Looking back, moving forward

For the first year in some time, no Mid-Valley area football team came home with a section football title.

But considering that nine of the area's 14 schools made it to the postseason and that three came within a touchdown of winning Northern Section championships, 2009 was certainly a year to remember for local gridiron fans.

It was a season of surprise players and surprise teams, one that saw five first-year coaches take over and a year where key injuries to some big-time players decided the fate of entire schools.

Fall was a season of change, and it all starts with the area's top team at Yuba City High, where coach John Ithurburn changed the mentality of the program and guided the Honkers to its first winning season in years.

Led by a stellar class of juniors, Yuba City battled through an extremely tough Tri-County Conference schedule to finish the regular season 6-4 and gain a berth into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs.

Although they were bounced in the first round by a powerful Vanden team, the return of juniors Taylor Rowe and Raul Lozano in the backfield coupled with a newly-established winning attitude, the Honkers are set to be even better in the 2010 season.

The Mid-Valley's biggest surprise was in Arbuckle where Pierce High rebounded from a winless 2008 to finish 6-5 and make the playoffs. And while some might think that experience doesn't matter at the high school level, look no further than the Bears, who took lumps as a junior-driven squad last year, only to hand them out as seniors this fall.

The team that eliminated Pierce from the playoffs was Colusa, where long-time area coach Bob Miller completed one of the biggest turnarounds in recent memory by getting the Redskins into the section title game for the first time since 1997.

Before Miller's arrival, the floundering Redskins' program was coming of a 2-8 campaign. But with a talented and hard-working group of juniors leading the team, Colusa turned it around to go 5-5 last year and this season they came just three points away from winning the Division III crown with an 8-5 record.

The achievement was remarkable considering that the Redskins started the season with only 16 players and battle injuries throughout the season. It was a lot for a team to overcome, yet Miller and the Redskins still got it done.

As for coaches, three of the area's five first-year men led their squads into the postseason, and leading the pack is Sutter's Ryan Reynolds.

Hit hard by graduation, the Huskies opened the season with a narrow win over Live Oak and never really gained the respect they deserved. In fact, although the defense did its part, most questioned whether the offense could put up enough points for Sutter to win another Butte View League title.

But the offense wasn't that bad, and Sutter finished the year 9-3 and came just a play or two away from winning its third-straight section crown. And when you consider that two of their losses came against section champs and the other came against bigger Yuba City, Reynolds has the Huskies right at the top of the pack when it comes to local football.

Perenial-power Maxwell returned to the title game for the fourth year in a row and lost to Fall River — again. It was a tough start at first, but once quarterback Tyler Wells, back Gerardo Parra and receiver Stephen Perry got a feel for the newly implimented spread offense, the Panthers took off and lit up the scoreboard.

And with a bunch of juniors set to return, next year just may be the year for Maxwell to win the Div. V crown.

Another school hit hard by graduation was Lindhurst, which had appeared in the previous three section title games and won two. With nearly every big name gone, new head man Dan Crabtree stepped in and got the Blazers back to the playoffs despite losing starting quarterback Kahlan Robinson early in the season.

It's easy to see that Crabtree is already close to his new players, and with senior leaders AZ Sutton and Angel Vega providing the example, the Blazers are bound to keep the winning tradition alive.

One of the most intriguing teams was at Live Oak, where another new coach, Dan Johnson, guided the Lions to a 5-5 record and just squeaked into the playoffs. What makes Live Oak unique is that they had the talent and the coaching to go undefeated.

Look at their losses. The first was a 20-3 loss to Sutter in a game that wasn't decided until late in the fourth quarter. The next four setbacks were by a combined 14 points when bad luck, a rash of key injuries and the inability to hold onto a lead late nearly ruined the season for the Lions.

But Johnson and company rallied to beat Rio Vista on the final night of the regular season to earn a playoff berth and while the Lions eventually lost to Trinity 33-6 in the section semis, the fact that Live Oak overcame injuries to junior standout Tony Montes and the likes and still managed to win six games, the season was a success.

Besides, how many teams can lose four straight games and still make the playoffs? Not many.

Injuries were huge in 2009 with several of the area's best missing significant time.

Two players in particular — Wheatland's Vince Vetrone and Marysville's Michael Barabin — were crucial.

With Vetrone in the lineup, the Pirates averaged 40 points per game and were sitting at 8-1, with the only loss coming to 10-0 Lincoln.

But when Vetrone went down with an ankle injury, the timing couldn't have been worse. In the regular season finale at home, Wheatland fell to rival Sutter 42-15 in a battle for the BVL title and the following week they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by Central Valley.

Football is a team game, but individuals do make a big impact. For evidence, just look at Barabin, who was the Indians top offensive and defensive player before breaking his leg against Capital Christian.

The injury to the junior standout was just the start for the Indians and by the final home game against Highlands, coach Cullen Meyer was without 12 starters. Not surprisingly, the Indians dropped their final four games and missed out on the postseason.

One of Marysville's nonleague losses were to Gridley, where former Bulldog John Cooprider has his team headed in the right direction. With another year under his belt, Cooprider and the Bulldogs should be much improved next season after finishing 2-8 this fall.

And although River Valley had a tough run and finished 2-8, first-year coach Brandon Asher does have a plan for turning around the program. The only question is if he'll be around long enough to finish what he's trying to start. After all, in just four Mayor's Cup games, Asher was already the third coach to lead the Falcons into battle.

Biggs and Williams both struggled, but players like the Wolverines' Emilio Marquez and the Yellowjackets' Carlos Velasquez made the teams fun to watch.