Last night, the Cal Bears traveled to Reno to play the Universit of Nevada…and they lost big. After the game last week when the Bears beat the Colorado team, the postgame interviews centered around what they would be facing in Reno…and all of the predictions came true….Nevada had a great QB that could do damage to the Bears defense, and he did.
Here is the complete report on www.calbears.com and it kind of tells it all…..
Colin Kaepernick ran for 148 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 181 yards and two more scores in Nevada’s 52-31 victory over California on Friday night.
Shane Vereen ran for a career-high 198 yards and three touchdowns for the Bears (2-1), who had a 22-1-1 record against Nevada entering the game and had won their only previous contest in Reno 81-6 in 1915.
Marlon Johnson scored on a 65-yard interception return, and Vai Taua added 151 yards rushing – including a 54-yard run that made it 45-24 with 7:43 left – to help the Western Athletic Conference school improve to 3-0.
Kaepernick moved into a tie for seventh with Missouri’s Brad Smith in career rushing touchdowns with 45. In three games this year, the 6-foot-6 senior has thrown for six touchdowns and run for seven.
It was the ninth time in their career that Kaepernick and Taua have each surpassed 100 yards rushing in the same game.
The Bears were without linebacker Mike Mohamed, the Pac-10′s leading tackler a year ago who was out with a sprained toe. They entered the game leading the nation in fewest yards allowed averaging 161,9 per game. But Nevada had 297 by the half while holding Cal to only 136 as the Wolf Pack scored on four of their six possessions for a 24-14 lead.
On the first series of the second half, Vereen ran 50 yards for a touchdown to pull Cal to 24-21. Nevada went three and out on the next series, but six plays later Marlon Johnson stepped in front of Cal quarterback Kevin Riley’s quick out intended for Alex Lagemann and raced 65 yards down the sideline for a 31-21 lead.
Vereen ran for 35 yards and Riley passed 32 yards to Miller to set up Giorgio Tavecchio’s 22-yard field goal that made it 31-24 with 5:14 in the third quarter.
Nevada went up 38-24 four minutes after when Rishard Mathews caught a 28-yard pass from Kaepernick near the goal line, had it stripped by Cal’s Marc Anthony but was determined by the officials’ review of the videotape to have recovered the fumble with the nose in the end zone for a score.
An interference call on Nevada’s Isiah Frey on third-and-8 kept a drive alive for the Bears, who moved inside the Wolf Pack 10. But Riley overthrew an open Keenan Allen in the end zone on third down, was called for delay of game while trying to go for the score on fourth-and-goal from the 6 then had his pass tipped away by James-Michael Johnson with 10 minutes left in the game.
Taua put the game away with his 54-yard TD run up the middle for a 45-24 lead with 7:43 remaining before a sellout crowd of 28,809 at Mackay Stadium, many flooding the field to celebrate after the final gun.
Nevada ate up nearly half the first quarter on the opening drive, going 80 yards in 12 plays for a 7-0 lead on Kaepernick’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Tray Session.
Cal’s first series ended with Riley’s first interception of the year when the ball went through Allen’s hands to cornerback Doyle Miller at Nevada’s 17.
After the Wolf Pack went three and out, Vereen found a hole up the middle then dodged three would-be tacklers en route to a 59-yard score to make it 7-7 at 3:06 in the first quarter.
But Kaepernick capped another 12-play, 85-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7 early in the second quarter.
Nevada’s James-Michael Johnson and Dontay Moch sacked Riley on consecutive plays to push the Bears back to their own 10 on the next Cal drive and the Wolf Pack got the ball back at the Cal 47. They scored five plays later when Kaepernick ran left on an option then cut back inside for an 8-yard TD run and a 21-7 lead 8:22 before the half.
Cal managed only one first down before punting again, but linebacker Keith Browner stripped Kaepernick of the ball on the next play and Deandre Coleman recovered the fumble at Nevada’s 21 to set up Vereen’s 1-yard touchdown run that cut it to 21-14 at 3:19.
