Mother Lode

Schedule/Scores

Week 1 Scores
Argonaut 56, Valley 6...Calaveras 38, Weston Ranch 14
Bret Harte 14, Livingston 10...Amador 27, Golden Sierra 7
Summerville 42, Bradshaw Christian 21...Linden 21, Ripon 25

Week 2 Scores
Calaveras 0, Bear River 9...Argonaut 62, Golden Sierra 0
Central Valley 35, Bret Harte 32...Linden 49, Waterford 0
Summerville 23, Ripon 32...Amador 31, Johnson 6 

Week 3 Scores
Summerville 45, Denair 28...Calaveras 34, Ceres 0
Linden 37, McNair 7...Argonaut 24, Ripon 0
Bret Harte 28, Hughson 14...Amador 14, Dixon 34

Week 4 Scores
Summerville 18, Le Grand 7...Calaveras 14, Hilmar 21
Linden 26, Escalon 47...Argonaut 35, Modesto Christian 48
Bret Harte 14, Ripon 26...Amador 16, Hughson 13

Week 5 Scores
Summerville 34, Mariposa 6...Calaveras 10, Ripon 14
Linden 40, Hughson 6...Argonaut 14, Hilmar 20
Bret Harte 0, Escalon 43...Amador 14, Modesto Christian 54

Week 6 Scores
Summerville 33, Bret Harte 13...Argonaut 64, Linden 25
Calaveras 18, Amador 12

Week 7 Scores
Summerville 35, Argonaut 21...Calaveras 46, Linden 35
Bret Harte 26, Amador 21

Week 8 Scores
Summerville 31, Calaveras 21...Linden 55, Amador 13
Argonaut 48, Bret Harte 0

Week 9 Scores
Argonaut 10, Calaveras 14...Linden 27, Bret Harte 14
Summerville 32, Amador 14

Week 10 Schedule
Friday, November 13, 2009
Bret Harte (3-6, 1-3) @ Calaveras (5-4, 3-1)
Linden (5-4, 2-2) @ Summerville (8-1, 4-0)
Amador (3-6, 0-4) @ Argonaut (5-4, 2-2)

MOTHER LODE POWERS GET HUMBLED

October 6, 2009


Entering week four the Mother Lode looked to be one of the strongest small-school leagues in the entire section.  The one disease that the league had been plagued by, the Ripon Indians, had been eradicated 24-0 by the Argonaut Mustangs in week 3.  Now, the Mother Lode could boast that Argonaut (3-0) may be one of the best teams around, Calaveras (2-1) is still a very real threat and the Bear River game was a fluke, Summerville and Linden (both 2-1) are young teams on the rise that were beaten by a tough Ripon team that, while good, still isn't good enough to beat the Mother Lode's very best, and that Amador (2-1) and Bret Harte (2-1) are plenty dangerous in their own right.  Yes, with a combined record of 13-5, the Mother Lode was boasting of being one of the very best leagues around, especially with regards to depth.  The only problem is, that in week four the Mother Lode would be forced to back up all of its boasting as their league powers faced off with some of the best small schools from around the section.  Things did not go very well for the Mother Lode...

