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Sports News for May 22, 1997
Sports schedule:

Area track teams at North Section Championship, May 30, West Valley High School

Ą Braves dominate in SCL track, field championship
Ą Cardinals win EL championship
Ą Christensen MVP in All-star tourney
Ą Ranch rodeo kicks off weekend
Ą Super Bull riding set in June
Ą 3-on-3 hoop tourney during July
Ą Modoc has All-league softballers
The Braves track teams absolutely dominated the Shasta Cascade League meet Friday, winning the girls varsity and boys varsity with ease and taking the junior varsity girls in a closer race.

Modoc's varsity girls team has won the SCL track championship 20 of the past 22 years. When that record was broadcast over the loudspeaker, it prompted a Weed High School fan to quip, "Now, that's what you call a program." Modoc's varsity boys have won the league title for four straight years and have a lot of talent in the younger grades.

The Program (girls) is heavily favored to win the small schools section title today at Shasta College in Redding and the varsity boys have an excellent chance of winning that title as well.

Varsity girls SCL results

The Braves just destroyed the competition at the SCL meet, winning 11 of 16 events out right and taking seconds and thirds in those they didn't win. Modoc won the meet with an amazing 250 points, followed by Trinity with 75, Etna with 45, Weed with 28, Mt. Shasta with 22, Burney with 15 and Fall River with 2.

Harness won the 1600 meters in 5:.47.3, the 800 meters in 2:32.5, the 3200 meters in 14:31 and anchored the winning 1600 meter relay.

Christensen won the 100 meter hurdles in 16.2, her best of the season, with Miceli run ning 16.4. She also won the shot out at 32 feet and was on the winning 400 meter relay team.

Ginny Greene won the 400 meters in a great race at 60.2, clipping Miceli who ran 60.4. Julia Greene, a freshman, ran third at 63.9 and Lake was fourth at 68.

Andrea Knox, a freshman, won the high jump with a 5-0 effort. Leah Siegel won the long jump with a 15 feet leap. Knox was third at 13-9. Kate Burshem, a freshman, won the pole vault at 6-6.

Modoc's 4x100 meter relay team of Candi Marymee, Ginny Greene, Julia Greene and Christensen won at 52.8. The 4x400 meter team of Greene, George, Lake and Harness won at 4:39.6.

Marymee took a second in the 100 meters at 13.2 and Julia Greene was third at 13.4. Lake was sixth at 13.8.

Siegel was second in the high jump at 4-10 with Christensen third at 4-10.

Christensen took a second in the 300 hur dles at 51.7, Knox was third at 52.6 and George fourth at 53.

Julia Greene, a freshman, was second in the 800 at 2:47.1 edging sister Ginny Greene at 2:47.2. Ginny Greene was second in the 200 meters at 26.9 with Marymee third at 27.8.

Marymee was second in the triple jump at 32-3, Siegel was third at 32-1. Brandy Cravens was second in the 3200 at 16:22. Rebecca Richert, a freshman, was third in discus at 86-1 and Amie Ambers was fourth at 80-0. Ambers was fifth in the shot at 28-5.

George took a third in the 100 hurdles at 18.8 and Knox was fourth at 18.9. Cravens was fourth in the 1600 at 7:01 and Richert sixth at 7:14.

Varsity boys SCL results

Modoc's varsity boys also dominated the SCL meet at Yreka Friday, winning with 192 points, followed at a distance by Trinity with 83, Fall River with 80, Mt. Shasta with 65, Weed with 28, Etna with 15 and Burney with 10.

Josh Keyes did his job well, winning the 1600 meters at 4:42.9, the 800 meters at 2:05.8 and the 3200 meters in 10:47.

Jeremy Favia won the 100 meters at 11.8, just nipping Matt Carroll at 11.9. Favia also nipped Carroll in the 200 meters, wining at 23.69 to Carroll's 23.7.

Carroll returned the favor in the 400 me ters winning at 53.3, beating Favia's 53.9 and third place Billy Wilson's 53.9.

James Drennan won the shot at 39-7. Modoc's 4x100 meter relay ran a 47.3 for the win. That relay had two freshmen, Kaylon Benson and Cody Holloway, joining regu lars Billy Wilson and Joe Duran.

The 4x400 meter relay team of Jess Wills, Wilson, Adam Bailey and Duran ran a winning time of 3:51.9.

Holloway took a second in the long jump at 18-10 and Benson placed fourth at 18-3 1/2. Duran placed second in the high jump at 5-8, with Carroll taking third at 5-6 and Evan Utter fourth at 5-4.

Holloway placed third in the triple jump with a 38-9 1/4 leap. Jed Tate was third in the shot at 35-5. Drennan tossed the discus 112 feet for third. Wills was third in the pole vault at 9-6. Freshmen Chris Lauppe was fourth at 8-6 and Aaron Wishart fifth at 8-6.

Lauppe was fifth in the 110 hurdles at 19.7. Holloway took a fifth in the 100 meters at 12.2. Utter was fifth in the triple jump at 36-11. Wishart was sixth in the hurdles at 19.8. Joe Savino was sixth in the 1600 at 5:32 and in the 3200 at 12:03.9. Bailey was sixth in the triple jump at 32 feet, Lauppe was sixth in the 300 hurdles at 50.5 and Benson was sixth in the 800 at 2:18.5.

Modoc JV girls win

Modoc's junior varsity girls won the league meet, even with some of their crew moved up to the varsity level. Modoc had 88 points, followed by Etna with 84, Trinity with 78, Mt. Shasta with 74, Fall River with 36 and Weed with 12.

The top performance was turned in by freshman Billie Geldreich, who won the 100 hurdles and set a new league record of 17.7 in the process. Geldreich also won the 300 meter hurdles in 57.8 and the pole vault at 6-0. She also ran with Amber Knauss, Christy Cartner and Susanna Wise on the winning 400 meter relay team.

Knauss took a second in the long jump, go ing 11-2 1/2 and Wise was third at 11-1/2. Knauss was third in the 100 meters at 14.9, Cartner was third in the triple jump at 26-9. April Dorton was third in the discus at 52-9 1/2 . Jodie Roberts was fourth in the discus at 51-1/2 and Wise was fourth in the high jump at 3-8. Dorton placed fourth in the shot at 18-9 and Roberts fifth at 15-10. Knauss was fifth in the 200 at 32.7.

For the junior varsity boys, Greg Buck took a second in the shot at 39-7 and third in the discus at 97-11. Daniel Toatolu was fourth in the 800 at 2:48 and sixth in the 100 meters at 13.8.

Cardinals cruise to Evergreen title

The Big Valley boys track team now has a string going. The Cardinals took their sec ond straight Evergreen League Title last Saturday. BV actually cruised to the win, posting 76 points on the day, nearly doubling up their nearest competitor, Butte Val ley, who finished with 41.

Cardinals Vance Bidwell and Cameron McGarr ran one-two in the 110 hurdles with times of 16.89 and 17.83 respectively. The two ran almost in reverse in the 300 hurdles as McGarr won the race in 43.76 while Bidwell took third.

In the sprints, Wes Break field took a second in the 100 at 11.73 while Tim Valdez and Rendon Ellenberger flew across the line at fourth and fifth. Valdez also took a sec ond in the 200 while Heath Urey was fifth.

In the middle distances, McGarr took second in the 400 at 53.26 while Reid Urey took third. Urey was also third in the 800 with Ellenberger grab bing a fifth spot.

Joe Haury led the way in the distance events, winning the 1600 ad taking second in the 3200. Valdez also took a fifth in the 1600.

In the field events, Russ Carpenter continued his domination of the shot-put. He threw the 12 pound metal ball 45-3, over three-and-one-half feet ahead of his nearest competitor. Ellenberger was third in the event. Carpenter also took third in the discus.

Bidwell and Valdez were jumping all over the place. Bidwell won the triple jump while Valdez took the long jump. The pair also took sec ond and fourth in the high jump as Valdez cleared 6-0 and Bidwell jumped 5-8. Also picking up Cardinal points in the jumps were Patrick Mc Cauley (fourth in the triple) and Michael McLain (fifth in the high jump).

Breakfield won the pole vault by clearing a height of 13-3 and one-half.

Girls track: Big Valley's big three of Jessica Saltzman, Ileah Jackson and Nicole Silva won eight of the 14 indi vidual events contested, but the Cardinals still finished just 7.5 points behind Butte Valley for the league title with a final score of 64-56.5.

Saltzman and Jackson both set new meet records in the triple jump and high jump. Saltzman traveled 35-4 and one-half in the triple while Jackson sailed 16-9 and one-half in the long jump. Saltz man also won the high jump and Silva took the pole vault win. Carly Nordell also earned points for the Cardi nals in the jumps by taking fifth in both the high jump and long jump.

Jackson and Saltzman were the first two across the line in the 100 hurdles, Jack son getting the win with a time of 16.71. Saltzman was second in the 300 hurdles and Nordell grabbed a fourth in the race.

Jackson won the 100 dash with a time of 13.45 and Silva was right behind her in sec ond with a time of 13.9. Silva then went on to win the 200 with Nordell taking third.

In the middle distance, the 400 looked a lot like the 100 as it was Jackson and Silva go ing one-two across the finish line again.

Those who finished in the top three in any of the events now move on to the Sectional Single "A" Championships being held tomorrow at West Valley High in Redding.

In assessing his team's chances in Redding, Big Val ley coach Gary Bennett said he thinks Saltzman, Jackson and Silva can continue to dominate their events but he's not sure if that will mean enough points for a team title.

The boys team might be a different story.

"We have a good shot with the boys," Bennett said. "I think we'll be the team to beat, but you know, things don't always go right either."

Those who do well this week will move on to the Northern Section meet on May 30, also held at West Val ley.

Christensen is MVP in All-star hoop tourney

Modoc High School junior Kayte Christensen was named the Most Valuable Player in a girls High School All-Star Basketball tournament in Gridley over the weekend.

Christensen, who led the Braves to a second place fin ish in the north state last year, is joined by teammates Jennifer Kern, Andrea Knox and Leah Siegel on the Sierra Cascaders, a team made up of northern California high school stars. Siegel didn't play in last weekend's event, but will join the team for future tournaments.

Modoc Coach Mike Martin and the Westwood coach share the coaching duties of the team.

Last weekend the Sierra Cascaders lost their opening game to the Jam-on-it from Reno, in overtime, and lost their second game to the Redding Jayhawks. The next day, they beat the Jayhawks by eight and lost in the title game to Jam-on-it by seven in a very close game.

Martin said Christensen dominated the tourney and said that Kern and Knox both played very well. Jessica Kern also filled in.

This weekend the team heads to Sacramento for an other tough tournament.

A real highlight for Modoc is an All-Star tournament in Alturas on June 21. In addition to the Sierra Cascaders, two teams from Reno, the Redding Jayhawks and Gridley Dogs will play in the tourney. According to Martin, local basketball fans will get to see how Modoc's girls stack up against some of the best in the west. And he, said, Modoc fans will be impressed.

More information on the local tournament will be com ing out soon.

High Desert Ranch Rodeo opens excitement Friday for weekend

The Second Annual High Desert Ranch Rodeo expands to two days and increases the number of three person ranch teams to 20 this year to open for a more exciting event Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24 at the Modoc Dis trict Fairgrounds, Cedarville. A mixed team branding com petition has been added.

Held over the Memorial Day weekend, the first go-round will begin on Friday, May 23 at 2 p.m. This will include the ranch horse class, ranch doctoring and cattle sorting. Fol lowing the slack events, a kick-off Chuck Wagon barbecue will be held.

The rodeo continues on Saturday, May 24 at 9 a.m. com pleting the first go-round with calf roping, saddle bronc, and calf branding. At 1 p.m. a mixed team brand ing event will be held. The teams for the mixed branding will be com prised of two men and two women per team with no team limit.

Immediately following the mixed branding, the finals of the ranch rodeo will begin. The top six teams from the first go-round will compete again in all six ranch-related events.

Friday's events will be open-gate with free admission. Saturday the gates open at 8:30 a.m. with admission for adult's $5, children under 14, $3 and children under six, free. An all day family pass is $15.

The High Desert Ranch Rodeo is a joint effort of the Mas ten Ramsey Memorial and the Surprise Valley Rotary Club with all proceeds going to community projects and scholar ships. Seventy percent of the purse is jackpotted back to the first five teams in both the ranch rodeo and mixed team branding competitions. Last year over $2,000 was awarded to the winning team. With the addition of five more teams, the purse is expected to increase this year.

Preceding a number of the events, Cal cutta's will be held which will al low the spectators to bid on their favorite teams.

For further information contact John McQuarrie at (916) 233-4304 during the day or (916) 233-3946 in the evening.

Modoc Super Bull set for June 21 at Fair

The Modoc Super Bull is set for June 21 at the Cedarville Fairgrounds arena.

According to event president Louis Arreche, the Modoc Super Bull will be a Wrangler Pro Bull Riders affiliated event and should attract some of the top pro bull riders in the region.

A $7,000 purse will be the big drawing card for the riders and there is a 35 rider limit. They'll all compete in the long go round and the top eight will move to the short go. Prize money will be paid to the top four in each round as well as the four average winners.

Bull riding will start at 7 p.m. June 21. Tickets are $10 each with children six and under free. Tickets are available at Arreche Enterprises, Pages Market or Western Irrigation in Cedarville; L&B Ranch Supply and Jay's Mens Store in Alturas. For tickets or more information call 916-279-2272.

In addition to the bull riding, fans can "purchase" a bull in competition at $135 with the chance of winning $1,225 if the bull places first.

According to Arreche, the pro bull riding circuit is doing well across the nation and he feels this event will be a good chance for Modoc fans to see some of the best riders and stock available.

Contestants have a one-day entry period, June 3, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entry fee is $150 money order. Phone (916) 279-2272 or write P.O. Box 132, Cedarville, Ca. 96104.

Think you're bad? Sign up now for Modoc's 3-3

The deadline to sign up of the Modoc 3-on-3 Basketball Championships is July 1. The tournament is scheduled July 5 in the Griswold Gym, following the Fandango Parade and the Great Pit River Duck Race.

The event is open for basketball players ele mentary school age through adult. There are divisions for male and female players.

The event is sponsored by the Modoc Record, Pizza and Pasta Place and Coast to Coast. Proceeds from the event will go to the Modoc High School basketball program.

There is a $30 entry fee per team, and teams may have four players. Three players will be on the court and sub stitutions will be allowed during dead balls. Sponsors are available for teams.

The age groups for the tourney are as follows: grades 1-3; grades 4-5; grades 6-8; grades 9-10; grades 11-12; and an open division.

Younger players can move up a division, but older play ers cannot move down.

The winning team in each division will receive half the division entry fee, plus winning t-shirts.

Games will be seven minute running halves with one minute halftime. There will be a five minute warm up pe riod.

For more information contact Rick Holloway at the Modoc Record, 233-2632. Fill out and mail in the entry form in this week's Record or call for registration forms.

Modoc has All-Leaguers

Three members of the Modoc softball squad played their way onto the Shasta-Cascade All-League Team. Jessica Lauppe, Wendy Stafford and Cheyenne Menkee earned the honors for a Braves squad that went 9-3 in the SCL, (15-4 overall) finishing just one game out of first place tie.

Stafford a junior center-fielder, led the team in batting average, hitting over .400 for the year. Lauppe, a senior first-baseman, and Menkee, a sophomore catcher, were also among Modoc's leading hitters and were also outstanding on defense throughout the season.

Sports summaries for May 29, 1997

Ą Modoc girls win section track
Ą Cardinals top 'A' section
Ą Modoc's girls class of north state
Ą 3-on-3 baketabll championship coming
Girls claim section track title; boys run to third place

Modoc's girls track team continued its decades-long dominance of the north section track and field scene by eas ily winning the North Section AA title at Redding's Shasta College May 22.

Modoc's boys varsity team competed well and placed third in the north section. Only the winners in each event move on to the North Section Large School finals at West Valley Friday.

Team scores for the girls were: Modoc 160; East Nicolaus 74; Durham, 52; Trinity 44; Capital Christian 43; Delta, 21; Weed, 20; Portola, 15; Etna, 11; Burney, 10; Mt. Shasta 2. One of the highlights, said Geldreich, was the winning 4x400 boys relay team which clocked the fastest time in 19 years at the section meet of 3:35.3. Jeremy Favia, Billy Wilson, Joe Duran and Matt Carroll ran the relay, clipping their former best time by more than 10 seconds.

Harness led the girls team with first in the 1600 meters at 5:45.3, in the 800 meters at 2:29.7; And the 3200 meters at 13:12.9. Harness also ran on the winning 4x400 meter relay team with Lynda Lake, Courtney George and Julia Greene, which ran a 4:28.8.

Andrea Knox, a freshman, won the high jump with a 5-0 effort. Kayte Christensen placed second with a 5-0 and Leah Siegel was third at 4-10.

Kate Burshem, also a freshman, won the pole vault at 7-6, tying the section mark set last year.

Christensen took a second in the 100 meter hurdles at 17.1 with George sixth at 18.1

Ginny Greene ran second in the 400 meters at 62.3, in the 200 meters at 27.0 and in the 800 meters at 2:36. Greene also ran with Lake, George and Candi Marymee on the second-place 4x100 meter team. Siegel long-jumped 15-3 to take a second place.

Marymee placed third in the 100 meters in 13.2 and in the triple jump with a 32-11-1/2 leap. Siegel was fifth at 32-0. Christensen placed third in the 300 hurdles in 50.3 and fourth in the shot put at 30-7-1/2.

Julia Greene, a freshman, placed fourth in the 400 at 64.1 and in the 800 at 2:42.2. Marymee placed fourth in the 200 at 27.8. J. Greene took a sixth in the 100 at 13.3, Aimee Ambers was sixth in the shot at 29 feet, Knox took sixth in the 300 hur dles at 53.4. Rebecca Richert was sixth in discus at 83-11 and Brandy Cravens was sixth in the 3200 meters in 15:30.1.

Boys results:

East Nicolaus won the boys division with 98 points fol lowed in order by: Delta, 73; Modoc 64; Live Oak 54; Durham 47; Portola 32; Capital Christian 28; Trinity 27; Fall River 26; Pierce 15; Burney 10; Etna 8; Mt. Shasta 7; Weed 6.

Jeremy Favia led the Braves by winning the 200 meters in 24.4 and was on the winning 4x400 meter team.

Josh Keyes ran a 4:30.1 to take second in the 1600 meters. He also took a second in the 800 meters at 2:05.4. In both races he was just off the winning time. He became ill and didn't run the 3200 meters. He did qualify for the large school meet this week.

The 4x100 meter relay team of Duran, Cody Holloway, Wilson and Favia took a third place with a 46.5 time.

James Drennan was fifth in the shot at 39-9 1/2, Favia took a fifth in the 100 meters at 12.1 and Holloway was sixth at 12.1. Duran was fifth in the high jump at 5-8 and Carroll was sixth at 5-4. Carroll tied for fourth in the 400 meters at 54.0 and Wilson was sixth at 54.7. Jess Wills took a fifth in the pole vault at 9-6. Freshman Chris Lauppe was sixth at 9-6 and James Drennan took a sixth in the discus at 108-4-1/2.

JV girls results:

Team scores for the junior varsity girls were as follows: Durham 90; Portola 79; East Nicolaus 72; Mt. Shasta 54; Etna 54; Trinity 38; Modoc 29; Live Oak 29; Fall River 20; Pierce 8; Weed 1.

Billie Geldreich led the Modoc girls with wins in the 100 meter hurdles at 17.4 and in the 300 meter hurdles at 55.3. She set a new section record in the 100 meter hurdles, break ing the old mark of 17.6.

The 4x100 meter relay team of Christy Cartner, Amber Knauss, Susanna Wise and Geldreich placed third at 58.3. Cartner took a fifth in the triple jump at 25-11 and Knauss was fifth in the long jump at 12-2 1/4.

Cardinals dominate in small school's track championship

Big Valley was the domi nant school at the 1A Section Track Championships in Redding last Thursday. The boys team won easily, for the second year in a row, after scoring nearly twice as many points as second place Her long. The girls squad was a close second to Butte Valley. All in all, somebody for the Cardinals won 15 of the 32 events contested on the day.

Those who won events get to move on to the All-Division North Section Championships tomorrow at West Valley High in Redding. Including the relay teams, a grand total of 12 Big Valley athletes will compete.

We've never had a group this big go down for the meet," Cardinal coach Gary Bennett said. "It'll be a busy day. It's just an honor to go compete in it."

Boys Team: The Big Val ley boys posted 146 team points on the day. Their nearest competitor, Herlong, had 76.

Perhaps the biggest sur prise of the day was that sophomore West Breakfield won two events -- the pole vault and the 100 meters.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Bennett had entered Break field in the 100 at the Ever green League Meet hoping he would finish somewhere in the top five and get a couple of more points for the Cardinals. Breakfield ended up taking second and qualifying for Sectionals. In Redding he clocked an 11.42 to win the race.

Other individual champi ons on the day included Vance Bidwell in the 100 hur dles, Cameron McGarr in the 300 hurdles, Tim Valdez in the long jump and Russ Car penter in the shot put. Carpen ter's throw of 47 feet was more than seven feet longer than his nearest competitor, team mate Rendon Ellenberger.

The Cardinals also won both relays. The 4x100 team was Breakfield, Ellenberger, Heath Urey and Valdez. The 4x400 team was McGarr, Piere Reldin, Heath Urey and Reid Urey.

The Cardinals also picked up many points by having people place second through sixth. Valdez and Bidwell in particular were scoring points all over the place. Valdez was third in the 1600, second in the 200, and third in the high jump. Bidwell was second in the high jump and triple jump.

Other placers included: McGarr, third in the 100; Robert Haury, second in the 1600 and fifth in the 3200; Urey, fourth in the 400 and third in the 800; Ellenberger, second in the shot; Patrick McCauley, sixth in the long jump and Carpenter, fifth in the discus.

As for tomorrow's champi onships, after reviewing the top marks from the other North Section class championships, Bennett feels that Valdez may have a shot at winning in the long jump. His personal best leap of 22-0 is just three inches behind the top mark in the Section this year.

Girls Team: Jessica Saltzman, Ileah Jackson and Nicole Silva combined to earn over 100 points for the Cardi nals, but still ended up finish ing just behind Butte Valley by a score of 130-105.

Jackson pulled the Jesse Owens-Carl Lewis type feat of winning four events; the 100 hurdles, the 100 dash, the 400 and the long jump.

Saltzman won the high jump and tied a meet record in the triple jump with a mark of 35-8. Silva won the pole vault.

Saltzman and Silva also registered four second place finishes on the day, three of them behind Jackson. Saltz man was second in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Silva was second in the 100 and 400.

In this Friday's Open Di vision Meet, Bennett predicts that Jackson will be competi tive in her events but feels that Saltzman may have the best chance of winning an event in the high jump. Her per sonal best of 5-6 is the third best in the Section this year with the top mark being just one inch higher at 5-7.

Modoc girls dominate section sports scene

Modoc's varsity girls teams this year have dominated the Shasta Cascade League and the North Section California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) sports pic ture, and don't look for things to change much next year.

Modoc girls won this year's league and north section titles in Cross Country, Volleyball, Basketball, and Track and Field. The only sport they didn't win was soft ball. The girls only loss in the state basketball tourna ment was to eventual state champion Rincon Christian in the North State title game at Sacramento.

Last year, the girls won the section and league titles in volleyball, basketball and track and field.

With the core of those teams returning for next season, look for titles in at least three sports.

Think you're bad? Sign up now for Modoc's 3-3

The deadline to sign up of the Modoc 3-on-3 Basketball Championships is July 1. The tournament is scheduled July 5 in the Griswold Gym, following the Fandango Parade and the Great Pit River Duck Race.

There is a $30 entry fee per team, and teams may have four players. Three players will be on the court and sub stitutions will be allowed during dead balls. Sponsors are available for teams.

The age groups for the tourney are as follows: grades 1-3; grades 4-5; grades 6-8; grades 9-10; grades 11-12; and an open division.

Younger players can move up a division, but older play ers cannot move down.

The winning team in each division will receive half the division entry fee, plus winning t-shirts.

Games will be seven minute running halves with one minute halftime. There will be a five minute warm up pe riod.

For more information contact Rick Holloway at the Modoc Record, 233-2632. Fill out and mail in the entry form in this week's Record or call for registration forms.

JUNE SPORTS

Sports summaries for week of June 5, 1997

Ą Modoc thinclads wrap up season
Ą Card do well in section finals
Ą Plenty of Bull in Modoc
Ą Duck Race builds parks
Ą Get ready for Father's Day golf
Keyes is third, Harness fourth in Section finals

Modoc's Josh Keyes placed third and Stacy Harness fourth at the CIF North Section Finals in West Valley last Friday, capping off a good year for Modoc track. Only the winners of each event qualify for the state finals.

Modoc coach John Geldreich said the performances of Modoc's runners may have been hampered by the heat.

"Our kids are really tough, they run in snow, rain and cold, but the hot weather bothers us," said Geldreich. "It was hot in West Valley, but we did have some good performances and overall it was an excellent season."

Keyes took a third in the 1600 meters when he clocked a 4:31.53. The winner of the event, Ryan Wade of Central Valley, ran a 4:28.09. Keyes also took a sixth in the 800 me ters with a time of 2:14.06. The winning time was 1:59.2, run by Brian Nichols of Paradise.

Harness placed fourth in the 1600 meters clocking a 5:39.47. The winner was West Valley's Jenee Erickson, who ran a 5:23.65. Harness took a fourth in the 80 when she ran a 2:32.61. The winner, Nicole Ruff of Las Plumas, ran a 2:21.98.

Modoc's boys 4 x 400 meter relay team of Joe Duran, Jeremy Favia, Bill Wilson and Matt Carroll clocked a 3:34.06 to take sixth in the event. The winning team from Red Bluff ran a 3:25.84.

Modoc's Ginny Greene placed fifth in the 400 meters, running a 61.34. The winner, Heather Otter, Enterprise clocked a 58.85. Greene also took a fifth in the 220 by run ning a 26.94. The winning time of 25.61 was turned in by Macklin Harris of Enterprise.

Julia Greene, Harness, Kayte Christensen and Ginny Greene took a fifth in the 4x400 meter relay when they ran a 4:18.95. West Valley won the relay in 4:02.27.

Two freshmen girls did well competing at the varsity level. Andrea Knox took a fifth in the high jump by going 5-0. The winning jump was by Susan Schaap, Yreka, at 5-8. And Kate Burshem took fifth in the pole vault at 7-0. The winning vault was 10-0 by Traci Garmen of Yreka.

Cardinals shine at section meet

Big Valley had a good day at the CIF Northern Section Championships last Friday in Redding. Jessica Saltzman, Ileah Jackson and Wes Brakefield all managed to finish in the top three in their events and coach Gary Ben nett was named the 1997 Boys Honored Coach.

However, it was also somewhat of a frustrating day for the Cardinals since only the winner of the section gets to go on to the State Meet. Therefore, no Big Valley ath lete will be at the State Meet. That's not unheard of, but it is unusual since the Cardinals have had Section winners in four of the last six years.

Saltzman, a senior, had gone to State the last two years as the North State's best in the high jump. Saltzman was unable to equal her personal best of 5-6. Even if she had, it might not have mattered since Susan Schapp of Yreka regis tered a 5-8, higher than any body had cleared in the Sec tion this year. Saltzman wound up second with a leap of 5-4. She also took sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 35-0.

Jackson, a sophomore, grabbed a second in the long jump with a personal best of 17-1 and one-quarter. Mack lin Harris of Enterprise launched herself 18-7 to take the title. Jackson also took fourth in the 100 high hurdles with a time of 16.15.

Brakefield, also a soph, took a third in the pole vault at 12-6. Another BV soph-vaulter, Nichole Silva, was sixth in the girls pole vault.

Tim Valdez was sixth in the boys long jump at 21-1.

Bulls, cowboys get it on in Cedarville June 21

Don't miss the Modoc Super Bull June 21 at the Modoc County fairgrounds Arena is Cedarville. It's going to be ex citing.

The Modoc Super Bull will be a Wrangler Pro Bull Riders affiliated event and should attract some of the top pro bull riders in the region.

Bull riding will start at 7 p.m. June 21. Tickets are $10 each with children six and under free. Tickets are available at Arreche Enterprises, Pages Market or Western Irrigation in Cedarville; L&B Ranch Supply and Jay's Mens Store in Alturas. For tickets or more information call 916-279-2272.

In addition to the bull riding, fans can "purchase" a bull in competition at $135 with the chance of winning $1,225 if the bull places first.

A $7,000 purse will be the big drawing card for the riders and there is a 35 rider limit. They'll all compete in the long go round and the top eight will move to the short go. Prize money will be paid to the top four in each round as well as the four average winners.

Some of the top bullriders in the west will be on hand to try their skills in this first-time Modoc event.

Work moving along on new ball parks at the Youth Park

Plans and drawings are in the works for construction of the new ballfields at the Youth Park, and things are moving along well even if they're not visible.

The city has agreed to help fund part of the planning costs, including an aerial photograph of the city block, which will be used in the overall en gineering design.

Alturas Rotary Club repre sentatives and County Planner Scott Kessler and Engineer Kip Lybarger are currently working out the de tails for the plan. Ed Disario will draw up the plans and once the details are in, actual construction will begin in earnest.

"It's important that people realize this project is long term and will be done in phases," said Rotary's Roger Dorris. "This year our plans are to get the sprinklers in and grass planted. Next year we'll get fencing and bleach ers and so on."

Dorris said the main water line will be installed in the very near future and pre lim inary ground work will also start soon. Odds are there are still some large concrete foot ings in the fields, which once held up the Alturas Rodeo Arena grandstands. Those footings must be found and removed before land leveling starts.

The construction phase of the ballparks got a slowdown last month when the City of Alturas ordered a drainage and grading plan on the area. The City then decided to get involved with the project by funding a portion of the plan ning costs from its Community Projects fund. The County of Modoc is also getting involved in the pro ject, since the parks are used by kids from throughout the county.

The new ballfields and parks are being constructed with funding raised from the Great Pit River Duck Race. Last year the first Duck Race raised over $30,000 for the pro ject and ticket sales for this year's July 5 race are going well. Rotary hopes to raise at least $30,000 more this time around. According to Rotary's Billy Madison, more than half the tickets have been sold.

The grand prize for the Duck Race, a 1997 full size Chevy 4x4, three-door pickup is parked north of Plumas Bank on Main Street.

Arrowhead set for Father's Day event

The annual Father's Day Golf Tournament will be held at Arrowhead Golf Course in Alturas , June 15, with an 11 a.m. tee-time.

The event is sponsored by the Arrowhead Ladies Club. Men play for free in the tour ney and women have a $10 fee. Tournament golfers have dinner free that night with non-golfers paying $5.

The tournament is a scratch and scramble affair with four places guaranteed, There will also be awards for men and women for closest to the pin, accuracy drive and other various tests of skill.

Sign up at the Arrowhead Clubhouse or call 233-3404 to register.

Men's Club meets

The Men's Club meeting and dinner will be held June 17, 7 p.m. at the Arrowhead clubhouse. The topic for the evening will be the Men's Club Invitational.

Register for the meeting at the clubhouse.

Record sports summaries June 12, 1997

Summer camps need some players
Local kids in Cal-high rodeo finals
Junior shows goes along in rain

Hurry to sign up for summer sport camps
Kids interested in basketball and volleyball camps through Lassen College must sign up by Friday, June 13, 5 p.m.

The basketball camp meets 6 to 9 p.m. at the Modoc High School Gym, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays with Modoc High School head basketball coach Lane Bates as the instructor. The emphasis is on less than full court games and is open for students grades nine through 12. Fee for the camp is $16.50.

The co-ed volleyball camp meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Modoc High Gym with head volleyball coach Harold Montague instructing. Volleyball skill improvement is the emphasis. Fee for the camp is $11.

Registration will remain open for Shaun Wood's weight training class for ages nine through adult. The class meets Monday through Thursday, 6 to 8 p.m. at the weight room at Modoc High School. Emphasis is on total body conditioning. The fee is $16.50.

Registration is also open through July 25 for the soccer camp, which runs July 21 through July 25 in Modoc. The camp is open to separate divisions of kids ages six to 12 and ages 13 to 17. Joe Arminas of Lassen College is the instructor. Fee for the camp is $25 and includes a t-shirt and soccer ball.

According to New Directors Director Ramona Delmas, an art camp is in the planning stages for this summer, and more details will be released at a later date.

Other activities available for youth this summer in clude: the Library summer reading program from June 9 through August 15, call Chris at 233-6358; Blue Lake Youth Camp, 7th and 8th grade, July 21-25; 5th and 6th grades, July 28-Aug.1, call Joan Barclay 233-3355; Summer Bible School, call 233-2015 or 233-2251; Womens' Slowpitch soft ball, grades ninth and up, Call Susie Philpott. 233-5801; 3-on-3 basketball tourney July 5, all ages, call Rick Holloway, 233-2632; junior bowling, call Deanna Olsen, 233-3012. Jazzercise, call Kimber Bethel, 233-2824; model building and ceramics, call Lucy's Ceramics, 233-6789; American Cancer Society, run, bike, rollerblade, horse back ride, walk-a-thon, July 26, 8 Am.. Alturas City Park. Call Jay Eppler, 233-4686.

For more information on youth activities this summer, or to help, call the Peer Project at 233-7124.

Cal State rodeo finals has local kids

Several local competitors will be competing in the California High School Rodeo Association State Finals June 16-21 in Red Bluff.

Cedarville's Nathan Moore will compete in bareback rid ing and Zack Bunyard will be in the saddle bronc event. Also in the saddle bronc is Spencer Smith of Ft. Bidwell. Jenifer Lemke, Adin, will compete in pole bending.

The top four winners in each event qualify for the National High School Rodeo finals in Pueblo, Co. July 14-20. The Silver State International Rodeo is set for Fallon, Nevada, July 2-6, for fifth through eighth place finishers.

Sunny attitudes prevail despite stormy weather

The 49th Annual Modoc Jr. Livestock Show and Sale started off with lots of rain, but nasty weather didn't discour age the dedicated 4-H and FFA showmen.

Despite the heave rain, members turned out for the horse show Monday and can be commended for their fine attitudes and performance.

For the Performance divi sion the following individu als took home buckles and a trophy: Laurie Nelson (Senior) from Big Valley, Elizabeth (Junior) of Alturas, and Andrew Ford (Novice) of Alturas.

The two Gymkhana buck les were awarded to the Cock rell sisters of Surprise Val ley. Cassie Cockrell won the Senior buckle and Ashley Cockrell earned the Junior buckle.

In the Showmanship divi sion the winners were: An drea Colesworthy - Senior 4-H, Corey McBride - Junior 4-H and Wade Frutuozo - Novice 4-H.

Tuesday the weather held nicely until everyone was loading their rabbits in their vehicles to go home. The day moved along quickly with members starting the morn ing off with the market classes.

Casey Joiner of Lookout 4-H won the Grand Champion Fryer Pen with Ashley Thompson of Bieber 4-H win ning Reserve Champion. Courtney Wood of Providence 4-H earned Grand Champion Single Fryer with Michael Bates of New Pioneer 4-H tak ing home Reserve Champion.

Earning Best of Show was Candy Stevenson of Provi dence 4-H and Reserve in Show and High Point went to Ashley Thompson of Bieber 4-H.

Showmanship awards went to Andrea Colesworthy - FFA; Candy Stevenson - Senior 4-H; Shannon Ochs - Junior 4-H; and Ashley Thompson - Novice 4-H. "Congratula tions to all the members, lead ers, parents and Junior Show Board members for all their hard work in keeping the show running smoothly," of fers Valerie Coe, 4-H County Advisor.

On Thursday members will show their animals in market and breeding classes and on Friday the show will conclude with showmanship, the barbecue, an awards cer emony and then the Sale at 5:30 p.m.

Record news summaries, June 26, 1997 edition

Ą City street repairs are reality
Ą Lion sighted in ranch back yard
Ą Modoc Elk tour is this weekend
Ą Duck race ducks swimming quickly
City Street project split, bid awarded for start

The repair of Alturas City Streets has been split into two phases because of some difficulties with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines.

According to City Public Works Director Stacy Chase, bids for the first phase of the project were awarded to Hutchins Paving and Engineering, Inc. Wednesday morn ing in the amount of $1,209,599. That phase covers flood damage from winter storms of 1993 and 1995. The city re ceived three bids for the project, from J.F. Shea, Fitch Sand and Gravel and Hutchins Paving and Engineering.

Construction on phase one of the repair project is to start July 25 and is to be completed by October 17.

"Due to some technical difficulties with the FEMA, the re pairs have had to be split into two phases," said Chase. "The first phase will be to repair all the streets that are to be scari fied and overlaid. This is approximately 75 percent of the re pairs. The second phase will be the streets that are planned for overlay only. Individuals desiring to know if their street is in the first phase to be completed this summer, or the sec ond phase of the project should contact the public works de partment at 233-2377."

According to Chase, the project was split into phases be cause of conditions imposed by FEMA. FEMA's conditions, said Chase, were too costly for the city to undertake. The city is appealing the conditions and requesting that FEMA either pay the additional costs created or allow the city to proceed in a manner that the city believes is acceptable.

"The appeal process will take a considerable amount of time," said Chase. "Rather than delay the repair of all the streets, the city decided to proceed with part of the repairs now and the remainder in the summer of 1998."

Young lion sighted southeast of Alturas

Mary Gilmore is still a little shaky during the night after seeing a mountain lion in her backyard last Saturday about midnight. Gilmore resides on a ranch about five miles southeast of Alturas, a couple miles south of the Modoc National Wildlife reuge.

Gilmore's sighting comes just after a sighting of a cat at California Pines Lodge last week that attacked a man as he went to the trash area. The man Nick Shadursky, was not seriously hurt,.

Mountain lion teams were called in to investigate the California Pines incident and while they found no conclu sive evidence of a lion or the individual lion, they did not doubt the incident took place. The DFG reminds area resi dents to be careful. The DFG spent a day traversing the Cal Pines area and interviewed Shadursky, who recounted the same story he'd told the Record and DFG Warden Cal Albright earlier.

For Gilmore, the sight of a mountain lion in her back yard last Saturday was an unnerving experience.

She said she was in bed and heard her yellow lab barking outside. She went to look, but didn't see anything. But when she returned to the bedroom, the lab starting growling with more intensity. She looked out the bathroom window and saw what she first thought was a dog, but as it moved, very deliberately toward her porch, she saw it was a lion.

"It was obvious to me that the lion and the dog were star ing at each other," said Gilmore. "It was moving very delib er ately towards my back porch. It actually got to within 12 feet of the porch. The dog took off for the front door."

Gilmore said she turned and called to her husband, but by the time she turned around again, the lion had disappeared.

"I was shaken, and I think I shook all night," said Gilmore. "I know I didn't get much sleep, and I still am a little nervous at night. I'd never seen a mountain lion in the wild before."

Gilmore figures the lion was rather young, as compared to lions she has seen in zoos and so on. The lion involved with Shadursky at Cal Pines was also considered a young ani mal.

"My husband has warned me about hiking alone up around the rim rock," said Gilmore. "I thought he was just being over protective, but I take him a lot more seriously now."

The DFG advises people to be aware that there are moun tain lions in this area and that they may very well be becom ing less fearful of human contact.

Modoc Elk group takes a look at the herd habitat

The success of Rocky Mountain Elk herds in Modoc is spawning some real interest from the public, and the overall management is one of key issues.

Elk have established themselves in the Fandango Pass area in the Warner Mountains, the Crowder Mountain Area on Devil's Garden and the Egg Lake area near Lookout. While exact numbers aren't known, more than 250 elk are felt to be in the county on a permanent basis.

The Modoc Elk Working Group is holding an Elk Day, Saturday June 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the public is invited and en couraged to attend.

The tour will meet at the Davis Creek Grange Hall, 9:30 a.m. and then car pool to tour elk habitat. The tour returns to Davis Creek mid-afternoon for a barbecue and dis cussion. Items to be discussed include ra dio/telemetry studies, sea son migrations, benefits of elk and other wildlife on private lands, elk/livestock use of winter range, elk/livestock use of private lands and elk impacts to private lands.

Areas the tour will hit include Lassen Creek, Little Bear Valley, Fandango Valley, and the Cloud property.

According to Tom Ratcliff, U.S. Forest Service Biologist, these elk have been in Modoc County since the mid-1970s but sight ings then were usu ally single animals or very small groups. The sightings were spo radic, usually one or two an nually.

California Fish and Game and Modoc National Forest personnel recently com bined sightings data bases and since 1990 over 200 sightings have been made in the county. Elk are being seen more fre quently and in larger groups these days.

According to reports, in March, 1997, 50 head of bulls, cows and calves were seen in a large group. Several sight ings of over 20 head of elk have been recorded in the past five years.

According to Ratcliff, sightings of bulls, cows and calves indicate resident ani mals, not just random wan derings of a few elk. Sightings are also accumulat ing to indicate a year-round occupancy of several areas within the county. There have been winter sightings in the Fandango Valley-Lassen Creek drainage in the Warner Mountains and on private lands thereabouts; winter and early spring sightings in the Crowder Mountain-Fletcher Creek vicinity on Devil's Garden. Another group of elk is less fre quently sighted, but is known to be very ac tive in the Egg Lake area north of Lookout. In that area, more than 30 elk have been sighted, including bulls, cows and calves.

