WEEK 7 ROUNDUP: Pierce survives scare

The Pierce High football team escaped not once, but twice.

The Bears battled back from a 14-0 deficit and scored 21 unanswered points before Durham missed a would-be, game-tying point-after kick with 16 seconds remaining in the game. The missed kick allowed Pierce to walk away with a 21-20 victory in Durham on Friday night.

Quarterback Nate Smith found Oscar Sanchez from 19 yards out for the Bears' first score, while Joey Hernandez rushed for back-to-back touchdowns.

Hernandez rushed for 46 yards, Andy Corona picked up 72 yards on the ground, and Chas Benton recorded two sacks on defense. Margarito Meza intercepted a pass that set up Pierce's second scoring drive of the game.

With the victory, the Bears improved to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Sacramento Valley League.

Sutter 62, Gridley 0

In Gridley — Trent Little passed for 129 yards and two touchdowns as the Huskies stormed out to a 48-0 halftime lead and cruised to an easy Butte View League victory over the Bulldogs at the Bone Yard.

Mat Sanders rushed for 49 yards and scored a touchdown on just two carries, Nathan Ahlers added two TD runs in limited action and Colton Minton returned a fumble for a score for Sutter, which improved to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the BVL with the win.

Brad Bonnenfant and Sanders both hauled in TD passes and Jared Miller, Forrest Smith and Cody Lee added touchdown runs in the win for Sutter, which also recieved a strong game defensively from linebacker Ryan Staas.

River Valley 51, Natomas 13

In Sacramento — The Falcons jumped out to a 34-point first quarter lead and never looked back to improve to 2-0 in the Tri-County Conference. The Falcons are now tied with Yuba City at the top of the standings.

T.J. Dove rushed the ball just four times, but finished with 130 yards and a touchdown. He also caught two touchdowns from quarterback Izaya Johnson.

Johnson also rushed for a touchdown, along with Kyle Magenheimer. Dewey Maxham rushed for two touchdowns for River Valley (5-2).

Capital Christian 55, Marysville 12

In Sacramento — Sophomore quarterback Aaron Birch had two touchdown runs of more than 40 yards and rushed for more than 100 yards in the game, but the Indians came up short in a Golden Empire League loss to the 6-1 Cougars.

With the setback, Marysville slipped to 1-6 overall and 1-1 in the GEL heading into next Friday's clash with rival Lindhurst.

Dixon 75, Lindhurst 24

In Dixon — The Blazers managed to put up more than 400 yards of offense despite the GEL loss.

Tim Endicott threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns, Zach Kitchen had 181 receiving yards and two touchdowns and Logan Springfield had 65 yards receiving and a touchdown.

Deion Blakely also had 66 yards receiving for Lindhurst (1-6, 1-1).

Red Bluff 44, Wheatland 14

In Wheatland — Mark Campos scored a rushing touchdown and Jackson Hopking hit Joel Johnson with a TD pass, but the Pirates didn't have enough firepower to hang with Red Bluff in a nonleague loss to the Division-I Spartans.

Wheatland fell to 5-2 with the loss and will return to BVL action at Winters next week.

Maxwell 27, Chester 22

In Chester — Blake Vierra scored two rushing touchdowns and George Barajas ran for another to lift the Panthers to an impressive Mountain Valley League victory over the previously unbeaten Volcanoes.

Luis Rolon sealed the game with an interception with a minute left for Maxwell, which improved to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the MVL with the win.

Quincy 20, East Nicolaus 8

In Quincy — Zach Schuler threw a 48-yard touchdown strike to Dylan Thornsberry and Andrew Sills added a 2-point conversion in the first quarter — and that was all East Nicolaus could muster in an Mid-Valley League loss on the road.

Six turnovers plagued the Spartans, who found themselves in an all-too familiar situation against Quincy.

East Nicolaus (4-3, 1-1) has now lost six straight games at Quincy, which picked up its first win of the season as a result.

Colusa 38, Esparto 18

In Esparto — The RedHawks put up 420 yards of offense compared to Esparto's 27 in an MVL game.

Andrew Rodriguez tallied 145 yards on the ground and four scores for Colusa (3-4, 1-1).