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Merced High football teams have faced an army of Goaliaths the past few years.
The Bears’ schedule has been littered with games against top tier teams like Grant, Del Oro, Napa, Bullard, and Edison of Fresno when it was loaded.
Merced High football teams have faced an army of Goaliaths the past few years.
The Bears’ schedule has been littered with games against top tier teams like Grant, Del Oro, Napa, Bullard, and Edison of Fresno when it was loaded.
Merced Sun-Star - PHOTO BY BEA AHBECK
Merced's Bradley Adamson keeps a tight grip on the ball as Clovis West's Matt Smith rushes in for the tackle.
The victory over the Golden Eagles was easily the Bears’ biggest nonconference win since going down to Los Angeles and beating Crenshaw in 2007.
“We still have teams left on our schedule that are really good,” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt. “We know that, but this should give us some confidence early, that if we play well against those teams, we can beat them.
“Clovis West is a good team. We’ve watched a lot of football since that game. I went and saw Edison play Clovis East. We had coaches at the Golden Valley-Clovis game. Our respect for Clovis West has increased since that game.”
The victory over Clovis West could be a season-changing win for the Bears. With Edison, McNair and Grant left on the nonconference schedule, Merced has a legitimate shot at entering Central California Conference play with a 3-2 record.
The good news for the Bears is
“When we got the ball in the red zone it seemed like we were one missed block away from scoring,” Scheidt said. “We left 21 points out on the field.”
Knockout blow
Modesto Christian quarterback Nate Sudfeld is probably happy he doesn't have to face Livingston again.
The future University of Arizona quarterback had his season ended early last year when he was injured against the Wolves.
Sudfeld was back lighting up Livingston on Friday night, throwing for 223 yards and three touchdowns.
Sudfeld was driving the Crusaders to the possible tying score before Livingston's David Mercado came up with a big hit on Sudfeld and forced a fumble to secure the Wolves' 41-34 victory.
The two teams combined for 890 yards of total offense in the shootout.
Livingston's Brian Perez recorded his second straight 100-yard rushing game with 105 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Gabe Deol completed eight of his 10 passes to six different receivers for 169 yards and a touchdown.
This was supposed to be a rebuilding year after losing quarterback Brian Alvarez and running back Charles Brown. However, now they're 2-0 and await Le Grand (1-0) this week in one of the featured matchups.
Blessing wins debut
This coaching thing is tough. Just ask Mariposa's Doug Blessing.
The first-year coach was victorious in his debut as Mariposa made the trip to Summerville on Thursday and came home with a 21-15 win.
Junior running back Liam Fieldsted carried the ball 15 times for 124 yards and senior receiver Wyatt Ellis caught five passes, including a touchdown, for 82 yards.
Chowchilla opener cancelled
Chowchilla first-year coach Alex Pittz and his players found out early last week that they were going to have to wait another week to start their season.
Fremont forfeited its game to the Redskins because it didn't have enough eligible players to field a team.
"Our guys have been practicing a long time without a reward," Pittz said. "We actually gave them Friday off and us coaches went and scouted Central Valley Christian. Obviously, our kids were disappointed."
It's also no surprise Chowchilla will not be renewing a two-year contract to play Fremont, which barely had enough players to field a team last year against Chowchilla.
Pittz did say Chowchilla has added Modesto Christian and Hilmar to its schedule the next two years, which should both be fun matchups.
Airing it out
Le Grand quarterback Alex Bucio is off to a fast start. The senior racked up 208 yards and five touchdowns in the Bulldogs' 48-7 win over Tranquillity.
It's even more impressive when you consider he hardly played in the second half and had a 78-yard touchdown pass to Zach Moreno called back on the first play of the game.
Dominant defense
The Buhach Colony offensive line got much of the publicity heading into the season, but it's hard to argue the Thunder's defense hasn't been the most impressive unit so far. After holding Bethel to just 90 yards of total offense in the season opener, the Thunder shut down Enochs last week.
Buhach Colony held the reigning Modesto Metro Conference champs to just three points and 105 yards of total offense.
Shawn Jansen is a Sun-Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 385-2462 or e-mail him at sjansen@mercedsun-star.com.
