Geiger leads Madera in CMAC
The Madera Tribune File Photos
Madera’s Alyssa Geiger shot a 44 to place third in league and the Coyotes to a second place finish in the County/Metro Athletic Conference in 2013.
2013
Madera’s Alyssa Geiger shot a 44 in nine holes at the County/Metro Athletic Conference qualifier at the Riverside Golf Course. She placed third in the CMAC and helped lead the Coyotes to a second place finish and a berth in the CMAC/North Yosemite League championships Monday at Madera Municipal Golf Course.
Stallions falter against Bullard
After taking two weeks off to get ready for the County Metro/Athletic Conference, the Madera South Stallions girls volleyball team showed some rust in a 3-0 loss to Bullard-Fresno in the opener.
The Stallions played with perennial power Bullard for most of the match, but couldn’t make the plays when they needed to at Madera South.
Bullard only outscored the Stallions 77-69 in the three matches.
“They tipped us to death,” Perez said. “We had our libero (Jenny Pedraza) making 30 foot runs to be closest to the ball when we had a girl five feet from it and they weren’t touching the ball. It literally came down to the effort factor. We told our girls for a week we felt that it would be the case. We put them in practice scenarios for what Bullard does and they did as we expected.”
The Stallions had trouble getting hits to fall on the court with just 19 kills on the night. Karen Teran led the team with nine kills and Dominique Andrews added six.
“We could have won this match.” Perez said. “When we look back at this match, we left a lot of points on the board. With the score as tight as it was, a couple of better contacts here and there, better effort as a team, that score would have been reversed in our favor.”
Meanwhile, the defensive back line of Pedraza, Tabytha Tutt and Marina Wells combined for 32 digs and Teran added 17 of her own.
2014
Coyotes getting high recognition
The Madera Coyotes enter the opening week of the County/Metro Athletic Conference with a perfect 5-0 mark and have been demolishing opponents at a Central Section-leading pace.
Those numbers have given the Coyote football team recognition it hasn’t seen in a while, including its first state playoff top 10 ranking — a No. 9 by Cal-Hi sports in Div. III South for bowl purposes. However second-year head coach Bonner Cunnings says that doesn’t mean anything until the playoffs roll around.
“We still have league to prove ourselves if we’re even worthy of that thing,” he said. “The concept is we do really well in league, win Valley and go to a state playoff.”
After a week off, the Coyotes, ranked No. 16 overall and No. 2 in Div. III, open their second season at McLane Stadium in Fresno against the No. 8 ranked Bullard Knights.
“We’re right where we belong,” Cunnings said. “We had that first season the way we wanted. We had some challenges with Div. III teams. We saw where we stand with those teams”
2015
Coyotes still working to improve
The book on the Madera Coyote girls water polo team is to not let Jessica Diaz handle the ball and things should work out.
However, Edison-Fresno let Diaz get open and she made them pay by scoring Madera’s first five goals of the game and six of the first nine during an 11-8 victory over the Tigers.
Diaz helped the Coyotes jump out to a 9-3 lead and Madera held off Edison despite getting outscored 5-2 in the second half.
“This was supposed to be a close game, but we came out well,” head coach Erik Baymiller said. “Their coach is good and we had trouble putting the ball away in those spots where they double-teamed Jessica. Our shooting is almost there. We’re working on it. Passing was the key for us early. It was really good tonight.”
Diaz was held scoreless in the second half. Madera got just enough scoring for the win. Emily Goertzen and Mara Blanco each scored two goals and Ceaira Chavira added another.
“We can punish teams with our outside shots,” Baymiller said. “When our outside shooters move the ball inside, they need to engage the goalie and get her moving. It’s something we need to work on.” Baymiller also pointed out the play of goalie Aubry Choate, who made some clutch saves in the first and fourth periods.
Stallions work in new lineup
When most girls volleyball teams head into league play, the lineup is set and players know when and where they are inserted into the lineup.
Not the Madera South Stallions.
With the arrival of another player before the County/Metro Athletic Conference opener, the Stallions were handed a new lineup just hours before Thursday’s home match against Bullard-Fresno. Although the Stallions battled tough in a 3-2 match loss to the Knights, Stallions coach Nate Perez was happy with what I saw.
