Prep football Week 3 roundup: Bullard stops Central late for victory

Bullard dodged a bullet in the final minute with a goal-line stop on fourth down to defeat Central 21-17 on Friday night at Koligian Stadium.

The third-ranked Knights (3-1) saw their 14-0 lead evaporate as the Grizzlies (0-3) scored 17 straight points for a three-point lead. Central started its comeback with a 30-yard field goal by Tiago Paim that made it 14-3 before halftime. In the third quarter, the Grizzlies scored on a 1-yard rush by Dennis Laney and later recovered their own onside kick to set up a 19-yard touchdown run by quarterback Nick Szpor.

But Bullard, coming off a tough 21-14 loss at state No. 8-ranked Grant-Sacramento, marched on behind running back Charles Williams, who capped a 60-yard drive with a 1-yard punch into the end zone for the lead.

Williams finished with a game-high 172 yards rushing on 26 carries. Laney ran for 129 yards on 25 carries to lead the Grizzlies and Szpor had 50 yards on nine attempts. Szpor was 12 of 20 passing for 160 yards and one interception.

Knights quarterback Jack Taylor had two touchdowns, scoring on a 1-yard run and throwing a 27-yard strike to Markelle Raymond, who finished with 45 yards receiving on two catches.

Bullard improved to 2-0 against Tri-River Athletic Conference teams heading into next week’s game against No. 4-ranked Clovis West (2-0). The Eagles had a bye this week and haven’t played since Sept. 4 after their Sept. 11 game against Turlock was canceled due to bad air quality.

No. 2 Liberty-Bakersfield 27, No. 5 Buchanan 6

After starting the season with two losses, the Patriots came out firing on all cylinders and routed the Bears.

It started with Jordan Love, the Liberty (1-2) quarterback who had been out with concussion-like symptoms. On the opening drive, he was 4 for 4 for 63 yards and hit Braxton Prince for a 12-yard screen pass for a touchdown.

“That felt really, really good,” Love said. “It was the best I’ve felt all year. It was the perfect drive.”

As the offense continued to churn up yards through the air (214 passing yards and two touchdowns for Love) and on the ground (133 yards and a touchdown for Quincy Jountti), the Liberty defense shut down the Bears for three and a half quarters before backup quarterback Nolan LeForge found Blake Wells for a 25-yard touchdown with just over seven minutes to play.

Buchanan (2-2) punted on seven of its first eight drives, the other one was a fumble that Liberty recovered.

“We knew Liberty was a good football team. There were definitely hungry,” Bears coach Mike Jacot said. “We knew we were going to be in for a fight. Our guys need to figure out a way to play against good, quality opponents.”

Trevor Ervin led Buchanan with 78 rushing yards on 19 carries and Zach Presno picked off a Love pass in the first quarter.

No. 11 Clovis North 17, No. 8 Edison 10

Jayson Lee, an All-Tri-River Athletic Conference linebacker in 2014 and counted on more offensively this season with Bolu Olorunfunmi now running for UCLA, scored two touchdowns as the Broncos defeated the Tigers.

Lee, who transferred to Clovis North from Yosemite last year, carried 14 times for 71 yards, including a 5-yard score that snapped a 10-10 tie in the fourth quarter.

The Broncos (1-2) also received a field goal from Chase Maurer.

David Tate’s 37-yard run in the third quarter had given Edison a 10-7 lead.

The Tigers are 1-3 despite not giving up more than 18 points in a game following a 12-2 season in which they won the D-I title.

No. 12 Lemoore 21, No. 10 Sanger 19

A trio of big stops by the Tigers (2-2) ended the Apaches’ three-game winning streak.

Sanger (3-1), ranked No. 2 in D-II, got a touchdown with just over two minutes to play to make it 21-19 but couldn’t get past the Lemoore defense on a 2-point conversion attempt to tie the score.

The Apaches recovered the onside kick to earn a second chance, but they were stopped again as Lemoore sacked the quarterback on fourth-and-7 with 1:11 to go.

In the third quarter, the Tigers, ranked No. 3 in D-II, stopped a 2-point attempt after Sanger ran in a TD to keep their lead at 14-13. It’s the third year in a row Lemoore has beaten Sanger.

Dinuba 27, No. 19 El Diamante 7

Elijah Benham rushed for 155 yards and three touchdowns and the Emperors (3-1) shut out the Miners (2-2) for three quarters en route to victory.

Centennial 47, Redwood 21

Brandon Robinson returned a fumble 65 yards for the first score of the game and the Golden Hawks (3-1) then scored on five of their next six offensive series to beat the Rangers (0-4).

Washington 16, Monache 13

Johnny Rodriguez returned an interception 14 yards then kicked the winning 28-yard field goal on the next play with eight seconds left to lift the host Panthers (1-2) in Easton.

