Eight Burros Fill Nine Slots on All-Desert Sky League First Team
Four Others Receive Honorable Mention;
Silverado, Barstow place eight players each

Coach Gracey has announced that the Burros placed eight different players on the All - Desert Sky League team, with one player being selected for his offensive and defensive credentials.

Offensively, it should come as no surprise that #25, Senior Brandon Teasley was selected All-League at the Running Back position. The hard-running Senior played hurt most of the year, but still gained 862 yards on 174 carries, scoring 5 touchdowns and two 2-point conversions. Two Seniors selected for All League honors on the Offensive Line were #72, Big AD (Alex Dominguez), and #57, Josh Griffin. Sure-handed #46, Senior Frank Huereque III was selected for All-League Receiver honors, finishing the season with 25 receptions for 308 yards and three touchdowns. Also chosen as an All League Receiver was #10 Stephen Harlow, who finished the season as a receiver with 31 receptions for 362 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Stephen Harlow was also recognized as a First Team choice at the Defensive Back position. He is credited with 12 tackles and assists and one interception. From the Defensive Line, #55, Senior Gene Griffith garnered All-League honors, recording 9 tackles and 19 assists, one blocked field goal, and one fumble recovery. Linebacker #2 Dominic Sween was chosen for All-League honors at his position, after leading the Burros in tackles (32) and assists (56) . To these defensive numbers, Sween added two sacks, a blocked kick, and a fumble recovery.

The final First Team All-League player selected was #20, Senior Matt Sanders, chosen as All-Desert Sky League Punter/Kicker. Matt recorded 25 kickoffs with four touchbacks, 27 punts with a long of 77 yards, 9 PATs and one field goal.

All-League Offensive Honorable Mentions included Senior Troy Spargo (who passed for 1017 yards and 8 touchdowns) and #7 Daril Manns, who had 24 carries for 44 yards, 24 receptions for 269 yards, and was 4 of 8 passing.

All-League Defensive Honorable Mentions went to #34, Senior Lamar Jeeter (14 tackles, 27 assists, 1 sack and 2 recovered fumbles) and Ethan Green (whose statistics are not listed on MaxPreps.com).

These players and their teammates will be honored at this year's Varsity/Junior Varsity Football Banquet, to be held on December 10 at the Kerr-McGee Center.

The rest of the All-DSL team looks like this:
:First-Team Offense
QB: Jemeryn Jenkins, Silverado, so. FB: Dominic Bonetpels, Silverado, sr. RB: Curtis Webb, Barstow, so., Walter Owens, Silverado, sr., WR: Darrin Duncan, Victor Valley, jr., TE: Tulilo Tofi, Barstow, jr., OL: Paul Clemmons, Barstow, sr., Justin Payne, Barstow, sr., Scott Gruett, Silverado, sr., Joel Ramirez, Victor Valley, sr.
First-Team Defense
DL: Jonathan Allen, Silverado, sr., Paul Clemmons, Barstow, sr. Ryan Madrid, Granite Hills, sr., LB: Elia Fuimaono, Barstow, sr., Victor Yslas, Barstow, sr., Cord Tucker, Granite Hills, jr., Dominic Bonetpels, Silverado, sr., DB: Daniel Ta’ase, Barstow, sr., Christian Butler, Silverado, sr., Kevin Lewis, Silverado, sr., Utility: Justin Dunford, Granite Hills, sr.
Offensive Player of the Year: Walter Owens, Silverado., sr.
Defensive Player of the Year: Dominic Bonetpels, Silverado., sr.

Links are to MaxPreps.com player pages. To see the statistics for your favorite Burro, CLICK HERE, then click the player's NAME

(Commentary)
Nov. 16, 2007: Martin Luther King, Jr. Stadium, Riverside

It wasn't an upset. It wasn't a surprise. JW North beat the Burros by a convincing 63-21 in Round 1 of the Eastern Division playoffs.

The final score doesn’t matter. The fact that we had only one more win than last year doesn’t matter.

What matters was the way these young men played. They played hard, on every down. They played to win. They played with pride. And, win or lose, they played as a team. This entire year, these young men built on that idea: That they were a team, that they were brothers. “Who’s got my back?” “We got your back!” was the rallying cry they chanted before every half, and they lived by it.

