AROUND Sutter looks to keep rolling
Lindhurst at Marysville Inderkum at Yuba City Rio Linda at River Valley Bear River at Sutter Las Plumas at Live Oak Esparto at Colusa Durham at Pierce Portola at Maxwell Burney at Biggs
Bye week: East Nicolaus, Gridley, Wheatland, Williams
All games begin between 7 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
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Off to a fast 4-0 start and showing no signs of slowing down, the Sutter High football team will welcome Bear River to Wayne Gadberry Field tonight in a final test before beginning Butte View League play.
The Huskies coasted to a 45-7 win over Ripon last week and have excelled on both sides of the ball this season while outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 167-63.
Leading the charge offensively has been explosive junior running back Trever Facey, who scored four touchdowns on four touches in last week’s win. For the season, Facey is averaging a ridiculous 20 yards per carry while rushing for 726 yards and nine touchdowns. He’s also hauled in nine passes for 174 yards and three more scores.
Fellow junior Bryce Kunkle has added 463 yards on the ground and has scored three TDs, and junior quarterback Tyler Reynolds had rushed for 343 yards and four touchdowns.
Reynolds has also been sharp in the passing game, completing 76 percent of his passes for 672 yards and six additional scores. Senior Ben Heuvelhorst is his top target with 11 receptions for 263 yards and a touchdown.
The Huskies’ defense has also done its part by recording 12 sacks and forcing eight turnovers. Senior Justin Cryer leads the team in tackles with 50 and is followed by senior Logan Hungrige with 45. Senior Trey Slade has two interceptions and sophomore Travis Tedder has recorded three sacks.
Bear River (2-2) comes to Sutter ranked No. 20 in the Sacramento Bee’s Top 20. The Bruins opened the season with a 23-18 loss to Sutter’s BVL rival, Orland, before picking up a 40-0 win over Union Mine. They then lost to Marysville, 21-14, before bouncing back with a 28-7 win over El Dorado last week.
They are led by highly-touted junior Austin Baze, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound running back/linebacker who has rushed for 271 yards and five touchdowns on only 31 carries while nursing a shoulder injury.
Bear River has played in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V title game the last two years, winning it in 2014. The Bruins picked up a 21-14 win over the Huskies when the teams met last year in Grass Valley. Las Plumas (0-4) at Live Oak (0-5)
In Live Oak – The Lions will have their best chance yet to pick up a victory when they host the Thunderbirds in a battle between two teams eager to find the win column.
Live Oak saw its losing streak reach 32 straight games with a 5820 loss to defending state champion East Nicolaus last week. The losing skid is the longest in the state and is closing in on the Northern Section record of 38, set by Central Valley from 1996-2000.
Despite the losses, the Lions have received strong play from several players, the most notable being quarterback Michael Quillin, who has scored in a variety of ways while accounting for seven of his team’s 10 touch- downs. Last week, Quillin threw a 40-yard TD pass to Adrian Martinez and added a 12-yard scoring run in the loss to East Nic.
Las Plumas has had some struggles of its own of late, having lost nine straight games and tasting victory just once in its last 14 contests. The Thunderbirds’ last win came in a tightlycontested 34-29 victory over Live Oak last year.
They have been outscored 18334 over their first four games this season and come to Live Oak following a bye.
Esparto (1-3) at Colusa (3-2) In Colusa – The RedHawks pitched a shutout in a 3-0 win over Williams last week and will look to ride the momentum of that rivalry-game victory into tonight’s nonleague clash against the Spartans.
Freddy Casillas split the uprights from 37 yards out with 5:39 remaining to account for the lone points of last week’s game and Colusa’s defense did the rest by holding the Yellowjackets to only 100 yards of total offense and forcing three turnovers to preserve the victory.
Lucas Davison finished the night with 60 yards on the ground and leads the RedHawks with 454 yards and seven touchdowns on the year. Fellow senior Nan Rodriguez is second on the team with 259 yards and has scored three times on the ground.