In 1992-94, California DFG and Modoc National Forest personnel cooperated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Prescott College from Arizona, in doc u ment ing movements and habitat use by five radio-col lared elk in the Fandango-Lassen Creek area. Extensive sight ings indicate a pattern of year-round use in that area and studies are continuing to document habitat preference, movement patterns and pre ferred habitat.

Ratcliff said the Modoc area is well suited for elk and the groups seem to be thriving.

There are some anticipated management situations that will come into play as the elk herd grows. In an effort to meet the situation head-on, a local group of agency, private and local governments people meet about every three months, or more often if needed, to share elk informa tion. The Elk Working Group is part of the national Seeking Common Ground working group and tries to address issues prior to crisis. The working group will be the leader of the Elk Day Saturday.

Ratcliff believes the elk are here to stay and will do well in the county as they con tinue a south ward move.

For more information on the tour, call 233--6400.

Get tick ets quick or the quackers may be a memory

The Alturas Rotary Club is out to sell the final 500 racing ducks for the Great Pit River Duck race set July 5 during Fandango Days on the Pit River in Alturas. And the ducks are finding homes quicker than duck l'orange in France.

According to Rotary's Billy Madison, duck sales are go ing great guns and Rotary is nearing the 3,000 total ducks sold. Madison said Rotary is extremely pleased with the amount of support shown by the community towards im prov ing youth facilities. Once the 3,000 ducks are sold, that's it, there are no more.

New ballfields and parks are being constructed at the Alturas Youth Park with funding raised from the duck race. Last year the first Duck Race raised over $30,000 for the pro ject and ticket sales for this year's race should near that to tal. The total price for needed improvements to the Youth Park is estimated at about $100,000 and the Duck Race funds are all ear marked for that purpose.

"I think things are going along very well and we can't express our appreciation loudly enough to the commu nity of Modoc for its support," said Madison. "We are ex cited about this effort, but it's all made possible through the communi ty's generosity and the community has once again proven it supports its youth. We just need to sell the remaining ducks and we're working on that as we speak."

Racing ducks are still available but going quickly. In addition, there are Duck Race souvenirs available at the Alturas Chamber of Commerce Office in Veteran's Park. Those sou venirs include ducks, t-shirts and Frisbees.

The grand prize for the Duck Race, a 1997 full size Chevy 4x4, on display at Holiday Market. It has a re tail value of over $31,000.

The pickup is donated by Rotary and supported by Carstens Chevrolet. The first little yellow duck across the line wins the truck.

Something new this year is a category for Gold Crown Sponsors. Those are folks who buy at least 10 ducks.

Gold Crown Sponsors will have a little more incentive to buy the 10 ducks. Offered as a special prize for Gold Crown Sponsors only is a $6,000 4x4 Polaris four-wheeler donated by Rotary and supported by Valley Hardware of Fall River. That 4-wheeler is on display at Alturas Tire.

The Gold Crown sponsors will get a special blue duck in addition to their 10 yellow rac ing ducks. The blue ducks will be dropped into the Pit River with the yellow ducks and the first blue duck across the line wins the 4-wheeler. The blue ducks do not qualify for any of the other prizes and the 4-wheeler can only be won by a blue duck.

Alturas Rotary figures it will take about $100,000 to com plete the park, and they are well on their way to that goal. This year's Duck Race funding will be combined with money raised from pre vious Youth Park Radio Auctions.

The plan to build the parks started in the late 1980s. In June, 1991, the City Council of ficially designated the area for baseball and soccer fields. The new parks will complete the entire block between Fourth and Eighth, West C and Nagle Streets.

Final plans for the area in clude new baseball fields for Little League, a new baseball field for senior league and high school ball, and soccer field areas in the outfield of the baseball fields. The area currently has one Senior League field, one Little League field, one Softball field, an outdoor basketball court, concession stands and restrooms and the junior livestock facilities. Somewhere down the line a play ground near the basket ball courts is in the works.

JULY SPORTS

Record sports summaries 7-3-97 edition

Modoc hosts Little League district tourney
Modoc Little League to
host District tournament

Modoc County Little League is hosting the District 48 Junior and Senior All Star tourney July 7 through July 14 in Alturas. Modoc's Senior All-Stars will play in the first game of the tournament against Intermountain 5 p.m. July 7.
The teams involved in the senior league tournament are Quincy, Susanville, Burney, Westwood and Feather River of Portola. All of those games will be played at the senior field at the corner of 8th and West C Streets.

Games will begin at 5 p.m. weekdays and at 11 a.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Modoc and Susanville are the only teams in the junior tournament for 13-year-old players. It begins Saturday July 12 and is the first game of a triple header. Sunday the junior stars will play the first game of the day at 1 p.m. If the teams have split the first two games, a final game will be played Sunday at 3:30 p.m..

Both tournaments are double elimination, meaning two loses is disqualification. The championship game for the senior tournament will either be on July 14 or 15.

The winner of the junior title will advance to section play in Marysville and the winner of the senior title heads to sections at Arcata.

The local major league baseball All-Stars will play in McArthur with their first game on July 8 against the win ner of the Burney-Intermountain game.

Both the major and senior softball All-Star teams will play in Burney. Both teams will play their first game against Feather River. .

The majors softball team has its first game on July 11 at 5:30 p.m.

The public is invited to attend the local tourna ments. There will be at least 16 games throughout the week, with eight senior teams and two junior teams competing for the right to ad vance to sectional play.

3-3 hoop tourney is Saturday

The Modoc 3-on-3 basket ball championships are set for 2:30 p.m Saturday afternoon at the Griswold Gym, follow ing the Great Pit River Duck race.

The actual starting time may be a little later, depend ing upon what time the Duck Race ends.

Teams have signed up and there will be games for teams in grades 1-3; 4-5; 6-8; 9-10; 11-12 and the open divi sion. The open division has the most teams with some out standing local basketball players participating.

Admission to the event is free. Teams paid a $30 entry fee, of which the winning team per division gets half and the remaining funds go to the Modoc High School Basketball program.

Sunday is Fandango Golf event

Sunday, July 6, is the day to set aside for a fun day of golf as Arrowhead Golf Course hosts the annual Fandango Golf Tournament.

There are divisions in gross, net and Calloway divi sions so an established handicap is not necessary. The entry fee for the event is $15 and 25 percent of the proceeds go to the hospital benefit for a new X-ray machine.

There is a $7 additional fee for non-members of the club. The tee-time is 9 a.m. All golfers are encouraged to play.

Keyes trots 40 miles Tuesday

Alturas' Josh Keyes, Modoc High School's top male dis tance runner, trotted 40 miles Tuesday in a fund raising ef fort to pay for track camps.

Keyes earned enough to pay for his camps after getting pledges from local organiza tions, folks and businesses.

Keyes ran from Alturas to Likely and back. Modoc Middle School runner Ricky Scott accompanied Keyes and ran 28 miles. For Keyes, the entire 40 miles took a little over six hours. His feet were sorely blistered, but on Wednesday he was walking around collecting on his pledges still smil ing, so it wasn't too bad.

Record sports summaries edition of July 10

Ą Modoc All stars start play
Ą 3-on-3 winner were hot
Ą 4-way tie in Fandango Golf
Ą Russell sets speedway record
Modoc Little League All Stars began play this week with the Senior and major baseball teams seeing action against the Intermountain All Stars.

The Senior Baseball All Stars beat Intermountain 9 to 5 behind the strong pitching of Blake Wilson. Wilson pitched 5 innings and struck out seven Intermountain bat ters. Modoc had 14 hits in the game with David Duncan and Kris Server going 3 for 4, and Anthony Northrup was 2 for 4.

The Major Baseball All Stars beat Intermountain 10 to 1. Jack Britton pitched a com plete game striking out 6 In termountain batters. Key hits were provided by Robert Flournoy with a 2 run double, Logan Wilson with a 2 run double, and Shay Farmer had a 2 run single. The Major All Stars played their second game Wednesday.

The Senior Baseball All Stars are back in action today against a strong Susanville squad. The game begins at 5 p.m. at the Senior baseball field.

The Senior Softball All Stars are in action today against Feather River in Burney. The Major Softball All Stars play their first game Friday against Feather River in Burney.

Saturday there will be three games at our Senior baseball field with the Modoc Junior Baseball All Stars starting off the day at 1 a.m. against Su sanville.

Close games mark 3 on 3 hoop tourney

Several close games marked the first Modoc 3-on-3 Basketball Championships held July 5 at the Griswold Gym in Alturas.

There were 21 teams competing in the event in several di visions, with seven teams in the open division for men. The event is expected to grow next year and it will be held on the Saturday of the Fandango (July 4th) weekend.

Winners of the open division was the team of Shane Estes, Collin Richardson, Zack Richardson and Brian Slinkard. The beat the team of Ricky Simmons, Calvin Albright and Lawrence Harlan for the title.

In the 9-10 grade boys, the team of Cody Holloway, Kaylon Benson and Aaron Wishart won the title in two straight over Glenn Christensen, Kris Server and Ramon Molina.

In the 9-10 grade girls, a Susanville squad of Tatum Dunn, Ashley Stanford, Rene Robbins and Christine Urbanac topped an Alturas team of Jessica Kern, Stephanie McMasters, Katelyn Tate and Michelle Wheeler winning the best of three, 2-1.

A Susanville team of Tanneria Johnson, Tenley DeKock, Karen Kalfas and Haley Trevino won the 6-8 grade girls, beating an Alturas team of Stacie Wells, Shay Farmer, Jodie Freeman, and Charlene Roberts.

The team of Matt Krauel, Blake Thorn and Eric Miller won the 6-8 grade boys division.

The team of Micah Eppler, Justin Mason and Travis Wood topped three other teams in the grades 1-3 boys for the win.

Fandango golf ends in tie

There was a four-way tie for low net at 63 in the Fandango Days golf tournament at Arrowhead Golf Course.

The winners were Jim Porter, Fritz Barclay, Rex Northrup and Tom Orner.

Taking second with a 65 was Larry Flournoy and third in low net went to Monty Wheeler with a 66.

The loss gross winners, Earl Lovenguth and Millard Porter, tied with a score of 75.

The women's winner with a 68 net was Pat Kerr. The Calloway division winner was Phil Gloster.

Men's club meets

The Arrowhead Men's Club will meet July 15. The agenda includes the Spyglass qualification and the tourna ment with Lakeview. Sign up at the clubhouse if you plan to have dinner.

The Arrowhead Invitational will be held September 5-7 and is limited to the first 32 paid teams. Entry fee is $200 per team. The fee includes practice round Friday, green fees, honeypot on Sunday, refreshments on the course, mulligans each day and a banquet Saturday night.

Russell sets new track record at Cedarville

Alturas' Gordon Russell pushed his number 68 stock car to a new track record for the Cedarville Speedway, cir cling the oval in 20.75 seconds during the Fandango Races July 7.

The next race is July 19 with gates opening at 5 p.m., time trials at 6 p.m. and rac ing starts at 7 p.m.

Russell also won the A tro phy dash, over Doug Fletcher and Gene Cain.

Walt Vanderheyden won the B trophy dash over Kelly Nolan and Curtis Leslie.

Cain won the A main with Russell second and Fletcher, third. Vanderheyden won the B main with Leslie second and Danny Northrup, third.

In the heat races, the results were as follows: heat one, 1. Zach Bunyard, 2. Curtis Leslie, 3. Danny Northrup; heat two, 1. Vanderheyden,2. Blaine Hill, 3. Nolan; heat three, 1. Russell, 2. Fletcher, 3. Cain; Pitman's Race, 1. Fudd Russell, 2. Rick Breeze.

Record sports summaries for July 17 issue

Modoc All-stars do well in tournament
Colleges have eyes on Modoc's hoopsters
Autop to roar in Cedarville Saturday

Senior stars . . .
MODOC'S SENIOR STARS made it to the championship game of the District 48 tournament before being eliminated by a strong Susanville squad. They are, front, left to right, Anthony Northrup, Brandon Wood, Kris Server, Ramon Molina, C.J. Straub, David Duncan; back, coach Brad Server, Aaron Ford, Mike Northrup, Glenn Christensen, Lucas Tramontanas, Kaylon Benson, Blake Wilson and coach Dave Duncan.

Modoc Junior Stars in Sec tions

Modoc's Junior baseball All-Stars advance to Section play this Saturday, July 19 at 6 p.m. at Bryant's Field in Marysville. The Junior base ball team beat the Susanville All-Stars in two games to win the District 48 Championship.

In the first game the Modoc Juniors beat Susanville in eight innings, 10-9, when Danny Cervantes scored on a wild pitch. The second game was won by Modoc 7-3 with Sheldon Benson pitching the whole game and supported by excellent defense.

The Senior baseball All-Stars reached the champi onship game, but came up short against a strong Su sanville squad losing 14-0. The Senior All-Stars beat Westwood 17-7 Feather River 6-03 and Burney 10-7 in a thriller on their way to the championship game. The Burney game went eight in nings with both teams coming up with key hits and defensive plays. The highlight for Modoc was Anthony Northrup's game saving div ing catch in short centerfield.

The Major baseball All-Stars also reached the cham pionship game before losing to Quincy 13-3. Modoc beat Su sanville 4-0 on their march through the tournament. Modoc scored all four runs in the first inning and then played tough defense support ing Logan Wilson who pitched the whole game. Modoc knocked Burney out of the tournament in an eight inning battle. Robby Rupe got the winning run with a home run in the eighth. Robert Flournoy and Jack Britton also hit homeruns in the game.

The Senior softball All-Stars lost their first game to Feather River, 16-9 after ral lying to pull within one run in the sixth inning. Modoc was knocked out of the tournament by a good Quincy team losing 10-8 in their second game.

The Major softball All-Stars lost to Feather River in their two tournament games, 14-3 and 20-10. Modoc played well, but was unable to keep pace with the Feather River squad.

Colleges have eyes on Modoc High's Christensen, Kern

Modoc's girls playing on the Sierra Cascaders summer basketball team are getting plenty of serious notice from college coaches throughout the nation, according to Modoc head girls coach Mike Martin.

Martin and Westwood's Jeff Miller coach the Sierra Cascaders which includes Modoc's Kayte Christensen, Jennifer Kern, Leah Siegel and Andrea Knox. Siegel in jured her elbow and will miss the last couple of tourna ments.

Last week the team participated in a 64-team tourna ment in Oregon City, and came away winning three and losing just two games against some powerful ballclubs.

Martin said, for example, that teams in their 32 team bracket came from Virginia, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Pennsylvania, California, Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Idaho and Alberta, Canada.

"It was impressive and our girls played really well," said Martin. "Most of the top 10 high school senior recruits for next season were there. And Kayte is definitely going to be one of the top 10 recruits nationwide. She impressed the college coaches and scouts there."

Martin said Kern also got plenty of attention from ma jor college coaches and scouts and both girls will be highly recruited.

"Kayte had an outstanding tournament and played the best five games I've seen her play," aid Martin. "Jennifer had three really good games, and played fine the other two. It was exciting, and I tell you, they got people's atten tion. Coaches were stopping me to ask about them after ev ery game."

The Sierra Cascaders head to Sacramento today for a 56-team tournament over four days and on Monday go to University of San Francisco for a 72-team tournament for another four days. They'll play 14 games in eight days.

"We're in the big time and it's very exciting for us as well as the girls," said Martin. "We'll be seeing and playing against the best high school ballplayers in the nation, and our kids are right there."

Stockhorse Jubilee celebrates 14th year

The 14th annual Masten Ramsey Stockhorse Jubilee hopes to attract crowds Fri day through Sunday, July 18, 19 and 20 at the Junior Live stock Grounds in Alturas for the three-day event.

Sponsored by the Alturas Elks Lodge 1756 as a benefit for the developmentally challenged of Modoc County, the event draws horses and owners from a tri-state area, including Nevada, Oregon, Idaho as well as California.

This year's purse and prizes will total $25,000 to be given away along with 22 silver buckles. A silver bit and headstall will be warded to the high money winner.

Classes will include trail horse, equitation, gymkhana, sorting, stock horse, three-person team events; Western Pleasure, Dummy Roping for chil dren; mixed team brand ing, women's penning, ranch horse class, double mug ging, mixed team branding, junior penning, cutting and open penning.

Concessions will be available during the three-day event. The M bar P Horsemanship for the Chal lenged will offer a Tack Sale in a booth to be located between the arenas on Sat ur day morning starting at 8:00 a.m. Spectating is wel comed. For further informa tion please call (916) 233-4967 (eves) or 233-5888 or 233-3471.

Auto races Saturday night

Saturday night's all right for racing and that's just fine for the Modoc Street Stocks, who will race beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The Modoc Fairgrounds Speedway gates in Cedarville open at 5:30 p.m. with time trials at 6:30 and racing be gins at 7:30 p.m.

Admission is free for kids six and under and $3 for se niors and kids 7 thorugh 13. Adult admission is $5.

Record sports summaries for July 24 issue:

Ą Modoc junior stars eliminated
Ą Football players need to get physicals
Ą Sheepdog trials at the Fair
Ą MHA Horse Show a real workout
Junior ball stars eliminated

Modoc Junior Boys All-star team of 13-year-olds was eliminated in the regional tournament last week.

They lost to Chico Central in the first game 19-14, after spotting Chico 17 runs in the first inning. Modoc outscored Chico 10-2 the rest of the way, but it was too much too early.

McKinleyville whipped Modoc 20-5 in the second game to drop the Modoc boys from the tournament. The score was 6-3 at one point, but the Modoc pitching cooled and McKinleyville's hitters got hot.

Brave football gearing up

Modoc High School students planning to play football for the 1997 season should schedule physicals in the very near future, said Modoc Coach Shaun Wood.

Players must have physicals and sports cards filled out and turned in before they are allowed to practice. Practice will start August 11, 6 p.m. Pick up necessary cards and forms from Modoc High School.

Varsity gear handout will be August 8, 5 to 7 p.m. and ju nior varsity gear handout will be August 9, 2 to 4 p.m.

Practice times from August 11 until school starts is 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. School starts August 25 and practice will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The first varsity game is at Burns August 29. The junior varsity's first game is at Lakeview Sept. 5.

Sheep Dog Trails to be held at Fair

The Seventh Annual Mark Walgenbach Sheep Dog Trials will be held in the Modoc Fair arena, Cedarville on Thursday, August 14 at 7 p.m.

The trials consist of two classes, Novice/Novice, which is a dog that has never shown with the handler being able to help the dog; the Novice/Ranch is an experienced dog that is expected to handle sheep alone. It is a timed event where the dog handles three sheep. The dog moves the sheep across several gates, moves the sheep down a chute where they are penned.

Points are given for each step the dog successfully completes. A buckle will be given for each Champion Dog, along with trophies and ribbons. A special ribbon will be given to the dog with slowest points, reading "Baaad Dog".

Interested dog handlers may enter the day of the show at the Livestock Office or call the Fair Office 279-2315 for an application.

Sara Junker is big winner at MHA Show

Many, many, hours of do nated time went into making the Modoc Horseman's Asso ciation three-day Horse Show and Gymkana Show a success at the Junior Livestock Show grounds in Alturas on July 11, 12 and 13th.

Friday was "Gymkana" day, Saturday featured "Western" event and Sunday was devoted to English classes. Alan Cain was the announcer, Gilbert Brown managed the "In" gate and the M Bar P organization was in charge of the concession stand.

Sara Junker and her horse Reveille Bar Smoke were the big winners of this three day event capturing first place in six High Point Divisions (Age group 13 through 17 years, Junior Horse under 5 years, English Horse/Rider, Western Horse/Rider, M.H.A. Horse/Rider, and Overall High Point Horse/Rider.) These accom plishments for Sara and her horse were quite an accom plishment as she is only 14 years of age and was compet ing against adults. Also, Reveille Bar Smoke is only four years old.

Pat Weekly of Lakeview riding Easy Chex won the High Point Division of the over 18 Age Group. Pat also won the Reserve Overall High Point Horse/Rider. Deidra Jeppson of Adin riding Crackers won the High Point Division of the 12 and Under Age Group.

Gymkana event placing:

Cloverleaf Barrels 10 & under: 1st, Jessica Hemphill/Junior; 2nd, Kayla Metzger/Lightning; 3rd, Kendra Hemphill/Shawna.

Cloverleaf Barrels 11 - 17: 1st, Jamie Harris/Baby Doc Smoke; 2nd, Jodie Jones/ Little Bit of Country; 3rd, Sara Junker/Zan.

Cloverleaf Barrels 18 & over: 1st, Wendy Easley/Ms. T; 2nd, Laurie Veverka/Doc Dartanian.

Cloverleaf Barrels (Winner take all): Rhonda Hemphill/Newt.

Pole Bending 10 & under: 1st, Jessica Hemphill/Junior; 2nd, Kendra Hemphill/ Shawna; 3rd, Jackson Nay/ Suzy.

Pole Bending 11 - 17: 1st, Jodie Jones/Little Bit of Country; 2nd, Jes sica Nay/Shady; 3rd, Sara Junker/Zan.

Pole Bending 18 & over: 1st, Laurie Veverka/Doc Dar tanian; 2nd, Wendy Easley/Ms. T; 3rd, Wendy Easley/Cheyanne.

Pole Bending Jackpot (Winner take all): Rhonda Hemphill/Newt.

Bi-Rangle 10 & under: 1st, Jes sica Hemphill/Junior; 2nd, Kendra Hemphill/Shawna; 3rd Kayla Met zger/Lightning.

Bi-Rangle 11 - 17: 1st, Jami Har ris/Baby Doc Smoke, 2nd, Sara Junker/Zan; 3rd, Jodie Jones/Little Bit of Country.

Bi-Rangle 18 & over: 1st Laurie Veverka/Doc Darta nian; 2nd, Wendy Easley/Cheyanne.

Single Stake 10 & under: 1st, Jessica Hemphill/Junior; 2nd, Kayla Met zger/Lightning; 3rd, Kendra Hemphill/Shawna.

Single Stake 11 - 17: 1st, Sara Junker/Zan; 2nd, Jami Harris/Baby Doc Smoke; 3rd, Jessica Nay/Shady.

Single Stake 18 & over: 1st, Wendy Easley/Ms. T; 2nd, Laurie Vev erka/Doc Dartanian.

Potato Race 10 & under: 1st, Jessica Hemphill/Buckwheat; 2nd, Jackson Nay/Suzy; 3rd Jes sica Hemphill/Junior.

Potato Race 11 - 17: 1st, Jodie Jones/Little Bit of Country; 2nd Jes sica Nay/Shady.

Potato Race 18 & over: 1st, Wendy Easley/Ms. T; 2nd, Laurie Vev erka/Doc Darta nian.

Western event placings:

Showmanship 12 & under: 1st, Deidra Jeppson/Crackers; 2nd, Lorissa Harris Elli son/Blue Luke; 3rd, Elizabeth Younger/Smokin' Freckle snic.

Showmanship 13 - 17: 1st, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 2nd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 3rd, Emily Kelly/Easter's Belle.

Showmanship 18 & over: 1st, Kris Staebler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Vicki Jepp son/Hesa Hot Affair, 3rd, Linda Ellison/Blue Luke.

Foals of 1996 & 1997: 1st, Roberta Jordon/Liz's Laced N' Dia mond; 2nd, Larry Junker/Ima Smoke Doc Joe.

Fillies 2 to 4 Years: 1st, Teri Brown/Amriss Pearletta; 2nd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 3rd, Carmen Ander son/Zweeta Mia.

Geldings/Stallions 2 to 4 years: 1st, Kris Stae bler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Nikki Nelson/Mi Caballo Loco; 3rd, Jon Hill/Bandit.

Mares 5 years & over: 1st, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 2nd, Emily Kelly/Easter's Bells; 3rd, Cassie Weaver/C.J.'s Popcorn.

Geldings/Stallions 5 years & over: 1st, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 2nd, Cindy Fulfer/Zeyn's Destiny; 3rd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash.

Champion Mare: 1st, Pat Weekly, Easy Chex, 2nd, Emily Kelly/Easter's Belle.

Champion Geld ing/Stallion: 1st, Kris Stae bler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad.

Colored Mares: 1st, Roberta Jor don/Liz's Laces N' Dia mond; 2nd, Cassie Weaver/C.J.'s Popcorn; 3rd, Jodie Jones/Little Bit Of Country.

Colored Gelding/Stallions: 1st, Kris Staebler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 3rd, Linda El li son/Blue Luke.

Trail Junior Horse: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Marisa Brooke/Freckles Chexcal ibar; 3rd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash.

Trail 12 & under: 1st, Dei dra Jeppson/Crackers; 2nd, Elizabeth Younger/Smokin' Frecklesnic; 3rd, Cindy An derson/Flying Burdeck.

Trail 13 - 17: 1st, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 2nd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 3rd, Emily Kelly/Shadow.

Trail 18 & over: 1st, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 2nd, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 3rd, Linda El lison/Blue Luke.

Western Pleasure Walk/Trot Junior Horse: 1st, Kelly Larsen/Buck An' A Quarter; 2nd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 3rd, Kris Staebler/Executive Tiger.

Western Pleasure Walk/Trot 12 & under: 1st, Deidra Jepp son/Crackers, 2nd. Lorissa Harris El li son/Dreamy; 3rd, Cindy An der son/Flying Burdeck.

Western Pleasure Walk/Trot 13 - 17: 1st, Emily Kelly/Easter's Belle, 2nd, Kate Hill/A Funny Joke; 3rd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke.

Western Pleasure Walk/Trot 18 & over: 1st, Kris Staebler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex, 3rd, Linda Ellison/Blue Luke.

Western Equitation 12 & under: 1st, Deidra Jepp son/Crackers; 2nd, Cindy Anderson/Flying Burdeck; 3rd, Elizabeth Younger/Smokin' Freck lesnic.

Western Equitation 13 - 17: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 3rd, Emily Kelly/Shadow.

Western Equitation 18 & over: 1st, Vicki Jeppson/Hesa Hot Affair; 2nd, Julie Bolton/Dandy's Lucky Lady; 3rd, Roberta Jordon/Combed Honey.

Western Equitation M.H.A. Members: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Roberta Jor don/Combed Homey; 3rd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex.

Western Equitation Medal Class: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Vicki Jeppson/Hesa Hot Af fair; 3rd, Roberta Jor don/Combed Honey.

Western Pleasure 12 & under: 1st, Cindy Ander son/Flying Burdeck; 2nd, Deidra Jeppson/Crackers; 3rd, Elizabeth Younger/Smokin' Freck lesnic.

Western Pleasure 13 - 17: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke, 2nd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 3rd, Emily Kelly/Shadow.

Western Pleasure 18 & over: 1st, Kris Stae bler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 3rd, Sherry Junker/Jo Jo Stardust.

Western Pleasure M.H.A. Mem bers: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 3rd, Dei dra Jeppson/Crackers.

Western Pleasure Junior Horse: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 3rd, Marisa Brooke/Freckles Chexcalibar.

Western Pleasure $100.00 Stake: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Kris Staebler/Executive Tiger; 3rd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash.

Western Pleasure Super Senior Horse: 1st, Onalea Sweeney/Kyrin.

Western Pleasure Jack Benney (Bonnie Stanford Perpetual Tro phy): 1st, Pat Weekly, East Chex; 2nd, Onalea Sweeney/Kyrin; 3rd, Louisa Wistos/Magnum Opus III.

Western Pleasure Cham pi onship 17 & under: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Emily Kelly/Easter's Belle; 3rd, Eliz abeth Younger/Smokin' Frecklesnic.

Western Pleasure Cham pi onship 18 & over: 1st, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 2nd, Kris Stae bler/Executive Tiger; 3rd, Julie Bolton/Dandy's Lucky Lady.

English event placings:

Hunter Back 17 & under: 1st, Heidi Yates/Easy Does It; 2nd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 3rd, Cindy An derson/Flying Burdeck.

Hunter Hack 18 & over: 1st, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 2nd, Sheila With erell/Pepper Summer Wine; 3rd, Julie Bolton/Dandy's Lucky Lady.

Mini Jumper Open: 1st, (tie) Sheila Witherell/Pepper Summer Wine & Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 2nd, Heidi Yates/Easy Does It; 3rd, Julie Miller/Smokin' Freck lesnic.

Beginning Jumper Open: 1st, Sheila Witherell/Pepper Summer Wine; 2nd, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 3rd, Heidi Yates/Easy Does It.

Hunter Over Fences Open: 1st, Heidi Yates/Easy Does It; 2nd, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 3rd, Sheila With erell/Pepper Summer Wine.

Intermediate Jumper Open: 1st, Sheila With erell/Pepper Summer Wine; 2nd, Robin Buck/Moses; 3rd, Wendy Easley/Cheyanne.

English Pleasure Walk/Trot Ju nior Horse: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 3rd, Kris Staebler/Executive Tiger.

English Pleasure Walk/Trot 12 & under: 1st, Cindy Anderson/Flying Bur deck; 2nd, Elizabeth Younger/Smokin' Freck lesnic; 3rd, Deidra Jepp son/Crackers.

English Equitation 13 - 17: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Carmen Ander son/Boe; 3rd, Kate Hill/A Funny Joke.

English Equitation 18 & over: 1st, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 2nd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 3rd, Sheila Witherell/Pepper Summer Wine.

English Equitation M.H.A. Members: 1st, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad; 2nd, Cindy Fulfer/Zeyn's Destiny; 3rd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke.

English Equitation Medal Class: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 3rd, Julie Bolton/Dandy's Lucky Lady.

Dressage Suitability: 1st, Cindy Fulfer/Zeyn's Destiny; 2nd, Robin Buck/Moses; 3rd, Cindy Ander son/Flying Bur deck.

English Pleasure Junior Horse: 1st, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 2nd, Sara Hun ker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 3rd, Kris Staebler/Executive Tiger.

English Pleasure 12 & un der: 1st, Cindy Ander son/Flying Burdeck; 2nd, Deidra Jeppson/Crackers; 3rd, Sheila Wilcox/Little Britches.

English Pleasure 13 - 17: 1st, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 2nd, Kate Hill/A Funny Joke; 3rd, Emily Kelly/Easter's Belle.

English Pleasure 18 & over: 1st, Kris Stae bler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Cindy Fulfer/Zeyn's Destiny; 3rd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex.

English Pleasure $100.00 Stake: 1st, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash; 2nd, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 3rd, Cindy Fulfer/Zeyn's Destiny.

English Pleasure M.H.A. Mem bers: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Cindy Fulfer/Zeyn's Des tiny; 3rd, Julie Miller/Pepper Bar Lad.

English Pleasure Champi onship 17 & under: 1st, Sara Junker/Reveille Bar Smoke; 2nd, Kate Hill/A Funny Joke; 3rd, Erin Hawn/Justa Flash.

English Pleasure Champi onship 18 & over: 1st, Kris Stae bler/Executive Tiger; 2nd, Pat Weekly/Easy Chex; 3rd, Julie Bolton/Dandy's Lucky Lady.

The Modoc Horsemen's Associa tion will be present ing one more show this fall, in September. If you would like to receive a pro gram/entry form, please contact Pat Gaylord (916) 299-3310.

Record sports summaries for July 31, 1997

Ą Modoc girls do well in summer hoops
Ą Football gears up for season
Ą Volleyball tryouts are set
Ą Deer hunters look for more of same
Modoc stars. . .

MODOC'S MAJOR BOYS ALL STARS had a good outing before being eliminated in the Little League tournament. Thre are, front left tor ight, Mike Main, Robby Rupe. Jack britton, Bo Davis, Doug Wellemeyer, Logan Wilson and Adam Server; back, coachBill farmer, Shay Farmer, Zeb Thorne, Cameron Jeffers, Robert Flournoy, Marty Stevens, Michael Bates, Jeremy Price, assistant coach Colby Farmer.

Sierra Cascaders finish on good note

The Sierra Cascaders high school girls basketball team finished the summer season in good fashion, going 8-5 in the final two tournaments.

According to coach Mike Martin, the girls went 4-3 in a huge Sacramento tournament and then 4-2, getting into the top eight teams (out of 40) in the San Francisco tour nament. Both tournaments were held last week.

The Sierra Cascaders are a summer basketball AAU program made up of girls from around the north state. Modoc High was well represented with Kayte Christensen, Jennifer Kern, Leah Siegel and Andrea Knox. The other players were Kelly and Lexie Miller, Westwood; Camie Gray, Mt,. Shasta; Holly Howard, Weed; and Mary Jane Krueger, Quincy.

Martin, Modoc's High's head girls basketball coach, and Westwood's coach Jeff Miller manage the team which was supported buy local contributors and parents.

The summer program was instrumental in getting the girls noticed and actively scouted by college scouts and according to Martin, the scouts and coaches were very im pressed with Modoc's girls. Christensen is expected to be one of the top recruited high school seniors nationally this year and Kern will not be far behind. Martin says both girls will be going to college on basketball scholarships. And they both will have choices to make.

According to Martin, more than 25 colleges have ex pressed sincere interest in Christensen and nearly 10 are interested in Kern.

Martin said Christensen and Kern had excellent summer season and really made their marks.

Both will be seniors next year and Martin said their improvement this summer will make them even more dominant than they were on last year's team they led to second place in the north state finals, losing only to the eventual state champion.

In addition, Martin said Siegel got to play early before injuring her elbow and will remain the dominant guard. Knox, who will be a sophomore this coming season, im proved every tournament.

"I'm really looking forward to this year," said Martin. "I'll tell you, these girls worked hard this summer and they are going to be something special to watch during the season."

But first the girls will play volleyball -- also favored to win another league and section title -- and Martin will coach the junior varsity football team.

Duran plays in Lion's North-South star game

Modoc High School's Joe Duran will be playing for the north team in the Lion's High School All Star football game this weekend in Redding at Shasta College.

Duran, a running back/defensive back was selected to the team by all-star head coach Bob Hall of Corning, who once coached the Modoc Braves.

Students planning to play football for the 1997 season should schedule physicals soon, said Modoc Coach Shaun Wood.

Players must have physicals and sports cards filled out and turned in before they are allowed to practice. The physi cal cards must be in before Wood will issue equipment. Also, any player with eligibility concerns should contact Jim McLaughlin at the high school, 233-7301. Practice will start August 11, 6 p.m. Pick up necessary cards and forms from Modoc High School.

Varsity gear handout will be August 8, 5 to 7 p.m. and ju nior varsity gear handout will be August 9, 2 to 4 p.m.

Practice times from August 11 until school starts is 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. School starts August 25 and practice will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The first varsity game is at Burns August 29. The junior varsity's first game is at Lakeview Sept. 5.

Modoc gets vol leyball under way

Modoc High School stu dents interested in playing volley ball must complete the athletic information card and get a physical prior to try-outs and practice. Without a phys ical, players will not be al lowed to try-out.

Tryouts for varsity are August 13-15, 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Practice will be August 18-22 6 a.m. to 8 am. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Tryouts for the junior var sity are August 18-19, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and practice August 20-22, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Once school starts August 25, varsity will practice 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. and junior var sity will practice 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Pick up athletic informa tion cards at Modoc High School.

Deer season nearing

North state hunters this fall likely will experience a re peat of last year's improved deer hunting, the Department of Fish and Game's Region 1 office predicted today as archery and rifle seasons ap proached.

Archers begin their sport August 16 in the north's re maining B and C zones and zones X1-X6b. Special "area-specific" archery tags are re quired for zones C1, C4 and the northern X zones.

Rifle hunters take to the field August 23 in B4; Septem ber 20 in zone X1 and the other B and C zones; and, October 4 in the northeastern area's zones X2-X6b. A later, addi tional buck hunt designated G1, the second period buck hunt in zone C4, opens October 18.

Several smaller, special deer hunts are scattered throughout the fall period, the DFG said.

Karen Madrigal, DFG big game license coordinator in Sacramento, said sale of deer tags have been running smoothly, the usual tight-quota X zones and many spe cial deer hunts having been filled in the June drawings. At the other extreme, Madri gal said Friday, more than 45,000 tags remain available for the giant six-zone north western area accessible through purchase of a generic "B" tag.

Tags for area-specific archery hunts in zone X4 could still be purchased Fri day. Fish and Game biolo gists across the north state say two successive years of gen erally mild winters and timely rains have improved forage and water sites for most deer herds, carrying a good percentage of bucks for ward to this year. Most deer look to be in excellent shape, they say.

Hunters might find a few more deer in the C zones, but are still looking for the long-awaited comeback of Rocky Mountain mule deer of the X zones that were hit hard by the killing winter of 1992-93.

Regardless, biologists point out, deer numbers in the north state, and throughout western states, continue to slide downward as their habitat shrinks. The DFG said an absence of "distur bance" by such things as fire and logging from the Cascade Range west is allowing conifer trees to crowd out shrubs that deer eat.

"We're growing ourselves out of optimum deer habitat," said Tim Burton, senior wildlife biologist in Siskiyou County.

Dave Smith, biologist in Shasta County, echoed Bur ton's feelings, saying, "Less and less sunlight is reaching the forest floor because of the closing canopy of trees in the forest."

Studies have shown, Smith said, that trees blocking as little as 40 percent of a vertical view of the forest floor can ef fectively reduce low-growing plant life by 90 percent be cause of the shad cast by the "moving" sun.

East of the Cascades, the DFG said, a complicated man-caused plant evolution that first boosted deer num bers earlier their century and now is sending them plung ing is making the future of the Rocky Mountain mule deer herds look, as one biologist said, "Grim."

For the 1997 seasons, DFG deer specialists are quick to point out that weather this fall will play a large role in hunter success, as it always does.

Cool, wet weather will tend to make deer active and trig ger migrations from higher summer ranges toward lower winter ranges. Hot, dry weather, conditions that archers often face, tends to makes deer less active and more reliant on watering sites.

Hunting hours are from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset. Legal bucks are those with forked antlers or better. Hunters must posses a current hunting license and appropriate deer tag for the area they hunt.

Game wardens, the DFG said, will be out in force dur ing the deer seasons, looking for hunters in vehicles who il legally carry loaded firearms. guns with a round in the chamber, and for those who fail to complete tags and attach them to buck antlers after a kill.

To the north, Burton said western Siskiyou County's zone B6, greatly improved by large forest fires 10 years ago, is "clunking along" as the habitat grows thicker and less nutritious. In central Siskiyou, Burton said, zone C1 could provide good hunting and zone X1, in the doldrums for several years now, could show improvement.

"There are unsubstanti ated rumors that X1 has more deer this year," Burton com mented.

On the east side, biologists Bob Schaefer in Modoc County and Frank Hall in Lassen County say that Great Basin's mule deer remain at rela tively low numbers, but sport some very large bucks.

"Last fall the average buck in X5b was as good as I've ever seen," said Hall.

Schaefer described his first few days on his new Modoc job by saying he had been in the field a couple of times, but that "it seemed that every buck I saw was a four pointer."

AUGUST SPORTS

Record sports summaries for August 7, 1997
Ą Conner in top three at Nationals time trial
Ą 10 teams compete in Ladies' golf invite
Ą Football
Ą MHS Voleyball
Ą Hornet volleyball, soccer
Conner in top 3 in time trial at Nationals race

Alturas' bicycle racer Josh Conner, a sophomore this year at Modoc High School, who's been in serious training in Colorado all summer placed second in the time trial of the U.S. Nationals for 15 year olds, held at Yale University last week.

Conner placed 16th overall in the time trial, taking two minutes off his best time trial and he beat the former U.S. National Champion in the process.

Conner has shown so much improvement this year that he has been asked to join the regional team and will participate in a regional camp this fall. He is in line to break the U.S. record for the time trial next year and challenge very seri ously in the road races.

This year, he placed 25th in the Nationals Road race at Yale (out of 98 riders) and was third in the 15-year-old group. A massive wreck at the start slowed him down early and he couldn't quite catch up to the leaders after getting around the wrecked bicyclists. He didn't wreck, but had to maneuver though the masses. He led the chase group through most of the race.

In the criterium he placed 35th, but came in with the lead pack. A sore ankle slowed his start, and he got surrounded by the pack and could not break out, he said.

Overall, it was a very successful outing for Conner, who has proved himself throughout the Colorado area this year in road races.

10 teams play in Ladies' invite

There were 10 four-person teams participating in the Arrowhead Women's Golf Club Invitational July 31 in Alturas.

The winning team with a score of 121 was Doris Lindsay, Lakeview, Louise Camacho, Susanville; Helen Allen and Kate Bucher, Alturas.

In second place with a score of 122 was the team of Ruth Hale, Lakeview; Carolyn Genasci, Susanville; Leslie Chace and Laura McManus, Alturas.

Also in with a score of 122 was the team of Ann Tracy, Lakeview; Sally Maxwell, Lakeview; Sue Caughey and Evie Younger, Alturas.

Finishing with a score of 123 was the team of Barbara Theiler, Susanville; Lillian McKenzie, Alturas; Wendy Benner, Surprise Valley.

Finishing with a score of 125 was the team of Judy Graham, Lakeview; Sharon Smith and Dolly Grover, Alturas.

The longest drive in the first flight went to Kathy Widby, to Rose Boulade in the second flight and to Wendy Benner in the third flight.

Closest to the pin in the first flight was Kathy Widby, Kate Bucher was closest in the sec ond flight and Barbara Heryford was closest in the third flight.

