The Nosebleed Section

Oh, you readers. You’re so wonderful to me.

Let me rephrase that. You readers are SO wonderful when are wonderful and SO harsh when you’re harsh. No apologies necessary on either side.

Today is a WONDERFUL day, thanks to a WONDERFUL reader named either Norm or Barb MacKenzie. I’m gonna go with Norm here.

This Norm fella sent me a link to a CRAZY 8-man football game that you all need to read about. I won’t tell you the final score, though, because clicking on links is fun and I want my readers to have fun. Because they’re wonderful.

All I’m going to tell you is that I read the final score to the other sports guys in the office and they asked if it was 8-man football or 8-man basketball.

So click here to read this story from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and make sure your jaw doesn’t drop too far. It’s a good one.

Posted by Leland Gordon at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Being right isn’t everything to me. But it sure makes me feel better when I am.

For those of you loyal readers (all seven of you) who read my column two weeks ago, you’ll remember that I said that all the action for the playoffs is in the small schools. Enterprise at Paradise football withstanding, it has come true.

The biggest game of the week (aside from Enterprise at Paradise football) is Durham at Hamilton volleyball, with the winner getting a shot at the Northern Section Division V crown.

One thing I always make sure to recognize when I go to smaller schools is that the crowds seem to be much more involved. Tuesday’s Hamilton home match against Mercy was a joy to be at mostly because the crowd was so spirited. Places like Hamilton City don’t have a lot of excitement going on so I’m guessing a section tournament game is a much bigger deal there than in places like Chico and Redding.

Tomorrow’s game (aka: Thursday) is going to be even wilder. With Durham coming to town, this local rivalry is going to take on a new level and Braves coach Erin Johnson predicted a packed house.

She’s likely going to be right too. I’m getting there early, and if you’re planning on going, you should too. And here’s a tease to the next post: Pictures of me working!

Normally that shouldn’t excite anybody but me, however you all should remember that I usually only post the ones that embarrass me.

Posted by Leland Gordon at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am so sorry that our readers didn’t get a Chico High vs. Lassen story that was worthy of being on our front page. Apologizing for something out of my power really doesn’t sit well with me but I owe it to all of you who were interested in the game.

My company pulled a move that I was not happy about and used an inexperienced reporter who was way in over his head and the results showed. If it makes CHS fans feel any better, the story came in very late and we stayed until the wee hours of the morning unpatiently waiting for it.

I’m not gonna trash another reporter in this situation because the job was just beyond him on Friday night. And I have reservations about trashing the newspaper I work for.

That being said, they blew it. I should have been at that game. They wanted to save travel money and got burned. I was actually somewhat happy to see that readers commented (unhappily) on the quality of the story.

I am going to take a lot of the heat for this. I already know of some vocal commenters who assumed that I didn’t cover this game out of choice because of a “bias” against Chico High.

Wrong.

I wanted to be there. I should have been there. I am the prep writer and to have someone else cover my beat besides Travis Souders or Patrick Kinmartin is hard to swallow.

This was a bad omen to me. They’re trusting playoff games to inexperienced reporters who have no connection with the readers. Friday night was a situation where quality of our product should have outweighed financial constraints.

Life goes on, though. I’m in the office once again.

Posted by Leland Gordon at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm sitting here at the Enterprise-Record office on a Friday night, something that hasn't happened in about three months. It's not any fun.

Budget concerns here at the E-R compelled the higher-ups to pay for a stringer (freelance writer) to cover the game that is going on right now and save the money on my travel. This obviously disappoints me. A lot.

I'm a reporter and thus want to report. I know things are terrible finance-wise at our newspaper but I really feel like this was a story that shouldn't be trusted to a freelancer.

I just work here, though.

Lassen just took a 3-point lead (20-17) in the fourth quarter as I was writing this. We got a Web cast from Susanville that a friend of mine told me about this evening. Wish I could've passed it along to you all.

So sorry I couldn't make it up there. If it was my choice I'd be in Susanville right now. Wow, never thought I'd say that.

Posted by Leland Gordon at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally, some good news regarding athletics funding. I saw in the Sunday, Nov. 9 edition that the Willows Unified School District trustees approved freshman football and volleyball. Of course there’s a catch: parents have vowed to raise the necessary funds.

A parent representative told the district that it won’t have to provide any of the money, and that’s a good thing, because districts don’t have much to offer. Parent groups says they can raise $12,000.

I love the idea, I love how parents are involved. Willows will have to pull this together quickly, too.

