2013 Archive Stories

The Northern Section released its soccer playoff seedings for the Division I-III playoffs on Saturday and 10 local teams earned the chance to compete for a section championship. The Sutter High girls squad, which clinched its 10th straight Butte View League championship this season, earned the No. 1 seed in Division II. Behind th

The rosters for the 36th annual Lions All-Star Football Game were officially announced at a banquet at Shasta College in Redding on Saturday and 14 Mid-Valley seniors were named to the South squad. Local high school seniors selected to play in the game are: Biggs' Chance Felkins (HB/CB), Colusa's Kevin Buenrostro (OL/DL), Live Oak's Roma

A new era started for the Yuba City High softball program on Friday, and with plenty of changes, there were some growing pains. It all starts at the top for the Honkers, where new coach Trish Lucich takes over for Chuck Robinson, who led the program for five years. A former Honker softball player herself, Lucich served three year

When the Yuba College softball team ended the first cycle of Bay Valley Conference play on March 28, winning the program's first conference championship seemed feasible. The 49ers went 11-1 over their first 12 BVC games, good enough for first place, and had a favorable home schedule for their final 12 conference matchups. On Tues

Rick Daugherty has made his name known as a basketball coach over the last decade, but people close to him know he's much more than just X's and O's. Prior to arriving at Faith Christian High as an art and Bible teacher eight years ago, Daugherty served as pastor at Wheatland Baptist Church for 25 years. Like his faith, basketbal

One conversation changed Cedrick Thomas' outlook on the game of basketball forever. Thomas already had raw athletic ability when he stepped on to the Lindhurst High campus as a freshman in the fall of 2009. He would frequent the Blazers' open gyms during the offseason and throw down one-handed slam dunks just for fun. Entering hi

Abel Franco has come a long way since first learning the game of soccer as a youth in Mexico. There were no synthetic fields, grandstands or scoreboards, just a group of kids kicking a ball around on a make-shift field. It may not have been much, but it was all they ever needed. "I grew up in a village in Mexico with no p

As he and his teammates coasted along I-5 to Stockton, Triston Montoya was convinced he was a part of a team of destiny. On Nov. 10 of last year, River Valley High's senior goalkeeper walked on to the pitch at Lincoln High's Alex G. Spanos Stadium and knew nothing would get by him. His Falcons had come too far and been through to

Ron Strickland has a peace about him. He's a warm grizzly bear of sorts, stoic, yet with a gray handle-bar mustache smile that can light up a room. Basically, he fits the mold of his reputation — a founding father of New Life Christian High's athletics. Over the past 25 years, he's coached either the Crusader girls

When she was 10 years old, Aleqse Hawkins was hit by a car — her hips were never the same. She has gone through physical therapy, constantly debated how far to push her limits and even felt the grief of letting her teammates down. She's played through pain, rested when she could, but her passion for basketball, her father a

Yuba College men's basketball coach Doug Cornelius said things were "pretty ugly" on Friday night, but he's still happy to be undefeated in the Bay Valley Conference. The 49ers defeated Solano College 71-59 to begin the second cycle of BVC competition in Linda as they moved to 9-0 in conference play. "It wasn't pretty," Cornelius

With an average of more than 10 runs per game, Sutter High's baseball team has been known for the way it has swung the bats this season. In the playoffs, however, it's been the Huskies' starting pitching that has taken center stage. In a first-round win over Orland on Friday, it was junior Trenton McDaniel who pitched the Huskies to vict

There is something about playing against River Valley that seems to bring out the best in Yuba City High's Damon Bugarin. Last year, Bugarin belted a grand slam to help lift the Honkers past the Falcons in the regular season finale. On Monday night, he followed it up by hitting a pair of doubles to propel Yuba City past River Valley in t

It was like deja vu all over again for the Yuba City High baseball team on Friday night. Ace Chandler Eden was cruising along, the Honkers held a 3-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning and were a mere four outs away from picking up a big win over Division-I power Davis, the No. 10 ranked team in Northern California, according to MaxPrep

Billy Rollins' reclamation project is in full swing at Marysville High School. After spending three seasons at the helm of River Valley's baseball program, Rollins has returned to his alma mater this year to help rebuild the Indians into league championship contenders. Last year, Marysville missed the playoffs for the first time

Lindhurst High baseball coach Jeremy Grace doesn't have the luxury of a full nonleague schedule to make a proper assessment of his ballclub — life in the Golden Empire League doesn't allow that. With just one tune-up game before GEL play began on March 1, Grace and the Blazers are learning on the fly what it's going to take to comp

The Yuba College baseball team isn't looking to the past. That's why the 49ers weren't intimidated by Solano College coming into Appeal-Democrat Park on Tuesday afternoon for a battle to decide first place in the Bay Valley Conference. The Falcons have been the class of the BVC for the better part of a decade — they won the

Yuba City High baseball coach Dave Rodriguez had no reason not to believe that his team wouldn't make one of its trademark comebacks. Even when his team trailed 9-0 in the second inning, and later, when the Honkers had the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh, Rodriguez believed his team could pull off the improbable &md

Louis Mowers was just a sophomore in 2011 at Yuba City High when he was admiring then-senior Bernell Barmore. Barmore, a star on the track and football field during his time with the Honkers, competed in the CIF State Meet his senior season and was one of the Sac-Joaquin Section's top competitors in hurdles and jumps. Barmore is

After three seasons at the helm of Yuba City High's boys basketball program, Brian Davis resigned from his post on Tuesday morning citing "off-the-court" issues as the reason for his departure. The decision was a difficult one for Davis, who's main strength as a coach was building relationships with his players through team activities su

Well, March Madness is coming to an end and my bracket has been thrown away. So farewell to one half of basketball. The NBA playoffs are still around the corner, but not for the Sacramento Kings. This season has been ridiculous if you are a fan. Not only have the Kings played themselves into a 27-47 hole, but at t

Don't blink, don't turn your head — keep your eye on the ball. Thump! My son takes a hardball off the knees. A tear sheds. Maybe I shouldn't be using the hardball just yet. After all, he is only 5. But we've all had that moment. It's that split second where a fairway or a baseball, softball diamond becomes d

I'm not quite sure if this is a coincidence, or if Eric Lay really is that good of a coach. You can be judge on this one. In 2008, the Colusa High baseball team was led by senior Matt Vedo, and sophomores Benji Gil and Hayden Meyers. They went on to finish the year 20-7 overall before a second round exit in the Northern Section p

Josh "The Juggernaut" Appelt looked up at the camera and said, "That was for you, son." It was the first thing on the Olivehurst native's mind after he defeated Josh Lanier 16 seconds into the second round of Bellator 91 in New Mexico on Thursday evening. It was probably one of the strangest fights I've seen in along time —

This isn't Allen Iverson's version of "practice." The fact of the matter is the old adage of "practice makes perfect" can be applied beyond sports. The other day, I watched Iverson's old infamous interview, and it made me think about something. While we usually only reference this "practice makes perfect" theory when it comes to