♦  The undefeated league favorite Argonaut Mustangs (3-0) took on one of the very best small schools in the entire section in the Modesto Christian Crusaders (3-0).  This would turn out to be an outstanding game with both teams showing quite a bit of what makes each of them so great.  Modesto Christian jumped out on top first with a couple of huge plays to open the scoring.  First, Kevin Roya broke a 40 yard touchdown run on the Crusaders' opening drive.  Then, after a defensive stop, Modesto Christian quarter back Isaiah Burse hit standout wide receiver Raymond Nelson for a 58 yard touchdown pass and the Crusaders took a 14-0 lead.  Argonaut would answer wuickly, however, when Quarterback Brad Steuble broke a 78 yard run of his own, something that the senior quarterback does not often do.  Isaiah Burse answered with his second touchdown pass to wideout Raymod Nelson, this one a 34 yarder, and Modesto Christian re-gained the 14 point lead at 21-7.  Argonaut would not back down, however, and answered with a three minute drive that was capped by a two yard plunge by running back Steven Bennett, and a crazy, action packed first quarter came to a close with Modesto Christian ahead 21-14.
    The second quarter was all Argonaut, as the Mustangs managed to get a couple of defensive stops and slowed down the tempo of the game to one that was more to their advantage.  On a pair of touchdown runs, one a one yarder by Danny Welch and the other a nine yarder by QB Brad Steuble, Argonaut took a 28-21 lead into the locker room and had a whole lot to feel good about.
    In the third quarter, Modesto Christian took a step towards victory, and in the fourth they stole the game away from Argonaut entirely.  It is worth noting that Modesto Christian made some halftime adjustments defensively and did not surrender an offensive point to Argonaut in the entire second half.  The Crusaders scored on their opening drive of the third quarter on a 23 yard touchdown pass from Burse to David Sjelin, but the failed extra point kept Argonaut in the lead, 28-27.  After the Crusaders stopped Argonaut on their first drive, they had a chance to take the lead but a costly turnover put the game in serious danger.  Argonaut linebacker Sam McCarthy picked up a fumble and returned it 39 yards for the Argonaut touchdown and a 35-27 lead with just 3:09 left in the third quarter.  It was the kind of huge momentum changer that could have cost Modesto Christian the game.  Instead, Isiah Burse led the Crusaders on a quick drive and answered with a touchdown pass to Kevin Roya, cutting the lead to two at 33-35 at the end of the third quarter.
    They say that championship football is played in the fourth quarter only by real champions, and Modesto Christian made a case for themselves with the way that they closed out this huge week four contest.  Argonaut controlled the ball for most of the quarter, trying the conservative approach.  They did not score a single point in the quarter.  Meanwhile, Modesto Christian was patient and took advantage of their first great oportunity, with Isaiah Burse throwing his third touchdown pass to Raymond Nelson (5th overall) to give M.C. the lead at 41-35 late.  Argonaut had a chance to win the game on their final drive, but turned it over.  With one minute and fifteen seconds left in the game, David Sjelin sealed it for good with a 34 yard touchdown run.  Final score, Modesto Christian 48, Argonaut 35.

♦ In the second monster matchup of the weekend, arguably the second best team in the Mother Lode, Calaveras, was matched up with the defending Division V section champion Hilmar Yellowjackets.  This, too, would turn out to be an outstanding football game, although far different in style and form than the Argonaut-Modesto Christian game.  This one was a battle between two great defenses and two disciplined football teams.  It was a clean, well-played game on borh sides of the ball and it was a shame that there had to be a loser in this one.
   Calaveras jumped out first with a huge play to start the game!  Chris Ussery took the opening kick off and returned it 89 yards to the end zone to give the Redskins the quick 6-0 lead (the extra point was missed).  In a defensive battle such as this one, where the points are just quite simply too hard to come by, plays like these are just huge!  The "Brothers Diaz" would steal the show, however, and score the next two scores of the game.  The first came just five minutes after the game-opening kickoff return when Carlos Diaz ran one in from 11 yards out to give the Yellowjackets the 7-6 lead.  The Calaveras defense was stingy enough to hold Hilmar scoreless for most of the rest of the first half, but Hilmar finally scored when star quarterback Quinton McCown found the other Diaz, Issac Diaz, from 11 yards out.  McCown, who is often a 200 yard or more per game quarterback, was pressured and harassed by the tough Calaveras defense all day, but still completed 11 of 21 passes for 114 yards and one touchdown without turning the ball over.  Actually, the Calaveras defense only allowed 247 yards on the entire game, while the Redskins themselves gained 282 yards, 197 of them on the ground.
    The score would remain 14-6 in Hilmar's favor all throughout the second half, with both teams moving the ball a little bit before being stopped and forced to punt.  Calaveras was slowly gaining an advantage in field position, however, and seemed to be wearing the Hilmar defense down with constant hard-running by RB Monti Wilson (23 carries, 144 yards, 1 TD) and company.  With just 4:36 left to play in the game, Monti Wilson finally got Calaveras on the board again with a five yard touchdown run.  On the two point conversion, Garrett Bock found Monti Wilson and the Calaveras Redskins had tied the football game at 14.  However, with the game on the line, championship football teams just seem to get things done.  The Hilmar Yellowjsckets had not been able to move the football hardly at all for most of the second half, but with the game on the line McCown and the Diaz Brothers stepped it up.  Hilmar easily got into field goal range and was looking to run down the clock for the late game winning attempt, but with 0:36 left Carlos Diaz took a handoff and ran it in from six yards out, giving Hilmar the biggest win of their season up to this point!
    The Hilmar Yellowjackets will face another huge test next week when they take on the Argonaut Mustangs (3-1) who will be ready to go after their heart-breaking shootout loss to Modesto Christian.  Calaveras will look to rebound in a tough contest against the "Mother Lode Killers" themselves, Ripon (3-1).  