It was Rodriguez’s third field goal of the game, following kicks of 41 yards in the first quarter and 38 yards to tie the game 13-13 with 57 seconds left in the first half.

The teams combined for nine punts in the second half. Monache missed a field goal and lost two fumbles in addition to Rodriguez’s interception.

Rodriguez punted nine times for a 31.8-yard average. His 40-yarder with 48 seconds left pinned the Marauders (0-4) at their own 4 and set up the deciding interception.

Washington has allowed an average of 12 points in regulation through its first three games.

Fresno 37, El Capitan-Merced 20

The Warriors kept their unbeaten streak alive in a rout of the visiting Gauchos (1-3) on homecoming night at McLane Stadium.

Fresno (3-0) came back from an early first-quarter deficit with big touchdown runs by Nyric Hinton, who busted for scores of 59 and 62 yards to put the Warriors in front 20-17 just before halftime. Hinton finished with 146 yards on just four carries.

The teams exchanged field goals before the Warriors pulled away with a 27-yard rushing touchdown by Khory Day in the third quarter and a 16-yard scoring run by Arthur McDaniels with just over four minutes to go. Day finished with 123 yards passing, including a 40-yard score to Lee Major (four catches, 97 yards).

Roosevelt 28, Yosemite 21

Daniel Love went 82 yards for his third touchdown of the game to break a tie with 9:26 to play and the Rough Riders picked up their first victory of the year while keeping the Badgers winless.

Love also had scoring runs of 1 and 6 yards as Roosevelt (1-2) took a 21-7 lead through three quarters. Yosemite (0-2) rallied to tie, converting a fourth-and-10 and scoring on Cannon Eames’ 11-yard reception on a pass from Tristan Eames. Love then broke loose 14 seconds later for the go-ahead TD and wound up with 212 yards on 21 carries.

Mission Oak 34, Mt. Whitney 30

The Hawks, down 23-7 in the third quarter at Mathias Stadium, received two touchdown passes from Trey McJunkin and two rushing scores from Jaden Enriquez to rally pass the Pioneers.

A 6-yard TD pass from McJunkin to Mike Villa closed the scoring and won it for Mission Oak (2-2).

McJunkin’s 8-yard scoring toss to Jeffrey DeMacabalin launched the 27-7 surge to the wire for the Hawks. DeMacabalin finished with 125 yards rushing on 24 carries.

Mt. Whitney had taken a 30-27 lead in the fourth quarter on 2-yard run by Isaiah Salazar.

Isaac Campos carried 29 times for 161 yards and two TDs for the Pioneers. A 59-yard interception return for a score by Nate Aleman in the first quarter had also helped put them in control.

Caruthers 35, Sierra 28

Christian Perez’s 2-yard scoring run with 6 minutes remaining put the Blue Raiders (1-2) ahead for good against the Chieftains (0-3).

Sierra had one final shot, getting the ball at its own 40 with 1:20 left, but managed only 15 yards before time expired.

Caruthers received 138 yards rushing and a touchdown from Alex Puga.

Chowchilla 27, Central Valley Christian 6

The Redskins (3-1) scored 27 unanswered points, including touchdown runs of 26 and 9 yards by Anthony Stewart, to roll past the Cavaliers (3-1), The Bee’s No. 2 team in D-IV.

Chowchilla took the lead for good in the third quarter on Ryan Selby’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Alex Gutierrez. Stewart’s second TD and a 21-yard scoring run by Selby in the fourth quarter helped the Blue Raiders pull away.

Gutierrez rushed for 131 yards and Stewart added 80 yards rushing for Caruthers.

Golden West 43, Reedley 34

Gonzalo Rodriguez rushed for 214 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Trailblazers (1-2) past the Pirates (0-2).

Rodriguez scored on runs covering 1, 4, 4, 1, 17 and 18 yards.

Reedley’s Argeny Cruz returned kickoffs 87 and 91 yards for touchdowns.

Selma 47, Coalinga 15

The Bears (3-1) fell behind 15-0 midway through the second half before rattling off seven straight touchdowns against the Horned Toads (0-2).

Selma’s Jordan Dominguez rushed for 77 yards and scored on runs from 29 and 15 yards.

The Bears’ defense and special teams accounted for three touchdowns with Tiveon Stroud scoring on a 44-yard punt return, and Paul Moreno and Sergio Pena each returned interceptions for scores.

Coalinga quarterback Jimmy Juarez passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns.

Sunnyside 61, Clovis East 42

Tajee Scott rushed for 245 yards and three touchdowns and Ricky Valderrama rushed for 110 and two scores as the Wildcats (2-1) outlasted the Timberwolves (2-2) on Thursday.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Prep football Week 3 roundup: Bullard stops Central late for victory."