Thursday, Sep. 04, 2008

James Burns: Looking for a game? Here are a couple clues

Grab a soda, a bag of popcorn and settle in.

Queue up the band, line up the cheerleaders and strike up the National Anthem.

It's football season.

Just one question: Where will you be when the pigskin is put into the air each Friday night and Saturday afternoon?

Perhaps you're a frontrunner. If that's the case, you can't go wrong with a Merced game.

Pick a game.

Any game.

With the likes of Napa and Fresno Edison waiting in the balance, Rob Scheidt's boys have a tougher schedule than the Seattle Seahawks.

Seriously. Have you seen the NFC West this season?

It's bad.

Los Banos also has a few intriguing matchups with Fresno High and Stockton St. Mary's both roaring into town.

Golden Valley has two big road games right out of the chute at North Monterey County this Saturday and Carmichael Jesuit in two weeks.

Yikes!

And there's more.

So much more, in fact, that we've dedicated an entire special section -- 24 pages in all -- to the upcoming season.

While putting together the Sun-Star's football preview, "Clue: The Football Mystery Game" -- which debuts today -- a few other games jumped off the pages.

Here are five games worth the price of admission:

1. Mariposa vs. Truckee, Sept. 12

No one had a more challenging summer than those in Mariposa County.

Not by a long shot.

Residents were chased from their homes as one of the year's worst firestorms ripped right through their backyards.

But from the ash and soot has come an amazing energy -- one of pride and brotherhood.

Next Friday's season-opener against visiting Truckee could witness an explosion of that community spirit.

"This is a close community," Mariposa coach Bob Kelly said. "People have gotten together and stayed together. We've been taking care of each other."

Kelly's boys haven't talked much about Truckee, specifically, but you can bet that they're foaming at the mouth for this one.

"We've scrimmaged ourselves and it's been good and it's been fun," Kelly said. "But it's not like hitting somebody you don't know.

"When we can band together and go against the other guy, that'll be fun. Fun for me and fun for the players, too."

2. Los Banos at Dos Palos, Sept. 19

Dennis Stubbs and Mike Sparks can pack their schedule with all the big games they can find, but only one truly matters to the folks in Los Banos and Dos Palos.

The Westside War.

How big is the game?

For the schools' athletic departments, it's everything.

Literally.

The gate from this year's game, Sparks says, will pay for the entire Dos Palos athletic program for an entire year.

"This Los Banos gate will pay for baseball officials, softball officials, wrestling entries and track entries," Sparks said. "People think it goes straight to the football team but it doesn't.

"It supports our entire athletic program, so from that standpoint, this game is the biggest we'll play this season."

3. Atwater vs. Buhach Colony, Oct. 10

The program will probably call this all-Atwater showdown "The Third Annual Bloss Bowl."

And they'll be right.

But make no mistake about it: This is an old-fashioned turf war with a new twist.

Falcon Field -- home to both Atwater and Buhach Colony -- was outfitted with Sprinturf, a faster, safer artificial surface, and all-weather track over the summer.

As far as local football venues go...

Well, let's just put it this way: Nothing compares.

Both teams will be revved and ready to run all over each other by the time kickoff arrives, you can be sure of that.

But Atwater might have a pinch more incentive because...

One, Buhach Colony will have played three games to Atwater's one on the turf many in blue would rather not share.

And two, Atwater would hate to look back on its golden anniversary and see a nasty loss to the kids across town.

4. Hilmar at Central Catholic, Oct. 24

This one is all about redemption. Hilmar was pounded, rolled and cooked like bread rolls in their meeting a season ago.

Hilmar coach Frank Marques believes he's got the most talent he's ever had in Cheese Town. Still, there's only one way to prove it:

Overthrow the throne.

CC has retooled in just about every way imaginable -- new coach, new staff and a few new players in key spots -- but they still wear the crown.

For now.

5. Golden Valley at Turlock, Oct. 10

If Golden Valley has any aspirations of making it back to the playoffs, it can't afford to lose this game.

Not with the schedule Jon Betschart's boys face down the stretch. That run includes big hitters like Merced, Los Banos and Pitman.

A win over a very game Turlock squad could be just the confidence boost GV needs to battle a few CCC giants.

James Burns is a Sun-Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 385-2417 or via e-mail at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.