But Kaepernick got another Nevada drive going with a 33-yard pass to Matthews and – after Cal tried to freeze him with three consecutive time outs – Martinez capped a 10-play, 61-yard drive with a 30-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the first half to make it 24-14 at the break.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Foothill High School gets the attention of www.rivals.com
The following appeared on Tuesday in Rivals.com Sectionsports.com section…on Northern California high school football:
Forget everything you know about Northern Section football.
Didn’t take long, did it?
Teams from way up north in California like
//
Zach Ray is the brother former 49er Ricky Ray.
Palo Cedro’s Foothill don’t get the attention from colleges and fans that they sometimes deserve due to relative location, but Cougars’ coach Bryon Hamilton is trying to change that perception.
“Part of the problem with recruiters is they can come up here and see four or five kids, or they can spend the same amount of time in the Bay Area and look at 40 or 50 kids,” Hamilton said. “People forget we’re here sometimes. We’re trying to change that mindset.”
After being snubbed for a state bowl game invitation after a perfect 12-0 season in 2007, Hamilton started scheduling tougher games outside of the Northern Section, and California for that matter. In 2008, the Cougars defeated Oregon’s South Medford, ranked No. 1 in the state of Oregon in some polls. A year later, Foothill beat Washington’s Union High School, a team that was ranked as high as No. 2 in Washington in 2009. Both victories came on the road in hostile environments.
“We tried to upgrade our schedule as much as possible, and we’re doing a better job of going out there and competing with other teams outside of our section,” Hamilton said
One team the Cougars were able to impress was Sacramento’s Grant High School, a perennial powerhouse that won the 2008 open division California state title. The Pacers travelled with Foothill up to Washington in 2009 to play Bellevue.
“The coaches (at Grant) couldn’t believe the level of football we were playing,” Hamilton said. “They really hadn’t seen us play, and there’s the misconception that Northern Section football isn’t very good football.”
Aaron Rodgers, current quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, played at Pleasant Valley in Chico and started to change that mindset. This season, a host of Cougars are trying to continue the notion that quality talent does indeed come out of some of California’s more remote locations.
Ray on the Rise
One current Foothill player who has NFL bloodlines is senior quarterback Zack Ray, whose brother Ricky played for the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets before starring in the Canadian Football League. Through three games this season, Ray has passed for 538 yards and seven touchdowns in Hamilton’s shotgun zone-fly offense.
“He reminds me a lot of Kellen Moore,” Hamilton said, comparing his senior signal-caller to Boise State’s star quarterback. “He’s got that great poise in the pocket, and I think he’s going to grow to 6-foot-4, so he’s only going to get better.”
Two-headed Monster
The Cougars have a punishing running game,
//
Slaton is averaging close to 10 yards per carry for Foothill.
which can be a quarterback’s best friend. Junior tailbacks Tevin Slaton and Addison Gillam form a powerful rushing attack. Slaton, a 170-pound speedster, gashes defenses after the 210-pound Gillam softens them up.
“I think Gillam is a (Division I) prospect,” Hamilton said. “He’s a 6-foot-3, 210-pound kid with legitimate 4.7 speed. He’s got great redirection skills that you don’t see from a lot of 6-foot-3 football players.”
Slaton has been the more productive of the two thus far, having rushed for 467 yards and five touchdowns, including a huge Week Two performance against Stockton’s Edison, where the junior ran for 233 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
Perfecting the 3-3-5
Part of the reason Slaton has been slightly more productive has been Gillam’s commitment to playing defense. The Cougars have one of the best linebacker units in California, with Gillam leading a group that also includes seniors Mitchell McCarthy, Garrett Miller, Josh Latham and Rocco Taylor.
“We’re blessed with those five guys. We feel really, really good there [at the linebacker position],” Hamilton said.
All five players get significant minutes in
//
Gillam stars at both running back and linebacker for the Cougars.