Sara Campbell won the ac curacy drive in the first flight; Sherry Jacob won in the second flight and Wendy Benner won in the third flight.

The 10 teams, with 17 visi tors, played four-person, two best ball.

Football practice starts, players need physicals

Modoc High School football practice begins Monday and players must have physicals and sports cards turned in before they're allowed to practice.

The physi cal cards must be in before coach Shaun Wood will issue equipment. Also, any player with eligibility concerns should contact Jim McLaughlin at the high school, 233-7301. Practice will start August 11, 6 p.m. Pick up necessary cards and forms from Modoc High School.

Varsity gear handout will be August 8, 5 to 7 p.m. and ju nior varsity gear handout will be August 9, 2 to 4 p.m.

Practice times from August 11 until school starts is 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. School starts August 25 and practice will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The first varsity game is at Burns August 29. The junior varsity's first game is at Lakeview Sept. 5.

Modoc volleyball ready

Want to play high school volleyball? Then get a sports in formation card and a physical before tryouts next week.

Tryouts for varsity are August 13-15, 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Practice will be August 18-22 6 a.m. to 8 am. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Tryouts for the junior var sity are August 18-19, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and practice August 20-22, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Once school starts August 25, varsity will practice 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. and junior var sity will practice 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Pick up athletic informa tion cards at Modoc High School.

Hornet volleyball gears up

Surprise Valley High School volleyball begins August 18 and soccer practice will also begin August 18.

Athletes must have physicals before starting the sport pro grams. Sports physicals are being offered at Surprise Valley Health Clinic for a discounted rate until August 13. Call the clinic to make an appointment.

Varsity volleyball practice will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and junior varsity will be from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The soccer team will start practice August 18, 3:30 p.m.

The volleyball team starts the season at Fall River Sept. 2 and hosts the Hornet Invitational Sept. 4-6.

Record Sports summaries August 14, 1997

Ą Fair softball tourney starts Friday
Ą Football opens up with good numbers
Ą Ash Creek hosts Junior Pheasant Hunt
Ą Fair Auto racers ready to spin
Fair softball tournament gets going

The Styx and Modoc Pepsi/4 Corners take their top league records into action Friday nigh during the Modoc Fair's annual softball tour nament, which runs August 15-17 at the Cedarville field.

Opening up will be Modoc Pepsi against Win-R Insulation at 7 p.m. followed by a Styx against Basin Potato at 9 p.m.

Action resumes with in first round on Saturday at 8 a.m. The championship game is scheduled for 2:30 Sunday afternoon. Other teams in the tourney include Burney Auto, Stronghold Aces and Shasta Stingers. The annual home run derby is set for 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Final standings in the Alturas Men's Fastpitch league are as follows: Styx, 13-2; Modoc Pepsi 12-3; Brass Rail 7-8; Warriors 6-9; Lakeview 6-9; Rattlers 1-14.

Modoc High starts football practice with good numbers

Modoc High School started football practice Monday with good numbers on both the junior varsity and varsity squads. Head coach Shaun Wood expects the turnout to improve by next week when the upper classmen return from summer jobs and vacation.

Wood said about 30 players are out for junior varsity and 27 have signed up for the varsity squad.

Mike Martin is the head JV coach. Wood is assisted by coaches Jim Burrows, Joe Moreo, John West and Eric Burrows.

Practice times from now until school starts is 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. School starts August 25 and practice will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The first varsity game is at Burns August 29. The junior varsity's first game is at Lakeview Sept. 5.

Junior pheasant hunt planned for Ash Creek

The Ash Creek Wildlife Area in Big Valley is holding a Junior Pheasant Hunt September 13. There will be 25 permits issued for each of two sessions: a morning session from 8 a.m. to noon and an afternoon session from 1 p.m. to sunset.

To apply for the permit, submit the following infor ma tion on a 3x5 index card: name and address, phone number, age and birth date, 1997-98 junior hunting li cense number, and a choice of the morning or afternoon hunt.

Two or more hunters may apply as a party, and include all information for each party on separate 3x5 cards and en close in a single envelope.

Applications must be re ceived in the Ash Creek Wildlife Office by 4 p.m. August 29. Incomplete or late applications will be rejected.

The successful applicants will be selected by random drawing, if necessary, August 29, 4 p.m. For more in formation call 916-294-5824.

Street stockers all set for fair races Friday

Modoc street stockers are ready for the an nual Modoc Fair auto races, with the action starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday night on the Cedarville speedway.

Admission is $7 for adults, seniors and children get in for $4 and those under six are admitted free.

The results of the July 19, Modoc Street Stock Racing Association are as follows:

A Main: 1st, Gordon Russell; 2nd Walt Vanderheyden.

B Main: 1st, Bill Miller; 2nd, Jeremy Benner; 3rd, Curtis Leslie; 4th, John Herndon.

A Trophy dash: 1st Scooter Voth; 2nd Gordon Russell.

B Trophy dash: 1st, Bill Miller; 2nd, Dillon Monte.

Heat 1: 1st, Bill Miller; 2nd John Herndon.

Heat 2: 1st Gene Cain; 2nd, Curtis Leslie.

Heat 3, 1st Gordon Russell; 2nd, Walt Vanderheyden.

The point leaders so far this season are as follows: Gordon Russell 109; Walt Vanderheyden 73; Curtis Leslie 41; Bill Miller 25; John Herndon 18; Scooter Voth 17; North, Benner, tie 15; Blaine Hill 11; Kelly Nolan 9; James Perry 3.

Record sports summaries for August 21, 1997

Ą Big Valley has powerhouse in football
Ą Soccer Jamboree set for season
Ą Ash Creek hosts pheasant hunt
Big Valley Cards expect great things this season

The toughest opponent the Big Valley football team may face this year could be their own expectations.

Calling the 1997 Cardinals a team with a lot of potential would be an understatement. They've already proven themselves. The juniors and seniors that make up this year's varsity went an im pressive 16-0 in JV ball the past two years. Most of those wins weren't 10-7 affairs ei ther. The vast majority were of the 49-7 blowout variety. To top it all off, the Cards have eight players back from the team that went to the CIF Divi sion VI Championship Game last year.

"I think we're going to be a tough team to beat this year," Big Valley coach Matt Hun saker said. "There are big expectations in the commu nity. We've got some big shoes to fill."

There are eight seniors returning from last year's squad. Pat McCulley, Chris Clark, Russ Carpenter and John Saltzman will anchor the line on both offense and defense. Tim Valdez will be at halfback and Chris Click will be at fullback while Kasey Criss will line up at wide re ceiver. Those three will also play in linebacker and defen sive back slots on the defense. Corado Reginatto, who played halfback last year and led the league in misspellings and mispronunciations of his name (including some by this reporter), will run the team from the quarterback posi tion.

Six juniors will move up from the JV. All of them played on the varsity during the playoffs last year. The line will get help from Colton Jeppson, Wyatt Harbert and Jess Cockley. Joe Haury will line up at tight end while Wes Brakefield will provide speed at halfback and defensive back. Renden Ellenberger will play fullback and linebacker.

In terms of the Evergreen League, Hunsaker predicts that Dunsmuir "will be the team for us to beat to win league."

Dunsmuir is a Division V team so the Cardinals won't have to worry about them in the Division VI playoffs. As for those playoffs, Hunsaker thinks that Maxwell may have a very strong team when the post-season rolls around.

To prepare Big Valley for October and November, Hun saker has scheduled a mur derous September non-league schedule. The Cardinals will take on two Division IV Shasta-Cascade League schools, Modoc and Weed, along with Division V Hay fork. The only Division VI opponent will be a private school - Bishop Quinn.

1997 BV Football Schedule

Date Opponent Place

Sept. 5 Weed Big Valley

Sept. 12 Hayfork Hayfork

Sept. 19 Modoc Modoc

Sept. 26 Bishop Quinn Big Valley

Oct. 10 Dunsmuir Dunsmuir

Oct. 17 Happy Camp Big Valley

Oct. 24 McCloud McCloud (JV only)

Nov. 1 Butte Valley Butte Valley

Nov. 7 Tulelake Big Valley

Check into soccer for fall; Jamboree slated for Sept. 6

Young people interested in playing soccer, whether new at the sport or experienced, are welcome to obtain registra tion forms at Alturas Chevron, Coast to Coast and Sports Hut, where applications may also be returned.

The next MYSL meeting will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Modoc County Office of Education Conference Room. Prospective coaches are welcome to attend.

The Modoc Youth Soccer League would like to hear from the Under 12, Under 14 and Under age 18 youths who may be interested in playing with traveling squads in games against Burney, Susanville and Fall River soccer leagues.

There is still a need for coaches for all age divisions as well.

On September 6, the elementary and middle school fields in Alturas will be filled with ongoing 20-minute scrimmages as the 1997 season teams come together for a Soccer Jamboree to kick off the season from 9:00 a.m. until 12 noon.

Alan Hopkins is 1997 MYSL President and can be con tacted at the Modoc County Office of Education for further information.

Cost to register players is $25 per player or $45 for two or more players per family.

Junior pheasant hunt planned for Ash Creek

The Ash Creek Wildlife Area in Big Valley is holding a Junior Pheasant Hunt September 13 and time is running out to make application.

There will be 25 permits issued for each of two sessions: a morning session from 8 a.m. to noon and an afternoon session from 1 p.m. to sunset.

To apply for the permit, submit the following infor ma tion on a 3x5 index card: name and address, phone number, age and birth date, 1997-98 junior hunting li cense number, and a choice of the morning or afternoon hunt.

Two or more hunters may apply as a party, and include all information for each party on separate 3x5 cards and en close in a single envelope.

Applications must be re ceived in the Ash Creek Wildlife Office by 4 p.m. August 29. Incomplete or late applications will be rejected.

The successful applicants will be selected by random drawing, if necessary, August 29, 4 p.m. For more in formation call 916-294-5824.

Record sports summaries for August 28, 1997

Ą Modoc Braves open against Burns Friday
Ą Volleyball teams will be chasing Modoc
Ą Hornet soccer team opens season
Ą Cross country team has top runners
Ą Men's big golf tourney coming soon
Braves open '97 foot ball season at Burns Friday

With two weeks of practice under their belts, Modoc High's varsity football team opens against Burns, there, Friday night. What to expect? Good question.

The Braves travel again September 5 to Lakeview (for ju nior varsity and varsity) and open the home season against a strong Big Valley squad on September 19.

Coach Shaun Wood sees some real bright spots in his team this year, primarily in a strong defensive squad and solid line. Burns, said Wood, will be strong, but he ex pects the Braves to do well.

"Up until last Friday's inner-squad scrimmage, I was a little concerned," said Wood. "But, there were some real good things happening, and I think we'll be fine. We still have a ways to go in some areas, but it's early and it's al ways good to get a game under our belts."

Wood expects his pre-season with Burns, Lakeview and Big Valley to be very tough. Last year Modoc beat Burns 16-15 in Alturas to open the season. Wood would not be sur prised to see another close game.

"It could be a defensive battle, and we're prepared for that," said Wood. "The defense is always a bit more in tune than the offense early in the season. Overall, I'd say it will be pretty similar to last year's opener." Wood is pleased with his line, anchored by Matt Hamilton at center and solidified by Greg Jacques, James Drennan, Ted Lewis, Jed Tate, Dan Flournoy, Doug Waterman, Greg Buck, Phil Weed and Robert Oliver. The complete starting line is not yet decided, said Wood.

In the backfield on offense, Wood has re turning quarter back Eric Lancaster, and running backs Chris Sherer and Matt Carroll. Jeremy Favia, Bradley Ray, Andy Nowak and Alonzo Quesada are also out for the backfield. Larry Cavasso and Jimmy Lloyd are on the ends with Sergio Molina, Billy Wilson and Teddy Simmons split.

"We'll know more after the Burns game, but I expect our defense to play well and our offense to sputter a little early," said Wood. "At last Friday's scrimmage the offense started slowly, but came along very well. We'll be running more play-action passes this year and if our backs come through, we'll have plenty of options."

Last year's Braves were in the thick of things up until the final two games of the sea son. In those two, they lost to Etna and fell to Trinity to finish the season at 3-3 in Shasta Cascade League and 5-5 overall. Wood ex pects to improve on that mark this year.

The SCL early season picks will probably find Modoc in the middle with Trinity and Mt. Shasta both among the fa vorites. Both Trinity and Mt. Shasta had solid, sopho more-filled junior varsity squads last sea son and the move up to varsity should im prove their chances. Trinity won the league last year while Mt. Shasta struggled.

Netters gear up for new vol leyball season

With school getting un derway and Labor Day com ing soon on the calendar, vol leyball teams are busy getting ready for the season at Modoc, Surprise Valley and Big Val ley high schools. All three schools open their seasons in tournaments that begin the weekend of September 6.

Modoc: The Braves have won the CIF North Section Championship the last two years and there is no reason to think that they can't do it again this year. There's certainly a chance that some body besides Modoc will win the CIF Title. There's also certainly a chance that "George of the Jungle" will win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Braves are held in such high esteem by their opponents that Modoc coach Harold Montague is having a hard time getting a full slate of teams to come to Alturas for the Modoc Invita tional on September 19 & 20.

"Nobody wants to come play us," Montague lamented. "Some schools don't want to hurt their record and their chances at the play offs."

The main reason Modoc's dance card is looking empty is because the Braves return 6-3 Kayte Christensen and 6-1 Jennifer Kern to patrol the net. You can pretty much pen cil in both seniors for all-any-team-you-can-think-of hon ors throughout the season.

To make matters worse for those across the net, the Braves also have a third six-footer, sophomore Andrea Knox, to put in the lineup.

Also back from last year's championship squad are Veronica Coates, Tessa Siegel and Wendy Stafford.

Juniors getting their first year of varsity experience are Christy Cartner, Amber Fuller, Lindsay Lieurance, Stephanie Northrup and Leah Siegel, who will handle the setting duties.

"The kids are eager," Montague said of the team. "Their attitude is great. This is the most focused group of kids I've had in about three years."

Montague said the team is right now concentrating on goals they have set for pre-season and the Shasta-Cas cade League. As for Section and State playoffs, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Although Montague admits that Modoc is certainly the "team to beat" in the SCL, he also maintains that "our league isn't going to be a cake walk." He points out that schools like Mt. Shasta, Etna and Weed have strong pro grams year-in and year-out and would love nothing better than to knock the Braves off their current pedestal.

The Braves will start the season with tough competition at the Basin Best Tournament in Klamath Falls on Septem ber 6. The Division V Braves will get to go up against all of the top Division I and II teams from the area like Shasta, Henley and Klamath Union. Modoc took second in the tournament last year, losing to Henley in the finals.

Numbers are up in the Modoc JV program. Over 20 girls showed up for try-outs, and as a result, the Braves will have both JV and fresh man teams.

Surprise Valley: The play ers on this year's Hornet Var sity have won the last two Ev ergreen League JV Titles. Therefore, things are looking up in Cedarville this fall.

"I think there will be some good schools out there in our league, but we've got a pretty good shot at it," Hornet coach John Christie said of winning the league championship.

Leading the way for SV will be setter Stacey DePaul and middle-blocker Megan Konz. Both seniors were All-Evergreen League selections last year.

Other seniors on the squad include: Brooke Beeman, Stacy Cook, Danielle Odgers and Nicole Robinett. The ju niors on the team will be: Nicole Young, Julie Bordwell, Jeanne Bunyard, Heather Tufts, Cara Pearce, Jennifer Reeves and Erin Hawn.

The Hornet JV team is comprised of: Alida Fax, Juana Sanchez, Tammy Small, Traci Reeves, Meghan Darst, Megan Farschon, Cassie Cockrell, Ashlynn Dolcini, Tammy Montre, Shawna Laxague and Araceli Rangel.

Surprise Valley certainly gets the award the highest per centage of students participat ing. The total enrollment at the school is 72, which means there are about 36 girls. Twenty-four of them are in the volleyball program and three more are playing on the co-ed soccer team. Therefore, 75 percent of the females at the school are playing sports.

SV starts the season on September 4, when they host their own Hornet Invita tional. Teams visiting Cedarville will include Greenville, Trinity, Big Val ley, Lassen and Westwood. Surprise Valley won the tour nament last year.

Big Valley: The Cardinals went undefeated in the Ever green League behind MVP Jessica Saltzman. Unfortu nately, she graduated last year. But while BV won't have a big star this fall, they may in fact have more experi ence and depth than last year's championship squad.

"Our level on the whole is a lot higher this year," Cardi nals coach Paul Silva said. "I expect a lot from the se niors. I think we'll be more consistent than last year and we'll be using more hitters."

Seniors Carrie Schwebach and Baley Thomas will be team captains. The Cardi nals also get experience from returning seniors Alicia Far ber and Naomi Seeger and returning juniors Ileah Jack son and Amy Kresge.

Three new players on the team are Amy Plemons, Don ica McGarr and Anita Bab cock.

The Cardinals will start the season on September 5 at the Surprise Valley Hornet Invitational.

Big Valley has a new JV coach this year - Cheryl Jones.

Surprise Valley soccer team heads into action

In Surprise Valley, leaves falling to the ground and weather cooling off doesn't mean it's time for football, but it does herald the start of the futbol season.

Surprise Valley will field a co-ed soccer team for the third straight year. The team plays a non-CIF independent schedule mostly against Mc Cloud, Tulelake and Liberty Christian.

SV coach Henry Bietz said that the soccer team came about because, "Some of the boys really wanted a fall sport to help them get in shape for basketball."

To that end, Bietz's coach ing style is, "The old German approach. We do no awful lot of running. We're not a fi nesse team. We want to have two guys on every ball."

The strategy of trying to outrun the opposition works well for the Hornets given the fact that they train at an alti tude of around 4,500 feet above sea level. When they go to lower elevations like Red ding, the Hornets don't get winded. On the other hand, teams traveling to the height of Cedarville tend to feel like their lungs aren't working by the time the game gets to the second half.

Members of the team are: Jessica Bietz, Craig Carpen ter, Dan Carpenter, Zach Collinson, Brian Darst, Nick Fenske, John Geaney, Josh Harder, Chris Harris, Tom Harris, Craig Hymer, Dillon Montre, Mike Northrup, Avon Ray, Anthony Shultz, Caity Wimer, Tim Wood and J.T. Espil.

The team is sponsored by Tony Darst Construction and Bruce and Cynthia Klassen of Hempfields Natural Goods of Surprise Valley.

SV will travel to Quincy tomorrow and Saturday for a season opening tournament. They then travel to McCloud next Tuesday.

Modoc cross-country team is strongest yet

Modoc High School has the two top cross country runners in the North Section and both teams that should compete for the section titles.

Leading the way are Josh Keyes, a senior who is rated number one in the boys division and senior Ginny Greene, the top ranked girl. Greene's sophomore sister Julia, is ranked number two in the section.

"This is the strongest we've been," said coach John Geldreich. "And we have the numbers to compete as a team for the section title in both boys and girls. We are going to be very strong."

Last year's girls team won the section and went to the state meet. Geldreich fully expects them to do the same thing again this year and Keyes should also be a state qualifier. Geldreich has 22 athletes out for the team and another four to six expected.

In addition to Keys, Geldreich expects Joe Savino, Dan Hoover, Daniel Toaetolu and Brandon Roberts to have good seasons for the boys.

In addition to the Greene sisters, the girls team is bol stered by Jessica Younger, Missy Lieurance, Rebekah Richert, Stephanie Blair, Cheyenne Menkee, Stephanie McMasters, Jodie Roberts and April Dorton.

"I see us having an excellent year," said Geldreich. "We have the ability and the competitiveness to do very well."

In addition to a fine high school team, Geldreich is look ing at a very strong junior high school group. The girls team is made up of strong runners in Kayla Harness, Stacie Wells, Connie Wilson and Amanda Dennis. The boys team is led by Ricky Scott, Luke Hughes, Miquel Martinez and Jonathan Richert.

Arrowhead Men's member-guest tourney set for September 5-7

The 22nd annual Arrowhead Member-guest Tournament is scheduled for September 5-7 at the golf course in Alturas with play limited to 32 two-man teams.

The Arrowhead Men's Club is hosting the annual event which attracts golfers from throughout the region. There is still room for more teams.

Entry fee per team is $200 which includes a free practice round Friday, green fees both days, honey pot on Sunday, mulligans Saturday and Sunday, refreshments on the course, banquet and cocktails Saturday evening. Dinner begins at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The event will run as follows: best ball Saturday, 90 percent of handicap; total team low net Sunday, 100 percent of handicap; 9 a.m. tee-time each day; race horse Friday night, $30 per team.

Players must have an established handicap, no exceptions and prizes will be awarded at the end of the tourney.

Need a partner or for more information, call the clubhouse at 233-3404, or Phil Smith at 233-4486.

SEPTEMBER SPORTS

Record sports summaries for Sept. 4 1997

Ą Braves meet Lakeview in old pigskin clash
Ą JV Braves get first shot at 1997 season
Ą Arrowhead holds big golf invitational
Ą Cardinals host Weed in football opener
Ą Big jamboree opens local soccer league
Ą Surprise Valley opens the soccer season
Braves lose first game, face test at Lakeview Friday night

Modoc's head football Coach Shaun Wood knew things might be a little weird in the opener against Burns last Friday night.

When the team bus stopped for a break at the half-way point of the trip, the Wagon Tire, the proprietor of the estab lishment charged each player .25 cents to use the restroom.

"We were a little amazed, but there wasn't much choice," said Wood. "It was just a little odd. It really wasn't a bad trip and there were some positives in the game, even though we ended up losing."

Modoc grabbed a 14-0 halftime lead in the contest and was playing well. Burns ended up getting a 20-14 win, when Matt Atteberger grabbed a 12-yard pass from Kellen Clemens with 27 seconds left in the game.

"I'll take some of the blame for the loss, we didn't have them prepared as well and we thought Burns was doing one thing, when they were actually doing different things on de fense," said Wood. "We just had some wrong blocking as signments and things like that. We'll be much better pre pared for the Lakeview game this weekend."

Preparation for the Lakeview game is going to be intense, and a little different. Lakeview will go to a "spin" type of of fense, according to Wood, something entirely new. Basically, the backfield runs without a real quarterback and the ball can be snapped to different backs. Wood said the of fense is interesting, and its key is misdirection. He hopes to get his defense in tune to disrupt as much of the offense's de but as it can.

"We expect the Lakeview game to be tough. We know they have speed, but we're going to be able to handle that," said Wood. "I suspect we'll be able to do some things offensively against them. In Burns, I was pleased, overall, but just hate to lose that opening game. And our next two are not cake walks."

Lakeview and Modoc is always a good contest. Modoc will have a week off next week and then September 19 a great match-up between the Braves and a very good Big Valley Cardinal team takes place in Alturas.

"We found out we have a good passing game and our run ning backs really stepped up," said Wood. "We're running some play-action and Eric Lancaster is throwing the ball well." The fact that Modoc's first score of the 1997 season was on a pass play is unusual in itself. That score came in the first period when Lancaster hit Jimmy Lloyd on a 49-yard pass for a touchdown. Lancaster added the two-point conversion and Modoc led 8-0. Later in the first period Chris Sherer took the ball over from eight yards out, and when the point after failed, Modoc led 14-0 at half.

"I was pleased with our running backs, Sherer and Carroll ran very well," said Wood. "Jeremy Favia did well on kickoffs and put returns and with his speed, we know he'll get better."

Modoc's line, with Matt Hamilton at center, did well, but some missed calls by coaches caused some problems, said Wood, as well as first game problems. Hamilton was joined by James Drennan, Greg Jacques, Ted Lewis and Jed Tate.

According to Wood, Carroll and Sherer both ran very strong and Favia ended up averaging 21 yards per kick-off return.

While the Braves controlled the first half at Burns, the Burns team made some adjustments that brought them back, even though Modoc miscues cost them a couple of scores.

In the third period, Burns cut the lead to 14-7 when John Ford ran the ball in from the 12 and Jesse Bartley kicked the point. In the fourth, the Burns squad scored again when Ford ran it in from the 25 and Bartley provided the point to knot it at 14.

With just 27 ticks left in the game, the Burns team moved the ball to Modoc's 12 when Atteberger made the wining catch. The Braves had a shot with seconds remaining after a pass interference call on Burns, but could not get a receiver open in the endzone.

"It was our first game and we saw some places we can im prove, but we also came away feeling pretty good about the team," said Wood. "We'll be much better prepared this week, and I look for us to play well."

Against Burns Carroll led the rushing with 66 yards on 17 carries, Sherer had 57 on 12. Lancaster was 3-for-7 passing for 78 yards. Lloyd caught a pair for 64 yards and Larry Cavasso grabbed one for 14 yards,

Modoc put together 206 yards on offense and Burns gen erated 298. The Burns team rushed the ball 25 times for 260 yards.

Modoc JVs get start at Lakeview this Friday

Modoc's junior varsity football team opens its 1997 season at Lakeview Friday night, with some solid expectations.

Last year's jayvee team started several freshman and that experience is expected to be a key to their overall success on a team now laden with good sophomores.

"We'll be okay, and we're anxious to get going," said coach Mike Martin. "I know last year's Lakeview team was one of the best we faced and I'm not sure how many of them moved up to varsity -- hopefully all of their running backs. But our team is stronger this year as well."

Leading the way for Modoc on offense will be Kaylon Benson at running back, Cody Holloway at wide out and re turning starting linemen Bert Austin (who may move to fullback), Brett Hamilton, Robert Cox and Jon Wellemeyer. C.J. Straub comes back at a receiver spot this season, Anthony Silva will be in the backfield and Aaron Ford re turns to the line.

The one question mark remaining in Martin's mind is at quarterback where first-year sophomore Josh Conner and freshman Kris Server are battling for the starting spot. As of Tuesday, they were still battling.

Freshman likely to start are Glenn Christensen at tight end and Justin Wilson at center.

While Martin figures his offense will be able to score and how much of that will depend on the development of the quarterbacks, his defense is very strong.

It returns a secondary with plenty of experience. Holloway returns as the starting free safety, Benson at strong safety, with Straub and Silva anchoring the corners.

Linebackers are Wellemeyer and Austin. Chris Lauppe holds down the quick end while Miles Flournoy holds a tackle spot. Freshmen Brett Spicer is at end, Lucas Tramontanas is at nose and Tony Willis at the other tackle.

"Our sophomores are solid players and the freshman class has given us some very good depth, which we didn't have last year," said Martin. "I'd say we're comfortably two-deep at each position. I don't mean as good, but we feel we'll have reserves in who know the positions."

Modoc's junior varsity opens the Lakeview games at 5 p.m. Friday night there.

Arrowhead Men's member-guest tourney set for September 5-7

The 22nd annual Arrowhead Member-guest Tournament is scheduled for September 5-7 at the golf course in Alturas with play limited to 32 two-man teams.

The Arrowhead Men's Club is hosting the annual event which attracts golfers from throughout the region. There is still room for more teams.

Entry fee per team is $200 which includes a free practice round Friday, green fees both days, honey pot on Sunday, mulligans Saturday and Sunday, refreshments on the course, banquet and cocktails Saturday evening. Dinner begins at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The event will run as follows: best ball Saturday, 90 percent of handicap; total team low net Sunday, 100 percent of handicap; 9 a.m. tee-time each day; race horse Friday night, $30 per team.

Players must have an established handicap, no exceptions and prizes will be awarded at the end of the tourney.

Need a partner or for more information, call the clubhouse at 233-3404, or Phil Smith at 233-4486.

Cards open season by hosting Weed

Big Valley's football and volleyball teams kick off their seasons beginning to morrow.

On the gridiron, the Cardi nals will play host to Weed in the season opener with the JV slated to start at 6:00 p.m. fol lowed by the varsity at 8:00.

On the court, the Cards travel to Surprise Valley for the Hornet Invitational. BV starts things off on Friday morn ing against Lassen with the JV at 10:00 a.m. and the varsity at 10:45. Later that afternoon that Cardinals will play Trin ity with the JV at 6:00 and the varsity at 6:45.

On Saturday Big Valley will play no less than three matches. In the morning they go back-to-back against Westwood and Surprise Val ley beginning at 10:00 a.m. In the afternoon they will face Greenville beginning at 4:00.

Morning of soccer kicks off Saturday

On September 6, the ele mentary and middle school fields in Alturas will be a buzz with ongoing 10-minute scrimmages for the younger soccer players and a bit longer for the Under 12 and Under 16 play ers, as the 1997 season opens for Modoc Youth Soccer League.

Soccer players and coaches will come together for a Soccer Jamboree to kick off at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. The event is ex pected to conclude by 12:00 noon.

All players and coaches should plan to attend. Play ers will be assigned to teams, if they have not al ready been notified by a coach.

The Under 6 and Under 8 teams will start the morning at 9:00 a.m. with play on the Alturas Elementary School fields.

The U-10 age group will start at Alturas Elemen tary's field at 10:00 a.m.

U-12's begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Modoc Middle School field.

U-16's will start at 11:00 a.m. at the Modoc Middle School field.

Regular game play be gins with the first games set for September 13. All coaches have been lined up for the new season.

"We're excited that we have four teams in the Under 12 division this year and one from Cedarville," notes Heather Wingate. "The Un der 16 group might even have enough soccer players for two teams this year and they will be playing such teams as McCloud, Etna, Su sanville and be a traveling team this year."

The next Modoc Youth Soccer League board meet ing will be held on Sept. 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the Modoc County Office of Ed ucation Conference Room on Hen derson St., Alturas. All in terested persons are welcome to attend.

Alan Hopkins is 1997 MYSL President and can be con tacted at the Modoc County Office of Education for further informa tion or contact Heather Wingate, 233-3361 regarding MYSL soccer.

Hornets start 2-1 in Quincy Soccer opener

The Surprise Valley soccer team started the year off by go ing 2-1 at the Quincy tourna ment last weekend. Playing in their sharp new black Um bro uniforms purchased by the team's sponsors, SV took a 4-1 win in their opener on Friday over Downieville. John Geaney led the scoring with two goals on his way to being named to the All-Tournament team. Brian Darst and Josh Harder also added a goal each in the victory.

On Saturday, the Hornets dropped a 3-0 decision to the Quincy JV before bouncing back with another victory over Downieville, this time by a score of 3-2. Caity Wimer, Harder and Mike Northrup all scored goals as SV took sec ond in the co-ed division of the tournament.

Surprise Valley soccer travels to McCloud today and North Valley Christian next Tuesday.

Surprise Valley volleyball started their season on Tues day with a tough five-game loss at Fall River. The Hor nets took the lead with 15-7 and 15-12 wins in the first two games before dropping the last three by scores of 9-15, 6-15 and 3-15.

Despite the loss, SV coach John Christie was pleased with the team's performance.

"We're probably a little bit ahead of where we thought we were," he said. "Everybody's contributing real well. I'm using all 13 people. We at tacked the ball a lot better than I've seen us do in the last three or four years."

Megan Konz and Jeanne Bunyard led the way at the net with eight and six blocks re spectively. Konz was also the kill leader with six. Stacy Cook went 15-16 from the ser vice line.

The Hornet JV lost 15-9, 5-15, 15-5. Christie said the mostly freshman team got strong play from Traci Reeves and Ashlynn Dolcini.

Surprise Valley will host the second annual Hornet In vi tational this weekend. Be ginning tonight, six teams will play a round-robin schedule over three days. The other teams are Greenville, Trinity, Big Valley, Lassen and Westwood. The Hornets will start play tonight against Greenville. The JV game will start at 5:00 followed by the varsity.

On Friday, SV will get an early wake-up call for a match with Trinity. The JV match will start at 8:00 a.m. followed by the varsity at 8:45. In the afternoon, the Hornets take on Westwood beginning at 4:00.

On Saturday, Surprise Val ley takes on Big Valley at noon and finishes off the tournament against Lassen with the JV at 6:00 and the varsity at 6:45.

Record sports summaries for Sept. 11, 1997

Modoc Braves drop game at Lakview
Cardinals rollingthrough early season
Brave girls second in Basin Best
SV Soccer team into full season
Mdooc cross-country runner doing well
Cardinals win SV volleyball tourney
Braves fall to Honkers, have week off to prepare for Cardinals

Modoc's Braves fell victim to the Lakeview Honkers 27-16 in Lakeview Friday night and will face another tough bird, the Big Valley Cardinals September 19 in Alturas.

The Lakeview loss dropped the Braves to 0-2 this season and getting into the win column against the Cards will be no easy task. Big Valley smashed Weed 45-14 Friday night in their home opener. Modoc's other loss came at Burns 20-14 in the opening game.

"We've played two tough teams," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "Burns beat Henley Friday night and Lakeview should be very strong in their league. We'd rather be 2-0 right now, but we're seeing some positives and learning from mistakes. I'd much rather have lost to two tough teams, than beat a couple of easy squads. We're going to be fine. In Lakeview I was happy with our pass blocking and our special teams forced two turnovers."

The Braves do get a week off this week and that should help heal up some dings and get them better prepared. Whatever the case, Modoc will have to stop a very good Big Valley team that is loaded with speed and size.

The Cardinals are at Hayfork this Friday night for what should amount to another tune-up for the Modoc game.

"We know Big Valley's good, and we're going to have to be ready to play," said Wood. "It will be a hard-hitting game; we'll have to control their speed and I expect it to be exciting. We'll be making some adjustments to contain their speed, and if that works, we'll be able to deal with the Cardinals."

The Braves started poorly against Lakeview but had fought back into the contest. Lakeview started its first drive on their 45 and quickly moved the ball to the Braves' six. Modoc got a break when Lakeview fumbled and the Braves recovered at the one-foot line. But it wouldn't hold as Modoc fumbled the ball back to Lakeview on the second play and Lakeview then took advantage with a touchdown by Kyle Morris and Lakeview led 7-0 with the point after.

The Braves went three and out on the next series. Lakeview again didn't waste any time as Earl McDonald broke free for a 64-yard touchdown run and Lakeview led 13-0 with 5:24 left in the first period.

"Our line was just not getting off the ball on those first two series," said Wood. "We've made some adjustments and spoke to them about their play. I think they listened."

Modoc did move the ball on the next series with Eric Lancaster hitting Brad Ray, Larry Cavasso and James Lloyd on pass plays. On a third and four, Lancaster kept the ball and made it to the Lakeview two. On the next play, Chris Sherer took the ball over. Matt Carroll ran in the point after and Modoc trailed 13-8 with 10:19 left in the first half.

It didn't take long for Lakeview to respond. On the next series the Honkers took seven plays before Nick Hadley ran the ball in from the seven. The PAT was good and Lakeview led 20-8 with 8:05 remaining before half. The half ended with Lakeview holding that advantage.

Lakeview's Jeremy Butler snared a pass for Lakeview late and with the point took a 27-8 lead. The Braves fought back quickly and moved the ball to the three where Sherer powered it in and Favia added the points. Modoc trailed 27-16 with 1:03 left. Modoc was successful on an on-sides kick, got the ball back at the Lakeview 45, but could not score.

In a first for any team coached by Wood, the Braves had more passing yards than rushing yards. Lancaster was eight for 22 for 135 yards, with one interception. The Braves amassed just 111 yards rushing, something that has to pick up if they're going to be successful in league, said Wood.

Leading the receivers was Brad Ray who had two catches for 38 yards. Sherer and Jimmy Lloyd each snagged a pair for 24 yards each, Jeremy Favia caught one for 40 yards and Larry Cavasso caught one for nine.

Matt Carroll carried the ball 10 times for 34 yards, Sherer had 33 yards on 13 carries, Lancaster had 29 on eight and Favia five yards on two.

Modoc was more heavily penalized than Lakeview, getting flagged nine times for 90 yards, while the Honkers were called just four times for 40 yards.

Lakeview had 177 yards rushing and 30 yards receiving.

Cardinals have strong start for '97 football

By Geoff Griffin

Special to the Record

Big Valley football started the season off with a 43-14 home win over Weed last Fri day night.

The Cardinals rolled up 402 yards rushing while hold ing their opponents to 127 total yards through the first three quarters. Pretty impressive numbers. But what's got to be really scary for the remaining eight teams on the Cards' schedule is that those numbers could have been even big ger.

Although their overall per formance was strong, the Cardinals definitely had first game jitters. They put the ball on the ground more often than a basketball team with three lost fumbles that killed a cou ple of drives and practi cally handed a touchdown to the Cougars. So now that BV is over their case of the nerves, if they can just keep from get ting malaria when they play at home, (the mosquitoes at the Big Valley field were more oppressive than a Lawrence Taylor pass rush on Friday night) the Cards could be look ing at a very successful '97 campaign.

Against Weed, Big Valley got big results from two plays. The fullback trap and the right side sweep. The Cardi nals have the luxury of hav ing not one, but two top-notch fullbacks -- Renden Ellen berger and Chris Click who rushed for 152 and 130 yards respectively. Click had five runs of 10 yards or more while Ellenberger broke off the longest run of the night going 59 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

When the Cards weren't going up the middle with their muscle, they were going around the right side with their speed -- halfback Tim Valdez who went for 144 yards on the evening. Valdez showed speed around the cor ner. Once he got there he showed smarts in hesitating just long enough to size up where the defenders where and let his teammates set up blocks. Finally, once he got outside he showed an ability to tip-toe down the sideline that would have made Barysh nikov envious.

BV coach Matt Hunsaker praised the blocking that took place on the three plays where Valdez ran for more than 20 yards.

"That was picture perfect," Hunsaker said of the way the Cardinals ran the sweep. "You just like to see that be cause that's exactly the way you draw it up on the chalk board."

The Cardinal defense forced five turnovers with mid dle-linebacker Russ Car penter falling on two fumbles and Valdez picking off a pass. Valdez seemed to be ev erywhere on defense as he also had a sack and recorded six tackles on the night. Car penter led the team in tackles with eight.

Defensive lineman Wyatt Harbert could have been elected an honorary member of the Weed backfield he was in their so often. Harbert fin ished the night with six tack les, four of them for losses, and one sack. Joe Haury also had a sack and two of Chris Clark's six tackles were for losses.

Big Valley got off to a strong start Friday night. Weed fumbled on their second play from scrimmage giving the Cards the ball on the Cougar 19. That led to a Valdez seven yard TD run followed by Ellenberger run ning it in for a two-point con version to make the score 8-0. How ever, the Cardinals re turned the favor later in the quarter when they fumbled the ball on their own 24. Weed then took the ball down to the four yard line. Facing fourth and goal early in the second quarter, the Cougars went for it, converted and tied the score at 8-8.

The Cards got back on track and before the half as QB Corado Reginatto scored on a five-yard keeper and El len berger got to the goal from 10 years out to make the score 22-8 at half-time.

Big Valley scored on the first possession of the second half. After Valdez had runs of 37 and 17 yards he finally scored on a one-yard run to make it 29-8.

The one time on the night when the Cardinal defense looked vulnerable came on Weed's next possession. The Cougars put together a four minute, four first-down drive that took the ball down the field 77 yards in eight plays.

With the score 29-14 Weed tried an onside kick and re covered it. Suddenly, it looked like there might actu ally be a game on. However, the Cougars fumbled again and once again it was Carpen ter who had a nose for the ball, recovering it at midfield. Just two minutes later Clark went on a 20 yard tear up the middle for another BV score. The two-point conversion by Reginatto made the score 37-14 and pretty much iced the game. All that remained was for Ellenberger to get his 59 yard fun in the fourth and for Hunsaker to get everybody some playing time.

Earlier in the evening, the BV JV also got off to a rous ing start with a 35-0 win.

Big Valley will travel to Hayfork tomorrow night fol lowed by a road game at Modoc on September 19.

Braves 2nd in Basin Best

By Geoff Griffin

Special to the Record

The Modoc Volleyball team decided to get the hardest part of its schedule over with The Braves traveled to Henley for the Basin Best tournament last Saturday. The brackets put Division V Modoc up against many of the best Divi sion I and II teams from Red ding to Medford.

The Braves acquitted themselves well among the larger enrollments, placing second overall. In pool play, MHS posted wins over Crater (15-12, 15-6), Phoenix (15-9, 15-6), and Mazama (15-12, 15-5). They split against Shasta High of Redding with scores of 1-15, 15-9.

Their pool play record of 3-0-1 earned the Braves a spot in the semi-finals where they again beat Crater 15-3, 16-14. Modoc was expecting to face Henley in the finals but a sur prising Shasta squad beat Henley and then beat the Braves in the finals 15-13, 15-8.

MHS coach Harold Mon tague said he felt the team ac complished what it needed to on the day - they improved in their ability to play together as a team.

"They improved a ton," Montague said of the Braves. "In the first game we didn't really look like a team, but by the end of the day we did,"

Kayte Christensen was named to the All-Tournament team as she led the Braves in kills (35), blocks (13) and ser vice aces (9). Jennifer Kern was second in kills with 19, and in aces with seven. She also led the squad in passing at 80 percent. Wendy Stafford had a strong all-around tour nament with nine kills and 15 digs along with getting 95 percent of her serves in.

The Braves also got strong performances from newcom ers Leah Siegel and Andrea Knox. Siegel led Modoc in digs with 22 while also posting 62 assists from her setter posi tion. Sophomore Knox got 12 kills, 4.5 blocks and seven aces in her first varsity tour nament.

Modoc will scrimmage with Surprise Valley today be fore going to the Lakeview Tournament this Saturday.

