Boogaard: Smoke clears and prep football teams heat up in Week 3

The smoke cleared, they all played football as scheduled in the Central Section, resulting in, well, more smoke.

Only this smoke, as opposed to the byproduct of the still-raging Rough fire in the Sierra Nevada to the east that caused several scratches of games last week, was emitted by sparks of athletic electricity Thursday and Friday that answered some questions and merely created others near the section’s regular-season midpoint.

The hot spots:

▪ The Bee’s top-ranked Clovis, at home against No. 16 Stockdale, showed off an offense so destructive yet so good. Consider: The Cougars lost four fumbles, misfired on no fewer than three easy touchdown passes, still gained 449 yards, had quarterback Sean Kuenzinger throw for 326 yards and five TDs and erupted for 28 points in the final 14 minutes while rallying from a 14-point deficit at home to beat the Mustangs 49-42. It was an appropriate dash to the wire on a night USA National sprint champion and Oregon All-American Jenna Prandini was present as honorary captain, with the 2011 grad styling her decorated Cougars letterman’s jacket.

▪ Tulare senior running back Romello Harris, who had been on pace to unseat Mendota’s Edgar Segura as the section’s career-leading rusher, broke a left ring finger in the opening minutes playing safety in the No. 13 Redskins’ 45-19 rout at Kingsburg. He may not miss a game; he may miss five. An orthopedist will probably determine that Monday. Meanwhile, his replacement, sophomore Kazmeir Allen – even a step quicker than Harris and motoring behind one of the best fronts in program history – merely averaged 18.4 yards a carry, raced for 331 in all and scored four times against the Vikings.

▪ Another injury to befall a Tulare-Kings county star had Hanford wide receiver/cornerback Juwuane Hughes fracture a left forearm in the No. 6 Bullpups’ 27-21 nonleague win at Porterville. Hughes, a Bee All-Star in both football and basketball last year as a junior while leading those teams to section titles, will also be examined by an orthopedist next week, so a possible return is uncertain.

▪ Liberty reigns – both of them: The Division IV version from Madera Ranchos extended the state’s longest winning streak to 21, rallying from 14 points down to win 40-37 at Fowler in a duel of section small-school powers. And the D-I outfit from Bakersfield, justifying its No. 2 section ranking despite an 0-2 record, marched into Veterans Stadium and blasted No. 5 Buchanan 27-6.

▪ Clovis North, similar to Liberty-Bakersfield – supporting a No. 11 section ranking in the face of an 0-2 record – followed the lead of running back/safety Jayson Lee and defeated No. 8 Edison 17-10 at Sunnyside Stadium. So yet another week of frustration for the Tigers, who haven’t given up more than 18 points in a game, but are 1-3 a year after going 12-2 and winning the D-I title.

▪ Bullard nearly got picked off in a sandwich game. The No. 3 Knights, a week following a heartbreak 21-14 loss at state No. 8 Grant-Sacramento, and a week prior to opposing No. 4 Clovis West, escaped 21-17 at Central against an 0-3 Grizzlies team that hadn’t been competitive in its first two games.

▪ Sunnyside, led now by a former mythical state championship coach, Gordon Wood – whose résumé glistens with the Helix-La Mesa glory days of Reggie Bush, Alex Smith and others – torched a second straight section-ranked foe, 61-42 over Clovis East.

▪ And then for The Madera Magician, Evan Rios, who beat Hoover 30-27 with his fourth late game-winning field goal in two seasons.

How to beat that in Week 4?

It’s possible, beginning with the Bullard-Clovis West game at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Golden Eagles (2-0) haven’t started 3-0 since going 4-0 en route to a 10-3 finish under former coach Jim Hartigan in 2006. Further, they haven’t had a winning season since going 12-1 under former coach Mike Parsons while winning their ninth D-I championship in 2010. Coach George Petrissans is now in his second year running the program.

Other feature games will send Clovis to No. 14 Centennial (3-1), No. 7 Ridgeview (3-0) to Liberty-Bakersfield and Memorial (2-0 entering Saturday game against Garces) to Sunnyside (2-1).

The Ridgeview-Liberty duel particularly intrigues.

