Stallions take 5th in Madera Shootout
Madera Tribune File Photo
Madera’s Daniel Ruiz placed second in the 132-pound weight class at the Zinkin Classic in 2013 while teammate Alec Gamboa won the 182-pound weight class to lead the Coyotes to a top 10 finish in the prestigious tournament.
2014
In the 5th place game of the Madera Varsity Shootout, it was the Madera South girls basketball team that broke its two-game losing streak with a supreme defensive effort against Mendota.
The Stallions held the Aztecs to seven second-half points in a 23-18 win in Joe Flores Gym.
Madera South finished 2-2 in the four-day tournament and will get some rest until its next game.
“It was a good tournament with good competition,” said Madera South head coach Teresa Hernandez. “We’ve been playing since the first week of December. That’s 13 games in two weeks, so it was a little exhausting.”
The Stallions defeated a Mendota squad that gave other teams fits in the tourney which included a first-half battle with the host-team runner-up Madera.
The Stallions were led by Selena Canales, Nicole Sosa and Simone Baker as all three combined for 15 points with five each.
2018
Coyotes bounce back after tough loss
Less than 24 hours after suffering a heartbreaking last-minute loss against Clovis North, the Madera Coyotes girls soccer team bounced back with a blowout win against Sunnyside.
The Coyotes only scored one goal in the first half, but turned up the intensity in the second half to win 5-0 in Memorial Stadium.
“We had a tough game yesterday. It took a lot of energy, so we had to comeback today with a win,” senior Noemi Cabello said. “We kept fighting and pushing and shooting.”
Cabello made a difference with her energy and also scored the second goal of the game in the 50th minute, receiving a pass with her back to the goal and spinning around a defender in the box to shoot into the net.
Sunnyside came into the game with only two wins. The Wildcats allowed Madera’s Itzel Rodriguez to score in the third minute, but managed to contain the Coyotes for the rest of the half.
“I thought we played well the second half,” Madera head coach Cameron Hill said. “The first half, we scored early and let our foot of the gas a little bit."
Coyotes avenge loss against Mendota
Five days after losing against Mendota in the championship game of the Mendota Tournament, the Madera Coyotes boys soccer team avenged the loss with an overtime win at home.
The Coyotes struggled to get a goal in regulation, but finally broke the deadlock in overtime and won 1-0 at Memorial Stadium.
“I feel very, very happy because this is a team that beat us in the tournament,” senior Emmanuel Cabello said. “When we went into the game, we had one mindset and it was that we are not going to lose to this team again. We had this mindset that we are going to work as hard as we can, so we can get this W.”
Cabello scored the game-winner in the third minute of overtime. Sophomore Jonah Hill dribbled down the left wing and found Cabello, who spun around the defender and placed the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal from about 20 yards out.
Mendota had two golden opportunities to tie the game in overtime. The first chance came on a header from Alex Ochoa, which was saved by the fingertips of goalkeeper Francisco Segovia.
The junior goalkeeper came up huge again a few minutes later, making a diving save to stop another shot by Ochoa.
Appeared in Dec. 27 editions
2013
Gamboa wins Zinkin Classic; Ruiz takes second
Out of the 21 wrestlers in the 182-pound weight class of the Zinkin Classic, it was Madera junior Alec Gamboa who rose to the top.
With a thrilling double overtime win over nemesis Austin Flores of Clovis North, Gamboa won the title in his respective weight class and helped the Coyotes place seventh overall at Buchanan-Clovis.
The Coyotes also got big finishes from 132-pound senior Daniel Ruiz, who advanced to the finals and took second overall while senior Roy Powell was sixth in the heavyweight (285-pound) class.
While three-time state champ Clovis won the event, Madera finished in the top 10 with 94.5 points at Saturday’s tournament.
“I was pretty pleased with our boys and for the most part everybody won matches,” Madera head coach Joe Romine said. “It’s a really tough tournament to compete in but we still had three placers. Roy really stepped up and did a good job. Alec and Daniel both lost in the finals of last week’s tournament but had a good week of practice and got success for their efforts.”
Coyotes look to bounce back
The Madera Coyote girls soccer team picked up an overtime win and also lost in overtime at the Garces Holiday Soccer Festival in Bakersfield.