There is a risk, as well, that Athletic Director Jerry Smith mentioned. IF Willows can’t get all the money to fund the teams, it will have to cancel its freshman schedule for the 2009-10 school year. That would cause those scheduled opponents to lose trust in Willows, which would be a very bad thing.

Still, way to go Willows! Chico has done an amazing job of funding its preps sports and you are following in the right direction with the right idea.

Posted by Leland Gordon at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chico has a state-title caliber football team. I wish it was on the prep beat.

For those of you who haven’t heard, the Butte College football team has already clinched the Golden Valley Conference and is now the prime contender to represent Northern California in the state title bowl game. The Roadrunners are 9-0 and now ranked fourth in the nation, and will have to win a ‘playoff’ game to advance to the state title matchup.

Normally this wouldn’t be fodder for the Nosebleed Section because it isn’t my beat (Patrick Kinmartin takes care of Butte) and because I’m not a studied expert on what goes on out there.

But there are a boatload of talented players on the Butte team who graced our pages as preps. And so those young men are the focus of this post.

It’s great for me to see these guys doing so well in the big-time arena of BC football. They’re taking the next step. And with some hard work they too can be like Larry Allen, and Aaron Rodgers and Brett Ratliff, guys who have made it to the NFL via Butte College.

They’re playing Foothill College of Los Altos on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cowan Stadium on the Butte College campus. If you have the time, go check out what is most likely to be the team’s final home game of the year!

Not all of them play. Some don’t play at all. But they surely deserve recognition just for being part of a winning tradition.

I figured I’d do it by school. And alphabetically, because some whiner will likely leave a comment telling me that I never give certain schools credit if I don’t do it alphabetically.

BIGGS
OL Andrew Gomez FR

CHICO
TE Matt Carter SO

DURHAM
WR Corey Arnold FR
K Kenny Houser SO

GRIDLEY
OL Randall Huff FR

HAMILTON
DB Manuel Diaz SO

LAS PLUMAS
TE Jimmy Mastelotto FR

ORLAND
WR Frank Howard FR

OROVILLE
LB Tyree Dickson SO
DB AJ Hills FR

PARADISE
RB Josh Ely SO

PLEASANT VALLEY
QB Jordan Rodgers FR
QB Ryan Ratekin SO
RB Mark Woodbury FR
LB Nick DeCaneva SO
DB Michael Deel FR
RB Cody McHargue FR
P/K Augie Heath FR
LB Brett McMurray FR
WR Sean Reynolds FR

Posted by Leland Gordon at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We all knew the race for the final two spots in the Division I football brackets would be weird and that somebody was likely going to miss out and have a legitimate beef.

Red Bluff is that team. Chico High got the No. 6 spot even though it has lost the last three and got smoked by Red Bluff 35-7. But Foothill is No. 5 and Chico beat them 21-0.

Heck, PV beat Enterprise and Lassen, which are in the group as well.

Let's let it all sink in over my two days off, and we'll reasses where things are at on Tuesday.

And now, on to my weekend!

Posted by Leland Gordon at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’m going to keep it light and basic today, on account of I have to create the scoreboard page and menial office tasks also require my attention.

The first thing to mention is that the Northern Section tennis season has ended, and Shasta High had the individual champ (Laura Beltran) plus the doubles championship team (Beltran and Lexi Thomas). PV’s Melody Wu was the runner-up in singles and she teamed with Nicole Briggs to lose the doubles final.

I like the playoff format for tennis because the eventual champion really has to earn it. Beltran had to beat four competitors and she had a first-round bye, a luxury most players don’t get. There are many opportunities for upsets and so the champion truly has proven that they are the best player in the tournament.

Now we’re on to No. 2 and it involves volleyball. Updated playoff points came out today (Thursday) and we’ll have the playoff pairings in Saturday’s paper after the Friday seeding meeting. Find those by clicking here.

The third order of business regards a story in the Style section that might grab your interest. Greg DeWall’s life story is one that makes you think for a second about what it’s like to live through a failed suicide attempt and then having to go on without sight. He medaled at the Paralympics in judo at the Paralympics, which took place in September in China, and continues to participate.

Though I haven’t verified this, DeWall appears to have been a prep athlete in Chico. Just from all I have seen and read leads me to believe, almost for sure, that he went to PV or Chico High. And he has a wrestling background as well.

But even if he wasn’t, it’s still a story worth reading.

So for an inspirational sports story, read the E-R story by Mary Nugent by < a href= "http://www.chicoer.com/lifestyle/ci_10911860?source=rv"> clicking here. And for his bio on the Blind Judo Foundation Web site, click here.