Hamilton’s 3-5-3 defensive scheme, and each full-time defensive player is averaging over six tackles per game for Foothill. Hamilton continues to be impressed with McCarthy, who earned the top linebacker award at the Boise State camp this summer and is fast approaching the Foothill school record for career tackles.
“He’s our strong safety/linebacker this year, and he’s the kid that gets the most attention,” Hamilton said of McCarthy. “He’s got a chance to be a D1 player, and he can definitely play a lot of places with his (3.6) GPA. Between him and Latham we’ve got two legit linebacker prospects.”
Led by the strong group of linebackers, Foothill’s defense got off to a strong start to the season, holding Dixon and Edison to six points each. The Cougars’ defense, a question mark coming into the season, answered all doubts by picking off six passes against the Vikings, as Trent Knight, Tucker Wilson and Ryan Smith each intercepted a pair of passes in the victory.
“At least they weren’t being selfish,” Hamilton joked.
Hamilton: “I want to get my kids signed”
But the head coach knows that his remote position in the state is no laughing matter, and that the team needs to continue to work to change the perception on Northern Section football. Hamilton isn’t just doing it for the sake of the program, however.
“Slowly but surely we’re changing people’s attitudes for the state games, because that’s obviously what’s on everybody’s mind,” Hamilton said. “But I want to get my kids signed. I’ve legitimately had 10 or 12 Division I players (in my eight years here), and I’ve only signed one.”
“This year I’ve got at least two or three of those type of kids, and if they don’t get looked at or signed it’s going to be a shame.”
Forget everything you know about Northern Section football.
Didn’t take long, did it?
Teams from way up north in California like
//
Zach Ray is the brother former 49er Ricky Ray.
Palo Cedro’s Foothill don’t get the attention from colleges and fans that they sometimes deserve due to relative location, but Cougars’ coach Bryon Hamilton is trying to change that perception.
“Part of the problem with recruiters is they can come up here and see four or five kids, or they can spend the same amount of time in the Bay Area and look at 40 or 50 kids,” Hamilton said. “People forget we’re here sometimes. We’re trying to change that mindset.”
After being snubbed for a state bowl game invitation after a perfect 12-0 season in 2007, Hamilton started scheduling tougher games outside of the Northern Section, and California for that matter. In 2008, the Cougars defeated Oregon’s South Medford, ranked No. 1 in the state of Oregon in some polls. A year later, Foothill beat Washington’s Union High School, a team that was ranked as high as No. 2 in Washington in 2009. Both victories came on the road in hostile environments.
“We tried to upgrade our schedule as much as possible, and we’re doing a better job of going out there and competing with other teams outside of our section,” Hamilton said
One team the Cougars were able to impress was Sacramento’s Grant High School, a perennial powerhouse that won the 2008 open division California state title. The Pacers travelled with Foothill up to Washington in 2009 to play Bellevue.
“The coaches (at Grant) couldn’t believe the level of football we were playing,” Hamilton said. “They really hadn’t seen us play, and there’s the misconception that Northern Section football isn’t very good football.”
Aaron Rodgers, current quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, played at Pleasant Valley in Chico and started to change that mindset. This season, a host of Cougars are trying to continue the notion that quality talent does indeed come out of some of California’s more remote locations.
Ray on the Rise
One current Foothill player who has NFL bloodlines is senior quarterback Zack Ray, whose brother Ricky played for the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets before starring in the Canadian Football League. Through three games this season, Ray has passed for 538 yards and seven touchdowns in Hamilton’s shotgun zone-fly offense.
“He reminds me a lot of Kellen Moore,” Hamilton said, comparing his senior signal-caller to Boise State’s star quarterback. “He’s got that great poise in the pocket, and I think he’s going to grow to 6-foot-4, so he’s only going to get better.”