“Overall, I was a little disappointed because of the second game against Central Valley Christian-Visalia,” head coach Garrett Perez said. “I felt like we underperformed. We didn’t play well against CVC. We played real sloppy and real direct. It was panic and kick and that didn’t work well for us. We didn’t control the game and didn’t take many shots.”
The loss came after a 5-4 overtime victory over Mission Oak-Tulare.
Elvira Hernandez scored off a 30-yard free kick to win the game in sudden-death overtime.
Coyotes go undefeated in tourney
In five games at the Clovis Cougar Classic, not one team could beat the Madera boys soccer team in regulation.
It was two missed penalty kicks in the semifinals that denied the Coyotes a spot in the tournament’s championship game as Mendota advanced to face Selma.
After defeating Madera in penalty kicks, 4-3, the Aztecs beat the Bears 2-0 to claim the tournament’s title while the Coyotes were left wondering what could’ve been.
The Coyotes also lost to Los Angeles section team El Toro-Lake Forest in the semifinals of the Harold S. Young tournament before the Chargers beat Clovis North 3-1 in the finals on Dec. 7.
“It’s two tournaments in a row that we were knocked out of the semis,” Madera head coach Chris Baca said. “In this game, we were so tired and didn’t have our full team for various reasons, but you do what you can with what you have.”
Despite not being at full strength, Madera officially finished 2-0-3 in the Clovis tournament and after 14 matches this season, the two-time defending County/Metro Athletic Conference champion Coyotes have outscored their opponents 28-9.
2017
Coyotes hold Clovis North to draw
The Madera Coyotes girls soccer team held Div. I opponent, the Clovis North Broncos, to a scoreless draw in a non-conference matchup at Lee DaSilva Field in Memorial stadium.
“That’s a good result,” Madera head coach Cameron Hill said after Wednesday’s match. “I know we talked last game about how we’ve been playing well defensively. It’s just that we haven’t been finding the back of the net, so it’s a good result against a Div. I team, a TRAC (Tri-River Athletic Conference) team. It’s just good going forward that the girls know we can play with teams like this.”
After holding the Broncos to a draw, the Coyotes have only allowed 11 goals in nine games, a rate of 1.2 goals allowed each game. A stat that Madera head coach Cameron Hill is aware of.
Coyotes win third in a row
The Madera Coyotes boys basketball team used a hot shooting first half to jump out to an early lead in a win over the Chowchilla Tribe on the third day of the Madera South Classic.
The Coyotes scored 41 points in the first half and opened a 26-point lead by the fourth quarter for a 67-49 victory.
“The first three quarters, we moved the ball extremely well,” head coach David Lozano said. “They trusted each other. The fourth quarter, we kind of relaxed and played to the score. We took our mind set off of defense. There’s definitely some things to improve on.”
Madera shot 42 percent from the field in the first three quarters, but made just three field goals in the fourth quarter and were outscored by eight points.
“When we knock down shots, we’re a whole different basketball team,” Lozano said. “It sparks our defense. I wish we could do that all the time. If we keep our head, focus on defense, get one stop at a time and take the best shot possibile will keep us in the game.”
Art Flores led the Coyotes with 22 points, including three 3-pointers. Eli Barrios scored 12 points, all 3-pointers, and pulled down eight rebounds. K’Veon Jones added 10 points, six rebounds and three steals.
Hawks beat Stallions in first half
The Liberty Hawks scored in the fifth minute and held off the Madera South Stallions girls soccer team for a 2-0 victory in Memorial Stadium.
Liberty’s 2-0 victory over the Stallions matched a 2-0 victory last week over the Madera Coyotes, giving them the upper hand against Madera schools. Liberty has North Sequoia League matches with Chowchilla and Yosemite-Oakhurst for Madera County bragging rights.
“This is a huge win,” Liberty head coach Erick Walker said. “I have had nothing, but respect for the Madera South girls soccer program for many years. When we were winning Valley Championships, they were too. It’s just a good win, now that we’re in div. II and they are in Div. I. It’s good for the morale going into a little break before we regroup next week.”
Calendar Alvarez and Holly Strong each scored goals first half goals for the victory. Sadie Vasquez and Sara Garibay picked up the assists despite playing without top forward Brooke Wristen, who was on a winter vacation with her family.
