Merced, Livingston looking to punch their tickets into section championship games
Rob Scheidt has been coaching long enough to know you don’t take these opportunities for granted.
It was 15 years ago that the Merced High football coach led the Bears into a Sac-Joaquin Section championship game against Vacaville.
On Friday night the No. 4 seeded Bears have a chance to punch their ticket into another title game when they travel to Tracy to face No. 1 seed Kimball (10-1) in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semifinals.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“I was explaining to our guys that I’ve been doing this for 26 years and this is my fifth opportunity (to play in the semifinals),” Scheidt said.
The Bears are one of five Merced-area teams still alive in the semifinals.
Sixth-seeded Hilmar (10-2) will host No. 7 Casa Roble (7-4) in the Division V semifinals. Third-seeded Livingston (7-4) will travel to Jackson to face No. 2 Argonaut (8-3) in Division VI and No. 3 Le Grand (6-5) will host No. 7 Mariposa (6-5) in Division VII.
Hilmar and Mariposa both battled their way to the section finals in 2019. The Yellowjackets lost to Escalon 41-27 and Mariposa won the title with a 17-14 win over Denair in overtime.
Le Grand is trying to make its first section title game since 2013.
Merced and Livingston are trying to end 15 and 31-year droughts, respectively. The Wolves’ last appearance in a championship game was when Livingston defeated Escalon 28-21 in the 1990 section championship.
“It’s super exciting, especially for the guys and the town,” said Livingston coach Alex Gonzalez. “We worked hard to get here. I’m proud to have this opportunity for everyone involved.”
Playing this deep into the season is special.
There’s a lot of teams that have already turned in their equipment and uniforms. Many athletes have moved on to basketball or wrestling.
“Obviously the weather is changing,” Scheidt said. “We have to turn on the lights just to get through practice. We’re down to 28 teams in the section. We want to get to 14. Our goal is to be in that 1% of teams at the end of the season because that means you’re playing for a section championship.”
Merced at Kimball
The Bears defense was impressive in shutting down East Union’s high-powered offense in last week’s 56-15 win over the Lancers.
How Merced’s defense fares against the Jaguars’ potent offense will key again this week.
Kimball senior quarterback Nicholas Coronado leads the state with 4,096 passing yards and 53 touchdowns through the air.
“The challenge is harder this week,” Scheidt said.
Coronado has a trio of receivers he likes to throw to in Willie Clifton (69 catches, 1,393 yards, 18 touchdowns), Mason Rivera (63 catches, 1,128 yards, 14 touchdowns) and Travis Marieiro (47 catches, 849 yards, 11 touchdowns).
“They are way athletic,” Scheidt said. “They are big. Individually we don’t match up very well but collectively we can give them some trouble. I think they are a lot more athletic (than East Union), they have more depth at receiver and they have a better ability to run the ball. They are also a little stronger and bigger up front.”
The Jaguars defense has given up a lot of points this year. Kimball has surrendered 55 points to Central Catholic, 56 to Oakdale, 41 to Manteca and 53 to East Union.
Merced comes in averaging over 44 points per game itself.
“I can’t bet against our guys,” Scheidt said. “They’ve been doing it all year long.”
Livingston at Argonaut
Gonzalez says the energy his team felt from the crowd at the Wolves’ first home playoff game in 31 years last week was incredible.
“I’ve never seen anything like it as a player or a coach,” Gonzalez said. “As soon as we walked on the field you could feel the vibe. People were lined up outside the stadium at 5 p.m. You could hear them and feel them as soon as we walked on the field. It was pretty cool.”
This week Livingston has to bottle up that feeling and travel 90 minutes to Jackson to face a run-first Argonaut team.
“Argonaut is a strong, tough, downhill team,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going to have to be good up front if want to win the game.”
Gonzalez says the Mustangs (8-3) run the ball 85 to 90% of the time. They line up in single-wing and double-wing attacks and pound the ball.
Forty-five of the Mustangs’ 56 offensive touchdowns have come on the ground this season.
It’s definitely a matchup of contrasting styles. Livingston is more of a big-play offense behind four-year starter at quarterback Rocklin Baptista.
There is a concern that even when Livingston does score it may score too fast and put their defense in the position where they are on the field too long and could tire late in the game.
“That’s the biggest fear,” Gonzalez said. “I could see our guys get tired. We have to have a good plan in place to prevent that.”
The Wolves won’t have that same home crowd to draw energy from this week. Gonzalez hopes to see plenty of the Wolves fans make the trip to Jackson.
“I’m hoping so,” Gonzalez said. “We’re trying to get a rooter bus. It’s an hour and a half away so hopefully we get the support.”
Casa Roble at Hilmar
The No. 6 seeded Yellowjackets saved their season with a second-half comeback, erasing an 11-point halftime deficit in a 35-31 win over No. 3 Sonora.
The win combined with No. 7 Casa Roble’s 35-33 upset over No. 2 Union Mine gave Hilmar a semifinals home game against the Rams.
Casa Roble is led by senior quarterback Jason Lindahl, who has passed for 1,608 yards and 15 touchdowns and was second on the team in rushing with 806 yards and eight touchdowns.
Junior Josh Taylor led the Rams with 1,009 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“They are big and they have a really good quarterback,” said Hilmar coach Frank Marques. “This is the first time playing them or anybody in their league.”
The Yellowjackets defense gets a boost this week with the return of Nicholas Vitorino from a knee injury.
Hilmar hopes to counter Casa Roble’s offensive attack with its strong running game that features Broc Perry, Luis Vargas, Blake Westmoreland and quarterback Jason Pimentel.
A win would send the Yellojackets to a fourth consecutive section championship game.
Mariposa at Le Grand
The two longtime rivals will square off for the 102nd time in the 88-year history of the rivalry.
The last time the Grizzlies played the Bulldogs in the playoffs was in the 1995 section championship, which Mariposa won 9-7.
That was the first year Mariposa head coach Robert Stitt started coaching on the Grizzlies staff. Stitt has already said this is his last season so this will be his last game coaching in the rivalry.
Le Grand head coach Aaron Martinez was a junior on the Bulldogs in that 1995 section final team.
The two teams played three weeks ago with the Bulldogs winning 24-20 at the Mariposa Fairgrounds.