♦ In other games, Linden was beaten badly by undefeated Escalon 26-47.  Although Linden's defense was pummeled in allowing 47 points and 377 rushing yards on the game, the bright spot was the fact that the Linden offense produced 26 points and 501 total yards against a defense that has given up an average of just 137.67 total yards per game, an average of 4.33 points per game, and has pitched shutouts in 2 of the three games prior to Linden.  To put things into perspective, the Linden Lions gained more yards than all three of Escalon's prior opponents combined and Linden scored exactly twice as many points as Escalon had surrendered in its first three games!  The verdict???   LINDEN CAN SCORE ON ANYBODY!

♦ Another Mother Loder fell victim to the Ripon Indians this week as Bret Harte lost 14-26.  The "Mother Lode Killers", or "MLK's" for short, can finish their 2009 series against the Mother Lode League at 4-1 if they can get by 2-2 Calaveras next week.  That game should be a serious defensive battle, with as few as one or two big plays determining the ultimate outcome!

♦ Summerville and Amador are both now 3-1 after defeating their week 4 opponents, although neither one looked particularily impressive in doing so.  Summerville got an 18-7 win over Le Grand, a team that made it to the playoffs just last year but has been winless this season.  Zach Roberson was efficient but not overly explosive in this contest.  However, the Summerville defense put out a greaat effort in this one, perhaps their best effort of the season.  The Bears will take on a similar opponent next week in Mariposa, another struggling former playoff team.  Meanwhile, Amador struggled against a hungry Hughson team, but ultimately got themselves a nice 16-13 win to advance to 3-1.  The offensive line did a decent job of opening holes, and the Buffaloes rushed for 146 yards, led by Jesse Moreno's 107.  Still, the offensive line was dominated in the passing game, allowing four sacks and several other hits on their quarterback.  Justin Aguilar, a defensive end for Hughson and one of the very best in the entire section, had one sack and twelve tackles and was an absolute nuisance all game long.  His teammates Jose Lopez and Foster Openshaw combined to add another three sacks and several hurries and hits on the quarterback.  Despite the relentless pressure, Daneri still threw for a game high 135 yards, 110 of those yards to stud receiver Clinton Tremelling. 
   It has been critical for the Buffaloes to get these type of wins this season, because with the strength of the Mother Lode this season, wins might be hard to come by later on in the season.  Amador might just have their toughest game of the season next week as they take on Modesto Christian, who just beat Argonaut this week 48-35. 




AROUND THE LEAGUE-WEEK 3: ARGONAUT THE AVENGERS

September 27, 2009


♦ In week one the Ripon Indians won themselves a hard-fought, 25-21 victory over the Linden Lions.  Had Linden won that game, they would be 3-0 right now.  Last week, Ripon's tough defense shut down the Summerville Bears' rushing attack, allowing just five rushing yards on the entire game and forcing QB Zach Roberson to face 2nd, and 3rd and long situations.  The ultimate result was a 32-23 Ripon victory over Summerville.  Now, after week three, the Summerville Bears look back on that game and recognize that they, too, would be 3-0 if not for Ripon.  The Ripon Indians are not in the Mother Lode, but they will play all but one of the league's teams (Amador) this season.  After having already beaten two of the top teams in the league, the Ripon Indians looked the part of a "Mother Lode Killer".  However, if the Ripon Indians were the killers, then the Argonaut Mustangs would play the role of avenger this weekend as they became the third league team to take on the Indians. 
   Both Argonaut and Ripon played a mistake free, ball and tempo controlled first half that was almost as free from points as it was from penalties and turnovers.  Argonaut held just a 3-0 lead at the half.  In the second half, however, the Mustangs stepped things up and really got their tunning game on track.  Daniel Welch led the way for Argonaut with 135 yards on 21 carries, Steven Bennett had 113 yards on 14 carries, fullback Mark Garbarini added a tough 35 yards on 11 carries and quarterback Brad Steuble 20 yards on 3 carries to go with his uninspiring passing total of 12 yards.
    Defensively, the Mustangs were truly impressive.  Behind stud linebacker Zach Devaney's ten tackles, standout pass-rusher Cole Breeden's 2.0 sacks and seven tackles, and interceptions by P.J. Rubel (2) and Steven Bennett (1), Argonaut was able to get their second shutout, and by far their biggest victory of the season.  In the process, they avenged their fellow Mother Loaders and slowed down Ripon's all-out assualt on one of the best small school leagues in the entire section!