SV soccer goes 1-1

By Geoff Griffin

Special to the Record

Surprise Valley soccer pulled off a 3-2 win over North Valley Christian on Tuesday. The final score matched their record on the season, which also stands at 3-2.

NVC scored early to take the lead and it wasn't until the second half that a Surprise Valley shot could find it's way into the net. Josh Harder got the first goal on a penalty kick to tie the score. The Hornets then went ahead as Mike Northrup got an angle shot into the left corner and John Geaney scored on a drive down the left side.

NVC came back to narrow the lead by scoring with three minutes left but SV was able to hang on for the win.

Last Thursday against McCloud, the Hornets got a taste of just how frustrating a soccer game can be at times. Although SV was on offense for three-fourths of the game and had numerous shots on goal, they could never actu ally put one past the McCloud goalie. Meanwhile, McCloud made the best of their few op portunities in getting a 4-0 win.

Surprise Valley's next match will come tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. when the Hornets take on a team of players from Modoc High School. The game will be held on the pitch behind Modoc Middle School.

Several good showings in Modoc cross-country team's initial outing

Modoc cross-country team started the season last Saturday with some good results at the West Valley Invitational near Cottonwood.

Josh Keyes ended up taking 10th in the boys varsity race, out of 65 runners, and will probably pick up his pace as the year goes along. He is the number one ranked runner in his division in the north state. He clocked a 17:55 in his opening race. Travis Dunn ran a 27:44.

In the varsity girls race, Ginny Greene ran 25:44 to place 29th out of 72. Greene is nursing some leg injuries in the early season.

In the junior varsity girls race, Julia Greene did very well placing sixth at 15:54, off the winning time of 15:25. Missy Lieurance ran 19:05 to place 37th, Stephanie Blair clocked 19:23 for 40th, Rebecca Richert ran 19:52 for 43rd; Stephanie McMasters ran 20:43 for 48th and Cheyenne Menkee ran 21:56 for 51st.

Modoc's junior varsity boys were led by Daniel Toaetolu who placed 43rd at 15:25 and Dan Hoover who placed 71st at 18:25.

The Modoc Middle School team was dominate at West Val ley. Ricky Scott won the boys race with an 8:12 mark, just 16 seconds on the course record. Luke Hughes was not far be hind, placing second at 8:26. Miguel Martinez ran at 10:15 and Jonathan Richert finished at 15:06.

Stacie Wells ran very well and took a second place at 10:01, just off the first place time of 9:52. Kayla Harness took a sixth at 11:19 and Connie Wilson was seventh at 11:39.

"Overall, it was a good outing for us," said coach John Geldreich. "I was especially pleased with Julia Greene's race, and the races of our middle school kids, especially Scott and Wells. We are very strong."

Geldreich also had high praise for the junior varsity girls and figures they will all get better.

"Our varsity runners at West Valley were not at their best, and I suspect we'll be seeing improvements as we go along this year," said Geldreich. "We're hoping Ginny's in juries heal and that Josh gets back into this regular running style."

Geldreich still figures the team has a good shot at win ning the league and north section girls cross country titles. The Braves travel to Yreka this weekend for the huge Taco Bell Invitational, which is always tough and features some of Oregon's best runners.

Record sports summaries for Sept. 18 issue

Ą Big game pits Braves against Cardinals Friday
Ą Big Valley comes to Modoc after crushing Hayfork
Ą Modoc High hosts top-notch volleyball tourney
Ą Modoc runners doing well in cross country
Ą SV, BV schools competitive in tourney
THE MOON set on the Modoc Braves in Lakeview, but the Braves expect to stall Big valley's vaunted offense Friday night.

Big game pits Braves, Cardinals in Alturas

One of the most anticipated games in re cent seasons comes up this Friday night when Big Valley's unbeaten Cardinals come to play Modoc's 0-2 Braves Friday night in Alturas.

But, Modoc coach Shaun Wood cautions, the records may not be indicative of the game to come. The Braves have played Burns and Lakeview, Oregon, both good teams. Big Valley has played Weed and Hayfork, nei ther of whom are expected to be strong con tenders.

That notwithstanding, said Wood, Big Valley has scored 107 points in two games and limited their opposition to 26. That's something to take notice of, he said. The Cards beat Weed, 45-14 and Hayfork, 62-12. Modoc fell to Burns 20-14 and to Lakeview 27-16.

Wood said he's taking the cross-county challenge very seriously.

"I believe the one area we will be able to ex ploit is their defense and they'll be seeing dif ferent looks from us," said Wood. "They won't be able to just sit back on the running plays, because our passing game is working well. This really will be the first serious test for their defense and probably their offense as well."

Wood is concerned with the Cardinal running game with Chris Click, Renden Ellenberger and Tim Valdez leading the way. Another junior, Wes Breakfield also has great speed.

"There's no question we have to contain their backs," said Wood. "If we let them get outside or cut back free, it could be a long night. But I don't think they've run into a de fense as good as ours, and I know they haven't played a team that hits as hard as ours hits. I expect it to be a good game and I expect it to be closer than some people do."

The Braves had have success with quar terback Eric Lancaster throwing the ball this season and his receiver corps of Jimmy Lloyd, Sergio Molina, Bradley Ray, and Jeremy Favia have been productive. Running backs Chris Sherer and Matt Carroll will have their hands full, but will be able to move the ball. The Braves will be without starting tight end Larry Cavasso, which will hurt.

"We know what they're going to do and we have to disrupt their offense," said Wood. "They are good, they run their system well an their ball fakes are excellent. They pretty much run the same offense as we do, but they run from a one back set and motion into their plays. We just have to stay alert."

Wood said the week off last week helped heal up some dings in the Braves' lineup, with the exception of Cavasso.

"We're ready to play, and one area I feel we are a little better in is in special teams," said Wood. "We'll be getting after Big Valley and they'll know they're in a football game early on."

The Modoc-Big Valley junior varsity game starts at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity takes the field around 7:30 p.m.

Cards crush Hayfork, look for tougher game against Modoc

Big Valley football coach Matt Hunsaker likes to see his team win. But he's also a good sport and doesn't want to see his Cardinals win by too much. That's why he's a bit squeamish about having ev eryone learn that Big Valley beat Hayfork 62-12 last Fri day. He doesn't want people to think he's the type of guy who runs up the score.

"You hate to have a score like that in the paper," Hun saker said while explaining that he used his entire bench (only five on this Cardinal squad of 16) and tried to have his team run the clock down after BV opened up a 49-0 lead mid-way into the second quarter.

Renden Ellenberger led the scoring attack with 159 yards on nine carries, including touchdown runs of 42, 39 and 33 yards. Sometimes the Cards didn't even wait to get on offense before scoring. Wes Breakfield ran back a 75-yard punt return for a TD and Tim Valdez went for a72-yard punt return score just minutes later.

Hunsaker knows he won't have to worry about running the score up against Modoc (0-2) tomorrow night when the Cards (2-0) travel to Alturas.

"They've had two weeks to get ready for us," Hunsaker said of the Braves. "We haven't played anyone in their caliber yet."

"I know defensively, they might be the best team we face all season."

In fact, Hunsaker feels that the BV offense vs. the Modoc defense may be the crucial match-up.

"I think that at this point in the season, they've got the bet ter defense and we've got the better offense," he said.

Another way to look at the match-up may be size vs. speed. The Braves will put more big bodies on the field, but the Cardinals are probably better stocked with speed mer chants.

Hunsaker predicts that Modoc will have two advan tages. One is more players, and thus the ability to rest peo ple. The second advantage is that Shaun Wood-coached teams never say die. Big Val ley was able to "emotionally defeat" it's first two opponents by jumping out to early leads, but that won't happen against Modoc.

"That's the type of team Shaun has always coached, " Hunsaker said. "They never quit."

Brave netters playing well; host tourney this weekend

Bonanza High had neither the power of "Hoss" nor the speed of "Little Joe" in drop ping a volleyball match at Modoc High on Tuesday night. The Braves, ranked No. 7 in the State in Division V, won their home opener over Bonanza 15-6, 15-13, 11-15, 15-8.

"We played well the first couple of games, and the last two we just started real slow," Modoc coach Harold Mon tague said. "It's something we need to work on."

In the final game, the Braves spotted their opponents an 8-4 lead before running off 11 in a row to take the match.

Kayte Christensen had 20 kills and seven service aces while Jennifer Kern added 11 kills, Andrea Knox and Wendy Stafford 7. Christy Cartner was a perfect 6-6 serv ing and had an ace.

Over the past weekend, the Braves emerged as champi ons of the Lakeview tour na ment. They posted wins over Mazama and North Valley before splitting two game matches with Lakeview and Bonanza. Modoc earned a spot in the finals where they beat the hosting Honkers 15-3, 13-5, 15-5 to take the title. Christensen, Kern and Knox were named to the All-Tour nament team.

For the tourney, Chris tensen had 51 kills and 15.5 blocks. Kern had 27 kills while Knox had 15 kills and 10 blocks. As a team, the Braves got 82 percent of their serves in and converted on 73 percent of their passing at tempts. Setter Leah Siegel had 74 assists to go along with seven kills.

The Braves have a busy week ahead of them. Last night they traveled to Tule lake for a match and this weekend they will host their own Modoc Invitational Tournament. Other teams coming to participate are Lake view, Etna, Trinity, Lib erty Christian and Red Bluff. Montague points out that many of these teams will pre sent Modoc with some tough opposition. For example, Lib erty Christian faced the Braves in the CIF Section fi nals last year, Red Bluff is a large school, Etna is expected to be Modoc's toughest com pe tition in the Shasta-Cascade League and Lakeview has won two of the five games they have played against Modoc this year.

The schedule for the tour nament begins with JV pool play on Friday starting at 10:15. Varsity pool play will begin that afternoon at 4:00 and run until about 10:00 p.m. On Sat urday, the teams will be placed in brackets passed on their pool play records and playoff to reach a champion. The JV championship game is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. and varsity at 5:00 p.m.

Next week, the Braves will begin SCL play on Wednes day, September 24, when they travel to Burney.

Modoc's runners head to Lakeview's Invite

Modoc's good cross-country team heads to the Lakeview Invitational Saturday for the third meet of the year, one which should produce good re sults.

The Braves were at the Yreka Taco Bell Invitational meet last Saturday, one of the toughest meets of the year, and the junior varsity girls turned in the best results.

The Yreka meet features some of the best runners in Oregon and California and includes large schools like Klamath Union, South Medford, Foothill, West Valley, Grants Pass, Anderson, Corning, Corvalis, Pleasant Valley, Yreka, Ashland, Henley, Enterprise and others.

Modoc Coach John Geldreich was very pleased with the ef forts turned in by the junior varsity girls and the middle school runners. First timer Aaron Wishart also ran well or the JV boys.

In the varsity boys race, Modoc's Josh Keyes took a 37th out of 163 runners over the three mile course with an 18:36.26 time. Keyes has not yet gotten back to champi onship form and Geldreich believes he will start improv ing with the Lakeview race.

In the varsity girls three mile-race, Modoc's Ginny Greene placed 58th out of 135 runners with a 18:59.35. Greene continues to be ham pered by some leg injuries.

Modoc's junior varsity girls team placed sixth in the meet, beating a number of much larger schools. The top fin isher for the Braves was Missy Lieurance who clocked an 18:42.21 for 17th and Julia Greene ran an 18:52.64 for 21st. Stephanie McMasters placed 64th at 21:00, Stephanie Blair was 67th at 21:15, Rebecca Richert was 76th at 21:51 and Cheyenne Menkee was 97th at 23:00. There were 125 runners in the 2.5 mile race.

Modoc's junior varsity boys were respectable with Aaron Wishart topping the finishers with a 74th at 17:07.14. Travis Dunn was 90th at 19:39.01, Daniel Toaetolu was 94th at 17:45.55 and Daniel Hoover was 114th at 19:11.10. There were 131 runners in the race.

In the middle school boys race, Modoc's Ricky Scott took a first at 9:35, nearing the course record of 9:22. Luke Hughes took a third at 9:47, Miguel Martinez was 19th at 12:33 and Jonathan Richert was 29th at 16:57. Kayla Harness clocked an 11:40 in the middle school girls race and placed second. Stacie Wells clocked a 12:08 for fifth and Amanda Dennis was 12th at 13:30.

Runners of the Week, said Geldreich, are Lieurance and Wishart.

Modoc, Big Valley JV should be good game

The Modoc Braves and the Big Valley Cardinals will open the evening Friday night at 5:30 in what promises to be a good test for both squads.

Modoc junior varsity coach Mike Martin was pleased with his team's overall performance in the loss to Lakeview, but bolstered up some positions and has made some changes to get his top players on the field at the right time.

Martin figures his team will be able to handle the Cardinals, who have only 12 players on the junior varsity roster.

Josh Conner has taken over the reins as the JV quarter back, winning the job in a gutsy performance at Lakeview. He has Kaylon Benson leading the running backs and speedster Cody Holloway at wideout. Also earning a starting spot in the backfield is Anthony Silva. C.J. Straub had a good game as a receiver at Lakeview. Bert Austin has been moved to center to anchor the line that includes Brett Hamilton, Jon Wellemeyer, Robert Cox and Aaron Ford.

While Big Valley comes in with only 12 players, they are a solid team and Martin expects them to play tough. They come in unbeaten and also have good speed in the backfield.

"We think we'll be able to handle them and we're mak ing some adjustments to take advantage of our best ath letic skills," said Martin. "The week off did us good and we'll be prepared."

Schools are competitive in Fall River Tourney

The Big Valley and Sur prise Valley volleyball squads both spent the week end in Fall River at the Emblem F Tournament.

Surprise Valley made it into the semi-finals in both the JV and varsity cate gories. The Varsity beat Chester 15-10, 15-11, beat Trinity 15-11, 15-8, split with Lost River 15-6, 6-15, split with Fall River 10-15, 15-6, split with Big Valley 10-15, 16-14 and lost to Mt. Shasta 15-12, 15-1. In the semis, the Cards lost to Bur ney 15-10, 15-8. The Hornet JV also lost to Burney in the semis.

The Hornets opened Ev er green League play on Tues day night with a road match at Tulelake. The Honkers won the four game match 15-8, 15-7, 13-15, 15-11. Megan Konz had nine blocks at the net while Stacey DePaul had three aces and five kills. Heather Tufts put away six kills at the net while Danielle Odgers was 13-14 from the service line.

SV coach John Christie pointed out that the Hornets missed on one out of every four service attempts and that hurt them in the long run.

"I think we kind of beat ourselves a couple of times," he said.

The SV JV lost 15-6, 8-15, 18-16 at Tulelake.

Surprise Valley goes to Greenville this afternoon for a weekend tournament.

In Fall River, Big Val ley had a tough first day of the tournament with losses to Burney and Lost River and splits against Mt. Shasta and Fall River. The next day they either split or won all of their matches but couldn't make it into the final playoffs because of their losses on the first day.

On Tuesday night, the Cardinals played at Mt. Shasta and lost 15-6, 15-10, 15-6.

"We did play better overall since the (Fall River) tour nament," BV coach Paula Silva said of the Mt. Shasta match. "But we are still mak ing some mistakes. That's what's killing us."

Silva said that she was pleased with the Cards serv ing performance against Mt. Shasta and she also praised the consistent passing and digging abili ties of Naomi Seeger.

The Big Valley JV also lost at Mt. Shasta by scores of 15-10, 15-7.

Having posted an 8-4 record thus far, the Cardi nals will play one more non-league match at Fall River to day. Next Tues day, the Cards travel to Dunsmuir to start their EGL schedule.

Record sports summaries for Sept. 25, 1997 issue

Ą Cardinals run through Modoc Braves
Ą Modoc wins own volleyball tourney
Ą Brave runners do well in Lakeview
Ą Hornets, Cards get into EL volleyball
Ą Modoc JVs come back to beat Cards
Ą Prospects good for waterfowl hunting
BIG VALLEY'S Tim Valdez, 42, had a good night for the Cards, rushing fortwo rouchdwons and 181 yards on 14 carries.

Cardinals run over Braves 30-6

Big Valley's Cardinals ran through and around Modoc's defense Friday night in Alturas, while the Braves' offense couldn't get out of first gear.

The Cardinals, a solid team with talent on all fronts, beat the Braves 30-6, putting Modoc Coach Shaun Wood into league play this week with a 0-3 start. That's never happened before.

"Jeez, we've never lost the first game since I've been here, much less the first three," said Wood. "It's pretty frustrating, but we're working on getting things together. We have Burney Friday night and I want to be 1-0 in league following that game."

Coach Matt Hunsaker's Cardinals pretty much had their way with the Braves and Wood doesn't take anything away from the Cardinals.

"They were better than I thought they'd be," said Wood. "I honestly felt we could stop them and that we could exploit the defense. Obviously, we didn't. We didn't block well, our backs didn't run hard and we didn't tackle well. You don't win many games doing that. But, also, Big Valley is good."

This week's practices haven't been a joy for the Braves. "We're working them hard and we're getting on them about the fundamentals," said Wood. "There will probably be some changes this week against Burney. We have kids who want to play."

For Hunsaker, the win was gratifying. "We're a good football team and this win was good for us," Hunsaker said. Friday night was also Hunsaker's birthday, so the win over Modoc was especially gratifying. "Our team played well and we executed well."

Wood praised the running backs of the Cardinals, espe cially Tim Valdez, who had two long touchdown runs and 181 yards on 14 carries. He also said Big Valley lineman Chris Clark was dominant.

This week Modoc plays host to the Burney Raiders to open the Shasta Cascade League run. Wood has seen Burney, who will be coming off a loss to Dunsmuir and feels his Braves can get into the win column.

"We need to get our running game and passing game go ing this week, and we will know how to tackle and block by Friday night," said Wood. "This is a very important game for us and we have to turn it around if we're going to be suc cessful in league."

The Cardinals started the game quickly against Modoc last Friday, with a solid drive starting at their 34. They moved the ball downfield to the Modoc three where quarterback Corado Reginatto took the ball in. The two point conversion was good and Big Valley led 8-0.

Modoc would come right back, starting at their 21 and moved the ball to midfield. Quarterback Eric Lancaster hit wide receiver Bill Wilson on a good pass that put the Braves at first-and-goal and the six. Sherer scored from the one and Modoc trailed 8-6 when the conversion failed with 3:27 re maining in the first period.

But that would be as close as Modoc would get the rest of the night.

The Cardinals opened up the second quarter when Valdez broke lose and rambled 49 yards for a touchdown. The point after was good and Big Valley led 15-6.

With just over a minute left in the half, Valdez got the call again and sped 73 yards for a touchdown. Chris Click pro vided the two-point conversion and the Cardinals led 23-6 when the half ended.

With about four minutes left in the third quarter, Big Valley scored on a Wes Breakfield pass reception from 14 yards out. The kick was good and Big Valley led 30-6.

Modoc was able to keep the Cardinals from scoring in the fourth period, but couldn't generate a sustained drive as neither the running nor passing game was working.

While Big Valley rushed 53 times for 239 yards, the Braves struggled with 36 carries and only 108 yards. Big Valley's Reginatto was two-for-three passing for 44 yards, while Modoc's Lancaster hit just four of 15 for 86 yards.

The 108 rushing yards is the lowest total since Wood has been head coach at Modoc and points out one of the real prob lem areas, he said.

Valdez led all rushers with 181 yards on 14 carries, Rendon Ellenberger had 59 yards on 14 carries, Chris Click had 47 on 11 and Breakfield had 26 yards on five. For Modoc, Matt Carroll had 52 yards on 14 carries, Andy Nowak had 22 yards on three, Chris Sherer had 21 on 10.

Breakfield caught both Reginatto passes for 44 yards. Bill Wilson snared two of Lancaster's for 69 yards, Sherer caught one for five and Bradley Ray snared one for 12.

Modoc and Burney meet Friday night at Ed Carver Stadium in Alturas with the junior varsity game starting at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity game about 7:30 p.m.

Modoc wins volleyball tourney; starts league

If the Modoc volleyball team were employees getting paid by the hour, they would have picked up some serious overtime pay last week.

After all, Braves coach Harold Montague, who is ob viously unfamiliar with the child-labor laws in Califor nia, scheduled nine matches over a five day stretch. After beating Bonanza and Tule lake last Tuesday and Wednesday, the Braves re turned to Griswold Gym last Friday and Saturday to host their own Modoc Invitational and play seven matches over two days.

"It was a long week," Montague said in the under statement of the year. "We played a lot of matches this week, but I feel real good about where we're at."

Where Modoc is at is a 17-1 overall record heading into the Shasta -Cascade League schedule, which began last night at Burney.

As for the Modoc Invita tional, it was won for the third straight year by the home team. On Friday in round robin play, the Braves posted five straight victories over Etna (15-6, 15-12) Lakeview (15-11, 15-8), Liberty Chris tian (16-14, 15-10), Trinity (15-1, 15-7) and Red Bluff (15-8, 15-12). That made Modoc the number one seed for bracket play on Saturday. After dispensing with Etna in the semis the Braves moved on to face Lakeview in the fi nals.

It was a rematch of the fi nals at the Lakeview Tour nament just one week before. Up in Oregon, the Braves won while going 3-2 games for the tourney against the Honkers. This week in California, Modoc showed improvement and beat the Honkers in four straight games, including by scores of 15-8, 15-10 in the fi nals.

In game one of the finals, the two teams played a 5-5 tie before Modoc went on a run of four straight points and eventually cruised to the win. In game two the score was close in the early going again at 4-4. However, three service aces by Veronica Coates had Modoc on its way to a 10-4 lead and the Braves were able to clear the bench on the way to a match and tournament vic tory.

Kayte Christensen had eight kills and six blocks over the two game final. Jennifer Kern had three kills and three aces while Andrea Knox reg istered four blocks and Tessa Siegel had two service aces.

Christensen, Leah Siegel and Jennifer Kern were named to the All-Tournament team. The Kern family pulled a rare double on the day as freshman Jessica Kern made the All Tourney squad at the JV level.

The Modoc JV and Fresh man teams both entered the JV portion of the tournament and the JV team made it into the finals against Liberty Chris tian.

In game one, the Braves fell behind early at scores of 5-1, 10-4 and 14-6. However, Modoc came storming back with eight unanswered points. Four of them during that run came on service aces by Sara Howell. She had six aces and six kills on the day. Modoc got the score to 14-13 before a Patriot serve landed eight on the sideline for an ace and a final score of 15-13.

Game two was very simi lar with the Braves falling behind 5-0. They were able to gradually come back to a two point deficit at 12-10 before the Patriots went on a run to close out the match at 15-10.

Megan Orner had six blocks, three kills and two digs while Molly Busby added two blocks, a kill and an ace. Lindsey Delmas also had two kills and an ace.

Jessica Kern, Orner and Niki Poindexter of the fresh man team were all selected to the JV All-Tournament team.

The next few days are the river portion of the schedule. The Braves travel to Lost River tonight for a non-league match. Next Wednesday, Modoc returns home to face Fall River in an SCL match.

Brave runners do well in Lakeview

Modoc's Braves spent a lot of time in front of the competi tion at the Lakeview Invitational Cross Country meet at Cottonwood Meadows Saturday.

The Braves travel to one of the big meets of the year in Chico this weekend, where they'll be seeing plenty of top runners from the Sacramento area.

"Our younger kids are running very well," said Modoc coach John Geldreich. "We were really pleased with our junior varsity girls team and with the middle school runners. In Chico, the high schoolers will be faced with some stiff competition."

Geldreich does expect his middle school teams to do very well and expects them to be a real surprise to some of the much bigger schools and clubs.

Josh Keyes won the varsity boys race in Lakeview with a time of 18:28, well ahead of second place Jeremy LeFranbois, of Grant Union. There were 40 runners in the race and the win was Keye's first this season. He's start ing to get back in shape and expects to be in top form in the next few weeks.

In the varsity girls race, Modoc's Ginny Greene placed 10th out of 28 runners with a time of 24:08. Kerry Teamey of Henley won the race at 22:39. Greene is starting to get her strength back , but is still fighting some nagging in juries.

Modoc's junior varsity girls team won the meet. Julia Greene and Missy Lieurance of Modoc crossed the finish line together for first at 25:09. Stephanie McMasters placed fifth at 27:05. Stephanie Blair took a 14th in 30:59, Rebecca Richert was 18th at 31:32 and Cheyenne Menkee was 19th at 32:08.

Aaron Wishart placed fourth in the boys junior var sity with time of 22:20 and Travis Dunn was fifth at 22:32. Daniel Taeotulo was 10th at 23:49, Dan Hoover was 15th at 25:35. The winner was Daniel Tague of Lakeview at 21:57.

In the middle school boys race, Modoc's Ricky Scott won in a time of 11:41, just edging teammate Luke Hughs who crossed the line at 11:46. Miguel Martinez ran 14:41 to place seventh and Jonathan Richert clocked a 21:36 for 10th.

Modoc's Kayla Harness won the middle school girls race in 13:38, just in front of teammate Stacie Wells who ran 14:03 for second. Connie Wilson was seventh in 15:36 and Amanda Dennis was ninth at 15:43.

Hornets, Cards into EL play

The Surprise Valley and Big Valley volleyball teams are beginning to get into the thick of the Ever green League schedule.

Surprise Valley plays tonight at what has thus far been an unusual place for them, their home court in Cedarville. For the first time in nearly three weeks, the Hornets won't have to climb on a bus before a match as they host Butte Valley tonight.

The Hornets will be look ing for a little revenge, hav ing lost to Butte at last week end's Greenville In vitational Tournament. SV went 2-3 in Greenville to run their season record to 6-10 (0-1 in EGL). Hornet coach John Christie said he used the tournament to get a wide variety of players a lot of time on the court to get ready for an October sched ule that is all league matches.

Big Valley will get a large portion of the Ever green schedule out of the way over the next seven days. The Cardinals travel to McCloud today, return home to host Happy Camp on Saturday, go to Butte Valley next Tuesday and host Tulelake a week from today.

Modoc comes back to beat Cardinal jayvee

Modoc's junior varsity football team had to come back in the final seconds to beat a very good Big Valley Cardinal team 20-19 Friday night.

"It was a good win for us and we were pleased that we came back with so little time on the clock," said Modoc coach Mike Martin. "We kept our composure and made the plays when we had to. I was very pleased that our kids didn't quit and they pklayed hga5d the entire time."

Modoc faces Burney this Friday night with the game starting at 5:30 p.m. in Alturas in what should be another good test for the Braves. Burney is coming into Alturas after a 50-0 win last week over Dunsmuir.

"We're going into the Burney game expecting a game about like Big Valley," said Martin. "We're putting in some new wrinkles, and I think we'll be fine."

Against Big Valley, the Braves trailed 19-12 with just over a minute left. The defense stiffened and held the Cards to three plays and got the ball back at midfield.

Modoc flanker C.J. Straub came back to catch a Josh Conner pass at the three of the Cardinals. On the next play, Kaylon Benson went through a gaping hole to score, but the Braves still trailed 19-18 with 20 seconds left in the game.

Modoc coach Mike Martin called for a pass play for the two point conversion. Conner skirted left and tossed the ball high into the left corner of the endzone where wide receiver Cody Holloway went up over the defense and made the clutch catch for the win.

The game had been tight all night, with the Cardinals re fusing to give Modoc a leg up. Modoc had several chances to break the game wide open, but failed to get it done.

Big Valley scored first when Michael McClain took the ball in for a touchdown in the first period.

Modoc answered shortly after when Holloway took the ball on a reverse and sped around end for a 29-yard touch down. The point-after failed and Modoc trailed 7-6 at the end of the first period.

The Braves scored one more touchdown in the second pe riod when Straub snared a Conner pass. The point after failed, but at halftime Modoc led 12-7.

The Braves mounted on drive on the first series of the sec ond half, but stalled on the Big Valley seven. McClain got lose in the middle and clicked off a 93-yard touchdown to put the Cards up 13-12.

The Cardinals added another touchdown when Carlos Escalante broke loose in the fourth and scored from about 30 yards. The Braves stopped the point-after try and Big Valley led 19-12.

Modoc's drive late to win the game was all through the air, something unusual for a Braves' team.

Prospects good for Refuge waterfowl hunt

Modoc National Wildlife Refuge staff reports that wa terfowl hunting prospects look good for the up-coming sea son. There are more ducks on the refuge now than there have been in at least 15 years, and honker numbers are up fol lowing good production for two years in a row. Habitat conditions and food avail ability on the refuge look very good this fall.

Opening weekend hunting on the refuge is by advanced reservations only, and these have already been issued. Following opening weekend, hunting is allowed on Tues day, Thursday and Saturday only and there is no fee. Hunters need only show up at one of the two parking lots and fill out a self-registration permit to hunt. Only ducks, geese, coots and snipe may be hunted and hunters may only be in possession of approved non-toxic shot.

This will be the first year for the special Modoc NWR Junior Waterfowl Hunt. On Sunday, October 12 the refuge will be open for hunters 15 years old and younger. Hunters must have a valid California junior hunting li cense and be accompanied by an adult. Adults may not hunt or possess a firearm at any time during the junior hunt. All other refuge and state regulations will apply. The refuge will be closed dur ing the state junior duck hunt on September 27. This closure is in effect to protect those hens and young ducks that are still flightless until late Septem ber, and to reduce disturbance to sandhill cranes that use the refuge in peak numbers dur ing late September.

The waterfowl season for Northeastern California will open on October 4 this year. Duck season ends on January 11, 1998. Goose season will end earlier. White-fronted goose (speckle-belly) and cackler season ends October 26, while snow goose and honker season will run to January 4, 1998. Duck limits reflect the increase in num bers nation wide. The daily bag is seven ducks, of which no more than two may be hen mallards, three pintails (either sex), two redheads and one canvasback. The daily limit for geese is three. While all three may be white geese, no more than two may be dark geese. Of those two dark geese, both could be honkers, or both could be white-fronts, but only one may be a cackler.

As in past years, the Dorris Reservoir unit of the refuge will close to public use when waterfowl season opens on October 4. The purpose of this closure is to provide a refuge for waterfowl during the hunt ing season.

Refuge Manager David Johnson stated that beginning this year people can get the latest updates on waterfowl numbers and hunter success by accessing Modoc NWR's web page on the Internet (http://www.rl.fws.gov/nwr/home.htm). Hunter success statistics will be updated weekly and bird numbers on the refuge bi-weekly. For more information hunters are encouraged to call the refuge staff at 233-3572.

OCTOBER SPORTS

Record sports summaries for Oct. 2, 1997 issue

Ą Braves trounce Burney, head to Fall River
Ą Modoc girls dominate volleyball
Ą Hornets winning in early season
Ą Big Valley quick in volleyball
Ą Brave JV smash Burney Raiders
Ą Keyes wins big Chico race
Ą Ducks Unlimited hosts a waterfowl party
Braves ramble over Burney Raiders 41-14 Fall River next in line

Modoc's Braves responded to going 0-3 in preseason by coming out and smashing the Burney Raiders 41-14 in their opening Shasta Cascade League game of the season.

While pride played a lot into the resurgence of the Braves, last weeks' practices were not as much fun as the players would have hoped.

"Overall, I was very pleased with the Burney game, and was glad to see us come out and hit someone," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "I don't think Burney expected us to play that well, but we knew we had it in us."

Wood said this week's practices heading to the second SCL game this Friday night at Fall River may not be a lot of fun either, even though the Braves are favored to win.

"We're going to be working hard all week and the kids know that," said Wood. "We should be able to handle Fall River, but we need to have the same intensity and attitude go ing in as we did against Burney. When we came out and scored two quick touchdowns, it really set Burney back on their heels and they didn't recover."

The Braves have Fall River this week, then Bonanza comes to Modoc as the Homecoming foe October 10. Modoc meets the meat of the SCL beginning with Mt. Shasta October 17, at Mt. Shasta.

"At this point we're not looking over anyone," said Wood. "But, honestly, the Mt. Shasta game will be pivotal and we have to play there. We do get Etna here and that's a plus."

The Braves finish at Trinity Nov. 7, but the Wolves have been the real question mark this year at 0-4, and coming off a 34-0 loss to Lost River last Friday.

"Against Burney, I think we had a whole team effort and that was nice to see," said Wood. "There were several indi viduals who played well, but overall I think the team did an outstanding job."

While the offense played extremely well, Wood said he was pleased with the entire defense, with Chris Sherer leading the tackling with 16 and Robert Oliver had 14.

The Braves head into the Fall River game in good shape with a few dings, but nothing serious, said Wood.

Against Burney, the Braves got off the mark quickly. The defense stopped Burney on three plays and Modoc got the ball at its 12. They marched the ball down the field with Andy Nowak and Matt Carroll handling the running chores and Lancaster hitting Larry Cavasso on a pass play. With the ball at the Burney 12, Eric Lancaster passed to Jimmy Lloyd for a touchdown and Greg Jacques came in and kicked the first of five extra points, something new for Modoc. With 2:56 left in the opening period, Modoc led 7-0.

Lancaster intercepted a pass on Burney's next possession, giving the Braves a first down at the Modoc 37. Another pass to Cavasso moved the Ball to the Burney 35 and another to the 19. From the three, Lancaster again found Cavasso open and hit him with a touchdown pass. Modoc led 14-0 when Jacques hit the point after at 10:24 left in the first half.

The second quarter was full of scoring. About midway through the period, Carroll got loose and outran the defense 59 yards for a touchdown. Jacques again added the extra point and Modoc led 21-0.

Modoc held on the next series. Lancaster hit Carroll on a screen pass and Carroll got free, going 59 yards for a touch down. Jacques kicked the point and Modoc led 28-0.

Burney would answer when Steve Churney was able to hit Chris Blakely for a 61-yard touchdown pass and cut the score to 28-8 with 1:12 left in the half.

The half ended with the Braves leading 28-8.

Modoc started the second half much the same as the first. They opened with the ball at their 30, and moved quickly to the Burney 45. Andy Nowak powered his way through the middle and was finally stopped at the Burney three. Two plays later, Carroll took the ball in and Modoc led 34-8 when Jacques' extra point kick was blocked.

Modoc's final touchdown was set up when one of Lancaster's passes was picked off by Steve Churney of Burney at the Burney goal line. Burney got the ball about six inches out and on the first play, Burney fumbled. Lancaster recovered the ball in the endzone for a touchdown and Jacques added the point for the 41-8 lead.

The Raiders were able to add their final tally in the wan ing seconds of the game when they pushed the ball over from the five and cut Modoc's winning margin to 41-14.

Carroll led Modoc's offense, rushing the ball 17 times for 177 yards. He also had one pass reception for 60 yards. Nowak carried the ball 14 times for 107, Chris Sherer packed it three times for 17. Lancaster was 7-for-10 passing for 119 yards. Cavasso caught four for 42 yards, Carroll one for 60, Lloyd, one for 12 and Jeremy Favia one for five.

For the game, Modoc amassed 409 yards total offense while holding the Raiders to just 198, and most of that in the fourth period. Wood said Burney had 10 yards rushing the first quarter, 10 the second period, 17 in the third period and 79 in the fourth. Modoc was penalized six times for 65 yards and Burney three times for 15 yards.

Braves continue volley ball domi nance in early season

Consistency seemed to be the key as the Modoc volley ball team opened the Shasta-Cascade League last week with a road win over Burney 15-13, 15-11, 15-9.

The Braves got 85 percent of their serves in and success fully converted 81 percent of their pass attempts. Wendy Stafford and Kayte Chris tensen both had 140 or more passing attempts and both got 85 percent of them to the setter. Veronica Coates was 47-50 passing for a team high 94 percent while Stephanie Northrup had a 90 percent rate.

At the net, Christensen had 14 kills (also a team high three digs) while Jen nifer Kern added six and Andrea Knox had four.

The consistency continued in a non-league 15-13, 15-4 win over Lost River to make Modoc's overall record 19-1. The Braves hit on 87 percent of their serves and 84 percent of their passes. The Siegel sis ters led the way from the ser vice line. Se nior Tessa had three aces on 15-16 serving to go along with 82 percent pass ing. Junior Leah had six aces to go along with 26 as sists as setter. Christensen had seven kills while Kern and Knox had five each.

The Braves played their first home league match against Fall River last night and will travel to the Red Bluff tourna ment this Friday and Saturday.

Hornets winning streak in volleyball, soccer

The Surprise Valley vol leyball and soccer teams both posted wins this past week.

The indoor group (volleyball) beat Butte Valley 15-10, 15-8, 15-12 last Thurs day to move their record to 1-1 in the Evergreen League. Kills were spread out among Hornets Megan Konz (6), Heather Tufts (5) and Danielle Odgers (4). Stacey DePaul had five service aces.

The Hornet JV also beat Butte 15-9, 15-7 to post a perfect 2-0 league record. Coach John Christie praised the net play of Tammy Small and Ashlynn Dolcini in the match.

The Hornets host Dun smuir tonight with the JV be ginning at 5:30 and then play McCloud in Cedarville on Saturday with the JV starting at 1:30.

Soccer: Surprise Valley took a 5-1 win over McCloud last Saturday as John Geaney scored four goals - a hat trick plus one more for good mea sure. He was assisted on those scores by Chris Harris and Dillon Montre. Mike Northrup scored SV's last goal on a breakaway late in the game.

Earlier in this week, the Hornets played in 104 degree heat while losing to Liberty Christian 7-1. Geaney had the lone SV goal.

On Saturday Surprise Val ley will play in Cedarville at noon against McCloud.

Big Valley making quick work of foes; football team takes week off

Fans going to watch the Big Valley volley ball team re cently haven't had to worry about having to sit down for long periods of time. Two of the last three Cardinal matches have taken just 25 minutes as BV has stormed to a 4-0 record in the Evergreen League. (12-4 overall) No need to pack a lunch when watching Big Valley play.

Three of those wins came over a six day stretch this past week. Last Thursday, the Cards beat McCloud 15-3, 15-7, 15-7. On Sat urday they took down Happy Camp 15-3, 15-7, 16-14. Tuesday night the Cards got a home win over Butte Valley 15-3, 15-7, 7-15, 15-12. The Butte Valley match would have been an other short one if Cardinal coach Paula Silva hadn't made some sub stitutions and tried some new combinations in the third game.

One reason the Cardinals jump to such quick leads is because they have Baley Thomas serving first in their rotation. In the first game against Butte Valley, Thomas opened by scoring 11 points on her serve and Big Valley only had to rotate three times be fore getting the victory. Thomas also scored nine points on her serve in the game four victory against Butte Valley.

In the game two win against Butte Valley, Alicia Farber scored eight points on her serve and also had two blocks at the net. Ileah Jack son had five kills.

The next two dates on the Cardinal calen dar may bring some longer matches. Big Valley has been able to beat up on the bottom part of the EGL, but now they have to face fel low front-runners Tulelake (tonight) and Surprise Valley (October 9).

The JV will start against the Honkers tonight at 5:30 in Bieber followed by the var sity. Silva said of Tulelake, "That's our big game of the season."

The Big Valley JV has posted a 2-2 record in league thus far. Their last win came over Happy Camp on Saturday by scores of 15-12, 15-10.

Football: There's only one problem with being 3-0 and outscoring your opponents by over 100 points over that three-game stretch - nobody wants to play you. BV football coach Matt Hunsaker had hoped to schedule a game for October 3 but it seemed that nobody wanted to put the Cards on their dance card. BV's next game will at Dunsmuir on October 10.

Brave JV smash Burney Raiders; Fall River, unbeaten, waits for full battle

Modoc's junior varsity football team scored early and of ten in beating the Burney Raiders here last Friday night, 42-22. This week the Braves travel to Fall River for a second Shasta Cascade League match.

The Fall River game will be tougher than Burney. The Bulldogs beat Burney early in the season 18-6, but coach Mike Martin fig ures his Braves can topple Fall River.

"We played a really good game Friday against Burney and they weren't a bad team," said Martin. "Fall River may be a little better, but I think we'll be able to handle them."

Fall River comes into the game against the Braves un beaten, but beat Burney only 18-6 and fell to Big Valley in a scrimmage. They beat Mt. Shasta last week and Martin is rethinking the league.

Early on in the season, Martin felt Mt. Shasta, Trinity and Fall River would be the top of the league, with his Braves in the mid dle. He feels his Braves can challenge the rest of the SCL. Trinity, Mt. Shasta and Etna will be tough and Friday's game against Fall River is also a big one.

'I'll tell you, our offense will be able to put points on the board, so it will take a good of fense to beat us," said Martin. "We need our defense to play better. We're getting better and last Friday night we put together a great game."

Kaylon Benson had a big night for the Braves, rushing for over 200 yards, scoring two rushing touchdowns, another on a punt return and another on an interception.

Friday night against Burney, it was al most over before it got going. Modoc stopped the Raiders on three plays in the opening drive. Burney punted and Benson went right with the ball 50 yards for a touchdown with 6:02 left on the clock.

Three plays later, Burney punted again and Modoc took the ball at their 40. On the Braves' first offensive play from scrim mage, Josh Conner was hit as he threw the ball, but re ceiver Cody Holloway came back to get it, and scored on the 60-yard pass play. Benson took the ball over for the PAT and Modoc led 14-0 with 5:49 left in the first pe riod.

The first quarter ended with that score, but Modoc had taken the ball to the Burney six and early in the second quarter Benson scored again. Holloway caught the two-point conversion pass and Modoc led 22-0 with 9:50 left in the half. Burney got on the Board in the next series and with the PAT cut the Braves lead to 22-8.

