Kern County football enters uncharted territory this weekend

Nov. 30—At least for the next few days, high school football fans can consider the Bakersfield metropolitan area part of Southern California.

In the first year with three section champions from Kern County since 2015, all three were grouped into the SoCal region for the sake of the CIF's Regional Championship Bowl Games, as part of a balancing act the federation must undertake with the Central Section practically every year.

This is new for Liberty, which was included in Northern California both in 2015, when it lost to Loomis-Del Oro, and last season, when it beat Pittsburg but fell to Gardena-Serra in the state title game. As a result, a rematch with the Pirates and their Florida-bound quarterback Jaden Rashada, which could easily have occurred this week, will instead have to wait for the 1-A state championship next week — should Pittsburg take care of Manteca and Liberty beat undefeated Yorba Linda.

It's also new for Shafter, though for the drastically different reason that the modern regional championships, inaugurated in 2006 and refined in 2015, were not even a twinkle in the CIF's eye when the Generals last won a section title in 1955. The federation rewarded them for their historic victory over Caruthers 100 miles north by sending them 150 miles south to fellow newcomer Walnut for a 5-A regional matchup.

Kennedy is most familiar with the SoCal field, having faced San Juan Capistrano-Saddleback Valley Christian under previous head coach Dennis Moody and Los Angeles-Garfield during Mario Millan's tenure. The Thunderbirds lost both times, in divisions 5-A and 4-A, respectively, and now find themselves even higher in 4-AA. They do get the benefit of home-field advantage against Irvine-Northwood.

Division 4-AA: Irvine-Northwood at Kennedy, 7:30 p.m. Friday

The vaunted Kennedy defense gave Fresno-Sunnyside and its star quarterback Tanner Wilson the same treatment as practically every other offense this year, but the real story of last week was the Thunderbirds' offense posting its highest point total of the year. Six players scored one touchdown each as Kennedy claimed its third section title by a 40-20 margin.

Northwood suffered its lone loss of the year nearly three months ago to a fellow section champion in Laguna Beach and has run roughshod over the competition since. The Timberwolves are also a program on the rise, having moved up three divisions from 2021 to 2022 and won titles in both. Last Saturday at Lakewood, they downed the Lancers 35-14, their third straight game allowing just 14 points after a 63-56 shootout at Monrovia.

MaxPreps doesn't have up-to-date stats for Northwood, but the Timberwolves have a 2,000-yard rusher in senior running back Adam Harper, who, according to OC Sports Zone, ran for 175 yards and three touchdowns against Lakewood. Harper is the focal point of Northwood's offense but quarterback Eugene Miyata makes his fair share of contributions, including 130 yards and two scores of his own in the final.

Northwood is no stranger to winning on the road. Its offense, which averages 34 points per game, will come up against a Kennedy defense allowing just 10. Something has to give.

Division 1-A: Liberty at Yorba Linda, 6 p.m. Saturday

The Patriots used a 65-yard punt-return touchdown and 80-yard receiving touchdown by Kresean Kizzy, plus three short Grant Meadors field goals and a second-half defensive shutout, to beat Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial in the Division I section title game.

Liberty has a pair of blemishes on its schedule: a 35-27 lightning-shortened loss to Clovis-Buchanan that the Patriots eventually avenged, and a 27-0 shutout defeat at Carlsbad. Not so for Yorba Linda, which is unbeaten this year and has lost just three games since Sept. 27, 2019.

The Mustangs cruised through the Crestview League with three wins by an average of 24 points, but have played some much narrower playoff matchups, including a strange 9-6 win in the Southern Section championship over Upland. Jayden Flaig hit a game-winning 42-yard field goal with two seconds left after a last-minute pass-interference call prevented the Highlanders from sending the game to overtime.

Yorba Linda relies on a balanced offense featuring running back William Saucedo, who ran for 105 yards and the Mustangs' lone touchdown against Upland and has tallied 1,525 yards on the year. Quarterback Reyn Beal's stats are very similar to the combined lines of Cole O'Brien and Jace Nixon, who have both seen time for Liberty. Beal's favorite target is JJ Conrad, who is responsible for 933 of his passing yards and 10 touchdowns.

In theory, these teams are about as evenly matched as it gets. Liberty sits at No. 18 in MaxPreps' statewide rankings, just one spot ahead of Yorba Linda.

Division 5-A: Shafter at Walnut, 6 p.m. Saturday

After allowing two immediate touchdowns to open the second half and falling behind 35-14 at Caruthers, Shafter never lost hope. From then on, Ezekiel Osborne threw two more big touchdowns, Koa Rhodes ran for one more in his return from injury and Rafael Roman-Amador stripped the Blue Raiders' Hunter Babb as he was headed for a long score that would have put Caruthers back up 42-35. Ernesto Guerrero added a pair of late field goals to seal a memorable first section title in 67 years.

Walnut arrives in the regional playoffs under similar circumstances, having just won its first football title ever, 20 years after its only other championship appearance. The Mustangs — yes, the Mustangs again — went up 12-0 early at Bellflower and carried the lead into halftime, but saw that margin shrink to 20-14 in the final minutes. In a game in which he passed for 143 yards and ran for 107 more with three total touchdowns, quarterback Sal Quintanilla converted a late fake punt and Walnut took home a 27-14 victory.

Like Shafter, which enters at 10-4, the Mustangs suffered a series of narrow regular-season losses, opening the year at 5-3. Both teams caught fire during the playoffs, and Walnut owes a lot of its success to Quintanilla, who has totaled 29 touchdowns — 16 passing, 13 rushing. He leads a multi-pronged rushing attack featuring four other players with at least 400 yards and four touchdowns on the year.

The defense will be a real test for Osborne, Rhodes and company. The Mustangs have shut out four foes on the year and allowed 14 points or fewer in their last six games. Nicholas Orsatt is the leading tackler — he had 21 against Bellflower — and Elias Riojas and Demetrius Stampley have picked off four passes apiece.

Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.