It has been a long road for this team. During spring ball, players were heard getting down on themselves and criticizing one another. The healing process has been slow, but they finished strong and whole. That the game of football is hard should not surprise anyone. You have to love it to take the punishment that it entails, and you have to love and trust the people you play with.  Tonight, these young men showed how much they love the game, and how much they trusted and respected one another. From the sidelines, only shouts of encouragement were heard for teammates on both sides of the ball. But the true nature of this team was seen after the game. This team was not beaten, despite the score. Beaten teams leave the field as fast as they can. These young men were ready to stay there until the lights went out; giving hugs to their families, friends, coaches, and teammates. For many of them, it hasn’t sunken in that this was the last time they will don the Green and White. When it does, they will be able to look back on this year with satisfaction – if not for their record, then for the way they grew together.

This year, as I watched many of them walk off the field for the last time, I felt the pride they share. Thank you, gentlemen - for loving the game, and for sharing that love with us, your fans.

- Mark Suorez, BurrosFootball.com

Daily Independent Photo By Cheeto Barrera Matt Sanders watches as his 25-yard field goal attempt goes over the uprights for the game’s first score against Serrano on Friday night. Sanders’ kick was the first successful attempt by the Burros in more than a year. Burroughs went on to lose 28-9.

There was a little disappointment from the Burroughs after its game against Serrano on Friday, but not because the Burros didn’t play the Diamondbacks tough. Rather that they weren’t able to come away with a win.

Going against the No. 1 team in the Eastern Division, Burroughs held Serrano to seven first half points and got the better of the Diamondbacks in turnovers (forcing three while giving up none). But a second half surge gave Serrano enough to get past the Burros and earn a perfect 10-0 regular season record with a 28-9 win.

Burroughs concludes the regular season with a 2-8 record (2-2 in the Desert Sky League).

Head Coach Matt Gracey said his team played significantly better than it did against Silverado the week prior and had a lot of respect for his team stepping up on Friday.

“It takes a lot of guts to come out against a team that everybody is telling you how over matched you are,” Gracey said. “I was so proud in the way they answered the call.”

Serrano appeared to be driving in the first two series, especially on its second starting from the Burroughs 47. But both times ended in a fumble; the first was recovered by Victor Sandoval and the second by Nate Briley.

However, the Diamondbacks’ defense was just as stingy, yielding three points as the result of both turnovers on a 25-yard field goal by Matt Sanders. The field goal was the first made by the Burros since Sept. 8, 2006, against Tehachapi where Luis Tejeda made a 46 yard attempt.

“Our defense, that is the best we played all year long,” Gracey said. “We made of couple of mistakes. Our offense couldn’t move the chains. If we play like this next week, we may have a chance to shorten somebody’s season.”

The offense had one other significant series in the fourth quarter where Derrick Dison, in relief of Daril Manns, drove the team 47 yards capped off by a eight yard pass to a diving Jeremy Marsh with 5.5 seconds left in the game.

Serrano landed on the ball before the extra point attempt was made to deny the PAT.

But between the first and last scores, the Diamondbacks put up 28 points. All of which were set up by a big play of more than 20 yards.

The first was a 29 yard run by Kyle Stewart to bring the ball to the Burroughs four yard line.

Two plays later, the Diamondbacks were on the board thanks to a two-yard up-the-gut run by Richard Alva.

Serrano threatened in the final minute of the half, driving 37 yards on four pass plays. With one second left, one last shot at the end zone failed thanks the Sandoval knocking the ball away, nearly coming up with an interception.

But the Diamondbacks wasted little time picking up where they left off, driving 73 yards to open the second half.

Serrano receiver T.J. Gretzner capped the march off, taking a short dump off from quarterback Will Dyer. Gretzner found himself with a 15-yard cushion and sprinted down the line for a 37-yard touchdown. The score went to 15-3 after a high snap forced place holder Starsun Fincel to throw a pass in the end zone for a two-point conversion.

Gretzner found himself open again on Serrano’s next drive, catching a 22-yard pass to bring the Diamondbacks to the seven yard line as time expired in the quarter.

