What's Going On Here? Lot's of Surprises in Week Eight.

Chris Terrence

If somebody had told me, a few weeks back, that Clovis East, Clovis, and Madera, would all lose, on the same night in the Tri-River Athletic Conference, I'd have to ask that person what he had been smoking. No way. Well, WAY! On Friday night, under the lights, Buchanan stunned Clovis, 32-29 on a field goal with nine seconds left, Central went up on Madera 24 - 0 and hung on to the upset win 24-23, and then Clovis West, in another classic, smash mouth battle, beat Clovis East 24-21. The Bears got another 122 yards rushing out of Lampford Mark, an excellent passing night from QB Trevor Smith (15 of 20 for 184 yards), and a huge interception and 48 yard return by Brent Etiz to set up the winning field goal of A.J. Forestiere that knocked off the Cougars. Central got 123 rushing yards from Brian Easter, one of them an 80 yd TD run as the Coyotes, two weeks ago in 1st place in the TRAC, and looking pretty invincible, took their second straight loss. The Clovis West/Clovis East game was a great football game with many of the Eagles and Timberwolves, pulling off some fine performances. Matt Jelmini piled up another 157 yards for the Eagles, (KJEO Player of the Game), Beau Sweeney had a brilliant game in passing and running the ball, but also a great performance was put on by kicker Nick Rolph who not only gave the Eagles a early lead with a field goal and made all his extra point tries, but it should be noted that not one of his kickoffs were returned for a yard. None. Nada. Each time the kicks would sail into the endzone for no return, therefore the Wolves had to start each drive at the 20. Two excellent kick returns for the Eagles (Jelmini returned one to mid field late in the 4th quarter to put the Wolves in hot water late, and Zack Hill returned another for 40 yards to set up another Eagle TD. RJ Bell's 165 yard rushing effort, along with his all round play, garnered him the KJEO game award for Clovis East. This just in, in further exciting news, these teams will probably meet again in the playoffs.

In other key games this week, Edison blocked a field goal attempt and an extra point late in the game to eek out a 14-13 win over Bullard at Chuckchansi Park, and Reedley moved out to 6-2 on the season by beating Sunnyside in a close game 21-19 . It was a costly win for Sanger as the Apaches beat Hoover 27-25, as all-star Justin Weber suffered a concussion and had to be strechered off to the hospital. The early good news is that the talented running back/safety should only miss one game (vs this Friday vs Bullard). Before he left, Weber rushed for 175 yards and two TD's while playing his regular tough defense for the Apaches. Tough cookie soph, Mario Navarrette chipped in with 116 yards rushing. Hoover's AJ Rodriguiz was 18-36 passing , good for 253 yards and no interceptions to lead the Pats. In the North Sequoia League, Dos Palos is finishing strong with a 17 to 7 win over Kerman, which lead to a three way tie for 1st place in the NSL with Kerman and Washington. Meanwhile in the CSL, Immanuel surprised Exeter, handing them their first loss and now 1st place is shared by Exeter and Dinuba.......

So then, it was certainly a week of helter skelter in Valley high school football. Two more regular season weekends comin' right up, and then it's playoff time and forecasters better beware

Chris Terrence