That was short-lived as Benson broke loose and scored on an 80-yard run with 3:39 left in the half and Modoc led 28-8. The Raiders would score on a good pass play at the end of the half, cutting the Braves' lead to 28-14.

Early in the third period, the Braves drove the ball well and with the ball at the 16, full back Anthony Silva got the call and raced in for a touchdown. Holloway caught the PAT pass and the Braves led 36-14 when the third period ended.

Early in the fourth period, Benson picked off a Burney pass and scored from 20 yards out to give the Braves a 42-14 lead.

Burney managed to score its last touch down late in the game and cut the Modoc win to 42-22.

Keyes wins Chico Invitational run

Modoc's Josh Keyes is starting to pick up where he peaked last season, winning big races.

Keyes won the Chico Invitational Saturday in 17:43 over the three-mile course, well ahead of second place, and figures he is now on the road to improvement. Keyes still needs to take time off his race, and coach John Geldreich believes he's moving in the right direction.

"Keyes needs to take quite a lot of time off his races," said Geldreich. "He's not close to his personal best, but the season remains young and we're looking for improvement weekly. He really has to take his time down a minute to a minute-and-a-half."

The Braves travel to the Half Moon Bay Invitational this weekend, in one of the top meets of the season.

Modoc's varsity girl runner, Ginny Greene is still nursing leg injuries and is taking time off to get them healed.

The junior varsity girls team did very well, with Julia Greene taking a 12th over the 1.85 miles course in 13:00 and Missy Lieurance a 13th at 13:01. Stephanie McMasters was 65th at 14:43. Stephanie Blair was 70th at 14:49; Rebecca Richert placed 75th at 14:56 and Cheyenne Menkee was 87th at 16:07; April Dorton ran 20:30 and Jodie Roberts clocked a 23:07. There were 99 run ners in the race.

Daniel Toaetolu finished 36th out of 69 runners in the boys junior varsity race of 1.85 miles in 12:02. Aaron Wishart was 41st in 12:19; Travis Dunn was 42nd in 12:22 and Dan Hoover was 49th in 14:00. In the fresh man boys race, Joe Barnes placed 42nd in 15:00.

In the middle school division, Modoc's Ricky Scott won the event in 10:27 and Luke Hughes was third at 10:45. Scott has won all of this races this season and has been close to all course records, missing the Chico record by 10 seconds. There were 55 runners in the race.

In the middle school girls race, Modoc's Kayla Harness was second in 12:37 and Stacie Wells was fourth in 12:44. There were 36 runners in that race.

Runner of the week honors go to Stephanie McMasters.

Ducks Unlimited hosts a waterfowl party

An easy and fun way to benefit waterfowl habitat and wetlands expansion is to attend the Ducks Unlimited, Modoc Chapter, Annual Banquet and Auction at the Brass Rail Banquet Room, Alturas this Saturday night, October 4.

A no host social hour will begin at 6:00 p.m. with din ner at 7:30 p.m. Preview many of the auction items during the social hour.

"When it comes to conser vation, there are a lot of peo ple out there with good inten tions who would really like to make a positive difference in helping wildlife, but who just don't know how to go about it," says Nancy Heard, local DU chairperson from Alturas.

Heard invites the com munity to attend by purchas ing a ticket in advance or at the door. Tickets include annual membership in Ducks Unlimited and the dinner. Prices are $49 for single; $67 for couple; $34 GreenWing, a special mem bership for youths up to the age of 18.

The October 4 event will offer some impressive art, prints, carvings, practical gifts as well as all the DU collectibles.

Modoc Chapter of Ducks Unlimited is proud to hold their first annual Tobacco Free Banquet this year as well.

On a local basis, Ducks Unlimited Modoc Chapter has assisted with the cost of construction of the new Widgeon Pond at Modoc National Wildlife Refuge. Since 1937, Ducks Unlimited has raised funds to enhance and restore over 6.2 million habitat acres, encompassing over 10,000 wetlands pro jects.

Purchase tickets in ad vance from California Market and Heard Plumbing, Tom Ratcliff, Dick Steyer, Tom Mocilac and the Sports Hut. Tickets will also be available at the door. Everyone is welcome.

Record sports news for Oct. 9 issue

Ą Braves beat Bulldogs, face Bonanza
Ą Modoc volleyball wins big school tournament
Ą Cross country team has great outing
Ą Cardinals stage comeback to beat Tulelake
Ą Hornets are on a winning streak
Ą Low numbers for refuge opening
Ą SV soccer team kicking well
Ą Modoc JVs lose tough to game to Fall River
Modoc takes Fall River; hosts Bonanza Antlers for Homecoming, 1997

Modoc's Braves played well enough Friday to beat the Fall River Bulldogs 26-0, after a shaky start, and now host Bonanza for Homecoming this week in Alturas.

The Bonanza game is a non-league con test and should serve as a warm-up for next week's Mt. Shasta Bears game, which could prove pivotal in the Shasta Cascade League race and playoff picture.

The Bears and Modoc are unbeaten in SCL play and the probability is the Bears will beat Burney this week.

"We need to play well against Bonanza this week and be prepared for Mt. Shasta," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "The Bears are a good, solid team, and could end up be ing the team to beat this season. Our win at Fall River wasn't pretty, especially in the first half, but we did some good things."

One of the things the Braves did well was play defense, limiting Fall River to just 97 yards total offense for the night, 57 on the ground and 40 through the air. Wood credits the play of down linemen, including Daniel Flournoy and Greg Buck, who along with linebacker Robert Oliver, led the team in tackles with seven each.

"I was very pleased with our line play, and Flournoy definitely disrupted their back field," said Wood. "Our defensive line was dominate all night. To be honest, Fall River played us tougher than I thought they would. Hopefully, they'll be able to knock someone else off this year."

Bonanza comes to Modoc sporting one of the best quarterbacks Wood has seen in years, Jeff Scott. Bonanza beat up on Dunsmuir last week and Wood expects a good game.

"Their quarterback is a good, solid player who throws well and is very quick. He's also tall and we're going to have to control him," said Wood. "But I also think we'll be able to move the ball this week."

Wood has been impressed with the progress of Braves' running back Matt Carroll, who has certainly stepped it up in the last two games. Against Fall River, he rushed 24 times for 188 yards and scored one touchdown. The key, said Wood, is that Carroll is running a lot tougher than he had in the opening two games.

"Carroll is running hard and using a spin move to break away," said Wood. "He's fast, and we certainly are happy with the way he's running now."

Modoc's offense did well at Fall River, generating 359 total yards, with 304 of those on the ground.

But the Braves were stymied early by the Bulldogs, surprised that they couldn't move the ball at will. They started with the ball at Fall River's 50 on their first series but a penalty cut the drive short. Fall River ended up getting the ball at the Modoc 25 following a bad snap and moved it to a first down at the 13. But the Bulldogs fumbled and Modoc's Eric Lancaster scooped the ball up and raced 88 yards for a touchdown. The point after failed, but Modoc led 6-0 halfway through the opening period.

In the latter part of the first half, the Braves mounted a drive that took them from their eight to the Fall River 40, with Carroll doing most of the running. On a second and seven, Lancaster tossed the ball at the right flag, Fall River's defender tipped it, but Jimmy Lloyd kept his concentration, snagged the ball and went in for the score. The point after failed, and at the half Modoc led 12-0.

On Modoc's second possession of the sec ond half, they mounted another drive from their 30 yard line and moved the ball to the Fall River four. Carroll took the ball in, and Greg Jacques kicked the point after to give Modoc a 19-0 lead with 3:34 left in the third.

Modoc would add another score in the fourth period when Jeremy Favia ran the ball in from the 10. Jacques added the point after for the 26-0 win.

Carroll led all rushers with 188 yards on 24 carries. Andy Nowak packed it 13 times for 59 yards, Chris Sherer six-for-38, Favia four-for-36, Lancaster two-for-four and Bradley Ray two-for-eight.

Lancaster was four-for-10 passing for 55 yards. Lloyd caught one-for-40, Larry Cavasso one-for-11, Carroll two-for-four. The Braves were flagged five times for 50 yards, while Fall River was nicked once for 15. The Braves picked up 13 first downs, while hold ing Fall River to three.

Brave runners do well in tough meet

Modoc Cross Country Coach John Geldreich said his team had its best day of the year in Half Moon Bay Saturday, with several run ners showing solid im prove ment.

Senior Josh Keyes ran his best race of the season, said Geldreich. He placed fifth out of 147 runners, and clocked a fast 12:13 over the 2.5 mile course. The win ning time was 11:48. Keyes results rep resents a 4:48 per mile pace.

"It was easily Josh's best race of the season and one of the best races I've seen him run," said Geldreich. "We had several other runners do very well."

In the junior varsity girls race, Julia Greene clocked a 16:10 over the 2.5 miles to place 12th out of 132 runners. She ran a 6:28 per mile pace.

Greene was followed by Missy Lieurance who placed 47th at 17:43, Stephanie McMasters was 51st at 17:49; Stephanie Blair was 86th at 18:59, Rebekah Richert was 92nd at 19:14; Cheyenne Menkee was 111th at 20:28 and April Dorton was 124th at 22:23.

For the junior varsity boys, Aaron Wishart placed 38th out of 81 run ners in 15:20. Travis Dunn came in 43rd at 15:28 and Daniel Toaetolu was 47th at 15:51.

Geldreich named Richert as the runner of the week.

Low hunters numbers for Refuge's opener

While the birds were plentiful for Saturday Modoc National Wildlife refuge waterfowl hunt open, the hunters numbers were down.

According to refuge Manager Dave Johnson, 160 hunters had paid for their opening day permits, but only 105 actually showed up for the hunt. Usually, he said, the hunter turnout is about 95 percent of the permit holders. Just why the num bers were down remain a mystery, said Johnson.

On Saturday, the hunters got 462 birds, with 275 of those be ing mallards. There were also 31 geese killed Saturday. Hunters had a 4.4 bird average each for Saturday.

The first day of the hunt sent the ducks flying south, or in some cases east to the no-hunting portion of the refuge. Hunter success dipped to 1.83 birds per hunter Sunday as they knocked down 20 geese and 150 ducks.

There was a report of a Sandhill Crane being shot, but the carcass was not found said Johnson. There was a cita tion issued to a hunter who shot a Cormorant.

Johnson reminds local fisherman that Dorris reservoir is closed during the waterfowl hunting season.

Hunt days on the Modoc refuge are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with gates opening two hours before sunrise. Hunters simply register themselves at the parking areas.

Hornets drop Modoc, McCloud

Surprise Valley's soccer team whipped McCloud 5-2 Oct. 6, following a 5-1 win over Modoc Oct. 1.

In McCloud, the Hornets led 2-1 in the first half and outscored the Loggers 3-1 in the second half. In the first half, Brian Darst scored both goals off assists from Tom Harris and John Geaney.

Geaney scored each of the three goals in the second half. The first was off an assist by Harris, the second on a break-away and the third was a high floater over the goalie's head. The wind was erratic at Surprise Valley. Coach Henry Bietz complimented goalie Craig Hymer for his improvements and great saves. He also said the Hornet defense has been outstanding.

Against the Modoc team, the Hornets were productive in the first half, scoring four goals, two by Geaney with as sists from Anthony Schultz and Harris and the third on a Harris break-away. A fourth was scored by Darst off a Geaney assist. The final goal was scored by Mike Northrup on a break away.

Brave JV prepare for Bonanza after loss

The Modoc Junior Varsity football team is all set for the Bonanza Antlers, hoping to atone for a less-than-stellar first half performance in a loss to Fall River Friday night 22-12.

The junior varsity has played tough teams tough so far this season, but has made some critical mistakes at cru cial times. They enter the Bonanza game with a 2-2 record and are expecting to win the game. The following week they will face another top SCL team, Mt. Shasta.

Modoc coach Mike Martin found the loss at Fall River particularly frustrating. "They were a better team than I ex pected, but we had the ability to beat them," said Martin. "We turned the ball over too many times and made some mental mistakes that hurt. This loss was very frustrating for us, be cause we just didn't execute. Our quarterback was con stantly getting knocked down."

Martin said he wouldn't take anything away from the Bulldogs, but felt his team came out very flat in the first half and giving up the touchdown at the end of the half was a killer.

"We just let their back out free, and we'd talked all week about knocking him down at the line," said Martin. "And we didn't get it done all night."

In Fall River, the Braves were flat in the first half al low ing the Bulldogs to go up 14-0 at half-time. Jeremy McFarlin scored both of Fall River's touchdowns, on a run and on a pass play as the half ended when the Braves' secondary mis cued.

Modoc's second half was much more spirited. After fum bling the opening kickoff, the Braves intercepted a pass. Josh Conner tossed the ball to Cody Holloway, who moved the ball 50 yards to Fall River's 24. Kaylon Benson got the call and scored around end. The point-after try failed and Modoc trailed 14-6 at the end of the third. The Braves played tough in the fourth period, but on a fourth and six, McFarlin broke through a pair of tackles to score. With the point after, Fall River led 22-6.

But the Braves weren't finished. Conner found Glenn Christensen on a pass play to get into Bulldog territory and with just over three minutes left in the game, Conner hit Holloway again who came down with the ball at the one-foot line. Conner sneaked the ball in and when the conversion failed Modoc trailed 22-12.

The Braves would not get the ball back in time to make anything happen.

The JV opens the Homecoming festivities at 5:00 p.m. Friday night.

Record sports summaries for Oct. 16, 1997 issue

Ą Braves head to bear country for big game
Ą Cardinals drop Dunsmuir with ease
Ą Cardinal-Hornets have volleyball thriller
Ą Cross country team runs okay
Ą JV Braves romp over Bonanza
Ą Hornets kickers take care of Modoc
Modoc heads to Bear country for big battle, Bonanza fought hard in 26-17 loss

Modoc's Braves, bolstered by the emer gence of Matt Carroll's much-improved run ning, take a three-game win ning streak into the Mt. Shasta's Bears home Friday night in a pivotal Shasta Cascade League game.

The Bears were upset by Burney 12-6 last Friday and will be a bit angry. It's a must-win for them and for the Braves and could decide a play-off berth for the winner. The game has had a large circle drawn around it on the schedule since the start of the season.

Carroll has lifted the Braves over the past three weeks, rushing for 564 yards on 72 car ries, a 7.83 average. In the first three games, Carroll rushed the ball 152 yards on 41 car ries for a 4.7 average. In the game against Bonanza, Carroll had his best day, getting 199 yards on 31 carries.

Modoc had several chances to put the Bonanza game away early, but just couldn't get it done. Although they were never behind in the game, there were periods of serious an guish.

"We just couldn't put it away and we need to be able to do that," said coach Shaun Wood. "Carroll has been running hard and doing well. I think putting more speed on the line has helped and he's just running much harder."

Wood said moving Chris Sherer into the line, having Larry Cavasso back healthy at tight end and moving Ted Lewis to the oppo site side has been helpful. The line remains anchored by center Matt Hamilton.

"I think Mt. Shasta might have been look ing past Burney to us," said Wood. "I also ex pect they are going to be fired up for us. I want us fired up too, because it's a big game. But I also want us loose enough to play well."

Wood said the weather for the Mt. Shasta-Burney game was terrible and the wet condi tions allowed Burney to better match Mt. Shasta's speed. The forecast for Friday night when Modoc arrives is supposed to be clear.

"I know they're going to be ready for us, but we have some things in the schemes that should work well for us," said Wood. "They have some quick guys, but I believe we can match most of them and we'll be working on keeping them bottled up. This will not be an easy game, but I think we have the tools we need. I was shocked that Burney beat them."

Wood said there were several reasons the Raiders beat the favored Bears, and he knows a trick or two to use. But, he said, the Braves will have to come out ready to play from the opening gun.

"It's still early in the season, but Mt. Shasta can't afford to lose two league games," said Wood. "And we're going to do our best to make sure they lose their second league game Friday night."

The game started well for Modoc. They held Bonanza to three downs and a punt on the first series. Modoc got the ball at their 49 and moved the ball to the five. They stalled, but on a fourth and five, Eric Lancaster found a wide-open Larry Cavasso for the touchdown pass. The point after failed and Modoc led

6-0.

On Bonanza's next series, Cavasso recov ered a fumble at the Bonanza 31. The Braves moved the ball to the two and Andy Nowak pushed his way into the endzone. The point af ter failed and Modoc led 12-0 with 1:59 left in the first.

On the first play of the second quarter, Bonanza's Jeff Scott kicked a 30-yard field goal to cut Modoc's lead to 12-3.

The Braves looked like they were going to score on the next series when Carroll broke loose for a 50-yard scamper, giving the Braves a first down at the Bonanza 25. But a Braves' fumble was recovered by Bonanza at the 26. Modoc stopped the Antlers and forced a punt, taking over at the Braves' 36.

The Braves didn't move and another fum ble was recov ered by Bonanza at the Bonanza 45. The Antlers marched the ball to the 10 where quarterback Jeff Scott took it in on a keeper. With the two point conversion, the Antlers had cut the Braves lead to 12-11 with 2:32 left in the half.

The Braves rebounded. Starting on their 22, Lancaster hit Cavasso with a pass to the 34, Carroll took the ball to the Bonanza 45. Lancaster ran the ball to the 29. Carroll then broke free for a 29-yard touchdown. The point try failed and Modoc led 18-11 at the half.

The second half started much as the first with the Braves' first few plays moving them steadily downfield. But the drive stalled and Modoc punted. Bonanza got the ball at the Bonanza 46 and moved into Modoc territory. Cavasso picked off a pass and ran it in for a score, but an interference call brought the ball back.

Bonanza then moved the ball to the Modoc one, and Scott hit Scott Tenold with a touch down pass. The conversion try failed, but the Antlers had cut the lead to 18-17 when the fourth period started.

Bonanza added a little more hand-wring ing when they stopped the Braves on the next series forcing a punt. Bonanza took over at their 49. Jeremy Favia eased the tension when he picked off a pass and returned it to the Bonanza 27. The ten sion was turned up on high again when Bonanza's Jack Weiser picked off a Lancaster pass at the Bonanza 29. On the next play, the Antlers moved the ball to the 42. The end was near on Bonanza's next set when Matt Hamilton and Greg Buck sacked Scott for a 15-yard loss on a fourth down play.

Modoc took over with a first down at the Bonanza 27. The Braves moved the ball to the one, when Carroll pushed it over and Cavasso grabbed a two-point conversion pass from Lancaster to put the game on ice at 26-17 with 3:15 left.

In addition to Carroll, Nowak carried the ball 13 times for 34 yards, Lancaster, five-for-26 and Favia three-for-14. Lancaster was three-of-nine passing for 35 yards. Cavasso caught a pair for 27 and Bradley Ray grabbed one for eight. Modoc finished the game with 310 yards total offense while limiting Bonanza to 143 yards.

Dunsmuir falls to BV Cardinals

It's a Tim Valdez planet. The rest of us just live here.

Valdez led the Big Val ley football team to a 29-6 victory at Dunsmuir last Friday night as he scored four touchdowns and rushed for 181 yards.

The Cardinals didn't start to dominate until the second half of the game. The teams went to the locker-room at the half tied at 6-6. That's something the Cards aren't used to. They've been up by at least two touchdowns at half-time of their other three games this season. Dun smuir got it's lone score on a 55-yard bomb.

Valdez put the Cards back in front in the third quarter with a 14 yard TD run and added two more insurance scores in the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals, 1-0 in the Evergreen League and 4-0 overall, will host Happy Camp tomorrow night in Bieber. The Campers come in with a 4-1 record and are also 1-0 in league after shutting out Tulelake 20-0 last week.

Cards beat Hornets in thrilling volleyball match

Big Valley finished the first half of the Evergreen League schedule undefeated with a thrilling five game victory over Surprise Valley last Thursday.

Surprise Valley came out strong and took the first game before the Cards answered with wins in games two and three. The Hornets won game four to force a fifth game tie-breaker. BV then took over the match and won 15-1.

They've improved a lot," Cardinal coach Paula Silva said of Surprise Valley. "We came out pretty sluggish but you can't take anything away from Surprise Valley. They played a good match."

The reason for the Cards' initial sluggishness may have been that they were com ing off yet another five game thriller over Tulelake.

"The girls were still kind of basking in that moment," Silva noted.

On Tuesday, Big Valley extended it's winning streak by steamrolling Dunsmuir 15-1, 15-8, 15-3. The Cards got big serving runs from Baley Thomas and Amy Plemons. Thomas served 12 straight points for BV in game one while Plemons racked up an other streak of 12 in game two.

Surprise Valley bounced back from the loss at Big Val ley to beat Happy Camp on Saturday. It was another five game affair with the Hornets spotting the Campers two games be fore storming back to win three in a row.

SV coach John Christie felt his team should have had an easier time handling Happy Camp, but felt that the fact that the game was played on a neutral court -- Dunsmuir, took some of the motion out of the contest. Since the two schools are about six hours apart they generally try to find some place in between to meet. The result is often an eerie still ness, or what Christie called "a dead gym."

"I wish the library would be that quiet," he joked.

The Cardinals and Hor nets currently occupy two of the top three spots in the EAL as the second half of the sea son gets under way. Big Val ley is on top at 7-0, followed by Tulelake at 5-1 and Surprise Valley at 4-2. Things figure to be excit ing in coming weeks given the schedules for all three of those teams. The Cardinals needed five games to beat the Honkers and Hor nets at home but now have to face both squads on the road. The two Hornet losses were close ones on the road at Tule lake and Big Valley. They get both teams in Cedarville over the next two weeks.

In fact, SV's first shot at revenge comes tonight as they host the Honkers with the JV beginning at 5:30 followed by the varsity. After tonight the Hornets will hit the road to face McCloud on Saturday and Butte Valley next Tues day.

Big Valley will play at Happy Camp on Saturday and then travels to Tulelake next Tuesday for what could be the match that determines the EAL title. A win for the Cards would pretty much assure their repeat as league champs.

The Big Valley and Sur prise Valley JV teams are also in the thick of a league title race. The Hornets are in a first place tie with Dun smuir at 5-1. Big Valley is just a game be hind in the loss column at 5-2 and handed Dunsmuir its only loss.

Cross Country--

Braves run okay at Susanville meet

Modoc's Braves had some good showings at the Susanville Invitational last weekend, but cool weather was a real damper.

The team heads to the Fall River Invitational this weekend where coach John Geldreich expects better times.

The Modoc home meet is set for Oct. 25 at Arrowhead Golf Course.

Senior Josh Keyes clocked an 18:57 for the 3.1 miles course, placing ninth. Travis Dunn placed 60th at 23:08 and Dan Hoover was 63rd at 24:41.

In the junior varsity girls race, over 2.1 miles, Julia Greene ran an 18:18 for seventh and Missy Lieurance ran 18:19 for eighth. Stephanie McMasters finished 26th at 20:24; Stephanie Blair was 34th at 21:40; Rebekah Richert was 43rd at 22:19; Cheyenne Menkee was 47th at 22:46 and April Dorton was 51st at 24:53.

Aaron Wishart placed 29th in the JV boys race, running a 16:43 and Daniel Toaetolu was 38th at 17:11.

In the middle school girls race, Modoc's Stacie Wells placed fifth in her race at 13:31 over the 1.5 miles. Amanda Dennis placed 21st at 15:24 and Kayla Harness was 22nd at 15:25.

In the middle school boys race, Modoc's Ricky Scott placed first and Luke Hughes placed second.

Brave JVs romp over Bonanza, facing tough Mt. Shasta this week

Modoc's junior varsity football team had no trouble with the Bonanza Antlers in Friday's Homecoming pre liminary game, winning 36-0.

Kaylon Benson led the way, scoring four touchdowns for the Braves in the first half, barely getting touched by Bonanza's defense. Modoc coach Mike Martin, trying not to imitate Florida coach Steve Spurrier by running up the score, put in the second string defense and offense for the entire second half of the game, getting those players good experience. Those players held their own against Bonanza, including adding a final touchdown.

This week the Braves head to Mt. Shasta where the op position will be fierce in a Shasta Cascade League game. Martin expects the Bears to be prepared and a real test for the Braves.

In head-to-head competition, the Braves and Bears both lost to Fall River. Modoc lost 22-12 and Mt. Shasta lost 15-12. Last Friay, however, the Bears lost to Burney 18-6, and Modoc beat Burney 42-20.

"We're going over there expecting a tough game," said Martin this week, expressing some shock that Burney beat the Bears. "We're not going to do much different, I'm happy with our offensive potential. We need to go there and play hard."

The Bonanza game, said Martin, was not much compe tition, but it was good for the team. "If you could wish for anything for Homecoming, it would probably be to be able to get everyone in the game," he said. "Most of our players got to play at least one-half game each and that was good."

Against Bonanza, Benson scored early in the first pe riod on a long run. The point after try snap was bad, but Benson picked it up and found Cody Holloway on a pass play for the two-point conversion. Modoc led 8-0 with 6:49 left in the first quarter,

Benson added another touchdown on the next series and the point after failed, giving Modoc a 14-0 lead. He would run another one in from 40 yards out to give the Braves a 22-0 lead when Anthony Silva ran in the conver sion.

Benson added a final touchdown in the second period from the 42. He then kicked the point after and at the half the Braves led 29-0.

Modoc would add another touchdown in the fourth when Silva took it over from the seven. Benson kicked the point after to give the Braves the 36-0 win.

Hornets drop Modoc kickers

Surprise Valley soccer rolled their record to 8-3 on the season with a 6-0 drubbing of Modoc last week.

Despite the cold and windy weather, the Hornets started hot, getting four goals in the first half. John Geaney scored two goals, one on an assist by Tom Harris and the other on a high shot that got caught in the wind and car ried over the head of the Modoc goalie. Brian Darst also added two goals in the half.

In the second half Anthony Shultz got a breakaway and put it in the net while Mike Northrup completed the scor ing when he picked up a de flected pass and scored.

Surprise Valley played at Tulelake last night and will travel to McCloud on Satur day.

Record sports summaries for Oct. 23, 1997 issue

Ą Braves keep volleyball dominance alive
Ą Modoc drops game to Mt. Shasta Bears
Ą Modoc hosts cross-country meet
Ą Big Valley football mows down Happy Camp
Ą Honkers get revenge on Cardinals
Ą Tulelake drops Hornet netters
Ą Modoc JVs dust Bears 39-0
Braves keep volleyball win streak easily

You have to go back to Octo ber of 1994 to find the last time Modoc lost a Shasta-Cascade League volleyball match. Back to an ancient time when the Democrats controlled Congress, there wasn't a World Series and nobody had ever heard of "Hanson." The Modoc win streak in league now stands at 16 straight.

Little surprise then that ev ery time an SCL team gets to play the Braves, it is the match of the year for the opponent. Even though Mt. Shasta lost to Modoc 15-11, 9-15, 15-9, 15-13 one would have thought they had won the Sectional Title with how excited they were at winning that one game. It was the same thing with Fall River two weeks earlier. Just proving that the Braves are human is a victory in itself.

One of the Mt. Shasta play ers even acted as if blocking two Kayte Christensen spikes was the highlight of her ca reer. Then again, how many people can say they've done that? She joined a very small club.

"That's exciting for a kid to be able to say they've done that," Modoc coach Harold Montague noted.

(By the way, both times Christensen came back with powerful kills on the very next play that nobody even got close to, perhaps out of fear, be fore they hit the ground. Christensen made sure ev eryone knew that those blocks were the exception rather than the rule.)

Montague said he can un derstand how the six "other" teams in the SCL feel since prior to the current Modoc dy nasty, Etna had won the league and section three years in a row. He can remember how much the Braves got up for Etna before what he calls, "The changing of the guard in the league."

The win over Mt. Shasta left Modoc at 3-0 in league and 26-2 overall. Montague had predicted that the Bears would be one of the tougher teams the Braves would face and the job was made all the more diffi cult because senior star Jen nifer Kern was sidelined due to problems with arthritis in her knees. Kern has been a strong and consistent per former for Modoc for the past three years. This season she has been second in kills on the team and has provided top-notch play on the back -row as well.

It was clear against Mt. Shasta that Modoc is still a very good team without Kern, but not as strong a team as they are with her. Montague said Kern was going to rest her knees last week and check with doctors about play ing this week.

Against the Bears, Chris tensen led the way with 28 kills, nine blocks and four digs. Andrea Knox was strong at the net with 13 kills and six blocks to go along with four aces and two digs at the back of the court. Most of the assists on the Christensen and Knox kills came from Leah Siegel but she was also able to get five kills, three blocks, two digs and two aces.

Wendy Stafford had five digs and four kills while Veronica Coates had three blocks and a kill. Lindsey Lieurance had two digs and a kill, Tessa Siegel had two aces and Christy Cartner had two digs.

The Modoc JV team is also 3-0 in league after beating the Bears 15-10, 16-14. The Braves were down 14-11 in the second game before storming back to take the win.

Sara Howell led the team in kills with eight while Megan Orner added five. Jessica Kern had three kills and an ace while Allison Ferry, Lindsey Delmas and Molly Busby added a kill each.

The Braves played at Weed last night and have their last home game of the regular sea son on Saturday against Trinity with the JV starting at 2 p.m.

Poor showing for Braves at Bears

Cougars here for SCL battle

On a night when they needed their best effort, Modoc's Braves played their worst game of the season, losing to the Mt. Shasta Bears 15-6 in Mt. Shasta Friday. This week, Weed's Cougars invade Modoc for another Shasta Cascade League match-up.

"We didn't block, run, catch or tackle," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "And just to make up for that, we also fumbled the ball three times. It was pretty ugly."

Wood credited the Bears' nose tackle for disrupting the Braves in the first half, but felt his team should have been able to pull the game out. The loss dropped the Braves to 2-1 in league and 3-4 overall for the season.

"We had two good drives killed by fumbles and two good drives killed by penalties," said Wood. "We came out flat and just never built up any intensity. It was a game we had plenty of chances to win, we just didn't get it done when we had to. It was pretty frustrating."

Wood figures his squad should be ready for the Weed Cougars Friday night and he's hoping to get the team back into the correct frame of mind before they meet Etna and fin ish the season at Trinity.

"It's pretty simple, we need to win these last three games and knock someone off," said Wood. "We're capable of winning the final three, but we're going to have to improve our attitude and intensity."

Weed and Mt. Shatsa run the same offense, so the Braves should be familiar with tendacies and keys. Wood is look ing to get his charges fired up again for the final three games of the season.

Modoc's running game was pretty much stopped by the Bears. Modoc gained 91 yards on the night and no one did very well. Matt Carroll picked up just 35 yards on 10 carries and Andy Nowak earned just 33 yards on 10 carries. Eric Lancaster packed it four times for 12 yards. Mt. Shasta backs, meanwhile, rushed the ball for 198 yards.

Carroll did have one pass reception for 31 yards that set up the Braves only score in the second period. Lancaster was 4-for-9 passing. Of the five incompletions, four were just dropped by receivers who should have caught the ball.

The game started well, but disintegrated into a mess early. On Modoc's first possession, Nowak carried the ball to a second and four and on the next play, Carroll picked up a first down. But a holding penalty brought the ball back. Modoc didn't recover and punted.

The defense held the Bears to a punt, but once again, Modoc was three plays and out. Mt. Shasta started at their 34 and moved the ball to the Modoc 18. Modoc stopped them there, but Jeremy Porteous kicked at 25-yard field goal to put the Bears up 3-0 as the first period ended.

With the first half coming to a close, the Bears moved the ball from their 43 to the Modoc four. On a fourth and goal, Bear running back Troy Hagedon scored for the Bears. The point after failed and Mt. Shasta led 9-0.

A Mt. Shasta penalty kept a Braves drive alive with about 30 seconds left in the first half. Modoc had a first down at the Bears 39 when Lancaster hit Carroll, who took the ball all the way to the Mt. Shasta nine. On a third and four, Lancaster hit Bill Wilson in the endzone for the score. The point after failed, but Modoc had cut the lead to 9-6 when the first half ended.

The second half started well for the Bears as they took the kickoff and mounted a drive from their 20.With the ball at the 16, the Bears' quarterback hit Gavin Harrison for the touchdown. The point after was blocked by Chris Sherer and Mt. Shasta led 15-6 with 7:34 left in the third period.

The Bears moved the ball to the Modoc 18 on the next se ries, but on a fourth down, Sherer came through and blocked a Bear field goal try.

The Braves moved the ball on a sustained drive from their 20 to the Bear 14 at the start of the fourth quarter. But on a second and 11, Lancaster fumbled the ball on a keeper and Mt. Shasta recovered at the 17.

The Braves had a good chance to get the ball back when a personal foul penalty against Mt. Shasta gave the Bears a first-and-30 from the Bear 35. But the Bears managed to move the ball to a first down at the Modoc 30 with two minutes left in the game. Modoc stopped the Bears with an intercep tion at the Modoc 15 on a fourth down play, but ran out of time to do anything and Mt. Shasta won 15-6.

Modoc hosts its Cross Country meet Saturday

Modoc High School will host its annual Cross Country Invitational Saturday morning at Arrowhead Golf Course in Alturas.

The event brings five high school and middle school teams to Alturas and the weather forecast looks fairly good for the meet. Modoc coach John Geldreich expects his team to do very well at home.

The meet starts on the ninth hole fairway at 9:30 a.m. and should run until 11:30 a.m. in middle school, junior varsity and varsity events.

The Modoc team just finished a good meet at Fall River High School Tuesday against Fall River, Mt. Shasta, Big Valley, and Dunsmuir.

Each team ran a tough 2.7 mile course, said Geldreich.

In the varsity boys race, Modoc's Josh Keyes ran a solid race to place first in 16:15. Keyes ran well and Geldreich ex pects him to have an excellent day Saturday. Travis Dunn took a fourth at 20:00 and Daniel Hoover was fifth at 21:14.

In the varsity girls race, Modoc's Ginny Greene ran for the first time in four weeks and placed third at 22:44. Greene is recovering from leg injuries. Stephanie Blair was sixth at 26:09 and Cheyenne Menkee was 8th at 27:15.

Modoc's junior varsity girls team did very well with Julia Greene winning the race at 21:17 and Missy Lieurance placing second at 21:40. Rebekah Richert ran a 24:49 to place sixth, Stephanie McMasters ran 24:52 for seventh and April Dorton ran a 29:50 for eighth.

Aaron Wishart led the Modoc junior varsity boys with a third place finish in 19:44 and Daniel Toaetolu was fourth in 20:00.

Cardinals survive tough test over Happy Camp Indians

The Big Valley football team got its toughest test of the season last Friday when they hosted Happy Camp for their 1997 Homecoming game. The Cards came away with a 27-12 win over an Indian team that both players and coaches said was the most physical group they have played against. Happy Camp is also a team the Cardinals are expecting to see in the Division VI playoffs, probably the finals.

It was well known before late Friday that Big Valley had an explosive offense that could break open a game quickly with long runs from scrimmage. Against the In dians, the Cards also proved that they are a team that can pass when needed and can grind it out five yards at a time with drives that eat up the clock when they are protecting a lead.

Before the game began, lineman Chris Clark was named Homecoming King along with Homecoming Queen Naomi Seeger, a starter on the first place vol leyball team. Clark then went out and had a royal evening with 10 tackles and two sacks on defense and ex pert blocking on the O-line that led to 319 rushing yards.

And what mysteries could his Most Supreme Highness shed light on with regard to the Cardinal running game? How about, "The running backs read the blocks real well. They followed our butts."

Could the key to having a successful running game be any simpler? "Follow those butts."

The followers against Happy Camp were Chris Click with 159 yards and Tim Valdez with 96.

Clark said he also felt the defense had played well, par ticularly when they forced four turnovers in the first half after the Big Valley offense had coughed the ball up three times.

"Our defense really held us together tonight," Clark said. "Our defense is what we're made of."

The Cardinals also got seven tackles from Russ Car penter and six each from Renden Ellenberger and Click.

On the whole, the BV de fense was fantastic against the run, allowing just 48 yards on 27 rushing attempts. However, Happy Camp did have some success with their passing game getting 200 yards through the air.

The Big Valley defense gave the offense an early chance to score when Kasey Criss picked off an Indian pass and returned it to the Happy Camp 14. The Cards got to fourth and eight three plays later and went for it. They came up short and the ball went back to the Indians.

Big Valley would get the ball back later in the quarter only to lose it on a fumble, then get it right back when John Saltzman recovered an HC fumble, and then lose it again on yet another fumble just two plays later.

At the beginning of the sec ond quarter, Valdez made the first of two huge defensive plays that broke the game open for the Cardinals. With Happy Camp driving, Valdez chased their quarterback back about 20 yards, sacked him and knocked the ball loose. Colton Jeppson promptly fell on it to create a total loss of 30 yards on the play for Happy Camp and give BV the ball at the Indian 36.

The Cards got their first touchdown of the evening through the passing of QB Corado Reginatto. He com pleted five of his six attempts on the night for 86 yards and two touchdowns. He also got a little help from his receivers on a 25 yard completion that led to the first BV score of the night.

A Happy Camp safety was going up to pick off a Regi natto pass when Criss flew in to knock the ball out of the HC player's hands, into the air and then into the waiting arms of Joe Haury who hap pened to be standing a few feet away. That wild play set up a seven yard TD pass from Reginatto to Valdez that gave Big Valley a 6-0 lead.

The Cardinal's next scor ing opportunity would again come from a huge defensive play by Valdez. This time instead of running into the Happy Camp backfield, he ran down the field with their receivers and picked off a pass which he then ran back to the Indian 32.

The possession ended with Click getting a 10 yard touch down run at 1:16 which gave BV a 12-0 half-time lead.

The Cards extended that lead to 18-0 when they scored with 4:44 left in the third quarter when wide-receiver Criss beat his man down the right side and Reginatto got him the ball for a 40 yard touchdown pass.

Happy Camp responded with a 53 yard drive that made the score 18-6 with 1:58 left in the quarter. However, just when the Indians thought they were getting back in the game, Click put it out of reach just 63 seconds later when he broke loose on a counter play and rumbled 45 yards for a touchdown. He also kicked the PAT to make the score 25-6 at the end of three.

Big Valley got another op portunity to score in the fourth quarter but on fourth and inches at the goal-line, the Happy Camp defense made a stand and stopped the Cards just short of the TD. The Car dinals did end up getting some points from the situation though. Three plays later they chased the Indians' QB into the endzone and forced him to get an intentional grounding call when he tried to throw the ball away. When that penalty is called in the endzone it is a safety and BV got two more points on the boards.

The Indians got another touchdown late on a 40 yard TD pass but it was too little too late.

At the JV level, the teams played nine-on-nine since Happy Camp only had eleven players suited up. The Cardi nals opened up a 42-0 lead by half-time. In the second half they did an admirable job of making the clock move quickly with lots of runs up the middle. The game ended at 50-0 after a second half that only took 30 minutes to play.

Big Valley, 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Evergreen League, is off this weekend before traveling to Butte Valley on November 1 for a Saturday afternoon game.

Tulelake gets revenge in volleyball race

The Evergreen League features long bus rides to small towns (small even by Modoc County standards) where a good volleyball team can draw a huge crowd. Therefore, the home-court ad vantage can be a big thing.

Such was the case this sea son between Big Valley and Tulelake, the league's top two teams. A Couple of weeks ago, the Cardinals had a loud crowd behind them in their own gym as they engineered a thrilling come-from-behind five-game victory. This past Tuesday, things were differ ent when Big Valley had to travel north to the home of the Honkers. Tulelake got re venge with a 15-9, 15-8, 15-8 victory.

BV coach Paula Silva ac knowledge that Honkers "were a good team that played well," while also noting that, "they had about half the town out for the game. During the first game I don't think our girls knew what had hit them."

The Cards were able to build a 5-0 lead in the third game, but Tulelake came back to end the evening early.

Silva praised the perfor mance of Naomi Seeger at the net and the serving and hit ting of Ileah Jackson.

Big Valley and Tulelake now have identical 8-1 records, and having split their two matches against each other, they appear headed for a co-championship. Silva said she wasn't sure yet how it would be determined which team would get the higher seed for Sectional playoffs.

The JV match between the Cardinals and Honkers was a thriller with Tulelake get ting a win: 16-14, 12-15, 15-13.

The next Big Valley chal lenge will come on Tuesday when they travel to Cedarville to face Surprise Valley.

Tulelake drops Hornet netters

The Surprise Valley vol leyball team found out what a streaky game volleyball can be when they faced Tulelake last Thursday. The Hornets put together some great stretches but in the end a very talented Tulelake team had more point-runs in taking at 15-7, 15-13, 15-6 win.

In game one the Honkers took a 7-0 lead before SV could even get on the board. The two teams were evenly matched after that. The Hornets came back to within 11-7 before Tulelake ran off the final four points in a row.

Game two saw Surprise Valley put together a strong drive to take a 12-8 lead after being down 7-6. However, Tulelake went on a run of their own to come back and tie it at 12-all. After each team scored a point the two squads went through six straight sideouts before a Hornet spike went long off a Honker serve to give Tulelake a 14-13 lead, and one point later, the game.

The momentum from the game two comeback carried on into game three as Tule lake quickly built a 10-0 lead to close out the match.

"When we didn't finish that second game, that was probably the key to the match," SV coach John Christie said.