Two-headed Monster
The Cougars have a punishing running game,
//
Slaton is averaging close to 10 yards per carry for Foothill.
which can be a quarterback’s best friend. Junior tailbacks Tevin Slaton and Addison Gillam form a powerful rushing attack. Slaton, a 170-pound speedster, gashes defenses after the 210-pound Gillam softens them up.
“I think Gillam is a (Division I) prospect,” Hamilton said. “He’s a 6-foot-3, 210-pound kid with legitimate 4.7 speed. He’s got great redirection skills that you don’t see from a lot of 6-foot-3 football players.”
Slaton has been the more productive of the two thus far, having rushed for 467 yards and five touchdowns, including a huge Week Two performance against Stockton’s Edison, where the junior ran for 233 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
Perfecting the 3-3-5
Part of the reason Slaton has been slightly more productive has been Gillam’s commitment to playing defense. The Cougars have one of the best linebacker units in California, with Gillam leading a group that also includes seniors Mitchell McCarthy, Garrett Miller, Josh Latham and Rocco Taylor.
“We’re blessed with those five guys. We feel really, really good there [at the linebacker position],” Hamilton said.
All five players get significant minutes in
//
Gillam stars at both running back and linebacker for the Cougars.
Hamilton’s 3-5-3 defensive scheme, and each full-time defensive player is averaging over six tackles per game for Foothill. Hamilton continues to be impressed with McCarthy, who earned the top linebacker award at the Boise State camp this summer and is fast approaching the Foothill school record for career tackles.
“He’s our strong safety/linebacker this year, and he’s the kid that gets the most attention,” Hamilton said of McCarthy. “He’s got a chance to be a D1 player, and he can definitely play a lot of places with his (3.6) GPA. Between him and Latham we’ve got two legit linebacker prospects.”
Led by the strong group of linebackers, Foothill’s defense got off to a strong start to the season, holding Dixon and Edison to six points each. The Cougars’ defense, a question mark coming into the season, answered all doubts by picking off six passes against the Vikings, as Trent Knight, Tucker Wilson and Ryan Smith each intercepted a pair of passes in the victory.
“At least they weren’t being selfish,” Hamilton joked.
Hamilton: “I want to get my kids signed”
But the head coach knows that his remote position in the state is no laughing matter, and that the team needs to continue to work to change the perception on Northern Section football. Hamilton isn’t just doing it for the sake of the program, however.
“Slowly but surely we’re changing people’s attitudes for the state games, because that’s obviously what’s on everybody’s mind,” Hamilton said. “But I want to get my kids signed. I’ve legitimately had 10 or 12 Division I players (in my eight years here), and I’ve only signed one.”
“This year I’ve got at least two or three of those type of kids, and if they don’t get looked at or signed it’s going to be a shame.”
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Cal Bears Football Off to a Good Start
Saturday I was part of the crowd at the 2nd game of the season for the Cal Bears at Berkeley…and the team really did well as they beat Colorado decidely, 52-7. It was a great game with a lot of excitement and the huge almost capacity crowd enjoyed the opening tribute to America with a C-5 Flyover from Travis AFB. www.calbears.com reported today that they are back in the national rankings, and here is the complete article that was on their website this afternoon:
BERKELEY – Cal has returned to the national rankings for the first time in 2010 at No. 24 with the release of the week three USA Today Coaches’ Poll on Sunday. The last time the Golden Bears were nationally ranked was heading into their 2009 season finale at Washington (No. 19 AP, No. 19 BCS, No. 22 USA Today). The Bears have now been ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams at one point in each of the last seven seasons and eight times in nine campaigns since head coach Jeff Tedford’s arrival in 2002.
The Bears, who were among teams receiving votes (10) in the week two USA Today Coaches’ Poll released last Tuesday, received 131 votes in Sunday’s week three poll. Cal is also the fourth team listed among those receiving votes outside the AP Top 25, picking up 45 to mark the first time this season the Bears been among those receiving votes according AP.
The Bears are also in the ESPNU Fan Rankings for the first time in 2010 at No. 25. Cal has jumped off to a 2-0 start in its first contests with blowout 52-3 and 52-7 home victories over UC Davis and Colorado, respectively.
