Clovis West beats Edison 16-7 Behind the Mighty Jelmini

by Chris Terrence

Announcer: "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, cats and kittens, and local football fans of all ages, and welcome to our show. Tonight we've got a really big program for you here in the BEC big top stadium tent. This show stars the young and talented Mr. Matt Jelmini, as he will attempt, from the high wire, to go past his amazing stamina journeys of recent weeks where he has averaged 23 carries a game, while gaining an amazing 486 yards rushing in just two games! Yes, tonight we present this 5 foot, 8 inch, 175 pound, steel bowling ball of a running back as he will attempt to carry the football, FORTY times against an Edison High defense that has pitched two consecutive shutouts and is ranked third in the Valley, in this early 2006 football season."

Yes, as it turned out, Matt Jelmini, of the Clovis West Golden Eagles, got more airtime on our televised KJEO TV Sports Game of the Week, than the Beatles did on the old Ed Sullivan Show back in the day. The Eagles of coach Jim Hartigan have a whole bunch of weapons in their multiple spread offense, and as the season progresses it's guessed that you'll see a lot more passing from Beau Sweeney to such talented receivers as Zack HIll, Eric Mestjian, and Ryan Butler, among others, but this night was, "The Night of
the Living Run", as the Eagles ran the ball right at the Tigers relentlessly. 49 times to be precise. Six carries for Jordan Ribera (33yds), three times for Sweeney (-9yds), and FORTY for the younger brother of former Eagle star J.J. Jelmini.(214 yds) (season total now 95 carries for 700 yards...in three games). Meanwhile, Beau Sweeney did throw a couple of passes, both complete, and both to ...let's see....oh yeah, Matt Jelmini. Oh and MJ did score both touchdowns for the Eagles and had some big plays from his linebacker position. Next week, vs Bullard, Matt will attempt to eat four dozen pancakes, while running through the Knight 4-4 defense with refrigerator strapped on his back. Stay tuned.

The Eagles game plan worked well and they stuck to it for the win. That's not to say that Edison didn't have opportunities to win this game. Three times they were within the 5 yard line, only to come up empty. The Tigers did show that they are going to be a team to be reckoned with come playoff time this year. Junior QB, Jerry Davis, was impressive at times, passing for over 200 yards with 21 of 35 accuracy. Eleven of those completions were to Pat Dixon, who wowed the crowd (over 4,000) with some great moves and catches. Davis to Dixon is going to be a fun connection watch all year. Mike Dixon put on a show as well, with one of the best 15 yard touchdown runs we've seen in years. He took hit after hit, like a pinball, but stayed low to the ground with great balance, and hit paydirt for an electrifying TD to pull the Tigers to within 7 at the half. Matt Sullivan later chased Davis into the endzone and got the sack/saftey for the Eagles and those two points were the only ones scored in the second half.

Both the the Eagles and Tigers have a whole lot of talent and one gets the feeling that the Eagle-Tiger, Hartigan-McDonald matchup will come around again in December.

Game notes......The now 17 and 2 Tri-River AC is certainly presenting a very strong case for the title of "the best high school football conference in California" as they have beaten some big name schools from this state (north and south) and others. The only two losses out of those 19 games, by the way, were to Bay Area powerhouse, Serra High, and defending Valley champ Bakersfield. (both losses by Buchanan as all other Tri-River teams are undefeated at this point)..........Our half-time guest this week was Jim Sweeney, the former Fresno State legendary coach headed for the College Football Hall of Fame....Coach was his usual positive and fun self, who was along to with the family to watch grandsons Beau Sweeney and Kyle Negrette play for the Eagles. Negrette, didn't play as he was out with a concussion he got last week in the Eagle victory over El Diamante. The outstanding linebacker/punter , son of former Fresno State star Jeff Negrette, will return for the Bullard game.....The Knights have and incredibly tough schedule ahead as they have Clovis West, then Edison to face in the next games. The Knights, rebuilding after losing a ton of great athletes to graduation after last seasons great run to the Valley championship game, are now 0-3, after having given up 109 points and scoring none against Clovis and Clovis East. Our game next week features Edison once again in a battle with a good Buchanan team which is also looking to rebound. The game is at the BEC at Buchanan High.

Chris Terrence