.

A D-II biggie for seedings will send Sanger to Lemoore.

And small schools dandies will have D-IV Liberty-Madera Ranchos go to D-V Fowler and, among D-VI powers, Sierra Pacific visits Orange Cove.

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Week 2 prep football rewind: Fresno-area schools take financial hits on cancellations."