Huskies on the hunt

The Sutter High football team begins it's quest for a second straight Northern Section Division II championship tonight when it welcomes Anderson into Wayne Gadberry Field for a semifinal contest.

The top-seeded Huskies (9-1) have had an extra week to prepare for the game after clinching a first-round bye with a 47-6 victory over rival Wheatland two weeks ago, while the No. 4 seeded Cubs (6-5) advanced with an impressive 40-2 victory over No. 5 Central Valley in their playoff opener.

The Sutter coaching staff didn't let the extra week of preparation go to waste and started gearing up to face Anderson early last week.

"We kind of worked on the team we thought we'd play," said Sutter coach Scott Turner, who added that Anderson had already beat the Falcons handily, 23-0, earlier in the season. "They're a pretty solid team. They're well-coached and don't make many mistakes."

Turner said the Cubs like to keep the ball on the ground with their option offense, something Sutter hasn't really encountered so far this year.

"We've spent a lot of time preparing for them," the Sutter coach said. "They run it quite a bit, it's really their bread and butter."

The Butte View League-champion Huskies have had no problem putting points on the scoreboard — or keeping the opposition off of it for that matter — and have outscored their opponents by an average score of 45-8 through 10 games.

Leading the way is quarterback Jon Garcia, who has passed for 1,186 yards and 16 touchdowns while maintaining a 60 percent completion percentage.

While Garcia has ran for 322 yards and four additional scores, he has plenty of weapons behind him. Senior running back Dane Turner has scored 20 touchdowns and racked up 1,163 total yards from scrimmage, while fellow senior Rowdy Robinson has rushed for 721 yards and 16 scores.

Add to that Craig Smith's eight touchdowns from scrimmage and wide receiver Brian Southers' 532 yards and six touchdowns through the air, and Anderson will have its hands full.

Wheatland at West Valley

The Pirates will be out for revenge when they travel to take on No. 2 West Valley, a team that has eliminated them from the playoffs the previous two seasons in Cottonwood.

But this year could be different.

With a steady group of running backs and no single leading offensive player for defenses to key on, Wheatland coach Javier Lopez feels that this could be his best chance to get a victory against the Eagles, which bounced the Pirates 45-20 last year and 46-14 in 2006.

"We definitely have to play our best football," said Lopez, who noted that his team had a great week of practice in which they implemented some changes into the game plan. "They got us on the same thing the last couple of years, so we have some new wrinkles defensively."

No. 3 Wheatland (9-2) beat Winters, 42-21, in the first round last week due in large part to the play of quarterback Malcom Webb, who scored three touchdowns on the ground and added an 88-yard interception for a score to boot.

Junior fullback Clint Johnson leads the Pirates with 841 rushing yards and four touchdowns, while Vince Vetrone has 504 yards on the ground and five scores to go with his four kickoff returns for touchdowns.

Sophomore running back Lecarlis Moore, who joined the team midseason, has added a lift to the offense with 361 yards rushing and five touchdowns.

The Eagles (8-2) like to spread the ball around on offense as well, with 10 different backs combining to rush for 2,204 yards and 29 touchdowns. Bobby Guyton leads the team with 602 yards on the ground and has scored six touchdowns, while Ben Bradshaw has averaged 11 yards per carry and has a team-high 10 rushing touchdowns.

"They're similar to Sutter and ourselves in that they don't have just one guy that can beat you — but three or four," Lopez said. "But not only do they have a good running game, they're quarterback can throw, too."

Quarterback Josh Barrett has passed for 1,108 yards and 14 touchdowns with the majority of his passes going to receiver Joel Dumore, who has hauled in 24 receptions for 582 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"It all comes down to execution and holding on to the ball," Lopez added. "We have to get points when we're inside the 20."

DIVISION III

East Nicolaus at Willows

After playing a tough nonleague schedule and competing in a strong Mid-Valley League during the regular season, the No. 4 Spartans face another difficult test when the travel to Willows to play the top-seeded Honkers.

"They're a good, solid, balanced team," East Nicolaus coach Mark Varnum said of the Sacramento Valley League champions. "We match up pretty good athletically with them, so hopefully we'll bring our 'A' game and carry some momentum from the end of last week's game."

East Nicolaus (6-5) advanced to the section semifinals following a thrilling 26-21 victory over Mt. Shasta, which was capped by quarterback Andrew Rubalcava's 4-yard touchdown toss to tight end Jared DePaul with just 19 seconds remaining in the game.

Rubalcava has been the key to the offense, passing for nearly 1,700 yards and 18 touchdowns on the year, throwing to the likes of solid wide receivers Brian Johnson and Jessee Gardner, as well as the steady DePaul down the middle.

"They run a mixture of fronts, so we've been working on a variety of things," said Varnum, who expects that Willows' big playmaker, Cody Pastorino, will no doubt be locked up in man-to-man coverage on either Johnson or Gardner.

Willows (9-1) averages 32 points per game, and although the Honkers have used a host of running backs to move the ball on the ground, there's no doubt who the unquestioned receiving leader is — Pastorino has been one of the most productive pass catchers in the state, snatching 36 receptions for 922 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"There's no secrets," Varnum added. "It ought to be a pretty good shootout."

DIVISION V

Fall River at Maxwell

For the second straight season, the section championship will come down to a battle between the Panthers and the Bulldogs.

Fall River edged Maxwell 14-13 in last year's championship game and blew past them earlier this season 48-0, however, this Panthers team is different than the one which played in that Sept. 19 game.

The No. 2 Panthers (6-5) have won six of their previous seven games including a 16-6 semifinal victory over Burney last week.

Offensively, Maxwell is led by the backfield duo of junior Gerardo Parra and senior Eddie Hernandez, who each have a chance to go over 1,000 yards in the game. Parra has rushed for 957 yards and 12 touchdowns on the year, while Hernandez has rumbled for 992 yards and nine scores.

Top-seeded Fall River (9-2), which blasted Mercy, 66-25, in the first round, has averaged 42 points per contest over 11 games. The Bulldogs are led by a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in Ryan Stephenson (1,519 yards, 21 touchdowns) and Nick Lakey (1,164 yards, 16 touchdowns).