By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
The Northern Section football playoffs get underway this evening with two of the more interesting matchups taking place in Susanville and Redding. The Lassen Grizzlies host the Enterprise Hornets in a battle between the No. 4 and 5 seeds while Chico travels to play No. 3 Shasta. Lassen edged Enterprise early in the season, 9-7, and the victory was one reason why there wasn't more argument against Lassen placing as high as it did in the seedings. The Grizzlies were just 1-4 in nonleague play, but went 4-1 in the Northern Athletic League. In a football advisory committee meeting earlier this week, the Northern Section decided to look at rewarding teams who play in an eight-team league with more league placement points in the playoff formula. The hope here is to offset the advantage Division 1 NAL teams have in playing a five-game league schedule as opposed to a seven-game league schedule. Of course the winner of tonight's Lassen-Enterprise matchup gets the luxury of facing No. 1 seed Foothill the following week.
Meanwhile Shasta takes on a Chico team it defeated 21-14 last week. The Panthers had a strong first half of the season, but slumped in the final month, going 1-3 down the stretch. Shasta, on the other hand, rebounded from two straight losses to Foothill and Paradise to upend the Panthers and finish in third place in the league standings. The Wolves will be an impressive bunch to watch next season. Quarterback Brooks Beaudette, a junior, has thrown for 1,402 yards, while sophomore running back Evan Taylor ran for 1,120 yards this year. Many of the linemen are underclassmen as well.
Andrew McCleary of Wheatland finished as the regular season rushing leader in the Northern Section with 1,703 yards. He closed out the season with 251 yards against Orland in a 61-15 win and 204 yards in a 49-0 win over Winters. A varsity player for four seasons, McCleary has 4,342 career rushing yards, which places him third on the all-time Northern Section list behind Patrick Lunney of Mount Shasta (5,115) and Brody Angley of Enterprise (4,748). With three possible playoff games, McCleary has a shot at moving ahead of Angley, but the Pirates will need to beat Gridley in the first round of the playoffs and West Valley in the second round to get to the third playoff game. McCleary also has 510 career carries, putting him 13th on that list, just 44 carries behind his brother, Adam McCleary, who finished his career with 554 carries (6th place all-time).
Garrett Barnett of Fall River had a game to remember in the Bulldogs' 42-35 victory over Etna last week. The senior ran 40 times for 346 yards to set school records in both categories. His yardage total just edged out Paul Canright, who held the school record with 342 yards in 2000. The 346 yards is the eighth best total in section history.
Another runner moving up the all-time section rushing charts is Chris Davi of Rio Vista. The senior has 3,036 career yards, after gaining 208 yards last week in a 38-20 win over Delta. That total would rank as a school record since the Rams joined the Northern Section in the late 1980s. School records prior to that date are unknown.
It could be a record-breaking year for quarterbacks next season. Of the top 10 passers in the Northern Section during the regular season, five are juniors, including Collin Ramirez of Red Bluff (1,581 yards), Quinton Perry of Lassen (1,486), Beaudette of Shasta (1,402), Andrew Rubalcava of East Nicolaus (1,338) and John Garcia of Sutter (1,014).
Clint Johnson of Etna could break the school record in touchdown passes in tonight's playoff game against Modoc. The senior has thrown a section best 24 touchdown tosses on the season, just two behind the school record of 26, set by Tyler Lampella in 1999. His top receiver, Skyler Schneider, caught six passes for 200 yards last week and has 30 receptions for 805 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season. Those 13 TDs break the school mark of 12, set by Jesse McNames in 1999.
The hard-luck award this year goes to Scott Johnson and his Oroville Tigers, who sported a 3-7 record this season, but could have easily finished as high as 9-1. After winning their first three games of the season, the Tigers lost to Chico by two points, Paradise by a touchdown, Shasta by a touchdown, Enterprise by one point, Red Bluff by four points and Pleasant Valley by a touchdown.