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Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

James Burns: Talking points -- Final week of the football regular season has plenty of storylines

Conference titles, playoff berths, a rivalry renewed and respect.

The conference football season ends with a bang tonight, with three games burning their way up The Burn List.

First, there's the Draw the Line in the Sand Game: Pitman at Merced. Simply, the winner advances to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs. The loser does not. As an added bonus for Merced: a win will also give it at least a share of its fourth straight Central California Conference title.

Then there's the Longtime Coming Game: Los Banos at Buhach Colony.

Either way, Los Banos and Buhach are a virtual lock for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I and II playoffs. But for both teams, it's not enough to just clinch a playoff berth. Los Banos can grab at least a share of its first championship in more than a decade -- and a high playoff seed, to boot -- with a victory. Meanwhile, BC can build serious steam heading into its first-ever postseason with an upset of Los Banos.

And then there's The Rivalry Game of all Rivalry Games: Chowchilla at Dos Palos.

Need milk? Maybe some eggs? Better gas up the truck early, because both Valley towns will be dark tonight when these two get together at Bill Humme Stadium.

With big games in every direction, TBL widened its spotlight this week. Instead of five questions for one subject, Burn List invited the five local coaches from each game to sweat on the hot seat.

* * *

Hot seat: Merced's Rob Scheidt

TBL: Given everything that's at stake tonight, could you make the argument that this game is the biggest Merced has played not just this season, but in the last three-plus years?

RS: That's a difficult statement for us. In terms of the here and now, yeah, it's definitely the biggest game we've played in. Not just for the game itself, but for the position of our program. We want to continue to represent the conference as champions, and we have that opportunity (tonight). If we can win, I think it speaks volumes about where we're at and it keeps our hands on the torch for the next guys. These guys have been in difficult situations, they've faced different adversity and they've responded well. It would be huge momentum for us if we could come out champions.

TBL: Your nonconference schedule, coupled with the playoff runs in years past, have those experiences come into play this week, in terms of the nerves and anxiety and what to expect?

RS: The scope of those games (nonconference) were not big in terms of stature, because they weren't conference games. But it allowed us to build speed and a style of play that has carried over into conference. A lot of people ask me, 'Why do you schedule that way? You know, it hurts you with the new playoff system.' It does, but philosophically, we want to schedule up. We want to use our nonconference to prepare us for conference. We don't want to schedule light. The bottom line is we want to schedule to win our conference, not schedule to get into the playoffs.

* * *

Hot seat: Los Banos' Dennis Stubbs

TBL: I've noticed a me-against-the-world tone in some of your quotes recently. Does your team feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of CCC football teams?

DS: Our goal was always to make the playoffs. If you put yourself in that position it means you've also put yourself in good position to win a league championship, too. Looking back, when we started this, we said we wanted to be competitive, be a player in this league and get some respect. I think we've accomplished that. That's what we wanted.

TBL: Was last week's victory -- and the way you won it -- about winning that respect?

DS: I don't know if I'd say respect, but I definitely think some people, especially the media, haven't really looked at our season. I haven't heard anybody say we lost to Tracy 27-24 and that we should have beat them. We gave up 39 points to St. Mary's -- and nobody has held them to 39. They only scored seven points in the second half. I don't think people have honestly evaluated our season, who we've played and what we've done. We talk about it. Our kids know about it. Just because we played three games without our quarterback (Erik Martin) and four or five without our tailback (Darron Brown), everyone thinks we don't have a chance.

* * *

Hot seat: Buhach Colony's Kevin Swartwood

TBL: Whether it was Nathan Sanchez or Markus Sanders, Los Banos has managed to neutralize the opposition's top threat. What do you have to do to make sure your Fly boys -- Corey Chapman, Jarrell Davis and Dallon Muse -- don't suffer the same fate?

KS: The Los Banos defense has proved to be very effective at stopping every CCC team they have played this year. They are an experienced group that plays with a lot of discipline and desire. This is a huge concern for us, because we will have to be very precise in what we do in order to move the ball. We will do our best to spread the ball around in order to keep LB from being able to key on any one player.

* * *

Hot seat: Dos Palos' Mike Sparks, Chowchilla's John Henson

TBL: Do you think your departure from the North Sequoia League takes some of the shine off your rivalry with Chowchilla?

MS: We've had great games with Chowchilla the last few years, and our guys want to get on a roll. This is a big game for us. If we win, we'll be the NSL's No. 2 team and, at 5-5, we might even get a home (playoff) game. So it's a huge game for us. But to answer your question, no, I don't think it does. We've been playing Chowchilla for a long, long time. It not being a league game anymore won't have anything to do with it. We'll still play them. Next year, it'll still have the same importance. It's still going to be a rivalry. It'll create the same kind of excitement. That's how I feel about it.

TBL: Your turn, John. Anything special in store for this year's rendition?

JH: As far as motivation and inspiration go, this is Dos Palos. We don't need to know anything more than that. That's enough fuel for the fire. If we want to go to the playoffs, we need to win this game. We're treating this as a playoff game. This is Round 1 for us. With the way our section works, any team can declare for the playoffs. But as a program, we've decided that we need to be .500 or better to go to the playoffs. We want to respect and honor the playoffs.

James Burns is sports editor of the Sun-Star. He can be reached at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.