Cara Pearce had the top stats for the Hornets with six kills, two blocks, two digs and two aces. Heather Tufts was right behind her in those cate gories with five kills, two blocks, two digs and an ace. Jeanne Bunyard scored seven points with service aces while also getting two kills. Megan Konz and Stacey DePaul had two kills each while Konz also had two blocks and DePaul had two aces. Danielle Odgers registered a kill, an ace and a dig.

The loss put the Hornets at 4-3 in the Evergreen League and they would appear to be a strong lock for third place. They beat four of their five remaining opponents (Dunsmuir, Butte Valley, McCloud and Happy Camp) easily and lost to Big Valley in five games at Big Valley. Therefore, an 8-4 or 9-3 record is very likely.

The Hornets have Dun smuir on the road on the schedule for Saturday. Next Tuesday they will host Big Valley with the JV starting at 5:30.

Modoc JVs dust Shasta Bears 39-0

Modoc's junior varsity football team wasted no time in beating the Mt. Shasta Bears Friday night, 39-0. They jumped out 20-0 in the opening period and shined the rest the way.

This week the Braves play host to the Weed Cougars. Weed and Mt. Shasta bat tled to a 0-0 tie earlier this year. While Modoc should be looking for the win this week, coach Mike Martin is stressing that his team not look past the Cougars. Modoc has Weed, then Etna at home and plays its final game against Trinity there on November 7. Trinity is un beaten and this week knocked off previously unbeaten Fall River, 34-6.

"We're just playing extremely well at the moment," said Martin. "Against Mt. Shasta we got on them early and they couldn't re cover. We were up 20 to nothing in the first quarter. I was a little concerned about our de fense, but at the moment, they're playing as well as the offense."

Martin expects Weed to run the same of fense they ran last year when they drubbed the Braves, but he doesn't expect them to have the same success.

"We have a few surprises in store for them," said Martin. "I expect us to play very well."

In Mt. Shasta, the Braves got on board quickly. On the first possession, Kaylon Benson romped 69 yards for a touchdown with 8:46 left in the first period. On the next series, Modoc quarterback Josh Conner sneaked the ball over from the one-foot line. Benson kicked the point after and Modoc led 13-0 with six minutes left in the first period.

Still in the opening part of the game, Cody Holloway snagged a Conner pass in the end zone from 20 yards out and when Benson kicked the point, Modoc led 20-0.

With time running out in the half, Mt. Shasta punted and Holloway got the ball on a reverse from Benson, broke free for a 80-yard punt return touchdown. Benson added the point and Modoc led 27-0 at the half.

Modoc's defense played very well on the night, stopping the Bears in all areas. The defense was led by Bert Austin, Jon Wellemeyer, Tony Willis, Lucas Tramontanas and Brett Spicer.

In the second half, Benson broke loose on Modoc's first play for a 65-yard touch down. The point failed and Modoc led 33-0 with 7:38 left in the third.

Benson added the final touchdown at the beginning of the fourth period when he broke through on another first down play and ran 85 yards for the score. The point after failed and Modoc led 39-0 with 9:37 left in the game.

Record sports news for October 30, 1997 issue

Ą Modoc volleyball continues run for section
Ą Brave football beats Weed, must win rest
Ą SV-BV volleyball teams fight it out
Ą Cross country teams sets home records
Ą JV football beats Weed, has Etna in big game
Ą Scholarship run is this weekend
Modoc netters continue roll towards section

If you were looking for sus pense and high drama last Saturday afternoon, the last place to find it was at the Modoc vs. Trinity volleyball match in Alturas. If however, you wanted to see a precision machine that can scientifi cally annihilate an opponent with hardly an error, then the Braves were the perfect source of entertainment against the Wolves.

Modoc won the first two games 15-1, 15-1 before doing multiple subbing in the third and making things a little more interesting with a final score of 16-14.

Before that third game, the only things to speculate about were whether the Braves could get a 15-0 shut-out and whether one of Kayte Christensen's vicious 90 MPH jump serves would actually render a Trinity player unconscious should one of those serves bonk an unsuspecting Wolf on the melon.

The Braves moved to 5-0 in the Shasta-Cascade League and 28-2 overall with a well-rounded attack where every one contributed. Jennifer Kern led the squad with 12 kills and three aces followed by Christensen with 10 K's and a pair of aces. Andrea Knox was also strong on the front line with seven kills.

Probably 90 percent of those kills came from assists by setter Leah Siegel who was also able to get three kills of her own along with a dig.

Veronica Coates was hot from the service line, particu larly in game three when the Braves were down 10-8. She ran off four aces in a row to give Modoc the lead again. She also registered two kills.

Other contributors were Wendy Stafford with two kills, Tessa Siegel with two aces, Lindsay Lieurance with a dig and a kill, Christy Cartner with two digs and Stephanie Northrup with a dig.

The Modoc JV also had a strong showing against Trinity on Saturday. SCL teams that are thinking that the Braves will come back to the pack after Kern and Christensen graduate might have another thing coming. A sophomore dominated Braves JV squad is also 5-0 in league and looking to wrap up an SCL Title this weekend. What's more, they are doing it all without class of 2000 member Knox who is starting on the varsity.

The JV Braves beat the T-Wolves, 15-7, 15-7 behind the strong play of Megan Orner and Sara Howell. Orner had five aces and four kills while Howell registered seven kills.

The Braves also got good performances out of Molly Busby with two kills, Billie Geldreich with two aces, Jes sica Kern with a dig, kill and ace, Lindsey Delmas with two digs, Michelle Wheeler with an ace and Rebecca Martinez with an ace and a dig.

The varsity also had a 15-7, 15-17, 15-1, 15-8 win at Weed last week. Christensen had 29 kills, two digs, three blocks, three digs and three aces. Kern had 10 kills, a block and three aces. Knox had eight kills while also leading the team in digs along with Stafford with six each. Knox also led the team in aces with four. Leah Siegel had assists on 48 of Modoc's 53 kills while also getting four digs, three kills, three blocks and three aces.

Both Modoc teams will fin ish the regular season (and hopefully pick up two league championships) on Hal loween night when they travel to Etna. After that the varsity will have 13 days off before the beginning of CIF Sectional playoffs, where they would seem to be a lock for the No. 1 seed.

Modoc mows over Weed 32-0; Etna's Lions here Thursday

Modoc Braves mowed through the Weed Cougars 32-0 Friday night but will have a tough tilt here tonight as the league-leading Etna Lions pay a visit to Modoc's home turf.

In order to make the section play-offs the Braves need to win their final two games. The game tonight against Etna is going to be tough and then the Braves take the long road to play the Trinity Wolves in Weaverville Nov. 7.

"Weed really wasn't much of a test," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "They played okay in the first half, but pretty much gave up in the second. We did what we had to do and I'm glad we got the offense to score."

Wood expects Etna's Lions to throw the ball well and to be prepared well for his Braves. But, Wood said he doesn't think the Lions have met the best teams in the league yet.

"We'll know what to expect, and I think if we play one of our better games, we should be okay," said Wood. "I know they throw well and they ran the ball well against Burney. Their defense is good and we're going to have to be solid. I think we'll be able to run on them and that's probably the key. We need to make sure Matt Carroll gets at least 100 yards rush ing. When he does, we win."

Wood is not ruling out the pass and plans to make Etna worry about the passing game. So far this season, Modoc has scored 14 rush ing touchdowns, but has also scored nine through the air. Quarterback Eric Lancaster is over 600 yards passing this season, about triple last year, said Wood. Lancaster has also had several catchable balls dropped by receivers.

"I see us matching up just fine with Etna and I believe we'll be able to beat them" said Wood. "We just can't have another game like the Mt. Shasta game. We plain just didn't play well in that game."

Weed actually proved to be about as weak as expected. After Weed gave up the ball on their first possession, the Braves opened with a drive from their 20. Carroll and Andy Nowak moved the ball to the Modoc 45 and a pass to Larry Cavasso moved the ball to a first down at the Weed 20. From 15-yards out, Lancaster found Bill Wilson in the endzone for a touchdown. Greg Jacques kicked the point and Modoc led 7-0 in the first.

The Braves held Weed again and started a drive from their 28. Jacques recovered a Modoc fumble to keep the drive alive and Carroll broke free to the 43. Jacques recov ered another fumble at midfield. After a sack, and a second and 20, Carroll caught a screen pass from Lancaster and moved the ball to the Weed 32 for a first down. He then ran the ball to the 20 and on the next carry to the Weed two. Nowak got the call and scored. The point-after failed and Modoc led 13-0 with 8:13 left in the half.

Weed failed to move the ball on the next possession. Modoc started at the Modoc 44 and moved quickly to the Weed eight. Lancaster scrambled free and tossed a ball into the end zone where Wilson snatched out of the air for another touchdown. The kick failed and Modoc led 19-0 at the half.

On the Braves' first possession of the sec ond half, they started at their 30. They moved to a first down, but a loss put them at a second and 20. Chris Sherer broke through the mid dle and rambled 50 yards to the Weed 6. Carroll scored, Wilson kicked the point after and Modoc led 26-0.

Weed just never got going and the Braves added a final touchdown from 13 yards out by Carroll with 9:30 left in the game. The point after failed and Modoc won 32-0.

Modoc's defense played very well, limit ing Weed to 14 yards rushing on 15 carries and 94 yards passing for 108 total. Meanwhile, Modoc rushed the ball 38 times for 303 yards and Lancaster hit six of nine passes for 100 yards. The Braves picked up 18 first downs to Weed's seven.

Carroll led the Brave runners with 158 yards in 19 carries. Sherer had 58 yards on three carries, Nowak 50 on nine, Jeremy Favia three-for-19. Carroll caught two passes for 48 yards, Cavasso grabbed two for 29 and Wilson two for 23, both touchdowns.

Cardinals win close match against Hornets

When the Big Valley and Surprise Valley vol leyball teams met in Beiber on Octo ber 9 they played a five-game thriller that Big Valley pulled out in the end. Nineteen days later, this past Tuesday night, the two schools squared off again, this time in Cedarville. Once again, the match was, what else, close and well-played.

The Cardinals ended up escaping out of Cedar Pass at the end of the night with a 17-15, 16-18, 15-7, 15-8 hard fought win.

SV coach John Christie said that both teams played well, particularly in the two marathon games.

"There were some nice ral lies and not many free balls," he said.

In game one the Cards took the early lead and got to 13. However, the Hornets got five sideouts in a row and came creeping back to tie the score before BV clinched the win.

Game two was the one that "nobody could win," accord ing to Christie. Big Valley had two game points they couldn't convert on and the Hornets didn't lock the game up until their sec ond crack at game point.

After the first two emo tional games, the Cardi nals quieted the Surprise Valley crowd by jumping to an early 6-1 lead in game three. They were able to go on from there to close out the match.

The Cards are 9-1 in the Evergreen League and ap pear headed to a Co-Title with Tulelake if they can win at home tonight against Mc Cloud and next Tuesday against Butte Val ley, also at home. They would also seem to be a lock to get a playoff berth in the CIF Sectional Tourna ment.

The Hornets are 6-4 and have a good shot at going 8-4 since they have already de feated their final two op po nents of the season -- McCloud on Saturday and Happy Camp next Tuesday. However, Sur prise Valley is also looking at four hour bus rides for both of those matches. Should the Hor nets finish third in the EAL they could have a shot at the playoffs. Surprise Valley individual statistics are as follows: Megan Konz, 10 blocks, 7 kills; Stacey De Paul, 17/18 serving, 1 ace; Heather Tufts, 6 kills, 2 blocks; Danielle Odgers, 4 aces.

Football: After a layoff last week, the undefeated Big Val ley football team hits the field again on Sat urday in Butte Valley. The Cards are 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Ever green League. After Butte, the Cardinals will finish the reg ular sea son by hosting Tule lake on November 7 before moving on to the playoffs.

New course records set in Modoc invitationa

Modoc's Josh Keyes whipped off a 15:35 over 3.1 miles in the Modoc Cross Country Invitational meet Saturday at Arrowhead Golf Course, setting a new course record in the process.

The cross-country team now has a break until the North Section meet in West Valley November 13. Modoc Coach John Geldreich expects the Braves girls team to win the section meet again and qualify for the state finals, which they did last year. He also said that Keyes will win the section meet and head to state if he runs anywhere close to the way he did at the Modoc Invitational.

"It really depends upon his attitude," said Geldreich. "We know he can run and win the race, he just has to go out and do it. Josh ran a great race here and if he does that, he'll win the section."

Keyes won the Modoc race easily, as second place Adam Wilson, Dunsmuir, finished in 17.02. Modoc's Travis Dunn placed fourth at 18:45 and Dan Hoover was fifth at 20:09.

In the varsity girls race, Modoc's Ginny Greene took a second with a 20:35 time over 3.1 miles. Rosana Hall, Dunsmuir, won the race at 20:28.

In the junior varsity girl's race, Modoc's Julia Greene set a course record of 15:10 over 2.4 miles. Missy Lieurance took a second with a 15:18. Stephanie McMaster was third at 17:11, Rebekah Richert was fourth at 17:42, Stephanie Blair was fifth at 18:52, Cheyenne Menkee was sixth at 19:30 and April Dorton was seventh at 20:06.

Aaron Wishart, Modoc, took a third in the junior var sity boys race over 2.4 miles at 13:38. The race was won by Ian Miller, Mt. Shasta at 13:20 and second went to Tito Castro, Mt. Shasta at 13:21. Modoc's Daniel Toaetolu was fourth at 14:50.

Stacie Wells, running for the Modoc Record, won the el ementary school race in a good time of 9:02 over 1.3 miles. She beat Mt. Shasta's Teresa Miller who ran a sec ond place of 9:18.

In the elementary school boys race, Ricky Scott, run ning for the Modoc Record, won in 7:49. The Record's Luke Hughes placed third at 8:17, and Jonathan Richert was 10th at 13:02.

Dorton was named runner of the week by coach Geldreich.

Modoc JVs bounce back to whip Weed; Etna here today

Modoc's junior varsity football team got a shock at the start of the Weed game Friday night, but came back strong to win 35-20. Modoc now has Etna here Thursday night and will finish out the season in Trinity Nov. 7.

"We played a good game and Weed was better than I thought they'd be," said Modoc coach Mike Martin. "Their offense is some thing we see just once a year and its difficult to prepare for. Once we figured it out, I thought our defense played very well."

Weed threw the ball much more than Martin had ex pected, but his secondary re sponded with good coverages in the second period.

"Our offense is playing very well and we're going to score points," said Martin. "I know Weed beat Etna, but I get a lit tle ner vous with score comparisons. We're treating the Etna game as a big game and making sure we're not looking past anyone."

If the Braves beat Etna, that sends them to Trinity with a shot at a share of the SCL title. Trinity is unbeaten and Fall River and Modoc have one loss each.

"We know Trinity is very good," said Martin. "If we get by Etna, then we'll be go ing over there with a shot at the title. That should be all the inspiration we'll need. I feel very good about the team."

Modoc was heavily favored to beat Weed, but the Cougars drew first blood on a drive that saw them score with 2:44 left in the first half. With the conversion, Weed took an 8-0 lead.

It wouldn't last long as Modoc drove to the 31 where Anthony Silva broke through the middle for the touchdown. Modoc missed the point after and trailed 8-6 with 1:09 left in the first.

Weed scored on a pass play at the begin ning of the second quarter and missed the point-after to take a 14-6 lead.

Once again, the Braves came back and Kaylon Benson broke a 27-yard run for a touchdown. The conversion failed and Modoc still trailed 14-12 with 5:49 left in the half. Weed's lead disappeared for good on Modoc's next series.

Braves quarterback Josh Conner hit wide receiver Cody Holloway on the fly for a 35-yard touchdown. Holloway then caught Kris Server's pass and went into the endzone for the two point conversion, giving the Braves a 20-14 lead at 1:50 left in the half and the lead would remain until the buzzer.

Passes from Conner to Holloway and C.J. Straub worked well in the second half and set up a touchdown pass to Glenn Christensen early on a fourth and 11 call. Benson kicked the point after and Modoc led 27-14. But Weed was not done yet and on the next series drove the ball down the field and scored. They missed the point after, but trailed 27-20.

Holloway picked off a Cougar pass on their next series and the Braves drove the ball down the field to the one, where Benson took the ball in. He ran in the point after and Modoc led 35-20. Straub picked off a pass on the next series to douse any hopes Weed had of coming back and the Braves won 35-20.

The JVs are 3-1 in league and 5-2 overall. Scholarship run takes off Sunday

The Juniper Woodland Trails Scholarship run is November 2, 1 p.m. just off Centerville Road (to Cal Pines). The event is attract ing local runners for a good course and good cause.

All proceeds from the event will go into a scholarship fund for the outstanding male and female senior Modoc County high school cross-country runners. The entry fee is $10.

Registration begins at 12:45 p.m. at the staging area 5.5 miles southwest of Alturas off the big turn before the Alamo Restaurant. There will be signs at the turnoff onto BLM lands where the event is being held.

The event is open to walk ers, joggers and runners. Two courses are being of fered, a 4.3 mile loop and a 9.3 mile loop. The short course will have aid stations at 2.1 miles, 2.7 miles and at the finish. The long course will have aid stations at 2.1 miles, 2.7 miles, 5.3 miles, 7.0 miles, 7.6 miles and at the finish line.

The aid stations will be staffed by Jay Eppler and fam ily, Seab McDonald and family, Claude Singleton, Chip Greene, the Scott family, and Craig and Val Flournoy. Alan Kiser and crew will be providing medical support. Modoc High School cross-country coach John Geldreich and family will be working the finish.

Organizer Ron Barager is hoping for a good turnout so the scholarship fund will get a good beginning. Anyone who can't participate in the run, but would like to con tribute to the scholarship may send a check to: Modoc Trail Runners Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 168, Alturas Ca., 96101-0168.

For more information about the run or scholarship fund, call 233-6684.

Modoc bike racer Josh Conner will sweep the course on his mountain bike.

NOVEMBER SPORTS

Record sports for November 6 issue

Ą Braves head to Trinity for title try
Ą Brave volleyball wins another SCL title
Ą Card football rolls in Evergreen
Ą Cards in net lay-offs, Hornets on bubble
Ą Modoc JV also in line for SCL title
Ą Modoc JV netters also win title
Ą Middle school girls hoop tourney this week
Defense keys win against Etna; Braves play for title

A very stingy defense and good rushing efforts from Matt Carroll and Andy Nowak keyed the Braves' 19-12 win over the league-leading Etna Lions Thursday night in Alturas.

Game time for the Trinity games is early, 5 p.m. for junior varsity and 7 p.m. for varsity.

The win puts Modoc in a tie with Etna and Mt. Shasta at 4-1 in the Shasta Cascade League and sets up a chance for a league title this week if the Braves beat Trinity in Weaverville.

Not bad for a team that started 0-3. If the Braves beat Weaverville, they will earn a berth in the North Section Division three play-offs. If they beat Trinity and Mt. Shasta loses to Etna, the Braves will host a play-off game. If Modoc wins and Mt. Shasta wins, Modoc will probably have to travel for the play-offs. If Modoc loses, the picture changes and would depend on other results.

Modoc moves into the Division Three playoffs this year, up from Division Four. The divisions are based upon school enrollment. For instance, Burney and Etna will be in the Division Four playoffs, while Modoc, Mt. Shasta and Trinity are up in Division Three. Trinity will not make the play-offs this season. Modoc is the smallest school in Division Three.

"I'm very proud of this team; most people wrote us off early," said coach Shaun Wood. "I believe we can get Trinity. We just have to stay focused and play the same type of game we played against Etna, which was a good team."

Modoc's defense limited the Lions to just 26 yards rushing in the second half and only 11 in the fourth quarter. Modoc picked up 232 yards rushing on 51 carries with Carroll get ting 141 on 21 and Nowak gaining 80 on 24.

"Our defense was really the key against Etna," said Wood. "They played well as a team and shut Etna down. We'll have to do the same things against Trinity to be effec tive. We're heading to Trinity for a shot at the title, that's what it all comes down to at this time of the year."

Modoc played well against Etna, with both teams having their shots at the win.

"I felt pretty good about the way we played against Etna," said Wood. "We blew a couple of chances, but made a couple of chances when we had to convert. Our entire defense, as individuals played a great game. We'll need that effort again this week."

Modoc opened the game by holding Etna to three downs and out. The Braves then moved the ball from the Etna 39 to the eight where an Eric Lancaster third down pass was picked off and returned to the Etna 14. The defense held again on Modoc got the ball back at the Modoc 45. Nowak broke free to the Etna 34 then Carroll broke a run to the Etna two. On a second down and one, Lancaster followed center Matt Hamilton into the endzone and Modoc led 6-0 with the point after try failed.

The Lions fought back and scored on a Chris Reed three-yard run with 2:06 left in the opening period.

Modoc had a solid shot early in the second period after Carroll broke a 22-yard run to the Etna 10. A fumble, saved by Modoc stalled the effort and Etna held the Braves out of the endzone.

The Braves got a huge break with about four minutes left in the half when an illegal block on a punt play (the ball went out of bounds before changing possession) gave the Braves the ball back with a first down at the Etna 36. They moved the ball to the Etna 23 and had a fourth and 11. A screen pass to Carroll went the 23 yards for the score and Modoc led 12-6 with three minutes left in the opening half. The half ended with the Braves on top, 12-6.

The Braves opened the second half by losing a yard on their first three plays and setting up a fourth and 11. Wood called a fake punt and Larry Cavasso made an outstanding catch of a Lancaster pass, giving the Braves a first down at the Modoc 49. While the Lions were still reeling from the play, Carroll broke lose on a 42 yard run to paydirt and Modoc led 19-6 when Greg Jacques kicked the point after.

Etna would add another score in the fourth after a rough ing the passer call on Modoc gave them the ball back. Collin Krueger took the ball in from the one. The point after failed and Modoc led 19-12.

The Lions had the ball at the Modoc 25 when the final buzzer sounded ending the game.

Lancaster hit two-of-six passes for 43 yards in the game. Etna's Clint Isbell hit 7-of-21 for 74 yards. Carroll caught one pass for Modoc for 23 yards and Cavasso snared one for 20.

The Braves generated 275 net yards offense while holding Etna to 198 yards.

Surprise! Modoc wins SCL net title, again

It's all over but the waiting for the Modoc volleyball pro gram. Both the varsity and JV Braves squads finished the season at 6-0 in the Shasta-Cascade League with wins over Etna on All Hallow's Eve last Friday. Now the Braves varsity, 29-2 overall, just has to be patient until this weekend when they find out where they will be seeded in the Division V CIF Northern Sectional Playoffs.

The CIF pickers haven't shown themselves to be ge niuses over the past two years. Even though Modoc rolled to Sectional Titles in 1995 and 1996, they were only seeded fourth and second in those two tournaments. In both of those years, the CIF's No. 1 pick bombed out in the second round. The problem seems to be that strength of schedule is not always given its proper due. A win over Division V Academy of Saint Creampuff counts for more than a close loss to Division I Powerhouse High. Both of Modoc's losses came to large schools.

Modoc will definitely be home for the first round of Sectionals on Thursday, November 13. The quarter-finals will be on Tuesday, November 18 followed by semis on Thursday, Novem ber 20. There is also a very good chance that the quarters and semis will be played in Alturas. The finals will be on Saturday, November 22. Should the Braves finish first or second in the Section they will move on to the 16-team State Tournament.

The Braves took their third straight SCL Title last week by beating Etna 15-5, 15-12, 15-13. The Modoc frontline of Kayte Christensen, Jennifer Kern and Andrea Knox was also strong on the back row as they combined for nearly as many digs (26) as kills (32). Christensen also registered seven blocks and four aces while Knox notched six aces.

Tessa Siegel and Wendy Stafford were also strong on the back row with 10 digs each. Setter Leah Siegel seemed to be everywhere with 33 assists, five kills, four blocks and three aces.

For the match, the Braves got 92 percent of their serves in while converting on 67 per cent of their passing attempts.

The Etna match was also a big one for the Modoc JV as they won 15-5, 11-15, 15-11 to become the SCL JV Champi ons. Members of the perfect 6-0 squad were: Sarah Wofford, Tatum Dunn, Billie Geldre ich, Molly Busby, Kate Bur shem-Farnham, Lindsey Delmas, Michelle Wheeler, Sara Howell, Megan Orner, Rebecca Martinez, Jessica Kern, Sarah Junker and Alli son Ferry. The team was coached by Matt Dorgan.

Cardinals roll through Evergreen

Another week, another sec ond half of running out the clock for the Big Valley foot ball team. After jumping to leads of 21-0 in the first quar ter and 33-0 at the half, the Cardinals just ran it up the middle and tried to keep the seconds ticking during the second half in a 40-8 win over Butte Valley.

That's something the Cards have gotten used to this season while rolling to a 6-0 record overall and 3-0 record in the Evergreen League. The fact that Big Valley may well lead the North State in the cat egory of "minutes killed," is testament to their talents and the fact that coach Matt Hun saker tends to follow the sportsmanship values of Joe Paterno more than Steve Spurrier.

Running back Tim Valdez opened the Cardinal scoring with two first quarter TD runs of 44 and 55 yards. He would finish the night with 125 yards. After short touchdown runs by Renden Ellenberger and Corado Reginatto, Wes Breakfield ended the offen sive scoring with a 49 yard scoring run before the half.

The final touch down for the Cards came in the second half when cornerback Kasey Criss picked off a Butte Valley pass and returned it 27 yards for the score.

The Cards will finish the regular season up tomorrow night with a home game against Tulelake. With a win against the Honkers, Big Val ley is probably assured of the No. 1 seed in the Division VI playoffs.

Cards in net playoff, Hornets on the bubble

The Big Valley and Sur prise Valley volleyball teams finished up the Evergreen League season on Tuesday. The Cardinals are pretty much assured of picking up a CIF Sectional playoff berth this Saturday while the Hor nets are on the bubble.

Big Valley cruised past Butte Valley on Tuesday 15-7, 15-2, 15-5. It was senior night, the last home game for the class of '98, and seniors Naomi Seeger and Alicia Farber led the way with their passing and hitting respec tively. Cardinal coach Paula Silva also praised the serving of Adonica McGarr and the all-around "spectacular" play of junior Ileah Jackson.

The Cards finished 18-6 overall and 11-1 in the EAL. They are the 1997 EAL Co-Champs with Tulelake. How ever, one team has to go into the CIF seeding process as the first place team. Since the Honkers and Cardinals split their two matches against each other, the next tie-breaker was to look at total games won and lost in those two matches. Since Big Val ley won the first match 3-2 and Tulelake won the next on 3-0 the overall score in games was 5-3 in favor of the Honkers.

That might seem like a small difference but it ends up being big in terms of playoff seedings. As a first place team, Tulelake will automat ically get one of the top seven seeds and a first-round home game. On the other hand, Silva predicts that the Cardi nals will be seeded in the 12-14 range and spend the entire tournament on the road.

The Big Valley JV also beat Butte Valley on Tuesday 15-10, 15-6 to finish the EAL sea son at 6-6.

Surprise Valley: The Hor nets beat Happy camp 16-14, 15-2, 15-9 on Tuesday night at a match played at the neutral site of Dunsmuir. The Hornet front line must have looked like the Great Wall of China to Happy Camp hitters as Megan Konz, Jeanne Bun yard and Cara Pearce had five blocks each. Heather Tufts was hot from the service line with five aces.

On Saturday the Hornets played McCloud (again at a neutral site - this time Weed) and won 15-6, 15-6, 15-12. Bunyard led the squad with 12 kills followed by Pearce with six. Danielle Odgers had four aces.

SV finished 8-4 in the EAL, good enough for third. The question is will it be good enough to get a spot in the 16 team sectional playoffs? The Hornets went 14-14 overall, 13-11 against other Division V teams, and will probably be one of about three schools who are right on the bubble for be ing in or out of the tourna ment.

Surprise Valley coach John Christie said he thinks the Hornets will either be the No. 17 team that gets left out or be the No. 16 team that has to face Modoc in the first round.

The SV JV also finished at 8-4 in league. On Tuesday they beat Happy Camp 15-8, 15-2. Last Saturday, they played not one but two matches. The defeated Dunsmuir 15-11, 15-11 before losing to McCloud 12-15, 15-5, 15-10. Nobody dominated the EAL JV divi sion this year so the 8-4 record may have placed the Hornets in a three-way tie for first with Tulelake and Dun smuir.

JV football team drops Etna; Trinity next for league title chance

Modoc's talented junior varsity football team heads to Trinity Friday night, where a win would give them a share of the Shasta Cascade League title.

The road to Weaverville is tough and once there, the road to a win will also be difficult against a Trinity team that is unbeaten in league. Trinity is coming off a 42-12 shellack ing of Burney.

"I have to believe we can move the football on Trinity, but to beat them I think we'll need some breaks," said Modoc coach Mike Martin this week. "They have three good backs who run hard and well. They'll line up and come right at us. But I also think we can run the ball on them."

Modoc's task will be more difficult with the loss of start ing running back/cornerback Anthony Silva to a broken toe in the Etna game.

According to Martin, Trinity runs a basic 5-2 defense and zones the pass coverage, something new for the Braves. He'll be making route adjustments to take advantage of what's open and put in some new plays to take advantage of what's available.

"I felt we played a good game against Etna and we're playing awfully well now," said Martin. "Etna was a tough, physical team, but I felt we moved the ball well and it really was never closer than a two-touchdown game. We need the same kind of effort this week and our defense will have to be tough. We're in for a test."

Last Thursday night, the Braves beat the Etna Lions 27-12 to improve their SCL mark to 4-1 and their overall record to 6-2.

Modoc opened quickly on Etna when Jon Wellemeyer forced a fumble in the Etna backfield and C.J. Straub picked the ball up and took it into the endzone. Kaylon Benson kicked the point and with just over a minute gone in the game, Modoc led 7-0.

The score stayed at 7-0 in the first quarter, but Benson scored on a five-yard touchdown at the start of the second pe riod to give Modoc a 13-0 lead when the point after kick failed.

Etna responded quickly when running back Tony Bennett broke through the middle for a 50-yard score. Modoc stopped the conversion and led 13-6. That score stood at the half.

The Braves fumbled but got a favor and recovered another fumble to start the second half. They moved the ball to the six-inch mark where quarterback Josh Conner sneaked it in. Benson kicked the point and Modoc led 20-6.

Etna again responded quickly, scoring with 6:26 left in the third and cut the Braves' lead to 20-12.

The Braves added another score late when Wellemeyer recovered a fumble deep in Etna territory. Benson scored and kicked the point for the 27-12 win.

JVs win volleyball title

Modoc's junior varsity volleyball team went unbeaten to claim the Shasta Cascade League volleyball championship for 1997.

They finished the season with a 15-5; 11-15; 15-11 win at Etna Friday night to seal the title. Modoc's varsity team also cruised through league again this year for the champi onship.

"Etna was a very improved team," said JV coach Matt Dorgan. "They lost a couple of games early but came on strong and should be tough in the future."

Dorgan said Sara Howell, Lindsay Delmas and Megan Orner played well and passed well on the night. Allison Ferry led the serving with 14-of-14 and Howell was 9-for-10. Jessica Kern led the passing at 90 percent with Billie Geldreich also passing well. Howell had seven kills for the match, Orner had five and Molly Busby had three.

The junior varsity girls now take up basketball while the varsity girls he

Middle school girls hoop tourney is this weekend

The eighth annual Modoc Middle School girl basketball tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Griswold Gym in Alturas.

The schools participating in the event, in seventh and eighth grade divisions, are: Modoc, Tulelake, Lakeview, Chester, Big Valley, Johnstonville, Surprise Valley and Gerlach.

The tournament starts Friday at noon with Modoc's eighth grade opening with a game against Johnstonville Friday at 5 p.m.. and the seventh grade plays at 6 p.m.

Admission for the tourney is $2 for adults and students without student body cards and $1 for seniors or students with student body cards.

Record sports summaries November 13, 1997

Ą Modoc wins SCL football title
Ą Braves, Cards start playoffs in volleyball
Ą Playoff schedule listed
Ą Cardinals favored to win football section
Ą Cross country team favored to win section
Ą Modoc JV lose to Trinity Wolves
Modoc whips Wolves, hosts play-off Friday Braves win SCL title

Modoc's Braves played one of their best games of the sea son Friday night in Trinity, whipping the Wolves 25-2 and setting up a first round North Section CIF play-off game against Delta here Friday night.

The Braves are seeded fourth in the play-offs and will be playing the fifth seed. Live Oak comes into the play-offs number one, Colusa is two, Quincy is three and Mt. Shasta is six.

With the win against Trinity Friday and Etna's win over Mt. Shasta, the Lions and Braves share the Shasta Cascade League championship with 5-1 records. Modoc and Mt. Shasta play in the division three play-offs, while Etna stays down to division four.

Few people picked Modoc to be in the thick of things this year, and nearly no one picked them to win the league title after starting 0-3 in pre-season, albeit against good teams. Following a poor showing at Mt. Shasta, the Braves put it to gether and had three very strong wins against Weed, Etna and finally against Trinity.

"I think we'll be able to get Delta this week, putting us against Live Oak next week, and they're just nails," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "We're not looking past Delta and expect a very good game, but if we continue to play the way we have, we should be fine."

Delta has played in Modoc before, and the last time around, the Clarksburg school (near Sacramento) was greeted with near zero degree weather and a frozen field. The forecast calls for wet, but it is not expected to be that cold this time.

"I think we played very well against Trinity and we played very physically," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "I was very pleased with our defense and felt they set the tone of the game."

The Wolves shadowed Modoc's (and the league's) leading rusher Matt Carroll all night, which opened the way for a good night from fullback Andy Nowak and Eric Lancaster was able to hit six of nine passes, two for touchdowns on the night. Bill Wilson grabbed a pair of passes, both for touch downs.

The game opened with both teams trading blows, and neither scoring in the opening period.

Early in the second period, Modoc's Eric Lancaster picked off a Trinity pass and gave Modoc a first down at the Modoc 45. On a quarterback keeper, Lancaster took the ball to the 36, then Nowak and Carroll combined to move the ball to the two. Nowak powered his way in and Modoc led 6-0 when the point-after failed. Neither team scored the rest of the half and Modoc led 6-0 at intermission.

On Modoc's second possession of the second half, Wilson snared a pass from Lancaster and beat two defenders for a 46-yard touchdown. Greg Jacques kicked the point and Modoc led 13-0 with 6:50 left in the third.

Early in the fourth, Trinity got on the board on a strange play. Modoc's Teddy Simmons intercepted a pass in the end zone, then dropped the ball forward. The referees called it an illegal forward pass and Trinity was awarded a two-point safety.

Modoc added another score in the fourth period, when Wilson grabbed another Lancaster pass in the endzone. The point after failed and Modoc led 19-2.

Modoc's final score came on the first run from scrim mage this year by Eric Hunter. He took the ball at the 18, broke through tacklers and scored. The kick failed and Modoc won 25-2.

Modoc's tight end Larry Cavasso grabbed four Lancaster passes on the night for 77 yards. Wilson caught the two for 58.

Nowak led Modoc's rushing with 74 yards on nine carries while Carroll had 34 yards on 13 carries, Lancaster 19 yards on six carries, Hunter 18 yards on one and Chris Sherer 12 yards on three.

The Braves picked up 296 total yards and Trinity netted 219. Modoc limited the Wolves to 99 yards rushing.

For the season, Lancaster led the league in passing with 844 yards, with 12 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Carroll led the league in rushing with 1,089 yards. Modoc's defense limited teams to an average 7.1 points per game this season while the offense generated 24.8 points.

Modoc meets Rio Vista in first round of playoffs, Big Valley, Tulelake play

It's been said that those who don't learn from past mis takes are doomed to repeat them. Such is the case with the people who seed teams for the CIF Division V Sectional playoffs in volleyball.

Last year, Durham got the No. 1 seed be cause they went undefeated, while Modoc got the No. 2 seed because they had played a much tougher schedule against the top large en rollment schools and came away with a cou ple of losses. The result in 1996 was that the Braves cruised to their second straight Sec tional Title while Durham got bounced in the second round.

In 1997, Durham again came in unde feated (29-0) while Modoc was 28-2 with two losses to teams that will go deep into the Divi sion I and II playoffs. The Braves had even won the prestigious Red Bluff tournament where they rolled over bunches of big schools.

So, knowing what hap pened in 1996, what did the Mensa group at CIF do? They seeded Durham No. 1 and Braves No. 2.

The Braves will open at home tonight against No. 15 seed Rio Vista.

Big Valley, the Evergreen League Co-Champs with an 18-6 record, grabbed the No. 10 seed and will take on Mt. Shasta, the sec ond place team out of the Shasta Cascade League. The winner of that match will likely travel to Alturas next Tuesday to face the Braves in the quarterfi nals.

Cardinals romp over Tule lake, Herlong comes to Bieber Friday

Not much went wrong in Big Valley's final regular season football game, a 49-0 drubbing of Tulelake that made the Cards the Evergreen League Champs and left them at 7-0 for the year.

About the only major mis cue for Big Valley on Friday was that their P.A. system wasn't working when it came time to play the National An them. (And let's face it, if we're going to replace the Star Spangled Banner, we don't want to do it with the Neil Sedaka tune that was blaring over the speakers in Bieber.)

The Cardinals also showed that, despite the way they have been beating up on everyone in '97, they aren't taking anything for granted. They got their first two touchdowns out of a formation they hadn't used much in previous games (we're not going to reveal it here) and also launched a new weapon - Wes Breakfield.

We can't keep him a secret because he ran for 102 yards on five carries and had two touchdowns against the Honkers.

Big Valley looking for new running-back threats is sort of like Bill Gates looking for ways to make more money. Against Tulelake, the Cardi nals had three other backs who each ran for 100 yards, a touchdown, and a breakaway run of at least 30 yards - Chris Click (137 yards), Tim Valdez (118) and Renden El lenberger (112).

However, BV coach Matt Hunsaker thinks it's a good idea to have another weapon ready. Big Valley game films are getting around and teams are starting to key on Valdez on the outside while also watching for Click or El lenberger up the middle. What they won't be ready for is Breakfield going the other way.

That's exactly what the ju nior scatback did against the Honkers. In the first quarter he went 35 yards untouched for a TD and did the same thing again in the third on a 24 yard scoring scamper.

While the Cardinal offense was racking up 508 yards, the defense was just as impres sive in holding Tulelake to four first downs and 68 yards through the first three quar ters. The Honkers had just three total yards of offense in the third quarter.

Kasey Criss had two inter ceptions while Chris Clark had two tackles for losses. Russ Carpenter led the Cards with seven tackles while Valdez and Joe Haury added five each.

Going undefeated means Big Valley is the No. 1 seed the Division VI playoffs and can have all future games at home. There will be four teams in the playoffs that be gin this Friday. The Cards will host No. 4 seed Herlong tomorrow night with kick-off set for 7:00 p.m. The other semi-final game will be No. 3 seed Maxwell at No. 2 seed Happy Camp. The Champi onship game will be played on Friday, November 21 - hope fully at Big Valley.

While the Big Valley var sity is having an amazing season the Cardinal JV pro gram, under head coach Dan Johnson and assistant Mike Duncan, is on an incredible three-year run. The younger Cards are 25-1 since 1994, their only loss a crazy one-pointer at Modoc earlier this year. Even more astounding is the career record of the Big Valley class of '99, which has never tasted defeat. They went 18-0 in their two years in JV and are 7-0 on varsity this year for an overall 25-0 record.

The Section playoff schedule for football and volleyball

With several local teams in the CIF North Section foot ball and volleyball play-offs, the schedule is pretty in tense.

For Modoc football, the first game is Friday night in Alturas against Delta High School of Clarksburg. Game time is 7 p.m. and no season passes are accepted. If Modoc wins, they'll go on the road for the second round. Parking spaces will be an additional $5 for this game. Call Modoc High School, 233-7301 to reserve.

Admission for the football play-off game is $6 for adults; $4 high school students with student body card; $5 senior citizens; $4 junior high, elementary school.

Big Valley football opens the play-offs at home Friday night against Herlong 7 p.m. Season passes are not ac cepted. If the Cardinals win, the championship game will be played at Bieber against the winner of the Maxwell-Happy Camp game November 21.

Modoc's favored volleyball team opens the run for an eventual state title against Rio Vista at home tonight. No season passes are accepted. If Modoc wins, they will play at home November 18, then Nov. 20 with the section title game set for Nov. 22.

Admission for the volleyball play-offs is: $4 adults; $3 high school students with ASB; $3 senior citizens; $3 ju nior high/elementary students.

Big Valley opens the play-offs by going to meet Mt. Shasta in Mt. Shasta Thursday night. Game time is 7 p.m.

Tulelake will host Capital Christian Thursday night to begin their run in the play-offs. Game time is 7 p.m..

The volleyball schedule for all schools is Nov. 13, Nov. 18, Nov. 22 for sections. The state tournament starts Nov. 25, then Nov. 29, Dec. 2, and the NorCal finals are Dec. 6.

Modoc favored in cross-country

Modoc's girls are favored to win the North Section Division 5 Cross Country Championship in West Valley today and the boys team may have a chance.

Modoc's boys are led by senior Josh Keyes, who has a very good chance of winning the section and qualifying for the state meet this season.

"Josh has been running well, and he has a good chance to win," said coach John Geldreich. "We have a shot at winning the boys title, but it's not as good as our girls chances are."

Running for the boys are: Travis Dunn, Aaron Wishart, Dan Hoover and Daniel Toaetolu.

