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Friday, Nov. 06, 2009
Football: Los Banos, Atwater battle to stay in front
Bob Valladao wasn't going to let his kids suffer a Merced hangover.
Atwater had plenty of reasons to celebrate last week's thrilling 21-20 win over Merced in Santa Fe Bowl XL.
Valladao's boys ended a five-game losing streak to Merced. More importantly, it vaulted Atwater into a three-way tie atop the Central California Conference with Merced and Los Banos.
"It was like, 'Wow, we won,' " said senior Brian Sevilla. "On MySpace, guys had pictures of the scoreboard, 21-20. It was pretty crazy."
The celebration ended on Sunday morning.
"When we showed up to watch film on Sunday morning, the first thing coach said was not to get a big head," Sevilla said. "We won a big game last week, but this week the game gets bigger."
Atwater (3-1 CCC, 6-2 overall) travels to Los Banos (3-1, 5-3) with first place in the conference on the line again.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
"We're hoping to take care of business. This is where we want to be," Valladao said. "It's another big game. That's what we want."
Merced (3-1, 3-5) is looking to stay in the CCC title hunt with a home game tonight against Turlock (0-4, 0-8).
The only way for Merced to make the playoffs is to win its final two games to lock up one of the CCC's two guaranteed playoff spots.
Golden Valley (1-4, 3-6) will close out its season with a game against Pitman (2-2, 4-4) at Turlock High.
Meanwhile, Atwater and Los Banos are trying to end an 11-year title drought.
Atwater hasn't won a CCC title since 1998. Los Banos' last championship also came in 1998 as a member of the Valley Oak League.
A win tonight would keep those title hopes alive heading into the regular-season finale next week.
"Our goal was to be a player in this league," said Los Banos coach Dennis Stubbs. "We want to do things that make people respect us and we've done that.
"Now we have a chance to make a big statement."
Both teams feature balanced offenses led by two of the top quarterbacks in the area in Atwater's Nathan Sanchez and Los Banos' Erik Martin.
Both defenses have also played well, with Los Banos giving up just 30 points in four CCC games.
How big is the game?
"Oh boy, it's unbelievable," said Sevilla, who leads Atwater with 10 1/2 sacks. "This game is our lives.
"We've talked about it all week. It's been 11 years since Atwater has won a CCC title and 2002 was the last time we went to the playoffs.
"We want to end those droughts right now. If we lose this game, it's going to bother us for the rest of our lives."
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