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One of the things I was most excited about when I first took my job at the Sun-Star were the stories of old Mayor's Cup and Santa Fe Bowl showdowns. Upwards of eight thousand people, basically one tenth of Merced's population, turning out to support their high school football teams. It's an atmosphere that few outside of Texas will ever see or experience.
More...The people that played or worked under former Merced College men's and women's basketball coach and legend Don Reid can talk for days at a time about the coach's many accomplishments. It made sifting through all the information for Reid's upcoming court dedication story difficult at times. Still, the stories are nothing short of amazing. One story in particular really stood out in my mind, however.
More...The Merced College football team held a little intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday and the offense looked good. The one thing that Bob Casey promised would be different in his tenure was that the team would be more aggressive on both sides of the ball. If Saturday was any indication of that, it could be a fun season.
More...Even before Bob Casey was promoted to head football coach at Merced College, the fall season has always been a long one for he and his wife, MC volleyball coach Jessica Casey. Coaching at any level requires quite a few hours of tireless commitment, and having two sports going at the same time can make for a stressful household.
More...Sports writers do our fare share of eavesdropping when sitting amongst crowds. We're constantly on the lookout for knew story ideas or insight's into the players on the court that we might not have known about heading into the game. It's how I discovered the the significance of former Atwater basketball player Bryant La Count's name last year.
More...I'd been trying to track down former Merced College two-sport stud Hannah Low for our All-Decade coverage. MC women's basketball coach Allen Huddleston gave me her number and then called ahead to let Low know that I'd be calling. Huddleston got an unforeseen replay. Low told him that if I was going to call, I probably had to do it then and there. The reason.
More...While we all wait for the NCAA's greed to come to an end and the development of a proper college football playoff system to be implemented, the bowl season can still be enjoyable. Sure, there's no opportunity for Cinderella to rise up and snag the national title, but teams like Cincinnati (taking on defending champion Florida) still have the opportunity to shock the world.
More...They've got some of the best talent in the country and arguably the best coaching staff in the country, but this might be why they're considered the best team in the country. Meet the Singin' Trojans.
More...The unfortunate news of Kameron Huddleston has generated a wave of comments, e-mails and phone calls down here at the Sun-Star. Here's the latest and most reassuring. It comes from a local man, David Hoffman, who has been following the Huddleston stories closely and experienced a similiar ordeal 15 years ago with his brother Dennis.
More...State 1. Butte 2. Mt. San Antonio 3. El Camino 4. Canyons 5. Fullerton 6. Sierra 7. San Francisco 8. Santa Rosa 9. Palomar 10. Reedley 11. Saddleback 12. Foothill 13. San Joaquin Delta 14. Cerritos 15. Allen Hancock 16. Fresno 17. Laney 18. Grossmont 19. Monterey Peninsula 20. Pasadena 21. Modesto 22. Santa Ana 23. Shasta 24. Southwestern 25. San Mateo Northen California 1. Butte 2. Sierra 3.
More...Either Sen. Jeff Denham is a big Merced County sports fan or a savvy politician. You be the judge. Los Banos football player and track star Kenny Johnson recently received a letter from Denham's office congratulating him on being named to the Merced Sun-Star's All-Area track and field team.
More...Less than a week ago, this would have been a complete and utter joke, but Mr. Mo Mentum may have found a new address. After being shredded by Brazil in a 3-0 loss last week, USA needed a perfect storm of circumstances to advance in the Confederations Cup. Somehow, it happened. The U.S. jumped all over a flat Egyptian team and Italy was manhandled by Brazil. Given a second lease on life, the U.S.
More...Sometimes the fates have to align with these things. The last Northern California baseball poll was issued on April 2, with the Blue Devils sitting 36 points behind No. 1 Ohlone and eight points behind No. 2 Diablo Valley. No poll was issued last week, I believe because so many schools were on spring break.
More...Postseason appearances and conference glory will likely be on the line this week for the Merced College baseball, softball and swim teams. The action kicked off Tuesday with the Bay Valley Conference dive championships. MC swept both men's and women's events a year ago, giving them a nice lead heading into the Bay Valley Conference championships.
More...Lou Souza, and his "-isms," are quite popular. ************************** Souza just doesn't leave it at baseball. A few years back we are playing a pretty game Pitman squad and Stephon Mathis had rolled his ankle a few weeks prior. Bernard Bolden steps in and has a monster game on offense and defense.
More...I guess Chris Pedretti can't get everything right this spring. After a lengthy discussion about how the Merced College baseball team had likely plateaued at No. 4 in the NorCal rankings, his Blue Devils received a pleasant surprise before their 13-7 victory over College of the Sequoias on Thursday.
More...OK, so not yet. But... A grass-roots campaign to get Allen Huddleston into Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" is building steam. A University of the Pacific fan site -- Pacific Tigers Sports (pacifictigerssports.yuku.com) -- has been casting votes for the Merced star for nearly a week now.
More...New Merced College head football coach Mark Kaanapu will be on campus for a tour of his new school and an introduction to his new players on Friday afternoon. While everyone involved would love to get started on the 2009 season right away, quite a bit of work still needs to be done before the former Menlo college coach can begin to make his mark on the storied program.
More...BAKERSFIELD -- Chris Urquizo defeated Calvary Chapel's Tigran Adzhemyan 9-5 in the semifinals of the CIF State championships on Saturday morning to advance to tonight's finals. The Merced senior will square off against Buchanan's Fabbian Martin, who pinned Central Catholic's T.J. Belton is 37 seconds in the other 152-pound semifinal.
More...Seldom does a matchup with the No. 5 team in Northern California elicit a positive response. That being said, the Merced College women's basketball team couldn't have hoped for a better first-round playoff matchup. Why?
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