There are those in Kern County who feel Ridgeview is the section’s elite team. I reserve judgment for a defending D-II champion that escaped 37-30 against Frontier, which was picked by South Yosemite League coaches to finished tied for fourth in that conference; beat Liberty-Bakersfield 29-14 on a night Patriots quarterback Jordan Love didn’t play (concussion symptoms); and on Friday defeated a 1-3 and D-III Bakersfield Christian 47-14.

Love, meanwhile, toasted an outstanding Buchanan defense through the air and on the ground – and on the road, no less. Besides the Ridgeview defeat, Liberty also lost 27-14 to Mission Viejo, which is 5-0 and ranked 10th in the state.

Clovis’ bizarre battle – Kuenzinger, consistent with his season, delivered several deep passes with touch and exceptional accuracy to J.J. Wills (seven receptions, 167 yards, three TDs) and Coltin Velasquez (3-41-2).

Only this time, Kuenzinger missed much more than usual.

Borrowing baseball parlance, he often was high with his fastball on a night he completed 16 of 30 attempts (53 percent). He entered at 63 percent (44 of 70).

“We left points on the field and he expects to play better,” Cougars coach Rich Hammond says. “He’s got a lot better football in him.”

That’s a frightening statement regarding a quarterback who has passed for 1,250 yards and 15 touchdowns against only one interception.

And, perhaps it was an equally frightening statement for the Tri-River Athletic Conference and the rest of the section D-I field that Clovis prevailed for all the setbacks.

“Some say the mark of a good team is when they don’t play well and still win,” Hammond says. “But, obviously, if we want to be successful as we move forward during the season, we have to play a lot cleaner football.”

Falling into the deep third-quarter pit was hardly all about Cougars mistakes; it was equally about Stockdale quarterback Anthony Onsurez, running back Elisha Ortiz and phenomenal play-calling under second-year coach Brett Shelton, a recent assistant under Chuck Shidan at Sanger.

Onsurez passed for 254 yards and three TDs and Ortiz – shifting and accelerating Clovis into misery – rushed for 100 yards and two scores and caught a 31-yard TD.

“No. 22 (Ortiz), he’s got to be one of the better backs in the section,” Hammond says.

Then the reversal of the night.

Stockdale, two plays following a fumble recovery, appeared to make it 41-21 on a 58-yard run by Ortiz. But it was nullified by a holding penalty.

Clovis safety Dyllon Hudec intercepted Onsurez on the next play.

And, three plays later, Wills – son of former Hanford great running back Shawn Wills – executed a slant route from the right side on third-and-8, Kuenzinger found him with a laser for a 50-yard score as the Cougars reduced the deficit to 35-28 with 1:33 left in the third.

Stockdale then went three-and-out, punted and Velasquez calmly, sensationally weaved his way 56 yards down the left sideline for another score, 25 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Trey Lake snagged a high snap, placed it down and Jesse Linegar kicked the PAT to tie it 35-35.

Clovis, also ranked No. 21 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, then bolted to a 49-35 lead with 3:49 left in the game on Kuenzinger-to-Wills connections of 16 and 52 yards.

Velasquez has nine TDs this season.

“His punt return was ginormous,” Hammond says. “He’s a good athlete who makes plays, and he’s got the surest hands on the team.”

How concerned was Velasquez with the late 14-point deficit?

“Not much. We knew we would come back. We have a lot of weapons and packages to use. On the sideline, we knew this is what champions are made of.”

Romello Harris status – The Tulare senior and four-year starter, with 6,315 career rushing yards, is chasing both section (8,029, Mendota’s Edgar Segura) and state (9,662, Norco’s Toby Gerhart) records.

The 4-0 Redskins, with a bye this week, will next play Oct. 2 at home against Dinuba.

Even in the best-case scenario and an immediate return, Harris – given at least eight more games (six regular season and two playoffs) -- will now need to average 214.3 yards a game to pass Segura. And the state standard is now out of range.

“I feel bad for having him play defense,” Tulare coach Darren Bennett says. “He probably had only played 10 plays of defense the whole year.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Boogaard: Smoke clears and prep football teams heat up in Week 3."