“I have no complaints about how they played, especially running their first time running this rotation,” he said. “I told them they aren’t losers if they learn from this situation. There’s a lot of learning that took place tonight. Next time we see them, we’ll have the decision we want.”
The Stallions took the floor with nine players and all nine took the court. Perez inserted senior Jenny Pedraza as a libero. It was just her second match of the season after sitting out the first month-and-a-half with a school issue.
However, with just nine players everyone on the team knows they will have to contribute. Perez had four hitters with more than nine kills and eight of the nine recorded more than five digs.
2018
Coyotes edge rivals, keep streak alive
There were times during her team’s match against Madera South that Madera Coyotes head coach Meghan Haas thought her team’s winning streak in the County/Metro Athletic Conference was going to end.
However, her team battled back to win a fourth set and then score three of the final four points of the match for a 3-2 victory over the Stallions to begin the second half of CMAC and extend Madera’s league winning streak to 18.
“It was a struggle,” Haas said. “Every point, we had to battle for. It’s good for them to be able to do that. It was very frustrating, point after point. We never got into a groove. That’s a testament to Madera South. That’s the best I have ever seen them play. They dug everything we threw at them. We took some good swings and they came up with a lot of balls.”
“We should have won,” Madera South head coach Travis McEowen said. “Our stats say we should have won. We had some silly plays. You have to credit to Madera High. They took advantage of plays that we didn’t take advantage of.”
The Stallions put down 52 kills in the match, recorded 14 blocks and five aces. Meanwhile, Madera had 45 kills with eight blocks and five aces.
Hawks prepare for final three games
REEDLEY — For most of the season, the Liberty Hawks football team seemed to be going through the motions for the final three games of the season.
The Hawks are right where head coach Mike Nolte wants them to be after a 49-19 victory over Immanuel-Reedley on Friday to improve to 6-1 this season.
However, the first seven games do not mean too much with the next three games on the schedule, all North Sequoia League match-ups. The Hawks finally return home after spending the last month on the road for Homecoming against Washington Union-Easton. Then comes Senior Night against Kerman and the season finale at Chowchilla.
“This is what it’s all about,” Nolte said. “Playing at the end of the season, playing better each week, getting the best play at the end of the season. It’s a challenge for us. We have to step up. We have enough kids that have been there before to know this is for real now.”
The Hawks got another big performance from running back Wyatt Roth. He rushed for 209 and four touchdowns. Roth has 1,250 yards rushing (seventh highest in Hawks history) this season to go with 21 touchdowns (third-most for the Hawks in a season). He is averaging almost 14 yards per carry and has 16 runs of 20 yards or more.
The Hawks took care of Immanuel early. They scored 35 first half points and cruised again in the second half. The rushed for 448 yards and outgained Immanuel by almost 200 yards. Liberty accumulated 26 first downs and forced three turnovers.
Coyotes drop back-to-back games
Coming off a close loss to the Sanger Apaches, the Madera Coyotes football team was unable to right the ship after the Edison Tigers rallied for 41 second-half points to upend the Coyotes, 62-48, in a County/Metro Athletic Conference clash at Memorial Stadium.
“I was very excited the way our kids performed in the first half,” Madera head coach Yosef Fares said. “The second half, we didn’t live up to the standard that we set forth — the expectations of our new culture within our football program. A lot of it came down to not executing the little things right and when you get into a big-time game like that and you’re trying to pull off a big-time upset, you have to focus on the little things that got you there.
Madera raced out to a 13-0 lead early behind Jacob Garcia and Joziah Velasquez who each on touchdowns of 50 yards or more. Garcia took a handoff and outran half the field for the opening score, before Velasquez hooked up with Colt Nelson for a 59-yard pass.
The Coyotes looked to be the better team throughout the first half, putting up 33 points. However, things changed when Edison’s McKinley Lee III got going.
The Tigers’ tailback tallied 365 yards of offense, alone, to go with his game-leading four touchdowns. Lee rushed for 300 yards and he caught a 65-yard screen pass for a touchdown.