Cory Diederich, the game’s leading rusher with 61 yards, finished off the series with a seven yard run to the end zone, getting banged up along the way.

For the most part, Burroughs’ defense was able to hem in the potent Serrano running game that has been averaging 208 yards per game coming into Friday. The Diamondbacks were held to 168 yards on the ground and the team’s leading rusher on the season was held to 27 yards.

The passing game, getting less than 100 yards a game, totaled its second best game of the season with 158 (the season high was 242 against Palm Desert).

All the while, Burroughs’ offense stalled in the second half, not picking up a first down the entire third quarter and more than halfway into the fourth.

But the final series of the game, Dison marched his team across a short field thanks to a fumble recovered by Matt Sanders to give Burroughs the ball on the Serrano 47.

Dison completed 7 of 9 passing attempts in the drive, ending with the pass to Marsh. He was 10-for-13 on the night for 86 yards. Manns was 3-for-5 passing for 19 yards, though he led the team in rushing with 39.

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D’backs reach 10-0
By CHEETO BARRERA / The Daily Independent (Ridgecrest)

RIDGECREST — For the third time in school history, the Serrano football team has finished a perfect 10-0 in the regular season.

The Diamondbacks survived an early scare against Burroughs to win 28-9 on Friday.

“We’re excited about that — third time in school’s history,” Serrano head coach Ray Maholchic said. “It was a neat thing.”

The last time Serrano finished the regular season unbeaten was 2004, when the Diamondbacks went on to win a CIF title.

Serrano fumbled in its first two possessions Friday, but the defense held and gave up only three points off the turnovers.

“We were making mistakes in the first half,” Maholchic said. “We were going on drives and fumbling the ball away, which kind of hurt us, lost some opportunities there. Then we blew some assignments and made some mistakes. I don’t know if it was nerves or concentration or what, but we came out and executed better in the second half.”

Both defenses played stingy, but Kyle Stewart broke a 29-yard run setting up a 2-yard scoring plunge by Richy Alva to bring the halftime score to 7-3.

The Diamondbacks’ prolific running attack was held to 168 yards in the game — not a dominant rushing performance by Serrano standards.

Leading all rushers was Cory Diederich with 61 yards, all of which he picked up in the second half, mostly in the third quarter. Diederich was taken out after getting banged up on a 7-yard scoring run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“(Burroughs was) doing a pretty good job hanging in there in the run; we really couldn’t get consistent running going, so I thought we had to mix it up,” Maholchic said. “If we can consistently run the ball that’s what we’ll do, but they were stopping us and playing pretty tough.”

So the Diamondbacks went to the air, picking up 158 yards from quarterback Will Dyer, who went 8-for-12 on the night. The air assault opened up in the second half with Dyer connecting with T.J. Gretzner for 37 yards, capping off a 73-yard drive. The snap was high on the extra point attempt, so holder Starsun Fincel passed to Dylan Kershaw for the two-point conversion and a 15-3 Serrano lead. Diederich’s touchdown made it 21-3.

The Diamondbacks found the end zone one last time on their next series as Dionza Bradford capped off a 77-yard drive with a 7-yard run to bring the score to 28-3.

Serrano’s defense had the game in hand the rest of the way, holding Burroughs to 54 yards on the ground and 159 yards total.

Burroughs finally found the end zone with less than 3 minutes to go after Serrano fumbled the ball on its own 47-yard line. Freshman quarterback Derrick Dison led the charge, completing 7 of 9 passes on the drive and capping it off in the waning seconds with an 8-yard TD pass to Jeremy Marsh.

(for the complete story, go to hidesertvarsity.com)

Burroughs saves toughest game for last

DAILY INDEPENDENT PHOTOS BY CHEETO BARRERA Stephen Harlow goes under center to take a snap during Burroughs game against Silverado last Friday. Harlow was the third quarterback used by Burroughs this season and will be unavailable Friday because of an injury suffered against the Hawks.

The Burros closes out regurlar season against division’s No. 1 team in likely playoff preview

A familiar foe will return to Sherman E. Burroughs Stadium tonight in what could very well be a preview of next week’s playoffs.

Burroughs will conclude the regular season tonight against a team that is heavily favored to earn the No. 1 seed in the Southern Section Division VIII playoffs: Serrano.