♦ Calaveras got back on track and advanced to 2-1 with their 34-0 victory over Ceres friday night.  The Ceres Bulldogs, however, have struggled quite a bit thus far this season and may not be the type of quality opponent that the Redskins expected them to be entering this season.  The Redskins should clebrate their victory, but not take too much time in doing so!  This is because they have the daunting task of facing reigning Division V Section Champion Hilmar next week, and then, in week five, of taking on 2009's Mother Lode league nemesis...the Ripon Indians.

♦  The Summerville Bears looked amazing offensively in advancing to 2-1 with their 45-28 week three victory over Denair (1-2).  The Bears jumped out on Denair in a hurry, scoring five touchdowns before Denair answered with one of their own to end the first half.  Quarterback Zach Roberson was again outstanding, throwing for 243 yards with three touchdowns and completing on 11 of 19 passing attempts.  Running back Taylor Gold was even more impressive, carrying the ball 19 times for 199 yards and three touchdowns.  Defensively, the Bears gave up 28 points and 371 yards of offense.  In their defense, however, a majority of Denair's yardage and points came in the second half, after Summerville had a big enough lead not to worry about the Coyotes.  Next week, the Summerville Bears will take on a struggling 0-3 Le Grand team.

♦  Bret Harte rebounded from their heart-breaking, three point loss to Central Valley with a 28-14 victory over Hughson.  QB Robby Bragg was again the standout for Bret Harte, throwing for 250 yards and completing 14 of 24 pass attempts.  Comrad Epps was the leading receiver with 3 receptions for 78 yards and Carson Klein and Kevin Christmas led the Bullfrogs defensively with 14 and 10 tackles, respectively.

♦  Previously undefeated Amador got a brutal wake-up call when the Dixon Rams (3-0) came into their house and bloodied their noses, getting a decisive 34-14 victory in this battle of unbeatens.  The key to Amador's success thus far this season had been the dominance of its offensive and defensive lines. Running back Jesse Moreno had rushed for 139 yards and two TDs in week one and 163 yards and a third TD in week two, with Amador as a team averaging 173.5 rushing yards per game. Meanwhile, Amador had given up an average of just 76 rushing yards per game.  Against Dixon, however, Jesse Moreno was held to 14 yards rushing on 11 carries and Amador as a team held to 70 rushing yards on 28 carries, with most of the successful rushing plays being scrambles by QB Clayton Daneri.  Dixon, on the other hand, rushed for 160 yards using a trio of running backs in Sam Welch (13 car, 57 yards), Michael Hendrix (8 car, 51 yards) and Josh Byington (3 car, 31 yards).  The Rams clearly had the dominant offensive and defensive lines, allowing them to win the battle up front, and, ultimately, the game as a whole.  On a bright note for Amador, their lack of a running game forced the Buffaloes to rely upon Junior Quarterback Clayton Daneri to make plays, and Daneri actually proved himself a reliable playmaker.  Daneri was sacked three times and faced overwhelming pressure on just about every play, throwing two interceptions.  Still, Daneri was able to make big plays, completing 21 of 27 passes for 203 yards.  Wide Reciver Clinton Tremelling, a 6-2, 195 lb. Senior, finally showed off his superstar ability in grabbing 14 catches for 142 of Daneri's passing yards.  These two should make for one of the most deadly and exciting combinations in the league this season!

♦ The Linden Lions advanced to 2-1 with their second straight victory, this one a 37-7 beat-down of McNair, a struggling 0-3 team that was predicted by many to be a play-off team.  Again QB Austin Alvarez and WR Aaron Judge were the featured performers for the Linden Lions.  Alvarez rushed for 46 yards and threw for 191 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions on 10 of 14 passing.  Aaron Judge, meanwhile, caught five of Alvarez's passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns.  Defensively, the Lions did allow 216 rushing yards, including 96 to Brian Micenheimer, but they managed to keep McNair out of the end zone for most of the game.  Linden's Sam Marchand had 11 tackles, Matt Featherlin had a sack and Cody St. John, Aaron Judge, and Jake Celle each picked off Brian Lewis once in the Lions win.




AROUND THE LEAGUE-WEEK 2: ARGONAUT AND LINDEN IMPRESS

September 20, 2009


♦ In the opening game of their 2009 season, the Argonaut Mustangs amassed over 600 total yards of offense while rolling to a 56-6 victory over Valley High of Sacramento.  A whopping 559 of those yards came on the ground!  As an encore performace, the Mustangs rushed for 406 yards and threw for an another 130 as they routed Golden Sierra 62-0.  In two games now, the Mustangs have rushed for 965 yards offensively and allowed just six points.  It remains to be seen whether either one of their early victims are worth being proud of defeating, but, regardless of their opponent's collective talent level, every single team in the Mother Lode League absolutely has to be terrified of the Argonaut rushing attack!