Running for the Modoc girls team is Ginny Greene, Julia Greene, Missy Lieurance, Stephanie McMasters, Rebekah Richert, Stephanie Blair, Cheyenne Menkee, and April Dorton.

Trinity beats Modoc JV

The Trinity Wolves used big plays to beat the Modoc ju nior varsity football team 30-14 Friday night, in a game much closer than the score fi nally indicates.

The junior varsity fin ished a very good season at 4-2 in the Shasta Cascade League and at 6-3 overall. The team's losses were all in games that re mained close and could have gone either way. They were also to the top teams in league. Had they beaten Trinity, they would have tied for the league championship.

"I'm very proud of the team and they played well against Trinity," said Martin. "Trinity's players told them they were the toughest team they'd played all season. Overall, this was a very good football team and we were pleased. They played with a lot heart, and took the loss in stride."

The Trinity game didn't start well for Modoc, when on first series, Trinity broke lose on a 70-yard score. They picked up the two-point con version and led 8-0 with less than a minute gone in the first period.

But Modoc came back quickly. C.J. Straub caught a pass and took it deep into Trinity territory. Quarterback Josh Conner sneaked in for a touchdown and the point-after failed. With 3:54 left in the opening period, Trinity led 8-6. That score held through the first. About halfway through the second period, Trinity scored on another big play and went up 16-6 with 5:42 left in the half.

But that big lead was short-lived as Cody Holloway caught a first down pass from Conner on the next Modoc se ries and sped 85 yards for the touchdown. Kaylon Benson picked up the conversion and Modoc trailed 16-14 with 5:18 left in the half.

The turning point in the game came after Modoc held Trinity on the next series. Trinity punted and Holloway returned the ball 55 yards for a touchdown. But a clipping call brought it back. They failed to complete a wide-open pass on the next series and turned the ball back to Trinity. With :59 seconds left in the half, the Wolves back broke through the line and scored. The conversion was good and Modoc trailed 24-14 at the half.

The third quarter found both teams fumbling the ball back and fourth and neither scored. In the fourth, the Braves used a Benson run to get inside the five, but with the ball at the one-foot line, a fumble ate up a down and then Modoc's line jumped offside to put the ball back at the six. They never re covered and Trinity took over deep inside their territory.

The Wolves broke another long run late in the game to get the 30-14 win.

Record sports summaries for Nov. 20, 1997 issue

Ą Braves drop Delta with ease
Ą Modoc gets a scare from Mt. Shasta
Ą Big Valley in football title game
Ą BV Cards lose to Bears in volleyball
Ą Braves cross-country team wins titles
Ą Kayte heads to UC Santa Barbara for basketball
Delta no match for the Braves ,Modoc heads to Live Oak

Delta's Saints were simply no match for Modoc's Braves Friday night in the first round of the CIF North Section Division 3 football play-offs. The Braves whipped them 34-13.

There are no illusions about the Braves' next opponent, the number one seed in the division, Live Oak. Modoc travels to Live Oak Friday night, 7 p.m., for the second-round in the play-offs.

"We know they're good, but we expected Delta to be tougher than they were as well," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "We played very, very well against Delta, and they are not a weak team. They were a little overconfident I think. They told their paper that they had an easy win at Modoc. Our de fense has been the key and they will be the key again. We are just going to have to step it up again against Live Oak. It's going to be very physical."

Wood figures the Braves have to stop a pair of speedy run ning backs from Live Oak, but believes his defense will be the toughest they've faced this year.

"They have good speed, but they're not real fancy, and I think their strength is their defense," said Wood. "I'm not real sure what to expect, but I believe we're peaking at the right time and we're confident."

Wood said Live Oak beat Delta 35-7 this season, but overall felt their season was against mediocre teams.

"We have to go there, and that's tough," said Wood. "But, I think our players are very well conditioned and our work ing in the weight room has really paid off. I think we're stronger, overall, than most of the teams we face."

Quincy and Colusa meet in the other Division 3 semi-fi nal game. The title game for the division will be played next Wednesday.

"We really looking forward to this week's game," said Wood. "I know we are a much better team than when we started. There were some changes we made that made a dif ference and the other thing I think is hard work and our atti tude. The kids want to keep going, and they're working very hard."

Modoc played one of its best games, if not its best game, of the season on the home turf against Delta. Carver Stadium was dressed up very nicely by the Modoc maintenance crew. It was fitting.

Modoc has been led by its defense all season long and there was no difference against Delta as the Braves stopped everything the Saints threw at them. Meanwhile Modoc's of fense had a relative field day as the offensive line took over.

The Braves stopped the Saints on their first series and a holding penalty on the Braves doused a first drive. But Modoc's defense held again on the second series and Modoc took over at the Modoc 34. Andy Nowak took the ball to the 46, then to the Delta 44. Matt Carroll broke lose, and juked his way 44 yards for the touchdown. Greg Jacques kicked the point after and with 2:24 left in the first, Modoc led 7-0.

The Braves controlled the ball and the game most of the night. In the second period, they stopped the Saints offense and relied on up-the-gut runs by Carroll and Nowak to move the ball. Carroll got the call on a second and 14 and moved it nine yards, then took the ball again for a first down. Another penalty gave the Braves a first-and-20 at the Delta 44. Carroll ran for nine, then for four. On a fourth-and-seven, quarterback Eric Lancaster ran a keeper for a first down at the Delta 16.

Chris Sherer moved from lineman to running back and took the ball in from the seven-yard line. Jacques added the point and Modoc led 14-0 with 3:35 left in the half. Modoc stopped Delta prior to the half and went into intermission with a 14-0 lead.

The Braves got the second half kick-off and started at their 32. On a third and 20, Carroll broke loose to the Delta 46 for a first down. The drive continued on the ground with Nowak and Carroll carrying until it stalled with a fourth-and-13 from the 18. Bill Wilson got open and Lancaster found him with an 18-yard scoring strike to put the Braves up 20-0 when the kick failed. Modoc had used 6:06 out of the 12 minute period.

The Braves held Delta to three plays and a punt on their se ries and took over at the Modoc 38. Once again, Modoc relied on Nowak and Carroll through the middle, but stalled with a fourth and six at the 47. Delta broke through the line and blocked a Wilson punt, Mike Heringer picked it up and rambled 37 yards for the score. The point after was good and Delta trailed 20-7 with :53 left in the third.

But that score just served to fire up the Braves. Late in the third and into the fourth quarter, the Braves mounted a solid drive from their 38 to the Delta 28. Sherer came in and broke free for a 25-yard run to the three. From there, Modoc's Jeremy Favia went in the touchdown. Jacques added the point and Modoc led 27-6 with just over nine minutes re maining in the game.

Delta added a final score with 3:50 left in the game on a four-yard pass play from Josh Wilcox to Mitch Scribner. That cut Modoc's lead to 27-13.

The Braves started at their 45 and on a third and three, Lancaster found a wide-open Wilson in the middle of the field, hit him with a pass and Wilson took the ball into the endzone for he 48-yard touchdown. Jacques kicked the point to give the Braves the 34-13 win.

The Braves defense limited Delta to 110 yards rushing on 28 carries and 93 passing yards. The Braves ran 50 rushing plays for 339 yards and Lancaster completed four-of-six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns.

Carroll led Modoc with 191 yards on 25 carries, Nowak added 83 on 16, Sherer had two-for 32 and Lancaster three-for 26.

Wilson caught two passes for 68 yards, Larry Cavasso caught one for 14.

Bears put scare in Modoc Braves

The Modoc volleyball team got a major scare on Tuesday night on their way to what will hopefully be a third straight Sectional Title. In the quarter finals, the Braves got all they could handle from Mt. Shasta before finally coming from behind in all three of their game wins to take the match 16-14, 10-15, 15-12, 15-13.

The visiting Bears, the Shasta-Cascade League run ner-up to Modoc, played a masterful match where they committed just 14 unforced errors and only missed on four serves. Their defense was also good enough to foil the Braves on 43 percent of their kill attempts.

Mt. Shasta had also pushed Modoc to four games when the two squads met in Alturas in October. However, the Braves had played that match without SCL Defensive MVP Jennifer Kern and perhaps underesti mated how flawlessly the Bears could perform in the playoffs.

While Mt. Shasta must be given credit for being on top of its game, it must also be rec ognized that the Braves had a sloppy performance. Modoc had 53 unforced errors and 18 missed serves - about four times as many as the Bears in both categories.

The way the match fin ished in game four served as an excellent example of what went on all night. Modoc blew three straight match points on missed hits and serves before Kern ended it all with a kill from the left side.

Kern from the left side was the reliable play for the Braves all night. The senior captain racked up a match high 29 kills while going to the left more than Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown combined. More importantly, she got those kills at key times when the Braves were des perate to either put a game away or to stop a Mt. Shasta run.

"Jennifer was the differ ence tonight," coach Harold Montague said. "She pulled us out time after time."

Since the play of setting Kern on the left side worked so well, one might assume it was part of some master plan by the Braves in their march to victory. However, accord ing to Kern, the reason she got all of those sets was because Modoc's passing was poor.

"It just kind of worked out that way," Kern said in ex plaining Modoc's non-strat egy. "Our passing was pretty bad all night. When that hap pens it's hard to set the mid dle, so it falls on us, the out side hitters, to take most of the sets. Usually, the left side can get sets the easiest."

Game one seemed to start normally enough, with Kern, Kayte Christensen and An drea Knox dominating on the front-line and Modoc jump ing to leads of 2-0 and 10-7. How ever, Mt. Shasta's strat egy of just getting the ball back over began to pay off as the Braves ran through a string of mis takes. Suddenly the Bears were up 14-11 and looking at game point.

Montague called a time-out to try to calm the team down. The Braves came back on the court and got the side out on the first of many clutch kills by Kern. That gave the serve to Veron ica Coates who deserves as much credit as anyone for Modoc winning game one. She served two straight aces and Kern got another kill to tie the game up at 14 and give the Braves some breathing room. From there the Braves went on to win 16-14, getting the last point when Kern made a great dig and pass to setter Leah Siegel who, rather than setting, tipped the ball back wards over the net to catch the Bears un prepared.

Game two was much the same, with the Bears building a 13-7 lead. Modoc clawed its way back to a 14-10 score be fore Mt. Shasta finally won the game on their third shot at game point.

On a night of great come backs, the biggest comeback of all occurred in game three. Mt. Shasta took a 10-4 lead. Af ter a Modoc time-out, a Mt. Shasta hit bounced off of Kern's arm and appeared to be headed sideways to a bare spot in the court and a Mt. Shasta kill. However, Chris tensen made what may have been the play of the year. She dived and got just enough on the ball with one hand to loft it over the net. It stunned every one in the gym, including the Bears who watched it fall on the floor to give Modoc the sideout.

That was the turning point in the game as the Braves went on a 6-0 run and tied the score at 10-all on a Wendy Stafford ace. Shasta recov ered and took a 12-10 lead be fore Kern and Knox went on a dual streak to win the game. Modoc's scor ing series to end the game went - Knox kill, Kern kill, Knox kill, Kern kill, Kern kill, Knox ace, Kern kill.

The Braves took an early 7-2 lead in game four, but the Bears just wouldn't go away and soon had a 10-8 lead. Christensen stopped the streak with a sideout kill and Modoc went on to take a 14-11 lead and finally close out a match that was too close for comfort.

"We should have taken care of them, but we didn't," Kern said while also finding a silver lining in the Mt. Shasta cloud.

"We needed a game like this," she noted. "We had to push ourselves to a higher level. We had to play good, not just at their level."

Besides leading Modoc in kills, Kern was also top on the squad in the back row with 10 digs. Christensen had 27 kills to go along with 14 blocks and seven digs. Knox had a career high 18 kills and eight digs.

Stafford had seven kills and three digs while Coates had five kills as well as a dig. Leah Siegel had six kills and two digs while Tessa Siegel had one kill and one dig.

Modoc's first round match last Thursday against Rio Vista was the "mere formal ity" type. The Braves cruised to a 15-2, 15-6, 15-8 win led by Christensen's 15 kills and seven blocks. Kern added six kills and two digs.

Modoc could have a busy week ahead, with the possibil ity of playing three matches in six days. Tonight, the Braves host No. 3 seed Portola in the Sectional semi-finals at Gris wold gym at 7 p.m. If this seems like deja vu all over again, you're right. Modoc played Portola in the 1996 semis as well.

A win tonight would put Modoc in the Division V Sec tional finals on Saturday at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico at 1 p.m. Their oppo nent would be the winner of the other semi-final between No. 1 seed Durham and No. 5 Los Molinas.

If the Braves just get to the Sectional Title game, they will automatically earn a spot in the 16 team State Champi onship Tournament. Should they win the Sectional title, they would open the State tour ney at home next Tuesday, November 25. The second round would follow on Satur day, November 29.

Cardinals will host football section title

A dream that began back in August can become a reality tomorrow night for the Big Valley football team. The Cardinals have the chance to finish an undefeated season and win a CIF Title on Friday night when they host Happy Camp in the CIF Champi onship Game at 7 p.m.

Happy Camp (7-2) has been the only team in Big Valley's 8-0 season that has actually forced the Cards to be con cerned about the outcome of the game in the fourth quarter. The two teams met in Bieber in October with the Cardinals getting the 27-12 win.

BV got to the Championship match-up by drilling Herlong 40-0 in last Friday's semi-fi nal game. The Cardinals were a model of sharing as six players scored six touch downs. Backs Tim Valdez, Chris Click, Renden Ellen berger and Wes Breakfield all found the goal-line as did QB Corado Reginatto. The fi nal score came on a four yard run by sophomore Carlos Es calante who was brought up from the JV squad for the playoffs.

Valdez led the Cards in rushing with 119 yards while the Big Valley defense held Herlong to just 88 yards of to tal offense.

Cards lose to Bears

The Big Valley volleyball team ended their season last Thursday with a 15-6, 15-4, 15-6 loss to Mt. Shasta in the first round of the CIF Sectional playoffs. That loss ended an otherwise successful season for the 18-7 Cardinals. They were the Co-Champions of the Evergreen League with an 11-1 record.

The Cards will lose seniors Alicia Farber, Carrie Schwe bach, Naomi Seeger and Ba ley Thomas to graduation. However, they will return Anita Babcock, Amy Kresge, Ileah Jackson, Amy Plemons and Adonica McGarr as they try to make a run for another league title in 1998.

Braves win both cross country titles

Both the Modoc girls and Modoc boys teams won North Section CIF Cross Country championships for Division 5 at West Valley Thursday and now prepare for the state championship meet at Woodward Park in Fresno Nov. 29.

"We did really well and the teams both go to state," said coach John Geldreich. "It was a damp, misty day, but I think our runners liked it and they ran well."

Senior Josh Keyes led the boys team with a first place finish in the division, clocking a 16:36 time over the 5,000 meter course. Keyes finished third overall. The race was won by Enterprise's Bryce Lighthall who ran 16:01 and Red Bluff's Jacob Guttierrez finished second in 16:12.

For Modoc's boys, Aaron Wishart finished 102 overall in 19:40, Travis Dunn was 105th in 19:48; Dan Hoover was 123rd in 22:03 and Dan Toaetolu was 128th in 22:50.

Modoc's girls team successfully defended last year's north section title with Julia Greene placing second among Division 5 runners and Missy Lieurance placing third. Greene was 31st overall at 21:44 and Lieurance was 48th overall at 22:24. Greene is a sophomore and Lieurance is a freshman.

Ginny Greene finished at 51st in 22:38, Stephanie McMaster was 77th in 24:55 and Rebekah Richert was 97th in 27:44.

Christensen heading to UC Santa Barbara for basketball

Modoc High School's Kayte Christensen ended months of speculation and dashed the hopes of some colleges Thursday when she signed a letter of intent to play basketball in the Big West Conference at University of California, Santa Barbara.

UC Santa Barbara is all smiles with the deal, which guarantees Christensen, a 6-3 forward, with a four-year full-ride scholar ship and the chance to play top college basket ball.

Signing the Letter of Intent effectively takes Christensen off the market.

Christensen was heavily recruited over the summer, with about 30 colleges all ex pressing sincere interest. Nine of the 10 Pacific-10 schools contacted her.

She broke down the potential offers, which filled about a desk drawer with paperwork, to three schools in the end: UC Santa Barbara, University of Oregon and Boise State.

Why Santa Barbara?

"They cared more about the student and the whole program, not just basketball," Christensen said just after she signed the letter. "I was impressed with the coaches and their attitude. They also have a basketball style that fits in with what we do here." Christensen gives much credit for her suc cess and the exposure she received to Modoc coach Mike Martin and the summer basket ball program he took some of the players to over the past couple of years. The big deal, she said, was the tournament this past summer at Oregon City. She played well at the tourna ment, said Martin, and most of the college coaches or staffs in the west were there.

"Coach Martin helped a lot, it wouldn't have happened without him," said Christensen. "I didn't know anything about marketing myself, sending videos or the summer programs. I would also like to thank the community, who helped sponsor us so we could go to those summer tournaments. The community has been very supportive."

Martin said Christensen will be a perfect fit in the Santa Barbara program and should see plenty of playing time in their platoon system. Her speed, agility, ability to catch the ball on the run, work ethic and competitive ness are her best strengths.

Christensen will get to play with Erin Buescher, from Ricon Valley Christian, of Santa Rosa, whom she battled with during the north state basketball finals in Sacramento last season. Rincon Valley won that game and went on to win the state title. They played a very physical game against each other.

Christensen went down to visit the Santa Barbara campus in October, got to know Buescher better, and came away as friends.

Christensen is pleased to have signed with UC Santa Barbara and is looking forward to the step up. But first, there's a volleyball play-off to finish. She hopes to be in the state title hunt and then, her senior basketball season with the Braves. Modoc should be heavily fa vored to win the north section title again this year and has a goal of winning state.

Will having signed the Letter of Intent this early reduce the pressure to perform dur ing the season.

"I don't think it will make any differ ence," said Christensen. "When I play, that's what I think about and I'm just me. It's tough for people to expect more of me than I do."

Martin agrees. "No one can put as much pressure on Kayte as she does," he said. "She is incredibly competitive, works hard to im prove and is pretty tough on herself."

Christensen also gives a great deal of credit to her teammates on the Braves' teams for her successes, especially long-time teammate and close friend Jennifer Kern. Kern, a 6-1 senior, is also being courted by several college coaches.

"Jennifer makes me work hard in prac tice and really bumps me around," said Christensen. "We're looking forward to this basketball season. We expect to go farther."

Christensen is not anxious in a fearful way about playing college basketball. She is anxious to play, because she said she plays better in stiffer competition and Modoc's competition really isn't in league or often section play.

In the end, she would like to play profes sional basketball. She hasn't decided on a major, but has considered sports marketing. She has time and she's not in a rush. First things first, and those are to help bring the fi nal titles back to Modoc High School, com pleting a career with her teammates that will include a large number of section titles in basketball, volleyball and track that will be difficult for any school to match.

Christensen is the daughter of Randy and Kathy Christensen of Alturas.

Record sports summaries for Nov. 27, 1997 issue

Ą Modoc girls win section volleyball title
Ą Cardinals win section football title
Ą Turnovers cost Braves in loss to Live Oak
As if anybody else ever really had a chance.

For the past three months all of the volleyball teams in the Northern Section have been pretending that some how, somewhere, some way, somebody might actually have a shot at beating Modoc. The Braves actually indi cated they were mere mortals during a lackluster quarter finals effort against Mt. Shasta.

However, if there was any light at the end of the tunnel for anybody else in the North Section, the Braves took that light bulb and smashed it to bits in their final march to a third straight Sectional Title. Modoc dominated Portola in the semis (15-2, 15-2, 15-10) and cleared the bench in a 15-10, 15-7, 15-5 finals win over Liberty Christian.

Now that the Braves have the threepeat in the Northern section, they get to be gate-crashers at the Private School Championships, also known as the CIF State Tournament. Modoc starts in an eight-team bracket with a shot at winning the NorCal Title. If they win that, they get to take on the Southern California Cham pion for the State Champi onship.

In 1995 and 1996, the Braves were only seeded No. 4 in State, meaning they only got one match at home. This year Modoc snagged the No. 2 seed - and a distinct advantage at going farther than they ever have.

On Tuesday night, the Braves hosted No. 7 seed, "The King's Academy." (See related article.) A win there would mean Modoc would get to stay home on Saturday, November 29 and host the winner of No. 3 seed San Francisco University High School vs. No. 6 seed Forest Lake.

The Braves are thus two home wins away from being in the NorCal finals, a level they have not reached in the past two years. If No. 1 seed Sacred Heart Prep, out of Atherton in the Bay Area, is the other finalist, they would pick a neutral site in the Bay Area for the NorCal finals on Tuesday, December 2. If Sa cred Heart loses, Modoc would get to pick the finals neutral site for some other Bay Area team to travel to.

Modoc coach Harold Mon tague indicated that if the Braves were in that situation, he would likely pick Tulelake as the neutral site to give the visitors as long a drive as possible and give Modoc fans a relatively short trip. He even joked that he would be willing to make a deal with Lakeview to put the "Welcome to Oregon" signs just north of that town for a day and hold the match in Lakeview, Cali fornia - thus, insuring the furthest bus trip possible for the opposition.

Should the Braves win the NorCal Championship, they would travel to Southern Cali fornia on Saturday, December 6 to face the SoCal champ for the State Title.

In their semi-final Sec tional match against Portola last Thursday, the Braves im ply took no prisoners in the first game on their way to a 15-2 win. Kayte Christensen dominated at the net, getting kills on her first six spike at tempts. After finally missing on her seventh, she came back with three more to help close out the game. For the night, Christensen found the floor on an incredible 19 out of 21 hit ting attempts. She also had three blocks, two digs and an ace.

The second game was more of the same as Modoc jumped out to a 6-0 lead with Jennifer Kern hitting on every one of her five kill attempts. The Braves would move on to win that game 15-2 and Kern would finish the match with six kills, four digs, two aces and a block.

The Braves allowed Por tola to take a 10-3 lead in the third game, but it seemed like it didn't really matter. Ev eryone knew Modoc would come back, and they did, tak ing the last 12 points of the match to win 15-10.

Leah Siegel got five kills and two digs even though she is a setter. Sophomore six-footer Andrea Knox had four kills, two digs and a block. Veronica Coates registered three kills while Wendy Stafford had two kills and two digs. Tessa Siegel had two digs while Stephanie Northrup came off the bench to serve an ace.

On Saturday, the Braves cruised in the finals in Chico as well. In defeating Liberty Christian, Christensen and Kern each had 15 kills. Christensen also had three digs while Kern was a perfect 13-13 in passing attempts. Most of the Modoc kills came off sets by Leah Siegel who registered 40 assists while making just four errors.

Andrea Knox picked up eight kills and three aces. Tessa Siegel was perfect in her passing attempts while also recording an ace and a dig. Wendy Stafford was 27-28 in passing and 12-13 from the service line while getting four kills. Veronica Coates had five kills and was perfect in her passing attempts.

Off the bench, Northrup had no mistakes in serving or passing and racked up two digs. Christy Cartner was 7-7 passing and 3-3 on serves while also handling two digs. Lindsay Lieurance had two digs while sophomore Megan Orner was perfect from the service line and had a dig.

Cardinals rumble to Sec tion championship

Mission accomplished.

When nine senior football players first walked through the doors of Big Valley High as freshmen back in the fall of 1994, they set a goal of win ning a CIF Section Title. Last Friday night, the Cardinals achieved that goal with a 49-6 drubbing of Happy Camp in the Division VI finals. To top it all off, they went 9-0 for the season.

"Ever since freshman year that was our goal," team co-captain Russ Carpenter said after the game. "We knew we could do it."

From there it was just a matter of believing it was pos sible, according to the Cards' other co-captain, John Saltz man.

"I had faith in the program and had some good players and coaches around me," he said matter-of-factly.

Carpenter said the goal be came even more urgent this year because, "this was the last time we were going to be together," and because BV fell just short of winning CIF last year with a close loss to Westwood in the 1996 finals. Carpenter said the wounds from that game stayed fresh throughout the winter, spring and summer last year to keep the Cards motivated.

"It still hurt tonight before the game," Carpenter said. "We started thinking about that and we were going to win this time no matter what."

Friday's game against the Indians was the biggest of the year, but the Cardinals played it like the rest of their games this season - they won in a blowout with their four pronged running attack while holding the opposition to pal try rushing yardage.

The newest of the four musketeers backfield, junior Wes Breakfield, led the rush ing attack with 149 yards and a touchdown. Senior fullback Chris Click was right behind him with 146 yards while also finding the endzone three times. Senior Tim Valdez ran for 96 yards and a score while junior fullback Renden Ellenberger got 86 yards and scored two touches.

To top it all off, quarter back Corado Reginatto had combined passing and rush ing totals of 66 yards.

On defense, the Cardinals allowed just 115 rushing yards on 23 attempts. They also sacked the Happy Camp QB five different times. Se nior Chris Clark was in on three of those. The BV sopho more class also had a big night in the Indians' back field. Carlos Escalante and Michael McLain combined with Clark on one sack while Lukes Stevenson got a solo sack in the fourth quarter. The sack for the biggest loss (13 yards) was made by Valdez in the second quarter. Valdez again had the incredi ble stat combination of mak ing a sack and an intercep tion in the same game.

Middle-linebacker Car penter dominated in the first quarter making tackles on five of Happy Camps first seven plays. He would end the night with eight tackles. Valdez had six tackles while Saltzman and Ellenberger added five each.

Big Valley started the evening by winning the coin toss and getting to receive the opening kick-off. On their first drive they went 68 yards in just five plays and one minute 18 seconds to open a lead they would never relin quish. Ellenberger scored the first TD from 15 yards out.

Happy Camp promptly fumbled on their first offen sive play and Carpenter re covered it. The Cards then took the ball to the Indian 10 before bringing in Escalante to kick a 26 yard field goal and make the score 9-0.

Happy Camp got their one score of the night on their next possession on a 42 yard pass play. However, Big Valley came right back to score again on their next posses sion. Breakfield set up the score when he ran 44 yards around the left side before getting pushed out of bounds on the one yard line. After an offsides penalty on BV, Click took it in from six yards out and Escalante kicked the P.A.T. to make it 16-6.

The Cardinals continued to pile on the points in the second quarter as Click and Ellen berger scored on 10 and six yard runs respectively. Es calante followed the second touchdown with another P.A.T. to make the score 29-6 at the half.

Big Valley added another touchdown in the third on a 16 yard run by Breakfield. The fourth quarter brought touch downs by Valdez and Click and two more extra points by Escalante.

The game ended with Reginatto picking off a Happy Camp pass.

The members of the Cham pionship team are: Seniors - Kasey Kriss, Corado Regi natto, Timothy Valdez, Chris Click, Russ Carpenter, John Saltzman, Chris Clark, Abe Womack and Patrick McCul ley. Juniors - Jason Oney, Wes Breakfield, Renden El lenberger, Wyatt Harbert, Jesse Coakley, Colton Jeppson and Joe Haury. Sophomores - Michael Lemke, Carlos Es calante, Michael McLain and Lukes Stevenson.

The team was coached by Matt Hunsaker who was as sisted by Steve Gagnon.

Turnovers cost Braves against Live Oak, 21-12

A pair of Modoc turnovers returned by Live Oak for touchdowns was the difference in the North Section Division 3 semi-final playoff game Friday night at Live Oak.

Modoc's excellent defense did its job, limiting the her alded Live Oak offense to just one touchdown in the third pe riod. Modoc coach Shaun Wood had predicted the game would be a defensive battle and both defenses lived up to the billing.

"Our defense played extremely well, and their defense was by far the best we've seen this season," said Wood. "They hit as hard as we did and they really flew to the ball. It was a defensive game, and with a break or two, we could have won it. I'm very proud of this team and how well we played. Live Oak knew they were in a game."

Live Oak got on the board early in the first when Louis Montenegro picked up a Braves' fumble on the third play from scrimmage and ran it 34 yards for a touchdown. The point-after was good and Live Oak led 7-0.

The Braves answered quickly and moved the ball the length of the field to the Live Oak five where quarterback Eric Lancaster took the ball over on a keeper. The point-after failed and Live Oak led 7-6.

In the second period, Live Oak's Art Acosta picked off a Lancaster pass and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. The point-after was good and Live Oak led 14-6. Modoc's re ceiver, Larry Cavasso slipped on the dirt field, giving Acosta the chance to pick off the ball.

"The field was a mess, dirt with clumps of grass," said Wood. "Our kids played very well and treated the whole game in a very businesslike manner. Nothing bothered them, even the fumble recovery for a touchdown. One of the main differences was their defense was very quick. We just couldn't pop runs for big gains. But we were able to pass."

Following the interception, the Braves answered the chal lenge again. Modoc drove the ball well and Lancaster found Bill Wilson for a 42-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed, but Modoc had cut Live Oak's lead to 14-12 at half-time and was very much in the game.

Live Oak added a third score in the third period when Mandeep Mundi caught a five-yard pass from Balgit Gill. The point after was good and Live Oak took a 21-12 lead that held the rest of the game.

Modoc's defense held Live Oak to 142 yards on 34 rushes and only 31 yards passing. The Braves rushed 39 times for 119 yards and added 75 yards through the air. The Braves picked up 12 first downs in the game and limited Live Oak to 10. Live Oak survived 10 penalties for 95 yards, while Modoc was flagged just five times for 45 yards.

Matt Carroll led the Braves runners with 57 yards on 18 carries, Andy Nowak added 53 on 14, Lancaster had 10 on seven. Diego Rameriz led the Live Oak crew with 122 yards on 18 carries. Their leading back, Art Acosta was held to just 16 yards.

Bill Wilson caught two passes for 51 yards. The senior wideout has caught 13 passes this season, eight of them for touchdowns. Cavasso caught two for 28 yards and Carroll grabbed one for two yards. Lancaster hit five of seven passes.

For the season, Carroll finished with 1,300 rushing and Lancaster threw for over 1,000 yards.

Modoc finished the season with the a share of the Shasta Cascade League title and a 7-5 overall record. They were 5-1 in the SCL. They beat Delta in the first round of the section play-offs before losing to Live Oak, the top seed.

"I'm very proud of this team, and they certainly repre sented the school and community well," said Wood. "It was a great season."

DECEMBER SPORTS

Record sports summaries for December 4, 1997

Ą Modoc Vollyeball team wins North State Title
Ą Modoc boys start basketball in Fall River
Ą Modoc girls host Tip-Off Tourney
Ą Keyes 11th, girls 8th in state cross country
Ą Wrestlers open in Chetser this week
Ą Ski hill offers new deal
Modoc wins North State Volleyball championship

by Geoff Griffith

Special to the Record

What's the capital of North ern California? Alturas, baby!!!

At least it's the main city for high school volleyball after the Modoc Braves took the NorCal State Championship Tuesday night with a 15-7, 15-7, 15-12 vic tory over Central Catholic, of Modesto.

The Braves winning the title was fantastic enough, but the ic ing on the cake was that they got to play all three games of the state tournament at home. The test for teams that wanted to claim they were number one this year was to go to Griswold Gym and come out a winner. You wanna brag? Drive north for ever and beat Modoc and then you can talk.

Thanks to the Christensen and Kern Travel Agency, plenty of Bay Area private schools have been able to tour beautiful Modoc County over the past three years. (Apparently one team was called and asked which freeway off ramp they should take to get to MHS. Some local wag told them to take the third dirt road on the right.)

All three tourist teams left Alturas disappointed this year. It was amazing enough that the Braves won all three matches, but even more stunning that they got their victories so easily. Modoc never had to go to a game four in the NorCal Tournament and most of the nine games they played were blowouts that were never close. Modoc coach Harold Montague was able to clear the bench in the finals on Tuesday.

This was presumably the first time any Modoc team in the his tory of the school has won a Northern California champi onship. Who would have thought, even just 20 years ago, that the greatest athletes in the history of Modoc would be estro gen rather than testosterone based?

Montague said he first real ized the team could win NorCal after they easily beat a very highly rated "The King's Academy" team in the first round.

"That was the first reality check," Montague said. "After that I was thinking, 'Gosh, are we that good?'"

While Montague said, "It just seemed like everything has gone our way lately," he also pointed out that he is not a fatal ist by refusing to use the term 'team of destiny'." He instead told the Braves after Tuesday's win, "You make your own des tiny."

Another familiar phrase that Montague wasn't afraid to al lude to was," It takes a village to raise a child." Or in his case, it takes a village to create a cham pionship team. He pointed out that the process of creating this team started back at the Modoc Middle School sports program and was helped along by all of the people in the community who have supported the girls on the team in many areas besides sports.

"It's just a neat thing for Al turas and Northern California -- the 'real' Northern Califor nia," Montague said of winning NorCal.

Modoc steamrolling the north half of the state means that they get a shot at making Alturas the State Capital this Saturday when they take on the SoCal State champion, Immanuel of Reedley, on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at Cypress College in the Los Angeles Area.

Montague said the key to the win over Central Catholic (in front of a packed gym) may have been their serving consistency, something that hasn't exactly been a Modoc strength over the season. The Braves were 73-79 for the match.

"We usually miss six serves in just the first game," Mon tague quipped.

Jennifer Kern and Tessa Siegel were each 12-12 on serves, while Lindsey Lieurance and Stephanie Northrup came off the bench to hit 100 percent of their serves. Kayte Christensen led the squad in aces with three, while also being the team leader in kills (18) and blocks (4). Kern was second in kills with nine, many of those coming off assists by Leah Siegel, who had 34 for the match.

The Braves also played splendidly on the back row with several players picking up big dig numbers. Wendy Stafford led the squad with 15, followed by Andrea Knox with nine. Veron ica Coates and Megan Orner got four each, while Christy Cartner had two, one of them on the hard est hit ball of the night.

Modoc Braves head to Block F tournament

The Modoc Braves boys varsity team travels to the an nual Block F Tournament in Fall River this weekend to open the season, with the varsity meeting Durham, Thursday at 7 p.m.

The junior varsity plays Durham at 10:20 a.m. Friday morning.

Teams in the tournament include Fall River, Trinity, Burney, Big Valley, Mt. Shasta, Chester, Durham and Modoc.

Modoc's bracket includes Durham, Chester and Fall River in both divisions.

The varsity team is coached by Lane Bates while the junior varsity coach is Dave Kern.

Playing for the varsity this year are: seniors, Bryan Parker, Ryan Campbell, Eric Lancaster, Duane Knighton, Josh Keyes, Jeremy Favia; juniors, Cory Wells, Brandon Sharp, Jeff Doss, Travis Dunn and Matt Jeffers; and sophomores Cody Holloway and Brett Hamilton.

Probable starters in the opening game are Parker, Campbell, Lancaster, Holloway and Hamilton.

"We have good leadership from three senior starters from last year, Parker, Campbell and Lancaster," said Bates. "I am anticipating a balanced scoring attack and we'll be playing an up-tempo game. I expect us to be ag gressive and quick on both offense and defense." The Braves aren't overly tall, but do have very good quickness and ball-handling skills. Bates is anxious to start the season and hopes to find out who'll step up and play aggressively this weekend. He'll be looking for strong and weak spots and they'll be working on those ar eas next week.

Durham should be a good first opponent and Bates said they are a strong, well-coached team. He will open the game with a full-court press and pressure the ball.

New this year in high school boys basketball is a 35-second shot clock, but Bates doesn't think it will be a prob lem as the offense is designed to get a shot off quicker than that most of the time. There will be no more stalls.

Yo! Basketball-- Modoc girls host Tip Off tourney

While the talk about town is volleyball, the Modoc girls have another sport on line this week--basketball.

While being somewhat overshadowed by the volleyball team's success, the Modoc Girls Basketball program is hosting the an nual Tip-Off Tournament this weekend in Alturas. The Braves will be without their normal starting line-up, because they are all playing volleyball in the state championship game Saturday in Los Angeles.

Modoc coach Mike Martin is still enthused about the tournament. He figured early on that he might not have his full team for this tournament. Last year's Braves' basketball team went all the way to the NorCal finals and lost to Rincon Valley Christian in Sacramento. Martin figures this year's team will have the same opportunity once everyone gets back.

"We will still have a good starting lineup for our tournament," Martin said Tuesday night just before the Braves volleyball team beat Central Catholic of Modesto for the NorCal volleyball Championship. "We obvi ously won't be as strong as we would with the regulars, but we'll be doing fine. I'm pleased with the way we're working out right now. We'll be able to get some players more play ing time, which will increase our overall depth."

Those players who will miss the opening tourney, which should make opponents happy, are Kayte Christensen, Jennifer Kern, Leah Siegel, Andrea Knox, Wendy Stafford, and Lindsay Lieurance.

Martin does have Ginny Greene, Amber Fuller, Cheyenne Menkee, Stephanie Blair, Lynda Lake, Rebekah Richert, Amber Marks, Lindsay Delmas and Jessica Kern available for this weekend.

"We may not win it, but I wouldn't be sur prised if we did," said Martin.

The tournament gets underway Thursday night at 4 p.m. in the varsity bracket when Lakeview takes on Lassen. That game is fol lowed at 5:30 p.m. by Westwood vs Dunsmuir; at 7 p.m. by a Liberty Christian vs Chester game; and Modoc opens play against Big Valley at 8:30 p.m.

The junior varsity brackets begin Friday at 8 a.m. with Lakeview vs Lassen, followed at 9:10 a.m. by Westwood vs Dunsmuir; 10:20 a.m. Liberty Christian vs Chester and Modoc takes on Big Valley at 11:30 a.m.

Play continues all day Friday and into Saturday. The title game for junior varsity is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday and the title game for varsity follows at 8:30 p.m.

Keyes 11th, girls 8th in state meet

Modoc High School senior Josh Keyes placed 11th in Division V at the California State Cross County Championships in Fresno Saturday and the Modoc girls team placed eighth.

Keyes clocked a 16:57 time in the 5,000 meter race, and was not far behind the lead ers, said coach John Geldreich. He placed 36th last year. There were 140 rac ers taking part in the state finals for Division 5 boys.

"Josh finished with a group and could just as easily been 6th," Geldreich said this week. "I figure he was about 70 meters be hind the leaders. Josh ran well and fin ished well."

For Modoc's girls, the race was between sisters Ginny and Julia Greene. Ginny managed to hold off her younger sister at the tape to finish 48th at 22:21. Julia place 50th in 22:22. Ginny has been plagued by leg injuries all year and Geldreich said it was nice to see her finish the season well. He gave Ginny, a senior, the Runner of the Week award. Julia Green is a sopho more and Lieurance is a freshman.

Missy Lieurance placed 65th in 23:03, Stephanie McMasters was 92nd in 25:41, Stephanie Blair was 98th in 27:00, Rebekah Richert was 100th in 27:38 and Cheyenne Menkee was 103rd in 28:50.

There were 140 runners in the girls race.

For the boys team, Aaron Richert placed 105th at 21:03, Travis Dunn was 107th at 21:27, Daniel Toaetolu was 113th at 22:44 and Daniel Hoover was 114 at 24:01.

"Overall, I was very pleased with our teams," said Geldreich. "The competition is fierce and they held their own."

Modoc wrestlers in Chester

The Modoc Braves wrestling team got a bit of a late start because of the football team's success this year. But coach Shaun Wood expects his charges to have a good season.

The Braves start the 1997-98 campaign at the big Chester tournament December 5 and 6. Wood is expecting several wrestlers to bring home titles.

New "Ski Buck" program a go for Cedar Pass Ski Hill helpers

Mark the calendar to at tend the Kick-off meeting for the 1997-98 ski season.

The first Cedar Pass Ski Hill meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the Modoc Farm Ad vi sor's Conference Room, Fourth Street, Alturas.

All interested volunteers are asked to attend to help or ganize for this ski season.

There is a new "Ski Buck" program this year, which al lows volunteers to trade for ski lift tickets.

"The Hill is ready. All we need is snow, and lots of skiers and boarders - Think Snow," says Don Lancaster, President Cedar Pass Ski Corporation, Inc.

Cedar Pass Ski Corp., Inc. officers also include Vice President Dave Bilodeaux; Secretary Debbie Campbell; Trea surer Wilma Andrews; Director Dick Mackey.

Record sports for December 11, 1997

Ą Modoc girls take 2nd in state in volleyball
Ą Wrestling team plays host for big tourney
Ą Modoc boys take third at the Block F
Ą Cardinal boys getting used to roundball
Ą Modoc girls take second at Tip-off
Ą SV Hornets open hoop season
Braves second in state in volleyball a 1st for league

The Modoc volleyball team ended an incredible season at the State CUnfortunately it ended with a loss to Im manuel of Reedley by scores of 15-7, 15-13, 15-6. Still, the last match couldn't take away from the fact that the Braves put together a glorious 34-3 record for 1997, and that they accomplished something no other Shasta-Cascade League or Northern Section team has ever done - a NorCal State Ti tle and a trip to the State Championship match.

According to Modoc coach Harold Montague and all-time Braves kills and blocks leader Kayte Christensen, it wasn't the losing that hurt so much as knowing that they might have defeated Im manuel had they been having a better day.

"They were no better than any other team we played in the playoffs," Christensen said after the match. Any other team the Braves played this year got smashed.

"It's too bad we didn't fin ish up playing as well as we had been," Montague said of the State Finals. "We would have been beaten by anybody in the post-season if we had played that way. We played consistently average."

