Battle for Mayor’s Cup between Merced, Golden Valley highlights a night of rivalry games
The 29th Battle for the Mayor’s Cup highlights a heavy dose of rivalry games in the final week of the regular high school football season. Two conference championships will also be on the line Friday night.
Golden Valley (8-1 overall, 4-1 Central California Conference) will try to defeat Merced (5-4, 4-1 CCC) for the first time since 2005 on Friday night when the Cougars host the Bears at Veterans Stadium.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
“It’s been an elusive win,” said Golden Vallley coach Rick Martinez. “It’s something we talked about since the first week. If we’re playing a meaningful game against Merced it means we’ve done something.”
Rivalry Week
Other rivalry games this week include the Bloss Bowl XVII in Atwater between Buhach Colony (3-6, 1-4 CCC) and Atwater (3-6, 2-3 CCC). The Thunder lead the all-time series 11 to 5.
The Western Athletic Conference championship is on the line at the Crosstown Clash with Los Banos traveling to Pacheco.
The Tigers (7-2, 6-0 WAC) have won six games in the row and can clinch the WAC championship outright with a victory over the Panthers (6-3, 5-1 WAC). A Pacheco win would set up a co-championship.
Two longtime Southern League rivals will square off in the Green and Gold Bowl with Mariposa (7-2, 4-2 SL) coming down to face Le Grand (7-2, 4-2 SL).
This will be the 103rd meeting between the two teams, including Le Grand’s semifinal win over the Grizzlies last year in the playoffs. Mariposa holds a 58-40-4 all-time lead in the series.
The 5-foot-tall wooden statue called The Chief is on the line as Gustine (4-5, 2-4 SL) travels to Orestimba (8-1, 6-0 SL).
The West Sierra League championship is also up for grabs as Dos Palos (5-4, 4-0 WSL) travels to Coalinga (6-3, 4-0 WSL).
Mayor’s Cup
The Bears have rattled off 16 consecutive wins against their crosstown rivals. A lot of the games have been lopsided wins during the streak, but there have been a couple games decided in the final moments.
“A lot of things have happened and things have gone our way,” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt. “We’ve gotten some breaks at the end of games. We know it’s a rare thing.”
Golden Valley will be playing its second game without star quarterback Eleazar Garza, according to Martinez.
Garza injured his ankle in the first quarter against Patterson and is out two to three weeks. The hope was he could possibly play against Merced, but Martinez says the senior just started walking again this week.
“We’re hoping he’ll be back for the playoffs,” Martinez said.
Junior Abraham Bautista will start at quarterback for the Cougars. He threw two touchdowns in last week’s 34-0 win over El Capitan.
“He did well,” Martinez said. “He stayed focused (on) what we coached him to do. We were pleased with the outcome. It was a good game to get that going.”
Merced sophomore Quintell Dupree will also be making his second start at quarterback for the Bears after starter Carter Haugen injured his collarbone against Buhach Colony two weeks ago.
With both teams headed to the postseason, playoff seeding, bragging rights and the streak are all on the line in what should be an electric atmosphere in front of a big crowd.
“Obviously the streak is important but it’s not bigger than the game,” Scheidt said. “You don’t want to be the team that doesn’t keep it going, but we want to keep our guys focused and not get too excited.”
Merced holds a 20-8 advantage in the all-time series.
