Maderans in College - Madera coach heads to NCAAs

After leading the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons women’s volleyball team to a 21-13 record and an 11-5 record in the Mountain East Conference, Courtney (Taubert) Materazzi is headed to the NCAA tournament.

Materazzi, a 2008 Madera High graduate, and the Falcons earned the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional and will face second seeded Gannon University.

“It’s something we’ve been working for a while,” Materazzi said of her NCAA bid. “It feels really, really good. I’m just beaming with pride for the girls and all the work they have put in. I’m ecstatic since I found out yesterday.”

Materazzi is in her third year as the head coach of the Falcons and led the Falcons to a 25-8 mark last year and a 14-2 record in MEC play, but just missed an NCAA berth.

“It was girls before this squad that made this idea even tangible,” she said. “They made it a real conversation and not a pipe dream. We watched the selection show last year when we didn’t make it as a team. This is great validation for the hard work they have been doing.”

Former Madera Coyote quarterback Vincent Espinoza led the West Hills Falcons football team to a place they haven’t been before — a Northern Conference American Bowl Division Championship. Espinoza led the Falcons to a 20-14 victory over the Shasta Knights on a muddy field in Redding. Espinoza was 5-of-7 for just 31 yards on the day. However, it was 38 more yards passing than Shasta had on the day. The Knights were just 3-of-13 for -7 yards.

However, Espinoza didn’t throw an interception and helped the Falcons dominate the time of possession by 11 minutes.

The Falcons finished 8-3 on the year and won the Golden Coast Conference championship to go along with their bowl win.