Tradition vs. Pride

They're River Valley's other rival down the road. They're the pedigree-filled program at the basin of the Buttes, complete with a gym full of banners, a practice field full of athletes and a 2-0 record against their neighbors five miles south on Highway 20.

The Sutter High Huskies, who throw enrollment size, division and section affiliation to the wind in non-conference play, continually find success against teams like the Falcons.

They're an established power. Last year they won, 19-7. The year before that, it was 35-6 Huskies.

River Valley's precocious 5-year-old program has never been to the playoffs. Its best season is 6-4.

Tonight at home, the Falcons look to change that. If their new wishbone offense and sack-happy defense can somehow pull off the victory, it would arguably be the school's biggest win in history. To make it happen, the Falcons have taken a rather interesting rout.

They've done nothing. Except tell the Huskies to bring it.

"We're not changing anything that we're doing, we have to get better at what we do," Falcons coach Brandon Asher said. "We're going to come at them and get after them and basically say, 'here we are, and stop us.'"

If they live up to those words, the Falcons would equal their win total from last season. They got halfway there last week by running for 312 yards and recording 10 sacks in a 21-7 season-opening win over Lindhurst.

Troy Thomason went for 95 yards and two scores and Colin Gault had 76 yards and a touchdown to lead a Falcons team that had six players rush for 20-plus yards.

Where they were less impressive was in the air (1 of 8 passing for 4 yards) and holding onto the ball, where they lost four fumbles. But with a defense that held the Blazers to 30 yards of offense through the first 40 minutes, it was more than satisfactory, though that will not be the case against Sutter, Asher said.

"When you play Sutter, you can't have five turnovers and win a game," he said. "Hopefully we got rid of that. Our offense is a simple offense — we go forward, come at you and hopefully we got all the balls on the ground out of the way."

That's one area his counterpart would agree with him. Ryan Reynolds' Huskies lost their opener, 18-7, to Bethel during a rough Saturday in Vallejo. Sutter turned the ball over four times and needed a 30-yard touchdown run from Justin Gildemeister to prevent the shutout.

"It was a tough match-up for a week zero game, that Bethel team had a lot of speed and were a lot more physical than we anticipated," Reynolds said. "We didn't execute in critical situations, we kind of squandered it."

Still, Reynolds spun the loss, saying "a lot of positives are going to come from (it) in the long run."

But in the short run, the Huskies are just trying to get back to .500 and must weather River Valley's blitzing attack.

"They're blitz heavy, and that's something we're concerned about," he said. "We've got to take care of our jobs, our responsibilities and keep that pressure from coming."

Live Oak at Colusa

The Lions, who were one game away from the Northern Section Division III title game last season, kick off what they hope will be their run back to the postseason in their season opener on the road. On the flip side, the Redskins are looking for any positives after a 44-0 loss last week to Willows.

Heavy on returning talent, Live Oak will employ a multi-pronged running attack featuring Tony Montes and the debut of new quarterback Travis Seagraves.

Yuba City at Franklin

The A-D's top-ranked large school looks to make it 2-0 to start the season in a second straight game in Elk Grove. Last week, Max Flores' 56-yard pick-6 helped the Honkers get a 20-0 win, which could have been more lopsided if the Honkers could have converted on their other scoring opportunities. Still, Taylor Rowe, Raul Lozano and Bernell Barmore helped the team combine for 262 yards rushing.

Oroville at Wheatland

The Pirates' hot start last season made them the "it" team for most of the fall. Though standouts Clint Johnson, Vince Vetrone and Co. have graduated, the Pirates will look to roll through their Div. I opponent for a third-straight year by using the legs of senior Derick Seward, who averaged 9 yards a carry last season.

Lindhurst at Orland

The Blazers' path to a 1-1 record goes through Orland, which on paper doesn't look easy. Last week, while Lindhurst was being sacked 10 times, Orland was putting up 38 points on Hamilton. One player the Blazers will have to contain is Casey Gingrich, who rushed for 214 yards last week.

Aside from protecting quarterback Christian George, the Blazers will must have the success they did in the waning moments of their 21-7 loss to River Valley, when they had 122 yards in their final two possessions.

Williams at Maxwell

Fresh off their drubbing of Los Molinos, the Yellowjackets look to avenge one of their toughest losses from last season against their in-county rival. In 2009, the Panthers and their spread offense helped squeak out a 22-21 win.

Williams QB Carlos Velasquez, who threw for three touchdowns last week, will battle with Panthers signal caller Tyler Wells, who will lead Maxwell in its season opener.

Willows at Gridley

After trouncing Colusa 44-0, Willows heads to "The Bone Yard," where host Gridley looks to start off strong after a rough 2009 that saw the Bulldogs lose three games by a point. That includes last year's season-opener against Willows, which they lost 7-6.

To get some redemption, Gridley will roll out four different running backs: Seniors Connor Anderson, CJ Stair and Ronnie Jones and junior Eduardo Ruiz.

Pierce at Hamilton

The Bears may be 1-0, but they'd sure like to have tonight's game be a prettier win than their 14-13 overtime victory over Esparto last Friday. In their season opener, the Bears turned the ball over six times, with a 50-yard pass from Taylor Cabral being their biggest highlight.

Tonight, they will get a hefty challenge from Hamilton, which is looking to get to 1-1 after falling 38-14 to Orland.

Biggs at Bradshaw Christian

The Wolverines' road trip to Sacramento will be a tough one. After falling 56-20 to Durham last week, Biggs will play an 0-1 Bradshaw Christian team that could pose quite the challenge. The Pride lost their opener 36-30 to Stockton's Brookside Christian, but still managed to rush for 355 yards.