Colusa enters tonight’s game as the No. 4-ranked team in this week’s Northern Section Media Poll.
After an 0-3 start, Esparto picked up its first win of the season with a 47-13 victory over Delta last week. The Spartans will be led into battle by sophomore quarterback Marcus Corona, who rushed for 134 yards on 14 carries and scored four touchdowns in last week’s win.
Colusa has won the last two meetings between the teams, the latest coming in a 43-6 win in 2013.
Durham (3-1) at Pierce (3-2) In Arbuckle – The Bears snapped a two-game losing streak with a 20-7 victory over University Prep last week and will try to close out their nonleague slate on a winning note when they host the Trojans at Gregg LeMaster Field.
Defense led the way in last week’s win as Pierce allowed just over 200 yards of total offense, forced three turnovers and didn’t allow a touchdown. Raphael Delgado and Levi Kalfsbeek both had scoring runs, and Jose Corona booted two field goals and a pair of extra points to provide the scoring.
Delgado and Kalfsbeek have combined for more than 600 yards and six touchdowns on the ground to lead the way offensively, while linebacker Angel Hernandez spearheads the Bears’ defensive unit.
Since opening the season with a 35-20 loss to Willows, Durham has rattled off three straight wins to move up to No. 3 in Division IV in the Northern Section Media Poll. Last week, the Trojans earned a 21-12 win over Mt. Shasta.
Leading the way for Durham is junior Manny Tovalin, who has rushed for 315 yards and five touchdowns. However, Tovalin sat out last week’s game with an injury.
Last year, Pierce earned an 187 victory over Durham in the regular-season finale before losing to the Trojans, 22-8, in the first round of the playoffs the following week. Portola (0-4) at Maxwell (3-1) In Maxwell – After a successful nonleague slate, the Panthers will begin their push to the playoffs when they host the Tigers in the Mountain Valley League opener for both teams.
Maxwell picked up a 14-6 win over Etna in its home opener last week without versatile senior Isaac Magana, who sat out the game with a hamstring injury. Picking up the slack in Magana’s absence was senior standout Dylan Jones, who rushed for a game-high 73 yards and hauled in two passes for 80 yards and both of his team’s touchdowns.
Also turning in a strong performance once again was senior quarterback Chubby Rangel. Dangerous both with his arm and legs, Rangel leads the Panthers in rushing with 288 yards and three touchdowns, and has thrown for 700 yards and six more scores through the air.
Maxwell enters the game as the No. 2-ranked team in Division V in this week’s Northern Section Media Poll.
Portola, which reached the Division V championship game last year, is still looking for its first win of the season following a 35-7 loss to Hamilton last week. The Tigers forfeited a win over Foresthill in their season opener and have lost their last three games by a combined score of 130-13.
Portola snapped a two-game losing streak to Maxwell with a 49-35 win last year.
Burney (2-3) at Biggs (3-2) In Biggs – The MTVL opener did not go according to plan for the Wolverines, who surrendered a ton of yards in a tough 5622 loss at Chester last week.
They will look to return to their winning ways tonight when they welcome the Raiders to Del Kalbach Stadium in a key league showdown.
Biggs enters the game averaging 276 yards per game on the ground behind the trio of Lukini Lualemana (494 yards, 3 TDs), Luis Gonzalez (399 yards, 4 TDs) and Brian Caro (344 yards, 4 TDs). Lualemana and Gonzalez also have two receiving touchdowns each from sophomore quarterback Tucker Bennett, who has thrown seven on the year.
Burney, which fell to Quincy 44-14 in its MTVL opener last week, is led by the backfield duo of senior Alejandro Jimenez (526 yards, 4 TDs) and junior Marvin Jackson (371 yards, 3 TDs). Jackson is also the Raiders’ top pass catcher with 187 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
Biggs, ranked No. 5 in Division V in the Northern Section Media Poll, won last year’s game, 50-6.