Posted by Leland Gordon at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the looks and sounds of Monday’s Northern Section girls golf championships, it was a wild, wacky and — obviously — wet day at Butte Creek Country Club. I was out of town but the drive down to the Bay Area came complete with cats-and-dogs type rain and I can truthfully say that I was driving 40 or 45 at times on I-5, just like somebody’s grandmother.

Safety first, right?

And that’s the reasoning used Monday when the tournament was cut short to nine holes. Pleasant Valley coach Mark Riehlman told me that a player’s club slipped out of her hands and nearly took out a member of the crowd, and that would have been bad unless you’re in the cosmetic surgery business.

And on a side note, why do they call it a gallery and not a crowd in golf?

OK, but I need to give you all results. I am going to type the basic, local info, and if you want to see the results in their entirety, simply click here.

PV is going to the Nor Cal championships at Corral de Tierra in Monterey thanks to its second-place finish behind Shasta. Heather Fegley (56), Seanna Olson (62), Tracy Timmons (56), Monica Figueroa (53), Veronica Figueroa (63) and Emily Rath made it as a team, representing the only local team to move on. Paradise's Laney Sumner's 54 gets her the final spot as an individual.

Chico High was fourth and Paradise was fifth.

It was a nasty day out there from the sounds of it, and I’m disappointed that the results didn’t make the paper. Nobody called it in. But we got some other news from the course.......

It appears that somebody watching the tournament found an abandoned baby on the course during the day. Wow. What a strange find.

The good news is the baby is OK and local authorities have figured out what happened, for the most part. Check out our news section if that story jumps out at you.

Posted by Leland Gordon at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PREP GIRLS SWIMMING
All-Northern Section Team
(Done in order of meet points)
First Team
Mallory McGown, Colusa
Allison West, Chico
Darcie Anderson, Orland
Olivia Fountain, Orland
Kathleen West, Chico
Maya Tice, Winters
Megan Akers, Foothill
Taylor Pincin, Foothill
Jennifer Suther, Foothill
Alex Barney, Chico
Morgan Hughes, Chico
Korina Steinbergs, Shasta

Second Team
Hillary Colby, Chico
Meghan Johnson, Chico
Ashley Moebes, West Valley
Emily Hughes, Chico
Brigid Ehrlich, Chico
Ellen Copsey, UPrep
Clara Chrisco, Chico
Janee Nickerson, Chico
Sarah Woods, Durham
Maddie Gray, Pleasant Valley
Jenni Perez, Princeton
Madie Ross, Shasta
Natalie Flores, Enterprise

Honorable Mention
Elizabeth Nava, Enterprise
Madeleine Natina, Enterprise
Nikki Pyle, Durham
Mindi Perez, Princeton
Kayla Strand, Maxwell
Rachel Waits, Shasta
Taylor Moebes, West Valley
Caitlin Clark, West Valley
Shannon Vicra, Rio Vista
Natalie Sperber, Foothill
Mariah Nunez-Bauer, Pleasant Valley
Neysa Smith, Chico
Jaime Anderson, Winters
Keeya Singer, UPrep
Nicole Silva, Rio Vista

PREP BOYS SWIMMING
First Team
Joseph Wasko, American Christian
Scott Tyler, Foothill
Tyler Casey, Shasta
Aaron Davis, Shasta
Rex Holmes, Chico
Henry Hernandez, Pleasant Valley
Sam Rounds, Enterprise
Nick Cavazos, Paradise
Dylan Gray, Pleasant Valley
Chad Kimmelshue, Pleasant Valley
Stephen Batchelder, Orland
Bryce Poliquin, Chico
Riley Breslin, Shasta
Jaxon Williams, Enterprise

Second Team
Tomi Bottyan, Shasta
Evan Burrell, Foothill
Tyler Berg, Winters
Gage Newton, Pleasant Valley
Tyler Degnan, Shasta
Kenny Allard, Red Bluff
Alan Christensen, West Valley
Jameson Shugart, Winters
Matt Bohlin, West Valley
Kevin Hyde, Winters
Charles McIntosh, West Valley
Clinton Freed, Winters

Honorable Mention
Spencer Potrie, Paradise
Kasey Foley, Willows
Patrick Sonsteng, Durham
Richard Duval, Foothill
Ethan Johnson, Winters
Chase Hopkins, Chico
Dakota Dietz, Chico
Kurt Sjoberg, West Valley
Charlie Berg, Pleasant Valley
Matt Portillo, Shasta
Jim DeCaneva, Pleasant Valley
Carl Pederson, Foothill
Kevin Hendricks, Red Bluff

Posted by Leland Gordon at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)