Lance Orender of Buchanan had a huge day in a wild 56-41 win over Bakersfield last week. The 6-foot-6 senior quarterback doubled his season passing total with 514 yards against the Drillers. He completed 27-of-39 passes and threw six touchdowns in the win.
The yardage total ranks as the third most in Central Section history, according to the Cal-Hi Sports Record Book. Derek Carr of Bakersfield Christian set the record last year with 544 yards against Arvin while Chris Silveira of Hanford is second on the list with 520 yards in 1993 during a win over Mt. Whitney. Orender moved to the top of Central Section passing leaders as he now has 1,029 yards with 12 touchdowns. He has completed 47-of-67 passes for a completion percentage of over 70 percent.
Orender wasn’t the only stat star in the game. Receiver Jake East caught seven passes for 232 yards while Seth Moranda latched on to nine passes for 181 yards. The Bears had 766 yards of total offense in the win. Bakersfield wasn’t too shabby either, gaining 326 yards on the ground and 247 yards through the air for a total of 573 yards. The two teams combined for 1,339 yards of total offense, which would be a new state record according to Cal-Hi Sports. The older record was 1,295 yards set by Mater Dei and Centennial in 2007. Buchanan, now 3-0, will get a test this week when it faces unbeaten Edison (3-0) in Fresno.
Marcus McDade, St. Mary's
Photo by John Shores
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Adam McCurley had a big day for Washington Union to help the Panthers end a two-game losing streak. The senior quarterback threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns in a 54-18 win over Sunnyside of Fresno. He also had one rushing touchdown. For the season, McCurley has completed 42-of-73 passes for 785 yards and eight scores. Washington Union is 1-2 overall.
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Central of Fresno picked up a huge win last week with a 41-27 victory over El Diamante of Visalia. The loss was the first of the season for the Miners, who were 25-3 in their last 28 games leading up to the Central encounter. The Grizzlies received another big game from sophomore quarterback Michael Baker, who completed 15-of-20 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns in the win. He has thrown for 776 yards in four games while completing 65 percent of his passes (57-87).
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The expected showdown between Tulare Union and Mt. Whitney turned into a farce as the Redskins ran away with a 69-33 victory behind the play of sophomore running back Xavier Stephens. In his best game yet, Stephens cruised for 289 yards on just 17 carries with six touchdowns. He leads the Central Section in scoring with 11 touchdowns and has rushed for 473 yards on 45 carries.
Trevor Jones also had a big game as he completed 11-of-14 passes for 255 yards and one touchdown. The Redskin defense also shut down Mt. Whitney’s Tanner Mendonca, limiting him to only 167 yards, although he did throw three touchdown passes. Mendonca had thrown for 415 yards the week before against Monache.
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The game of the week could be the matchup at Bullard between the Clovis West Golden Eagles and the host Knights. Bullard is 4-0 on the season and has not had a close game yet. Besides blasting Merced 41-0 in its opener, Bullard has also clobbered a pair of Clovis teams, topping Clovis East 52-12 last week and Clovis 48-14 two weeks ago.
Clovis West, meanwhile, is coming off two straight losses, but both defeats come at the hands of Southern Section powers. The Golden Eagles fell to Servite, a team that was ranked nationally in the top 25, 47-13, and then fell to defending state champion Centennial 41-23 last week. Last year, Clovis West was 1-2 with equally tough losses to Servite and Centennial, but managed to hold off Bullard 28-10. The Golden Eagles went 8-1 after last year’s Bullard encounter to win the Central Section Division I championship.
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Sac-Joaquin Section
The Modesto Christian Crusaders made their case as the top small-schools team in Northern California with a convincing 40-20 win over Chowchilla last week. Quarterback Isaiah Burse went over 100 yards passing and rushing for Modesto Christian as he was 5-of-9 for 106 yards and also rushed 13 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Chowchilla entered the game with a 2-0 mark and was coming off a 12-1 season in which it won a Central Section title. The Redskins also defeated Modesto Christian 46-41 last season.
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The Placer Hillmen passed a big test last week with a 31-30 win over Casa Roble. The Rams had won 15 games in a row and were 25-1 dating back to the 2007 season. The two teams traded scores throughout last week’s encounter with Cameron Southward’s extra point in the fourth quarter proving to be the final margin of victory. Placer pounded the ball on the ground as Asher Gotzmer ran 21 times for 129 yards and Dalton Dyer gained 125 yards on 14 carries. Gotzmer has been stellar all season for Placer (3-0), gaining 560 yards on 58 carries with nine touchdowns.
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Dano Graves of Folsom had another huge game for the Bulldogs, as he completed 15-of-18 passes for 228 yards and six touchdowns. He also ran six times for 89 yards and a score in Folsom’s 69-26 win over Sacramento. This week the Bulldogs face a Franklin team from Elk Grove that looked solid in its first two games, wins over Sacred Heart Cathedral and Rodriguez, but got shellacked in a 62-12 loss to Del Oro last week. The bad news for Franklin is that it was unable to stop Del Oro’s Max Magleby, who completed 11-of-12 passes for 189 yards and five touchdown passes. The Golden Eagles actually had six touchdown passes in the game as Freddie Cargile heaved a 61-yard touchdown pass on his only attempt of the game.
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Bragging rights in Stockton are set for Friday when St. Mary’s meets Lincoln on the Trojans’ home field. The Rams are off to a great start with lopsided wins over Jesuit of Carmichael (48-3), Bellarmine of San Jose (34-10) and Los Banos (39-7). Marcus McDade has been solid in replacing graduated standout quarterback Cody Vaz. McDade has completed 42-of-80 passes for 621 yards and seven touchdowns in the three wins. Joshua Harper has been the gamebreaker at receiver, catching 10 passes for 195 yards and four touchdowns.
Lincoln has had to grind out its wins, edging Pleasant Grove 29-28, Edison 13-6 and Fremont 37-13. Trojan quarterback Brandon Gildea has been nearly as effective as McDade, completing 39-of-71 passes for 514 yards and seven touchdowns. Brandin Cooks has been his favorite target, catching 17 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns.
Lincoln and St. Mary’s aren’t the only undefeated teams in Stockton, however. Stagg is also 3-0 with wins over Modesto, Franklin (Stockton) and Lodi. The Delta Kings face Bear Creek this week and have St. Mary’s on the schedule on Oct. 23. Stagg does not play Lincoln this year.
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Northern Section
The Northern Section represented Northern California in the CIF Small Schools state championship bowl game last year and it looks like the section has a quartet of teams capable of making a bid for the selection this year. However, only one of them will qualify because all four reside the Division IV classification and will battle it out for a section title.
The favorite is Modoc, which is 4-0 and has outscored its opponents 131-43. Close behind is Portola, also with a 4-0 record. The Tigers have also thumped their opponents this year, outscoring them 152-32.
Two teams looking to get a shot at knocking off either Modoc or Portola are Hamilton, last year’s bowl game participant, and Quincy. Both teams are 3-1 with Hamilton losing to Menlo and Quincy falling to Colusa last week.
The Braves have a big test this week as they take on Fall River in McArthur. Modoc is led by running back Matt Mayes, who has rushed for 488 yards on 63 carries and also leads the defense with 13 tackles a game. Fall River is 3-1 on the season with a 34-26 loss to Portola, but has won the past two Northern Section Division 5 championships.
The Tigers play Williams this week in search of their third straight shutout. Portola, which didn’t even field a team three years ago, spreads the wealth in the backfield with Alberto Pena rushing for 339 yards and Cole Adams gaining 275. Quarterback Damian Norden has been steady with 383 yards passing and seven touchdowns.