♦ While Argonaut undoubtedly looks to be the team to beat in a very talented Mother Lode League, Linden is turning some heads and establishing themselves as a serious threat for the first time in years!  The Lions are putting up some impressive offensive statistics, and it all begins with Senior QB Austin Alvarez.  In week one, Alvarez gained 82 of Linden's 226 rushing yards while completing 13 of 20 passes for 203 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.  These impressive statistics came in a heartbreaking loss to the Ripon Indians, a play-off caliber team who just defeated Summerville this week!  In week two, Alvarez completed 7 of 9 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another 84 yards and a score in Linden's 49-0 rout of Waterford.  In two weeks Alvarez has quickly shown that this offens is in good hands and that the Lions will be a threat both on the ground and through the air.  Of course, it sure helps a QB when he has some great weapons to work with; and in this department, the Linden Lions are stacked!  WR Joe Collins (6-5, 190 lbs) is a serious playmaker, RB Jeremy Powers fills the traditional "work-horse" role quite well, and, of course, the star of the show is 6-7, 240 lb WR Aaron Judge, who is arguably the most dangerous red-zone threat in the entire section and possibly beyond.  One thing is for certain...this Linden team WILL SCORE POINTS! 

♦ One of the pre-season favorites to win the Mother Lode, perennial power Calaveras, was shut out 9-0 in week two by a questionable Bear River team.  The Bruins are traditionally a powerhouse on the same sort of level that Calaveras is.  However, Bear River opened up their season with an embarassing, six turnover loss to Capital Christian of Division five 14-29.  Calaveras, on the other hand, scored an impressive 38-14 season-opening victory over Weston Ranch in which Redskins' RB Monti Wilson rushed for 234 yards and three touchdowns.  This week, however, the Bruins' defense shut the Redskins out 9-0 and held Monti Wilson to just 87 yards on 17 carries.  So...the jusry is still out on this Calaveras team but it doesn't look too good.  Calaveras will take on a struggling Ceres team next week, and should get the victory, before heading into the toughest part of their schedule...back-to-back games against defending Division V champion Hilmar and aq Ripon team that has already defeated a pair of Mother Lode league foes in Summerville and Linden.  

♦  The Summerville Bears became Ripon High School's secong Mother Lode League victim of the season, as the Indians got the 32-23 win this friday.  Zach Roberson, the junior starting QB for Summerville, had another big game in throwing for 318 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.  Still, the Indians held Summerville to just five yards rushing on the entire game and amassed almost 500 yards of their own in the win.  Summerville will play Denair (1-1) at home next week. 

♦ Amador is now 2-0 after getting themselves a nice 31-6 blowout victory over Johnson High School of Sacramento.  After two games QB Clayton Daneri looks very efficient.  In this game, he was a little bit quiet in throwing just 12 passes; but he connected on six of them for 88 yards with one touchdown and one interception.  In week one Daneri lit up Golden Sierra to the tune of 177 yards and a touchdown while completing 12 of 16 passes.  His top receiver so far this season is Clinton Tremelling, who though two games has five receptions for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The biggest three factors in the Buffaloes' two victories thus far, however, have been the dominance of their offensive and defensive lines, the play of running back Jesse Moreno, and the play of a number of impact defensive players.  First, Amador quiet simply dominated both teams on both sides of the line of scrimmage.  In week one, Amador rushed for 182 yards to Golden Sierra's 88.  In week two, the Buffaloes outgained the Johnson Warriors on the ground 165 to 64.  Running behind a dominant offensive line, Amador RB Jesse Moreno rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns in week one and 163 yards and another touchdown in week two.  Finally, the Amador Buffaloes have allowed just 13 points in two games and have created several turnovers and big plays.  Defensive backs Jonny Nichols, Clinton Tremelling and especially Jacob Quinn and linebackers Josh Williams, Jesse Moreno, Bleau Bailey and Donovan Mason form a nice core unit of playmakers that lead a defense which appears poised to turn Amador into a moderate threat this season. 

