Week 5 prep football rankings: Clovis remains No. 1 – but not without question

Central Section football is about to kiss October, but not without leaving September with a compelling hug.

Begin with Clovis – top-ranked wire to wire so far but clearly vulnerable following a 49-42 rally at home against Liberty-Bakersfield two weeks ago and a 28-27 win at Centennial on Friday that found the host Golden Hawks return two kickoffs for touchdowns, have a punt return score denied by penalty and sabotage a first-and-goal with a fumbled snap in the last 5 minutes.

That said, the 5-0 and state-ranked No. 25 Cougars of the Tri-River Athletic Conference remain the section’s only unbeaten among 13 Division I teams entering a bye week and a conference opener Oct. 9 against 3-2 and No. 19 Clovis East.

Rankings questions at the section’s regular-season 50-yard line are many. And Bullard and Liberty-Bakersfield figure prominently.

Bullard, 4-1 and up two ranking notches to No. 2, followed a 21-14 loss at state No. 8-ranked Grant-Sacramento of the Sac-Joaquin Section three weeks ago with a 21-17 escape against Central, which hadn’t been competitive in its first two games.

But the Knights then followed that last Friday with a 42-23 conquest of then-No. 3 Clovis West of the TRAC at Buchanan’s Veterans Memorial Stadium in a game where Bullard running back Charles Williams throttled the Golden Eagles for 249 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 37 carries.

The Knights have a bye this week before opening County/Metro Athletic Conference play at Madera on Oct. 9.

In regard to D-I seedings and leverage, nonleague play is critical for Bullard, which has only one D-I opponent – Edison – in conference play. The others are D-II Sanger, D-III’s Memorial and Madera and D-IV Madera South.

The six-team TRAC, conversely, is exclusively D-I. That means Bullard’s nonleague results against TRAC opposition, typically, have significant impact on seeding. And the Knights have gone 3-0 against the TRAC, also defeating No. 10 Buchanan (21-16) in addition to Clovis West and Central.

Liberty-Bakersfield (1-3), meanwhile, drops from No. 2 to No. 4 with a 24-10 home-field loss to a 2-3 Cathedral Catholic-San Diego team that has losses against state-ranked Santa Margarita-Rancho Santa Margarita, Oaks Christian-Westlake Village and Helix-La Mesa.

Liberty-Bakersfield also lost with its starting quarterback to the section’s No. 3 Ridgeview (29-14) and the state’s No. 7 and 6-0 Mission Viejo (27-14). Liberty dominated the section’s No. 10 Buchanan (27-6) at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Week 5 prep football rankings: Clovis remains No. 1 – but not without question."