The Diamondbacks are ranked No. 1 in the Eastern Division of the Southern Section (according to polls released by the Southern Section) and No. 37 in the state (according to rankings on Maxpreps.com) with a 9-0 overall record and swept through the Mojave River League with a 4-0 record. The Burros on the other hand, are 2-7 overall and 2-2 following the conclusion of Desert Sky League play.

Despite the record, Burroughs clinched a playoff berth as the third team from the DSL and depending on who the wild card turns out to be, Burroughs (likely to receive a 16th seed in the playoffs) may end up facing Serrano in the first round.

So for the Burros, tonight is an opportunity to see exactly what they’re up against for the playoffs, regardless if they take on Serrano on Nov. 16 or not (Burroughs could also play Palm Desert to open the playoffs).

The No. 1 team in the Eastern Division features a strong offensive line, a stingy defense and a running back who is 150 yards shy of 1,000 for the season.

The Diamondbacks have outscored opponents 293-81 this year and have been held to fewer than 25 points once this year in a 14-0 win over Hesperia last week in a battle of unbeatens in the MRL title game.

Burroughs has been outscored 296-153, but has never been shutout.

Head Coach Matt Gracey said in order to upset Serrano, his team is going to have to find a way to force the Diamondbacks into making mistakes.

“Everybody’s got a chink in the armor somewhere, we’re just trying to find little things that we can do to slow them down enough and make it to where we can compete,” Gracey said. “I don’t think you’re ever going to stop them, there hasn’t been a team yet that has stopped them and they’ve played some pretty good teams. But we’ve some things that will slow them down and if the kids execute, we should be all right.”

Gracey went on to say his team is going to need to be the ones that control the pace of the game and actually be able to drive on offense.

But Gracey’s offense will once again be a patch work of players.

Starting quarterback Troy Spargo

will miss is second straight start and is questionable for next week’s playoff game. Last week’s starter and key wide receiver is out with an injury suffered against Silverado after a play.

Daril Manns, who is another key receiver for Burroughs, will be splitting time at quarterback with freshman Derrick Dison, who was unavailable last week because of a lingering injury.

“We’re just trying to stay healthy so come playoff time, we’ll have everybody back,” Gracey said.

Gracey said injuries has plagued the Burros all season, and helped lead to the loss against Silverado.

He said all year, the team has had to throw a different unit on the field leading to inconsistency.

However, Gracey pointed to his time in Arizona when one of his teams limped into the playoffs with a 6-4 record but exploded and made it to the semifinals. He said there was a click in the minds of his players and they “played lights out.” He said he is hoping that next week, perhaps that will happen with the Burros as they possibly get some of their injured players back.

Part of that will come if Burroughs can play Serrano tough and build some confidence.

But he said to do that means playing within Burroughs’ ability and not asking anything more against a solid defense.

Gracey said the Diamondbacks are susceptible to a short dump off gaining short yardage.

“We’re not going to take big chunks out of them — no one has and no one’s going to because they are a very well coached, very disciplined, very safe team and they’re not going making stupid plays and getting themselves in bad position,” Gracey said. “But they’re willing to give up certain things for it and we have to be willing to take it.”

On the other side of the ball, the defense is going to need to battle against an offensive line that is “the best I’ve seen in 10 years.”

“We have to try to gain some kind of stalemate with those guys,” Gracey said. “Their offensive line all year has been driving people off the ball, making holes and being very, very consistent. Their skill players, aside from 26, all pretty much look alike all pretty normal. That kid is pretty special, but you combine all of that with that offensive line and they’re very dangerous.”

The player he referred to was Richard Alva who is averaging close to 100 yards per game (94.4). His best game came against Sultana where he ran for 174 yards.

The next closest rusher is Cory Diederich who has 325 games.

Gracey pointed to the Hesperia game where he said Serrano was driven nuts by some of the things the team was doing. It all boiled down to execution and playing positions and not trying to do too much.

“The biggest thing they did was get off the ball on the defensive line,” Gracey said. “And I’ve preached it to our defensive line all week and that is going to be the key. I think our secondary and our linebackers can make plays, but we’ve got to get off the ball and disrupt the steps of those offensive linemen.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at Burroughs.