♦ Bret Harte just barely missed out on starting their 2009 season at 2-0, losing 35-32 to red-hot Central Valley High School of Ceres.  The Hawks came out in their season opener and shocked everyone by crushing what was supposed to be a pretty good Le Grand team 44-8.  Meanwhile, Bret Harte survived a defensive battle against Livingston, winning 14-10.  This week the Bullfrogs set out to prove that they were the real deal defensively by attempting to shut down Hawks running back Vince Lopez, who rushed for 209 yards and two touchdowns against Le Grand.  Well, Bret Harte was not able to shut down Lopez, or the QB Jesse Hatfield, or WR Greg Matthews either!  They were, however, able to score a lot of points themselves as Bullfrog QB Robby Bragg threw for 226 yards and 4 touchdowns...albeit with three interceptions as well.  Bret Harte was down 28-18 entering the fourth quarter but scored two touchdowns to turn it into one hell of a game.  Bret Harte will take on the Hughson Huskies (1-1) next week and should be able to get back on track with a victory.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              




MOTHER LODE MAKES A STATEMENT IN WEEK ONE

It was a very good week for the Mother Lode.  The league opened up the season by going 5-1, outscoring opponents 198 to 83, and even knocking off a section champion!  This sort of dominant play clearly showcases the level of talent in the league this year and the quality of coaching at each respective program. 

Argonaut 56, Valley 6
Argonaut flexed their muscles in week one by blowing apart an overmatched Valley team.  The offense was unstoppable, rushing for 559 yards under the legs of Steven Bennett (149, 3 TD), Kyle Richardi (121 yards, 1 TD), Daniel Welch (113 yards, 2 TD), and QB Brad Steuble (68 yards).  The Mustangs only attempted 3 passes the entire game because, quite frankly, they didn't need to. 

Calaveras 38, Weston Ranch 14
The Calaveras Redskins had a similar formula for success: run, run, run.  The Redskins were able to smash the ball right down the Cougars' throats the entire game and there was nothing that they could do about it.  Junior RB Monti Wilson had a breakout game to start the 2009 season, amassing 234 yards on 21 carries and getting into the end zone three times.  Defensively, Calaveras was equally impressive.  They allowed just seven points and 160 total yards, most of it coming on a final pity drive in the fourth quarter.  Weston Ranch's passing attack was disrupted by two sacks (Martin Schroven, Ben Kerstan) and three interceptions (Monti Wilson, Devyn Vanlier, Chris Ussery).

Summerville 42, Bradshaw Christian 21
If there were any questions as to whether Summerville's 2008 playoff run was a fluke or not, they were put to bed this weekend.  The Bears came out and put 42 points on defending Division VII Section champion Bradshaw Christian.  Sure, its Division VII, but a 10-2 team is still a 10-2 team!  QB Zach Roberson looked really sharp in completing five of seven passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns and the offense is loaded with talented weapons.

Amador 27, Golden Sierra 7
Amador got themselves a nice win to start the season, beating Golden Sierra soundly.  QB Clayton Daneri was a model of efficiency, hitting on 12 of 16 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown.  Jesse Moreno provided the ground work with 139 yards and 2 TDs and both the offensive and defensive lines absolutely dominated Golden Sierra.

Bret Harte 14, Livingston 10
This was a defensive battle all of the way, with neither team being able to sustain drives against stingy defenses.  In fact, both defenses scored points in this game; Livingston's with a safety in the first quarter and Bret Harte's on DB Matt Brechtel's 32 yard fumble return in the second.  Although the Bullfrogs were outgained, they won the turnover battle 4-2, and that is what ultimately decided the game.

Linden 21, Ripon 25
The only team in the Mother Lode who did not win in week one was, of course, poor old Linden.  However, the Lions played pretty well and established a few kids as serious weapons.  QB Austin Alvarez threw for 201 yards with 2 TDs and no interceptions.  His two most dangerous weapons are as big as they are talented!  At 6-5, 185 lbs, WR Joe Collins is a scary sight for shorter DBs.  He toasted Ripon for 83 yards and one touchdown on just three receptions and ran for another 75 yards.  If Joe Collins is scary, then WR Aaron Judge is downright terrifying!  At 6-7, 240 lbs, he is a difficult tackle for the biggest and baddest of linebackers and an impossibility for DBs in the red zone.  He scored on a jump pass in just such a situation against Ripon and finished with seven catches for 104 yards.  

The bottom line is that the Mother Lode is "Loded" with talented players and talented teams.  Whoever does win the league this year will have gone through hell to do it, and will without a doubt be battle-tested and ready for a play-off run, no matter where the new system might place them!


-Justin Cruise