Although neither Montague nor Christensen wanted to make any excuses, there were several things that happened off the court that may have made it more difficult for the Braves to be on top of their game.

First, on Friday night be fore the match, the team van was robbed while the Braves were attending a banquet for final ists in all five divisions. The thieves got away with MHS volleyballs and a couple of wallets. Another school had hun dreds of dollars worth of video equipment stolen.

Another emotional hurdle was that just minutes before the match on Saturday morn ing, some CIF officials (representing the southern half of the state) decided it would be the perfect time to tell one of the Braves, Tessa Siegel, that she wouldn't be able to play in a match she had worked the last four years to get to. Siegel wears a special arm pad to protect her previ ously injured elbow. The CIF people told her she couldn't wear her protective gear be cause they thought it would somehow give her an unfair advantage.

Montague said he was upset that the officials went to Siegel first instead of coming to him. The whole issue of Siegel's special arm pad was addressed by the CIF North ern Commissioner three years ago and Montague has a letter from the Commissioner stating that Siegel's gear is OK. However, the Southern and Northern Commission ers appar ently never talked to each other about the issue. Montague said he pointed out that it wasn't Siegel's problem that the Commissioners did n't communicate, the CIF of ficials re lented and said Siegel could play, but not be fore sending the Modoc team into upheaval.

Another problem was that the match was played at a neu tral gym at 9:00 a.m. The whole atmosphere of the match just seemed sterile. Mon tague said he thought that con tributed to the Braves be ing "slow-footed and slug gish."

Regardless of those issues, it must also be admitted that Immanuel was a very good team. Sure Modoc made some mistakes (25 unforced errors) but the Eagles also had 25 un forced errors as well as nine missed serves to just three for Modoc. Even though they were a smaller team and mostly went to their outside hitters, Immanuel still regis tered 28 kills for the match against just 20 for Modoc.

"They just hit it to where we needed to go and we didn't get there," Christensen said.

The Immanuel hitters were terrific leepers who were also crafty enough to hit around or off of Modoc's blocks. More importantly, they got their kills at key times when they re ally needed them.

As for the Braves' own hit ting attack, Christensen said they had a tough time getting things going because, "We didn't pass well to start with."

Those intimidating kills by Christensen, Jennifer Kern and Andrea Knox, actu ally start two hits earlier when a back-row player makes a dig or return of serve and pops the ball up high in the middle of the court just a cou ple of feet from the net where setter Leah Siegel can get to it easily and put the ball right where the big hitters want it. That didn't happen on Satur day. The Braves particularly had trouble with return of serve.

"We had girls diving on the floor to return their serves," Montague said. "That shouldn't happen."

Even when Modoc did get kills set up, the Immanuel backrow made some terrific digs to keep the ball in play. The Braves also had some great digs as well. There were many long rallies that were ended when someone from ei ther team ended up hitting the ball wide or deep attempting to get around the defenses that wouldn't let anything hit the ground.

The Braves did not play poorly, they were just incon sis tent. Modoc had leads in every one of the three games. There were several times in the match when there were five or six sideouts in a row before either team could score a point. The Braves would look great for a couple of points but seemed un able to get any sort of a rally going. The Eagles on the other hand, went on streaks at key points in the match.

Modoc opened the match with a 3-0 lead in game one af ter Andrea Knox served an ace. Immanuel came back to take a 4-3 lead before three straight blocks by Chris tensen gave Modoc the sideout and then a 5-4 lead. The Ea gles then found their hitting game and scored the next seven points, three on kills and four on unforced errors by Modoc. The Braves recov ered to get points on a kill by Kern and a miss-hit by Im manuel, but that was it for game one. After the teams traded six straight sideouts, the Eagles got the serve back and finished off game one with an ace on game point.

Game two looked better for the Braves as they took a 4-1 lead thanks to Christensen blocking an Immanuel serve, several mistakes by the Ea gles and an ace by Leah Siegel. Once again, Im manuel came back and pulled even at 8-8. However, the Braves then took three of the next four points on kills by Christensen and Veronica Coates. With a 12-9 lead, it seemed like the Braves were going to even the games up at 1-1 and be right back in the match.

Immanuel showed nerves of steel at that point. They got a kill for the sideout, scored on an ace and then forced Modoc into errors on the next two points to pull even at 12-all. the Braves retook the lead at 13-12 on an Eagle error but then got called for being in the net to give the serve back to Im manuel. The Eagles got kills on two of the next three points to grab the comeback win and put a serious dent in Modoc's hopes.

In the final game, the Braves again took a 3-1 lead, but soon found themselves deluged by Immanuel service aces. The Eagles scored over half of their points (8) on aces in game three as they rolled to a 10-3 lead and never looked back.

Saturday marked the end of the phenomenal careers of Christensen and Kern. The two players have been at the center of Modoc, taking three straight Sectional Champi onships. Christensen had 11 kills, seven blocks and six digs. Kern had six kills and nine digs. Both Chris tensen and Kern were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Other seniors playing their last games in purple and white were Veronica Coates (two kills and two blocks), Wendy Stafford (three digs and a kill) and Tessa Siegel (two digs).

Junior setter Leah Siegel had a block, an ace and a dig while six-foot sophomore An drea Knox had five digs, two aces, a block and a kill.

Modoc wrestlers host tournament this week

Modoc's Wrestling team hosts its annual invitational tournament this weekend with plenty of top notch schools coming to Modoc.

The Braves placed fourth out of 18 schools last week in Chester, although the team was without nine wrestlers.

Coming to Modoc for the tournament this week are: Burney, Fall River, Portola, Lassen, Tulelake, BigValley, Chester, Lost River, Lakeview, Henley, Foothill, Mazama, Reno, Hayfork and Carson City.

According to Modoc coach Shaun Wood, early favorites have to be Carson City, with possible challenges from Mazama, Reno and Henley. At full strength this week, Wood believes the Braves are also in the running for the overall team title.

Leading the way for Modoc will be Teddy Simmons, Eric Hunter, Greg Jacques, Andy Nowak and Dan Flournoy. Wrestling this week for Modoc varsity will be: 103, Wesley Shirk; 112, Justin Cavasso and Justin Semenko; 119, Richard Lutz, David Wolverton and Michelle Villa; 125, Jeremy Urbar, Sara Wills; 130, Teddy Simmons, Derrick Alvarez; 135, Eric Hunter; 140, Robert Mendoza, Brandon Shaffer; 145, Jon Wellemeyer; 152, Phillip Weed; 160, Andy Nowak, Blake Wilson; 171, Greg Jacques, Dirk Lundgren; 189, Ross Lundgren, Robert Cox; 215, Dan Flournoy, Chad Araujo, Iven Wilson; 275, Dan Irvin, Tony Willis, Ray Brooks.

Wrestling will start at 2 p.m. Friday and at 9 a.m. Saturday with wrestling going through much of the day.

At Chester, Modoc's 135-pound Eric Hunter took a sec ond to lead the team. Phil Weed, at 152 pounds placed third, as did Dan Flournoy at 215 pounds and Dick Lundgren placed fourth at 171 pounds.

Firebaugh of Fresno won the tourney with 167 points, Incline was second with 154, Trinity was third at 137, Modoc fourth at 109, Tulelake fifth at 107 and 13 other schools followed.

Modoc girls place second in Tip-off

Modoc's varsity girls basetball team, play ing without its regular starting lineup which was playing in the state volleyball champi onships, placed second in the Modoc Tip-off Tournament last weekend.

"They did just great," aid Modoc coach Mike Martin. "We beat Big Valley and Liberty Christian and lost in the champi onship to Westwood."

The Braves take the full squad to the Portola tournament this weekend, and Martin expects the team to dominate from the beginning. They open today against Quincy, 3:30 p.m.; meet Portola Friday at 5:30 p.m. and play Chester Saturday at 4 p.m.

The Braves are the odds-on favorite to win league and section this season, and will be looking to return to the state tournament.

Modoc is led by Kayte Christensen and Jennifer Kern, both top players in the north state. Guard Leah Siegel is one of the best and Andrea Knox, a 6-1 sophomore is proving her value. The fifth starting spot is up for grabs at the moment and may see quite a rotation. There are several taleneted girls who could fill that slot, including Amber Fuller, Linda Lake, Wendy Stafford and others.

"Right now, I'm astounded with how well the girls off volleyball are shooting the ball from the outside," aid Martin. "It's been pretty darn impressive in practice. We're looking forward to getting to Portola and we'll be looking to do the things we do well."

Martin said the team that played in the Tip-off represented the Braves very well and showed some real talent.

They beat Big Valley to open the tourney 49-30 with Amber Fuller, Linda Lake, Cheyenne Menkee and Jessica Kern each scoring 12.

The girls then upset Liberty Christian 61-58 in the second game with Kern, Menkee, Lake and Fuller scoring 13 each.

In the final game, the Braves defense limited Westwood's talented team to 38 points, but could only muster 21 points of their own as shots simply did not fall.

Modoc's junior varsity, which had several of its players moved up to varsity for this tourney, also placed second. Those players will be returned to the junior varsity team for Portola and should be very strong.

Modoc boys take third in Block F

Modoc's varsity boys bas ketball team started the sea son with a strong showing at the Block F Tournament in Fall River last weekend, tak ing third place. The Braves head to the Portola tourna ment this weekend.

The Braves open the Portola tourney against the host team at 8:30 p.m. tonight. On Friday they meet Quincy at 7 p.m. and close out the round robin tourney against Whittel at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

"I was very pleased with what I saw in Fall River," said Modoc coach Lane Bates. "We played well in all three games. I came away feeling that I have nine guys who can contribute and do some things and we're working on getting the other three up to speed this week. I think some questions were answered positively, and some anxiety was erased."

Modoc opened the Block F with a win over Durham, then lost a one-point game in over time to Chester. Chester went on to beat Burney for the championship. The Braves beat Trinity in the third place game by six.

Bryan Parker and Ryan Campbell were named to the All-tourney team.

Bates said he was happy with his starting five, includ ing the seniors Parker, Campbell and Eric Lancaster, and sophomores Cody Holloway and Brett Hamilton. He also got great help from Duane Knighton, Cory Wells, Jeff Doss and Brandon Roberts.

"Our seniors provide good leadership and the sopho mores played well for their first time out," said Bates. "We played hard, hung in there when we were down in a game and never folded. One of our main strengths is overall team quickness."

In other activities, Amber Knauss was named to the All-tourney Cheerleading squad.

Cardinals trade football for roundball

The only problem with winning a CIF football cham pionship at a small school is that the football playoffs bump up against the beginning of the basketball season. All nine players on the Big Val ley basketball roster were members of the victorious Cardinals football squad, and it's going to take them a little while to get used to a round ball.

Therefore, BV coach Bryan Gerig said that the purpose of December, besides the holi days, is to "get into basketball shape." To that end he has put together a murderous sched ule against bigger schools so that the Cards might emerge in January as a force to be reckoned with in the Ever green League.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that the Cardinals have started 0-4 while show ing flashes of brilliance.

This past weekend Big Valley played at the Block F tourney in Fall River. They were first matched up with Trinity. The game was even most of the way and the Cards even had the lead with one minute left before Trinity came back to take a 50-45 win. The next day the Cards took an 84-51 beating from Mt. Shasta before coming back on Saturday to play a close one against a huge Fall River team. Big Valley ended up losing that one 58-55 but it was huge improvement over their game against Fall River just five days before when they lost 58-40. In the Block F match-up, the Cardinals held Fall River to just four field goals in the second half but got out shot 25-11 at the free-throw line.

Senior guard Kasey Criss averaged 19.3 points a game for the tournament for Big Valley

The rest of the roster in cludes seniors Chris Clark, Chris Click, Corado Reginatto and John Saltzman plus ju niors Renden Ellenberger, Joe Haury, Jason Oney and Wyatt Harbert.

The varsity squad will travel to Live Oak today to be gin a three-day tournament. Next weekend will be a tour ney at Mt. Shasta. The Cards don't play at home until the league schedule begins in January.

The Big Valley JV got off to a strong 3-1 start and won the consolation bracket at Block F. They also beat Fall River last Tuesday by a score of 60-37. They opened Block F with a 29-26 loss to Trinity. Mike McLain was the leading scorer with nine points. They then rebounded to beat Burney 24-19 and Chester 35-28. David House led the scoring in the Chester game with 14 points. Calvin Jackson was named to the All-Tournament team.

Hornets get hoop season off and going

The Surprise Valley boys and girls basketball teams kicked off their seasons at tournaments this past week end.

A very young boys varsity squad (two-thirds of the play ers are juniors) started 1-2 at the Greenville Invitational. They beat Westwood 53-41 as Chris Harris led the scoring with 20 points. Tom Harris added 15 and Avon Ray got 10. The Hornets then got blasted 76-51 by McCloud despite 17 points from Tom Harris and 11 each from Brian Darst and Chris Harris. The Hornets ended up fourth in the tourney after losing 60-48 to Herlong. Tom Harris was named to the All-Tournament team.

On Tuesday night, SV played Paisley up in Oregon and evened their record with a 76-48 win. Tom Harris had 24 while Darst and Chris Harris contributed 14 and 12 respec tively.

Also on the Hornet varsity are Nick Fenske, John Minto, Mike Miranda, Dillon Mon tre and Andy Tierney.

The Surprise Valley JV consists of Craig Carpenter, Mike Northrup, Joel Ruiz, Brandon Wood, Jon Arreche, Jerry Cook and Anthony Shultz.

The boys team will host Bishop Quinn tonight before holding their own tournament next weekend.

Girls basketball: The girls basketball team played at the Bulldog Invitational in Butte Valley this past weekend and also came away with a 1-2 record. Their tournament opener was a 39-36 loss to Happy Camp. Tammy Small led the scoring with 15 points. Friday was 59-40 loss to Weed with Heather Tufts the top scorer with 12. The Hornets bounced back on Saturday to open a 20-0 lead against Hosanna Christian. They cruised to a 39-15 win with Tufts again scoring 12. Stacy DePaul made the All-Tour nament team.

On Tuesday, the Hornets beat Paisley 39-19 on the road. This weekend they will play in the Tulelake Invitational. Other members of the Hornet varsity are Jeanne Bunyard, Jennifer Reeves, Brooke Beeman, Stacy Cook and Tanya Romesha.

The Surprise Valley JV made a strong second place showing in Butte Valley. They beat Happy Camp 52-13 as Jessie Bietz had 20 points. They followed with a 53-51 double overtime win over Tulelake. Freshman Ash lynn Dolcini has 23 points. In the finals, the Hornets got beat 62-23. Traci Reeves and Cassie Cockrell made the All-Tournament team.

Record sports for 12-18-197

Ą Braves host Block M Boys tournament
Ą Chester wins Modoc wrestling invite
Ą Modoc girls start the run for the hoop title
Ą Hornets hosting basketball tournament
Ą Big Valley drops two at Live Oak
Braves host Block M basketball tourney

The Modoc Braves host the annual Block M Boys Basketball Tournament in Alturas, starting tonight and running through Saturday night.

Modoc's varsity comes in after strong showings (4-2) in the Block F tournament in Fall River and the Portola Tournament. The Braves junior varsity is coming into the tournament hoping to get on track, having had a rough season open ing.

The tourney begins Thursday afternoon in the varsity brackets, 4 p.m. when Tulelake meets Burns. That game is fol lowed at 5:30 p.m. by the Liberty Christian against Lakeview game. Chester meets Cascade Christian at 7 p.m. and Modoc rounds out the evening against East Nicholas at 8:30 p.m.

"I think all the teams in the tournament will be tough," said Modoc coach Lane Bates. "There really isn't a weak team. I know Liberty Christian is bringing a good team. We faced Chester in the Block F and Lakeview and Burns always put good teams on the floor. We open against East Nicholas, and I expect them to be good."

The Braves played the Portola tourna ment without one of their key starters, Bryan Parker, who is nursing a sprained ankle. Bates said he doesn't expect Parker, who led them in scoring at Fall River, to be back for the Block M.

"I'd really like to be able to put my best players on the floor, but I don't expect Parker back until we start league play," said Bates. "I was pleased that we placed second in the Portola tournament without one of our starters. We lost to Quincy, but we came out flat, and I felt we should and could have beaten them. We play good de fense and our quickness is our strength. I expect us to play well in the Block M."

Action in the first found of the junior varsity starts at 8 a.m. Friday with Tulelake against Burns. Liberty Christian meets Lakeview at 9:10 a.m.,

followed by the Chester-Cascade Christian tilt at 10:20 a.m. Modoc meets East Nicholas to finish the first round at 11:30 a.m.

Basketball continues all day Friday with the final game set for 8 p.m. and be gins again at 8 a.m. Saturday. The JV championship game is set for 7:15 p.m. and the varsity championship game is to follow at 8:50 p.m.

The Block M Royalty winner will be announced between the junior varsity and varsity championship on Saturday.

The Braves opened the Portola tourna ment by running over the host team 80-53. Modoc opened up a 23-11 first quarter lead

and by half led 37-26. They outscored Portola 24-15 in the third and 19-12 in the fourth. Ryan Campbell led the scoring with 17, Brett Hamilton added 13, Brandon Roberts had 12 and Cody Holloway had nine.

A flat start against Quincy sealed the Braves fate Friday night. Quincy grabbed a 17-12 lead in the fist and bumped that to a 36-21 halftime lead. Modoc stayed close in the third, but trailed 49-32 after three. The Braves mounted a comeback with a 26-point fourth quarter to lose 66-60. Campbell led the scoring with 20, Eric Lancaster had nine and Holloway and Hamilton each netted eight.

In the final game against Whittel, of Nevada, the Braves got off well with a 14-7 lead, but a slow down in the second period allowed Whittel to take a 26-25 halftime lead. The Braves took control in the third, regaining the lead, 43-36 and outscored Whittel 13-10 in the fourth. Campbell had 16 to lead the Braves, Duane Knighton added 10 and Holloway and Hamilton each had eight.

Tuesday night, the Braves lost to a sharp Lost River team 67-41 in Lost River. Modoc played tough the opening period, taking an early 6-1 lead, but by the end of the period trailed 15-14. A slow second period hurt the Braves and Lost River built a 32-24 lead. Modoc fought back in the third after a slow start to cut the Raider lead to eight 40-32, but a pair of turnovers late in the quarter saw the Raiders go up 42-32 by the start of the fourth. The Braves could not recover. Hamilton led the scoring with 12 and Campbell and Knighton added eight.

Modoc fourth in wrestling tour ney, Carson City wins

Modoc coach Shaun Wood predicted that Carson City would be the favorite in the Modoc Invitational Wrestling Tournament this last weekend. And he turned out to be right.

"We did well, at times bet ter than I ex pected," said Wood. "I was very pleased with my younger wrestlers, many of them placed. I thought Tony Willis, Derek Alvarez, Wesley Shirk, Robert Mendoza, Ross Lundgren and Blake Wilson all did very well."

Carson City won the title with 241 points, tipping Mazama with 219, Henley with 199.5 and Modoc with 194.5. The re maining schools were somewhat distant as Lassen finished with 115, Tulelake with 100.5, Portola 98, Mazama B 805, Fall River 69.5, Burney 67.5, Big Valley 65, Lakeview 64, Modoc B 63, Lost River 48, Carson City B 43, Hayfork 16 and Lakeview B, 9.

Modoc heads to the big Lassen Invitational Tournament this weekend in Susanville.

The Braves and Mazama had both gone 3-0 in the dual meet portion of the tourna ment, but did not meet each other. They both beat Henley, Lakeview and Lassen.

For the Braves, Teddy Simmons won his 125-pound class and also tied as the Most Outstanding Lightweight in the event.

Modoc Greg Jacques pinned his opponent to win the 171-pound division.

"Simmons, Jacques and Flournoy all wrestled very well and should be very strong this season," said Wood. "I think the league will be between us and Trinity again and I'd say we're pretty evenly matched right now. Tulelake will have a couple of ringers and Fall River and Burney have some good kids."

Dan Flournoy took a sec ond place for Modoc in the 215 pound division. Tony Willis tied for third in the 275-pound bracket. Justin Cavasso placed third in the 103-pound class and Richard Lutz placed third in the 119-pound divi sion. David Wolverton, Modoc, placed fifth at 119.

Derek Alvarez tied for fifth at the 134-pound class and Robert Mendoza took fifth in the 135-pound class.

Philip Weed took a fifth in the 152 pound class and Dirk Lundgren took fifth in the 171-pound class. Ross Lundgren tied for fifth in the 189-pound division. Wesley Shirk lost the fifth place match in the 103-pound class,

Blake Wilson lost the fifth place match in the 160 -pound group. Both wrestlers did well in the tourney.

Modoc heads to Lassen this weekend for another tough tournament, and Wood ex pects to see some improve ments from the Braves. He moves some people around to weight classes as Iven Wilson goes to 215, Flournoy to 189, Willis at 275 and Jacques remains at 171.

Wood sees West Valley as one of the toughest of the nine schools coming to Susanville this weekend. Modoc's junior varsity wrestlers will travel to Lakeview for a tournament Saturday.

Modoc's Eric Hunter went out of the Modoc tournament to injury, but should be back to wrestle in the Lassen invite, said Wood.

Modoc girls on winning streak, it's no surprise

Modoc's varsity girls basketball team had no trouble winning the Portola tournament last weekend and Tuesday night whipped Lost River 50-42 in Lost River.

The Braves are playing without the services of Kayte Christensen, who sprained an ankle early in practice, but she is expected back for the big Willows Tournament December 29.

"We're fine, but we need to get healthy and get some prac tices in with everyone here" said coach Mike Martin this week. "We'll get a little rest this vacation and be ready for the Willows tournament. A little break will do the kids good."

Modoc opened the Portola Tournament against Quincy and quickly dispensed of them, 56-33. Modoc led 20-4 in the first quarter and 34-12 at half. By the end of three, the Braves led 46-19. Andrea Knox led the scoring with 15 and Kayte Christensen added 11.

Modoc whipped Portola in the second game 59-43, again taking a fast start with an 18-7 first period and led 33-22 by halftime. Modoc led 42-33 after three.

Christensen led the scoring with 20 and Knox added 16.

In the Braves final game of the tourney, they dropped Chester 62-35 after a slow start. Chester led 8-7 in the first quarter, but Modoc put up 24 points in the second to lead 31-19 at the half. The Braves added 23 third period points to lead 54-21 and cruised to the win.

Kern led the scoring with 18 and Knox had 16. Knox was named the tourney Most Valuable Player and Kern was named to the All-tourney team.

While the first half of Tuesday night's game against Lost River wasn't pretty, there was little question as to the out come. Modoc led 13-8 after the first quarter and held a slim 21-17 lead at the half. Kern and Knox got hot in the third, putting Modoc up 38-27 by the end of the period. Knox put up seven and Kern five in the period. Kern then added seven more in the opening part of the fourth period to put the Braves up 47-27 with 5:17 left.

Knox had 17 to lead the Braves and Kern added 16.

Hornets host tournament this weekend

The Surprise Valley boys and girls basketball teams have both started their seasons over the past two weeks. While the girls are now off until the Evergreen League season that starts on January 9, the boys will finish up the pre-season by hosting their own Hornet Classic this Fri day and Saturday.

The Hornet varsity plays two games on Friday night in their round-robin tourna ment. They start the evening early with a 4:30 match-up against Paisley followed by a 7:30 game against Butte Val ley. They then play the last game of the Classic on Satur day at 4:30 against Westwood.

Boys basketball: A very young Hornet squad (four ju niors in the starting lineup) has started the season at 3-2 by constantly pounding the ball inside. For example, in their 53-35 win over Bishop Quinn last week, Surprise Valley didn't even attempt any three-pointers and they got just seven points from the free throw line. That meant get ting 23 field goals inside the arc in 32 minutes.

"We've been getting every thing inside right now, so we've been taking it," Hornet coach John Christie said. "We haven't really had to take anything beyond 12 feet."

However, Christie also said that the Hornets will have to develop other aspects of their game as they move into EAL play in January.

Against Bishop Quinn, se nior Chris Harris had 20 points while junior Tom Har ris (no relation) added 15. Other players on the team are senior Dillion Montre and juniors Brian Darst, Nick Fenske, John Minto, Mike Miranda and Avon Ray.

The SV JV had an exciting game against Bishop Quinn. Two Hornets fouled out, leav ing a total of five players available, as the game went into overtime before Bishop won 59-55. Despite the loss, Christie said it was the best he had seen the JV play this sea son.

"That was the game where we most played like we were a team," he said.

Freshman Mike Northrup went ballistic scoring 36 points to lead Surprise Valley in the Bishop game. Other members of the squad are sophomores Jon Arreche, Jerry Cook and Anthony Shultz and freshman Craig Carpenter, Joel Ruiz and Brandon Wood

Girls basketball: The Hornet varsity is an even 4-4 on the season after going 1-2 at the Tulelake Invitational last week. The Hornets started the Tulelake weekend with a 46-36 loss to Fall River. Heather Tufts led the scoring in that one with 12 while Stacy Cook added 10. However, the Hornets lost not only the game, they also lost two starters, Tufts and sophomore Tammy Small, to injury for the following two games. Tufts did play some in the second game but wasn't at 100 percent.

Nevertheless, Surprise Valley, with the help of Stacey DePaul's 12 points, was able to hang within one point of Butte Valley before the Bulldogs pulled away in the final minutes for a 43-34 victory. The Hornets finished off the weekend with a 32-29 win over Greenville in which Brooke Beeman scored 10. Tufts was named to the All-Tournament team.

Other members of the team are senior Tanya Romesha and juniors Jeanne Bunyard and Jennifer Reeves.

The Hornet JV is an im pressive 6-2 after going to the finals of both tournaments they have been entered in. In Tulelake last weekend they started with a 38-9 waxing of Fall River. Freshman Ash lynn Dolcini led the scoring with 14 points while Jesse Bi etz chipped in with 10. Sur prise Valley next got a 44-30 win over Butte Valley. Dol cini was again tops in points with 15 while Traci Reeves had 12.

In the finals, the Hornets were matched up against North Medford, a school that fields five girls basketball teams out of a student body of 1800. SV coach Lon Holloman said the Medford team was composed mostly of sopho mores. After a 21-19 half-time score, North Medford pulled away in the second half to take a 43-25 win. Reeves had 15 points as she and Dol cini were named to the All-Tournament team.

Other members of the JV are sophomores Raquel Azevedo, Nikki Carlock, Al ida Fox and Caity Wimer and freshman Cassie Cockrell, Meghan Darst, Megan Farschon, Tammy Montre and Maricela Ruiz.

Cardinals drop 2 in Live Oak

The Big Valley boys bas ketball team came away with one win and two losses at the Live Oak Invitational last week end.

The Cardinals started the tourney against the host team. Even though BV outscored Live Oak 26-25 in the second half, they still couldn't re cover from a 15-6 deficit in the first quarter. The final score was 51-39 in favor of Live Oak as Kasey Criss had 13 points.

The Cards bounced back to beat Westwood 49-36 in the sec ond game. They took a 14-4 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Junior Renden Ellenberger led the scor ing with 18 points and Criss added 11.

That meant the Cards got to face Sutter in their final game. Sutter turned out to be a big school both in terms of en rollment and front line, with three starters at 6-5 or above. Sutter took an 84-43 win de spite 16 points from Corado Regi natto.

Big Valley plays at the Mt. Shasta Invitational this week end. They open the tour ney against Weed tomorrow night at 6:30. These will be their last games before begin ning their Evergreen League schedule in January.

Record sports for December 25, 1997

Ą Braves 2nd in Block M Tournament
Ą Wrestling team is second in Susanville
Ą Big Valley basketball doing playing tough
Ą SV Hornets do well at own tournament
Ą Cedar Pass Ski Hill opens with more days
Ą Modoc's JV take consolation at Block M
Braves take 2nd at Block M

Modoc's varsity team placed second at the Block M Tournament this last weekend, los ing to a good Liberty Christian team 56-43 in the championship game.

The Braves got off to an icy start and al lowed the Patriots to get up 15-2 before Modoc could get warmed up. By the end of the open ing period, the Braves had dug themselves a 17-8 hole.

"We had a terrible start, and that was the game story," said Modoc coach Lane Bates. "I think we allowed them to get into our heads early, but after we settled down, it was a good game. I just wish we'd had a better start."

In the second period, the Braves fought back to cut the lead to 20-17 with 4:22 left in the half. But Liberty Christian mounted another run that found them up 32-21 by the buzzer.

Modoc had a good third period, cutting the Patriot lead to five points, 40-35, and shaking up an otherwise confident Patriots team.

But the Patriots regrouped and got on an other roll that saw them go up 50-38 with four-and-a-half minutes left. The Braves came back again, cutting the lead to 50-43 with 2:55 left, but Modoc didn't add another point in the game and Liberty Christian added five, four on late free throws.

Ryan Campbell led the Braves' scoring with 14 and Duane Knighton had 12.

Modoc opened the Block M with an easy win over East Nicolaus, 61-43, behind Knighton's 17-point effort.

The Braves jumped up 18-2 in the opening period and held a 32-21 halftime lead. By the end of three, the game found Modoc ahead 52-30 and they added nine points in the fourth.

Brandon Roberts added 10 points, Brett Hamilton had nine and Cory Wells added eight.

In the semi-final game, Modoc avenged an earlier sea son loss to Chester by beating them 45-39 on a cold shooting night. Chester opened up with an 8-7 lead after one, but the Braves pulled ahead 21-19 by half. The Braves increased the lead to 31-27 after three. The Braves added 14 points in the fourth and Chester added 12.

Bryan Parker led the Braves with a 16-point night, com ing off the bench as he's still nursing a sprained ankle. Campbell added eight.

Knighton and Hamilton were named to the All-tourney team for Modoc.

The Braves are now off until January 7 when they open Shasta Cascade League play against a good Burney squad in Alturas.

Braves second in Susanville meet

Modoc Braves surprised even head wrestling coach Shaun Wood by taking a second place in the tough Lassen Wrestling Tournament in Susanville last weekend.

In the dual meet format, Modoc beat everyone except the team from Fernley, Nevada, whom they lost to 36-32.

Coach Wood said the team wrestled very well and of fered some real strength in several areas. They also had to forfeit the 130 pound division without a wrestler.

The Braves' Justin Cavasso, 112 pounds; Ted Simmons, 125 pounds; Philip Weed 152 pounds and Andy Nowak, 160 pounds each took individual championships in the tournament, going unbeaten in all eight bouts.

Taking seconds for the Braves were: Wesley Shirk, 103 pounds; Richard Lutz, 119 pounds; Eric Hunter, 140 pounds; and Tony Willis, 275 pounds. They each finished with 7-1 records. Willis is a freshman.

Taking thirds for Modoc were Greg Jacques at a tough 171 pound weight class and Iven Wilson at 215 pounds. Dan Flournoy took a fourth at 189 pounds. Jacques was 6-2; Wilson 6-2 and Flournoy 5-3.

Nowak, who won all eight of his matches by pin was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler for the heavyweights. He pinned his opponents quicker than anyone else.

Results of Modoc's dual meets were as follows: Modoc 63, Enterprise 18; Modoc 66, Foothill 18; Fernley 36, Modoc 32; Modoc 45, Lassen 34; Modoc 57, Truckee 12; Modoc 72, Portola 12; Modoc 45, Central Valley 36; Modoc 78, Bishop Manogue, Reno, 0.

The wrestlers have a break until January 9-10 when they go to the Reed Tournament in Reno.

While the varsity was at Susanville, the Modoc junior varsity headed to Lakeview.

David Wolverton took a second place at 119 pounds, Robert Cox took a third place in 189 pounds and Chad Araujo took a third at 215 pounds.

Cardinals do well in Bur ney tournament

The Big Valley basketball teams wrapped up their De cember schedules this past weekend and will now take a hard-earned break before re suming the season in 1998.

The boys teams were at the Mt. Shasta Tournament where the varsity Cardinals went 1-2. Big Valley opened with a 66-55 loss to Weed in which the Cougars hit 10 three-pointers.

"I watched them in a couple of other games and they didn't shoot anywhere near as well as they shot against us," Cards coach Bryan Gehrig said.

Renden Ellenberger was the leading scorer for BV in that game with 18 followed by Corado Reginatto with 16.

The Cards bounced back to get a 47-41 win over Happy Camp, a team they will face in the Evergreen League in the next few weeks. Ellenberger again topped the scoring col umn with 14 followed by Kasey Criss with 12.

The Cardinals lost their final game to Burney by a score of 62-46 after trailing just 43-39 heading into the fourth quarter. Gehrig said that BV had trouble with Bur ney's height, as Burney's twin towers scored 40 of their team's points. Criss had 16 for Big Valley while Ellen berger had 11.

The Big Valley JV won their section of the tourna ment and did so with an excit ing finish. The Cards opened with a 44-25 win over host Mt. Shasta as David House had 17 and Mike McLain had 10. They followed it up with a 55-30 win over Etna. Calvin Jackson tossed in 16 while House added 13.

In the finals, the Cardinals were trailing Burney 39-37 with just two seconds left on the clock. Since Burney had the ball out under their own basket, all they had to do was complete an in bounds pass. However, House deflected the pass which wound up in the hands of Michael Lemke who was standing at the top of the key just beyond the three-point arc. Lemke nailed the shot to give Big Valley the 40-39 win and the JV Championship.

Girls basketball: The Cards were at the Burney Jamboree. They opened with a 20 point win over Mercy be fore losing to Portola by 11. That set up a game for third against Tulelake. After falling behind early, the Cards came back to lead 28-24 at the half and 40-37 after three. However, the Honkers had a fourth quarter burst that left the final score at 55-52 in favor of Tulelake. Ileah Jackson was unstoppable for Big Valley, scoring 33 for the game.

Other members of the team are Naomi Seeger, Nicole Silva, Adonica McGarr, Ali cia Farber and Carrie Schwe bach.

All of the Big Valley teams will return to action on Jan uary 6, when they travel to Burney. The Evergreen League schedule starts on January 9, with the Cards opening at home against Happy Camp.

SV boys do well hosting own tournament

Surprise Valley boys bas ketball picked up wins over Paisley and Butte Valley in their tournament held in Cedarville this past weekend.

Early on Friday the Hor nets beat Paisley 66-22 as Tom Harris went for 26 points, in cluding hitting twice from three-point land. Nick Fenske also hit two treys on his way to 14 points and Chris Harris had one while scoring 15.

Also on Friday night, SV came away with a 57-43 win over Evergreen League team Butte Valley. After trailing after the first quarter and leading by just two at the half, the Hornets pulled away in the second half thanks to 20 points from Tom Harris and 18 from Chris Harris.

Hornet boys and girls bas ketball teams are now off un til January 9, when they host McCloud to begin their Ever green League schedule.

Cedar Pass Ski Hill adds days to be open

In addition to the weekends, if nature provides the snow, the Cedar Pass Ski Hill will be open for activity on the day after Christmas, Friday, Dec. 26 and New Year's Day, Thursday, Jan. 1 from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Anyone without skis may rent a pair at the warming hut, where concessions are also available.

"We may also possibly be open other days during the school vacation, provided we can round up the volunteers to keep things open," offers Tim Harris. Watch for the signs posted at Alturas Chevron and in Cedarville which will tell skiers whether the hill is open on any day.

The hill showed a good turnout of skiers and snow boarders for its opener on Saturday and several season passes were sold.

Season passes are available at $150 for adults and $130 for youth, ages 6 to 18. There is also a 10 percent discount on those passes through January 7. Also available this year are 5-day passes for $65 for adults and $55 for youth and corporate passes starting at $250. All passes are available at the hill when open, or at the Farm Advisor's Office on Fourth Street in Alturas or at Modoc Engines in Alturas. When the hill is open, the number to reach the Ski Hut is 233-3323.

JV wins Block M consolation

Modoc's junior varsity boys got into the win cland ended up winning the consolation bracket.

The Braves beat Burns 26-22 in the consolation game. Modoc led 14-5 in a good first period, but Burns cut the lead to 16-14 by half as the Braves hit just one shot. Burns took a 22-14 lead after three as Modoc again hit just one shot in the pe riod. The Braves held Burns scoreless in the fourth and added eight for the win.

C.J. Straub had six points in the game.

According to coach Dave Kern, The Braves are learn ing to play team defense and did well against Burns.

In the Braves second game, they beat Cascade Christian 36-34, after taking a 12-0 lead in the first period. Modoc led 19-11 at half and 30-20 after three. Kaylon Benson led the scoring with 13 and Glenn Christensen added nine.

Modoc opened the tourney with a loss to East Nicolaus, 42-35. The score was tied at 11-11 in the opening period and East Nicolaus took a 27-16 lead at half. The Braves trailed 35-24 after three.

Benson led the scoring with 17. Ramon Molina had one-three pointer for the game. Benson was named to the All-tourney team.

Tulelake's talented junior varsity team won the division with an 80-45 win over Chester.

Record Sports for December 31, 1997

Sports schedule for coming week
Top sports stories for 1997

all team which is play ing now.Area sports schedules

Local high school sports have taken a break for the hol idays, but get back for the Modoc High School Girls Basketball team which is play ing now.

The girls are opening their serious run at the Shasta Cascade League, North Section and North State and State titles by participating in the big time Willows Holiday tournament in Willows Monday through Wednesday this week.

The Braves will go to Willows with the full starting lineup healthy and coach Mike Martin is looking forward to getting the girls off on the right foot and into the season with a solid effort against big teams.

Modoc boys are idle until they start league play against a very good Burney Raider team, here January 7. That date opens up the SCL season for all teams, junior varsity boys, girls and varsity boys and girls. Following Burney they meet Etna at home January 16. Game times for league games are as follows: JV girls 4 p.m.; JV boys, 5:30 p.m.; varsity girls 7 p.m. and varsity boys, 8:30 p.m.

Modoc's wrestling team heads to the Reed Tournament in Sparks, January 9-10 then goes to the Burney Rotary Invitational January 16-17.

For the Big Valley Cardinals meet Burney there on January 6 and start Evergreen League play at home against Happy Camp January 9.

Surprise Valley is home on January 9 in a league game against McCloud and on Saturday they travel to Dunsmuir.

Modoc girls are top sports story of the year 1997

There were plenty of successes for area sports in 1997 and the Record lists some of the biggest stories as a review.

The Modoc High School girls basketball and volleyball teams were both a part of the biggest stories of the year for 1997. This winter the girls volleyball team went further than any other team from Modoc High. It won the Shasta Cascade League easily, cruised through the North Section CIF cham pionships and then cruised through the north state tourna ment, winning handily. The girls lost to Immanuel at the State Division V Championship game in Los Angeles to fin ish as the state runner-up. Modoc was the only public school in the state tournament.

That team was made up of Kayte Christensen, Jennifer Kern, Leah Siegel, Andrea Knox, Tessa Siegel, Wendy Stafford, Veronica Coats, Stephanie Northrup, Lindsay Lieurance and Christy Cartner.

Last spring, the Modoc High girls basketball team won the SCL with no trouble, also cruised through the North Section CIF finals and earned a berth in Sacramento for the North State Championship for DivisionV. Rincon Valley Christian, out of Santa Rosa, beat the Braves and then went on to win the state title. Modoc girls have their sights set on another league, section and state title in basketball this year. The basketball team was led by Kayte Christensen, Jennifer Kern, Leah Siegel, Candi Marymee and Jessica Lauppe.

Big Valley's girls teams won the Evergreen League and advanced to the semi-finals in the section tournament. They beat North Valley Christian 67-45, Pierce 61-32 and lost to Westwood 40-33.

Modoc's girls also won the SCL and North Section cross country titles and ran in the state finals. Josh Keyes of Modoc won his division and qualified for the state finals where he finished 11th.

Modoc's solid girls track team ran away with the SCL crown, almost a given on any year, and the north section ti tle. Modoc's girls were led by Stacy Harness, Ginny Greene, Julia Greene, Candi Marymee, Kayte Christensen, Andrea Knox and Leah Siegel.

Modoc's varsity boys track team blew away the competi tion in the SCL meet, winning easily. They were led by Josh Keyes, Jeremy Favia, Matt Carroll, Joe Duran, Billy Wilson, Cody Holloway and Kaylon Benson.

Big Valley girls and boys team each won the small schools section titles. The girls were led by Jessica Saltzman, Nicole Silva and Ileah Jackson. The boys were led by Wes Breakfield, Vance Bidwell, Cameron McGarr, Tim Valdez, Russ Carpenter and Rendon Ellenberger.

The Big Valley football team for 1997 was the best in years and completed an unbeaten season by winning the Evergreen League and North Section titles in fine fashion. In the section tournament, the Cardinals whipped Herlong 40-0 and Happy Camp 49-0 for the title. The Cardinals retain several of the starting players and get a good group up from a junior varsity team that lost only to Modoc. Tim Valdez led the BV varsity.

Modoc's varsity football team beat the odds and shared the Shasta Cascade League title for 1997. Modoc then went on to beat Delta in the first game of the CIF North section finals, 34-13, before losing to the eventual winner Live Oak, 21-12. Eric Lancaster was named co-MVP of the SCL.

Modoc's wrestling team continued its dominance by winning the SCL and placing second in the small schools championships. They were led by Sean Davenport, Greg Jacques, Teddy Simmons, Jesse Bellamy, Iven Wilson, Jess Wills and Dan Flournoy.

Surprise Valley's girls basketball team played well and just missed the playoff picture, tied for second in the Evergreen League.

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