Granite Hills gets first win of season
Granite Hills picks up first win of season
After four losses to start the season, Granite Hills High School football won their first game of the season in a 22-19 victory at Corocoran in both team’s first East Sequoia League game last Friday.
Prior to beating the CIF Central Section Division V Panthers (2-3, 0-1 ESL), the Div. VI Grizzlies (1-4, 1-0 ESL) had faced a tough preseason schedule that included two Div. IV teams.
“We talked to the kids about how a season is broken into three aspects — preseason, league and then postseason,” GHHS head coach Dan Williams said. “And I really believe that our schedule in the preseason was scheduled up, which we intentionally did, and hopefully that’s helping. Playing better opponents [by] playing up, you know getting that experience.”
Touchdowns in the first and second quarter gave the Grizzlies a 14-0 lead at the half. Holding Granite Hills scoreless in the third, Corcoran put 13 points on the board and cut the Grizzlies lead to 1413. Both team’s scored in the fourth quarter but Granite Hills was able to convert for two points on a run by senior Jason Alvarez while Corcoran’s conversion was stopped by the Grizzlies.
Junior running back Roman Valles led the team on the ground with 94 yards and two
touchdowns on 25 carries. Alvarez finished with 91 yards on 21 carries. Williams said that the difference between the team’s game against the Panthers and previous games was that they were able to run the ball well.
“We actually came out last night and we had two kids run for almost a 100 [yards],” Williams said. “One had 21 carries, one had 24. So we split it up pretty well. We moved the ball effectively, which we haven’t been able to do. And then we had some really critical third-down pass completions, which were huge for us.”
In the pocket, junior quarterback David Ramirez went 6-of-12 for 84 yards and one touchdown to sophomore receiver Max Jimenez. Senior Mando Cabrera was Ramirez’s top target and finished with 42 yards
on three receptions.
“He’s stepping in, he’s taking over the role and he’s doing a pretty good job with it. He’s managing the offense pretty well,” Williams said about Ramirez, who took over as the team’s starter after senior Lalo Alcantar was injured in week three.
Granite Hills next game is Friday, Sept. 21, when the Grizzlies host Div. V Lindsay (2-2, 0-1 ESL) at 7 p.m. The Cardinals lost 49-7 at Div. V Woodlake (4-1) in last Friday’s East Sequoia League game.
“Lindsay’s a good team and honestly I don’t know what team’s going to show up for Granite,” Williams said. “Hopefully they can ride that high a little bit and believe in themselves as we were talking about all week. We felt that we [can] play with them and it’s a potential team that we could potentially beat and start our second season. So hopefully we can move on that and build
some confidence. It’s going to be a struggle week in and week out.”
MONACHE 45 EAST BAKERSFIELD 25 Monache High School football picked up their third win of the season against a Div. IV opponent with a 45-25 win at East Bakersfield last Friday to go into their bye week on a two-game win streak.
The Marauders (4-1) were led on the ground by junior running back Aidan Galvan with 270 yards and five touchdowns on 24 carries. Galvan is the No. 1 rusher in the Valley and No. 5 rusher in the state. Also contributing on Monache’s offense was senior quarterback Antonio Andrade, who completed 16-of-30 passes for 161 yards and rushed for 84 yards on 10 carries. Andrade connected with eight different receivers, including Trayvon Bradford, who had a team-high 46 yards on three receptions. Bradford also had 24 yards on three carries.
In extra points, senior kicker Omar Meza was 4-of-4 on PATS, while junior Tori Powell caught two passes for successful 2-point conversions and Andrade took the ball in for another 2-point conversion.
After their bye week, Monache begins East Yosemite League play on Friday, Sept. 28, when they host Tulare Union (4-0) at Jacob Rankin Stadium. STRATHMORE 67 FARMERSVILLE 6 Strathmore High School football began East Sequoia League play with another dominating performance and win in a 67-6 blowout at Farmersville last Friday.
In for injured senior running back Alonso Acevedo, senior Fabian Alcantar led the Spartans (4-0, 1-0 ESL) on the ground with 118 yards and three touchdowns on six carries and a fumble. Freshman Carlos Moreno finished with 86 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries while junior
Christian Onsurez had 87 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries.
Quarterback Cristian Rodriguez went 6-of11 for 93 yards and one touchdown from the pocket. The junior’s lone touchdown was to his older brother, Amando Rodriguez, who totaled 33 yards on three receptions. Cristian Rodriguez also rushed for 23 yards and one touchdown on three carries.
Senior defensive back Osvaldo Ibarra had an interception and went 4-for-7 on PATS. Moreno was 3-for-3 on PATS.
The Spartans were up 46-0 at halftime and then scored 14 more points in the third quarter for a 60-0 lead. Strathmore scored another touchdown in the fourth but allowed Farmersville (05, 0-1 ESL) six points before the game ended.
On Friday, Sept. 21, the Spartans host the Broncs of Kern Valley (1-4) at 7:15 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL
FRESNO 3 PORTERVILLE 0 Porterville College volleyball lost 3-0 at Fresno City last Friday in a Central Valley Conference match. The Rams won the sets 25-8, 25-12 and 25-10.
Porterville (3-4, 1-1 CVC) hosts Cerro Coso on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the team’s first home match of the season.
GIRLS TENNIS
PANTHERS TAKE 4TH Porterville High School girls tennis placed fourth out of 20 teams — in front of all East Yosemite League teams — at the Redwood Invitational in Visalia over the weekend.
The Panthers’ Sierra Michell was the runnerup in the Division I Singles consolation rounds and Erica Palad was the runner-up in the Div. II Singles consolation rounds.
In front of Porterville was Redwood in first, Sanger in second and Central Valley Christian in third.