Sutter aims for Sac-Joaquin final; Colusa, East Nicolaus host D-IV semis

Jeff Larson, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·4 min read

Nov. 17—Championship tickets will be punched tonight all across the mid-valley region from as far south as Sutter and East Nicolaus over to Colusa where the RedHawks hope to earn their first Northern Section title appearance since 2009.

The RedHawks, seeded No. 2 in NSCIF Division IV bracket, will host No. 3 Durham tonight at 6 p.m. in Colusa.

Head coach Mikey Badaluco's squad will be taking on Durham for a second time this year after its 35-0 win over the Trojans in league play.

Despite the earlier result, Badaluco said tonight is not a game to be taken lightly.

"Our opponent is the biggest we have seen this year in terms of size, they also bounce around with spread packages and tight stuff so it's challenging," Badaluco said. "I feel like we are in a good spot — the bye week was big for us and it gave us a week to just work on our own stuff instead of preparing for another team ... We got better."

Colusa comes in 8-2 with its only two losses coming to D-IV top-seed East Nicolaus, 43-14 and Winters, 31-26. The defeats were the last two games of the regular season so Colusa (8-2) will be looking to snap a two-game slide tonight against Durham (8-3).

"Luckily we have been extremely healthy this season with nobody currently out," Badaluco said.

Badaluco said Colusa needs to own the line of scrimmage on both sides, avoid turnovers and establish a run game in the first half to open it up for quarterback Bo Coronado and the Colusa wide outs.

Colusa last won a section title in 1990, according to NSCIF archives.

East Nicolaus (9-1) vs. Pierce (6-5)

Top-seeded East Nicolaus will be looking to avenge last year's loss to Pierce in the semifinals when it straps it up with the Bears with the finals on the line tonight in East Nicolaus.

Pierce comes in as the No. 5 seed following a 28-7 win over Hamilton last week.

Bears head coach Anthony Tapia is looking to keep the momentum going against East Nicolaus, perhaps the best team in D-IV and the Sacramento Valley League regular season champion.

"The goal every year is to be playing in November. That's the mindset we take on when our players sign up for football," Tapia said. "We challenge our athletes in the offseason and the preseason. Our league is already tough enough so we just want to survive it and be playing at a high level by league's end. Everyone is 0-0 once playoffs start so that's the way we were looking at it after having a season where there were a lot of inconsistencies."

East Nicolaus was unavailable for comment by press time.

Tickets can be purchased online at https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFNS or at the gate on Friday.

The D-IV final is set for Nov. 23 at the highest seed available.

Sutter (11-0) vs. Escalon (9-3)

In its first year in the Sac-Joaquin Section following a dominating run of 14 titles as a member of the Northern Section, the Sutter Union High football team has advanced to the SJS D-V semifinals where it will host Escalon tonight at 7 p.m. at Wayne Gadberry Field in Sutter.

Escalon (9-3) is out of the Central Valley and San Joaquin County. The two schools have never met in the MaxPreps, which dates back to 2004.

Sutter is off to its best start since 2016 when it ran through NSCIF before falling to Oakdale in the Northern California 3-A state playoffs.

Escalon, meanwhile, is the reigning SJS D-V champions where it toppled the bracket as the top seed in 2021.

"Escalon has a storied program and a very formidable opponent," Sutter head coach Ryan Reynolds said. "This will be an extremely physical game for us and our dudes are fired up for the opportunity."

Reynolds said the key is ball control and security, converting first downs and keeping it away from two of Escalon's biggest playmakers, Ryker Peters (running back) and Owen Nash (wide receiver).

Escalon took down No. 4 and Trans Valley league champion Hilmar last week to get to the D-V semifinals.

The Trans Valley League consists of Ripon, which Sutter beat last week, Modesto Christian, Hilmar, Hughson, Escalon, Livingston and Riverbank.

Reynolds said Sutter is nearly at full strength with running back Troy Brucie back and tight end Trenton Duchene questionable for Friday.

Brucie is Sutter's second-leading rusher in only eight games played, while Duchene is the team's No. 2 target this year.

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