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Thursday, Sep. 17, 2009

Shawn Jansen: Early standings flipped from '08

The new scoreboard was just installed at Cougar Field this week.

Maybe just in time.

The old scoreboard might have shorted out with the amount of points the Golden Valley football team has been putting up through the first two weeks.

Jon Betschart's boys have turned some heads with 96 points.

Golden Valley's 2-0 start has stirred up some excitement on campus. Not only with the students, but the faculty as well.

"There's definitely been a positive feeling," Betschart said. "Matt Thissen was asking around for tickets to the Boise State-Fresno game on Friday.

"Now, he says he's going to stick around and watch our game."

It's early, but the Central California Conference standings appeared flipped upside down with both GV and Buhach Colony standing alone at 2-0.

Both teams combined to go 3-17 last year.

Buhach Colony coach Kevin Swartwood feels the student body at BC is taking a more "wait and see" approach with the football team before they get too excited.

Buhach Colony started last year 2-1 before ending the season with seven straight losses.

"The kids at school are so used to the football team not competing," Swartwood said. "They might still be in a state of shock. As the weeks go on, hopefully we'll continue our success."

The Golden Valley seniors haven't experienced much success during their high school careers.

"I'm really happy for our seniors," Betschart said. "They've won just four games in their career heading into this year. It's good to see their hard work pay off."

How do they keep it going?

The schedule only gets tougher for both teams.

Golden Valley faces Carmichael Jesuit this week. Jesuit had its way with GV last year in a 58-16 win.

"We've talked about staying tight and staying together," Betschart said. "We haven't faced adversity yet.

"We have to keep grinding. We haven't played anyone equal to us, but that could very well happen on Friday night.

"It could come down to who cracks first."

Swartwood doesn't expect to see his group collapse like last year.

"I'm excited and I can tell they're excited about it too," Swartwood said. "Week in and week out, they expect to win and I haven't seen that since I've been here."

Still, Swartwood believes it's a little too early to be looking at the standings.

"We've still got a lot to prove," he said. "Merced came out against Bullard. Atwater played Bullard. Bullard's a good team.

"You can't compare a Madera South or an Enochs to a Bullard. I believe Merced will be a team that will have to be dealt with when it comes around to league.

"Same with Pitman and Los Banos. Golden Valley is tough, too."

* * *

Merced has had two weeks to lick its wounds since its season-opening 41-0 loss to Bullard.

It was the first time Merced had been shutout since Nevada Union beat Merced 44-0 in the season opener in 2003.

Merced coach Rob Scheidt says his team needed the two weeks off.

The team is still recovering from the death of former Merced High player Kameron Huddleston.

"I'll be honest, we needed that break," Scheidt said. "This program has been battling some tough things. Things more important than football.

"Kameron's death hit us hard. We were never ready to go emotionally. We're still healing.

"I'm not down on the kids. We've evaluated film from our Cal camp and our scrimmage. It's not the same team we saw play against Central (scrimmage) and Bullard.

"We played slow. We have to get back to where we were and there's no magic pill."

Most of the current varsity players never played with Huddleston. However, there was still a connection.

"Kameron was in my room every day," Scheidt said. "He was my (teacher's assistant). I have a ton of guys in my room every day, including freshmen and sophomores.

"They hang out in my room and Kameron was one of those guys they looked up to. He was kind of like a big brother. In our program the older guys take care of the younger guys."

* * *

Daniel Mouro can walk proudly in his house.

The Hilmar senior broke his dad's school record with a 54-yard field goal against Denair last week.

His father, Matt, was one of three former players who held the old record of 47 yards.

Daniel hasn't done much trash talking. His mother, Adelle, is doing it for him.

"We were watching the Raiders game the other night when my mom said, 'Daniel didn't just break the record, he shattered it,' " Daniel said. "My dad said, 'Adelle, do I have to hear this for the rest of my life.' "

Mouro's field goal was the second longest in the history of the Sac-Joaquin Section.

The record is 58 yards, which was set by Nevada Union's Mark Sweeney in 1994, according to CalHiSports.

Daniel's record might not stand for long. The Mouro's youngest son, Marcus, already has his sights set on breaking it.

Marcus is 9 years old.

Mom's already lighting the fire.

"My mom told him he's going to have trouble breaking that one," Daniel said. "Marcus said, 'Thanks for jinxing me, mom.' "

Shawn Jansen is a Sun-Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 385-2462 or e-mail him at sjansen@mercedsun-star.com.