The Bears will be on the road for five of their next seven games including a nationally televised ESPN2 game at Nevada this Friday, Sept. 17 (7:00 p.m. PT), but season tickets for Cal’s final year in the current configuration of Memorial Stadium are still on sale with all five of the team’s exciting Pac-10 home games still on the docket against UCLA (Oct. 9), Arizona State (Oct. 23), Oregon (Nov. 13), Stanford (Nov. 20) and Washington (Nov. 27).
Season tickets in the Gold Zone and Blue Zone begin at $115 for Youth and Seniors, while season tickets also still remain in the Donor section comprising the best seats in the house.
Fans with 2010 season tickets are guaranteed the opportunity to purchase 2011 season tickets for Cal football home games at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, which will go on sale at a later date. To guarantee your seats in AT&T Park you must purchase 2010 season tickets. Cal fans that purchase 2010 season tickets and maintain their donation levels will also have access to the best possible season-ticket seat locations when Cal football returns to a renovated Memorial Stadium in 2012.
//
Cal has enjoyed an extremely successful and popular run at Memorial Stadium in recent years, boasting a 35-6 home mark over its last 41 contests in Berkeley and playing in front of at least 50,000 spectators for each of its last 39 home outings.
The Golden Bears have recorded the second-most victories by a Pac-10 team since Tedford became the team’s head coach in 2002 with 69 victories during that span. Cal’s current streaks of eight consecutive winning seasons and seven straight bowl appearances have equaled and tied school records, respectively. Tedford is also one of only eight current Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) coaches to have a current string of at least eight winning campaigns in a row, with only six of those coaches accomplishing the feat at the same school.
It is fun to be part of the season this year, and for me it is especially enjoyable as I enjoy the band and the pageantry very much. I put my videos on Youtube.com/ronlargent1 if you want to view the band and cheerleaders and part of the game pageantry.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Apartments for sale in Redding, CA
Did you know? There are 96 residential income- multi family properties on the market in Shasta County…from smaller duplex and triplex units to complexes with 40 and more units. You take your pick. Here is the great news…financing is available at some of the lowest rates we have ever known…here is the good news….plenty of units are available, and it is a buyers market.
For details, financials, photos, etc…. ronlargent@kw.com www.ronlargent.com
Friday Night Football on Fox Sports Radio in Redding CA
Tomorrow night we do our 2nd game of the year on Friday Night Game of the Week on AM 1670, Fox Sports Radio…and this week will be a good one with Foothill High School of Palo Cedro hosting River Valley High School of Yuba City. Foothill, a perennial football powerhouse, features a fast moving pro-style offensive system with emphasis on fast receivers and quick delivery from the quarterback. The Foothill line is small but quick, and the entire linebacking team are returnees from the winning team last year.
River Valley features the run from more traditional formations, and is also 2-0 for the young season.
All the action begins at 7 PM on Fox Sports Radio, AM 1670 in Redding….join us for the “Game of the Week”.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Shasta Wins at West Valley in High School Football
This photo from the Record Searchlight kind of says it all…Shasta ran wild over West Valley in the North State Game of the Weeks on Fox Sports Radio. With Clay Cavender leading the attack, the Wolves kept the larger West Valley Eagles on alert all evening as Clay led the Shasta High School offense to a 33-14 victory over the smaller Division II Cottonwood high school. Clay passed and ran with a sense of authority most of the evening, supported by strong running from both Trey Green and Cody Lunsford, pictured above. It was a good way for Shasta to bounce back after the season opening loss to Lassen High School in Susanville, and the Wolves showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the North State football battles this year. Stay tuned for the Friday night Game of the Week on Fox Sports Radio, AM 1670…as we will continue to bring an exciting game every Friday night for the entire season. A great way to begin football as the premier sport for the fall. I’m off to see the Cal Bears take on UC Davis at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. An exciting time.
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