Chowchilla’s Pittz feels Hanks themed homecoming overshadowed game

Chowchilla High football coach Alex Pittz is a big fan of Tom Hanks. He loves his movies. However, Pittz wasn’t a big fan of Kerman High’s Tom Hanks themed homecoming.

Pittz knows he’s in the minority.

“The Kerman kids played their heart out,” Pittz said. “That night should have been more about them and how they played. Their town should show up to support them instead of an actor who didn’t show up.”

Pittz’ Redskins spoiled Kerman’s homecoming with a 46-21 win over the Lions.

What Pittz didn’t like is that all the pregame festivities surrounding the Tom Hanks themed homecoming that Kerman put on delayed the start of the game by 30 minutes.

Pittz is old school and doesn’t like altering his team’s pregame routine.

The pregame festivities included floats by each class based off a Hanks’ movie, including the freshmen’s “A League of Their Own,” the sophomores’ “Big,” the juniors’ “Toy Story,” and the seniors’ “Forest Gump.”

There was also a big screen brought out where a 7-minute video from Hanks was shown.

“It was not an ideal situation,” Pittz said. “It’s not normally how we like to prepare for a game. I understand the hype around the whole thing. I love that their school rallied around something and they did a good job getting the school and community involved. I’d prefer to see the town rally around the team.”

Don’t expect Chowchilla to plan a Kevin Bacon themed homecoming any time soon.

“I’m a big Kevin Bacon fan too,” Pittz said. “There’s way too many Kevin Bacon movies to make floats. We’ll keep our homecomings standard and celebrate the kids.”

Montanez returns with a bang

Golden Valley junior Isaiah Montanez was itching to get back on the field. The Cougars running back had been sidelined for four weeks since dislocated a finger against Beyer on Sept. 4.

The first time he touched the ball on Friday night against Turlock, he returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. It’s his second kickoff return for a touchdown this season.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, they didn’t score the rest of the game in a 36-6 loss to the Bulldogs to snap their three game winning streak.

Foss finishing strong

Merced quarterback Jake Foss has started slow in his last two weeks, but finished strong in wins over Lincoln and Atwater.

Against the Trojans, Foss threw three first-quarter interceptions and completed just 4 of his first 9 passes for 37 yards. He then completed 8 of his final 13 attempts for 204 yards and two touchdowns.

Foss started 4 of 12 for 51 yards against the Falcons on Friday. The junior then completed 13 of 17 for 199 yards and three touchdowns.

Foss and receiver A.J. Stewart have been on the same page. The duo have combined for five touchdown connections in the last three games.

Thunder airing it out

With all the great running backs to come through Buhach Colony in recent years it’s not uncommon for two backs to rush for more than a 100 yards in a game.

Two Thunder receivers going over 100 yards is unheard of but that’s what happened on Friday in a 49-34 loss to Pitman.

Both Darius Mack (107 yards) and Brandon Muse (105) topped the century mark in receiving yards and both scored touchdowns.

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Chowchilla’s Pittz feels Hanks themed homecoming overshadowed game."