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Friday PGAChampionship — Second round, 10 a.m., TNT MLB— Dodgers at Braves, 4:30 p.m., MLBN MLB — Athletics at Twins, 5 p.m., CSNC MLB—Padres at Giants, 7 p.m., MNT-21 NFLPreseason — Bills at Redskins, 4:30 p.m., NFLN Little League —Regionals, 8 a.m., 2, 5, 8 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Friday August 13, 2010 Warriors excited about return to gridiron 8-MAN Mercy Warriors By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor There’s a nice buzz surrounding the return of the Mercy football program, but at Thursday’s afternoon practice it was strictly business for coach Paul Vietti and his Warriors. With the rebirth of the program into the 8-man football ranks comes the need to install a new offense, new defense — even a whole new way of seeing the game. The challenge was picked up by Vietti, who said being the new 8-man program in the Northern Section will have both its advantages and difficul- ties. Sure, the rest of the section won’t know what to expect from a Mercy team that was forced to make the switch to 8-man after cancelling its 11-man season in 2009, but the War- riors don’t know what to expect either. “It’s a total different game so far,” said senior quarterback Mitchell Lopez. “You just have to go with the flow of it.” Lopez, Michael Uhalde and Royce Crane (when he returns from injury) are the players Vietti will most likely be counting on when Mercy once again sees football action when take on Champion Christian Sept. 4. But it’s not just his top talent that has Vietti excited about the Warriors — it’s the enthusiasm of the rest of the school. At the team’s first meeting of the season, only 11 players showed up, said Vietti. By the first practice, the roster had grown to 14 and by the start of the school year, Vietti expects to have 18 players. Vietti said students weren’t sure Daily News photo by Rich Greene Coach Paul Vietti goes through an offensive play,Thursday, during the Mercy Warriors’ football practice. what to expect after last season play- ers spent two weeks practicing before the program was cancelled. That mind-set has changed in just a couple of weeks. “They know it’s real now,” Vietti said. Things will get real for the Warriors in a hurry after their season opener. The Warriors face their next three games on the road beginning Sept. 18 at Redding Christian and followed by trips to Loyalton and then to a Dun- smuir team that was 10-2 in 2009. The Warriors then come back home to host Butte Valley, before heading off on the road again to face Big Val- ley and the defending section champi- ons Hayfork. Mercy closes their schedule with a North Valley Rapids finish Top 20 pair of home games against Liberty Christian and Happy Camp. At practice there’s a feeling coach- es, players, parents and alumni don’t quite know what to expect from 8-man football, but they’re at least glad they can expect something this fall. For now though the impressions of 8-man are simple enough. “It’s cool. It’s fast,” Uhalde said. Watson, Molinari take lead during foggy round MCT photo PGA Championship co-leader Francesco Molinari drives on the 8th hole,Thursday. PGA Championship SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — The fog finally lifted over Whistling Straits and revealed a stunning vista. Tiger Woods’ name was atop the leaderboard. Just not for long. At the end of opening day in the PGA Championship, he Courtesy photo The North Valley Rapids 18-and-under A National team finished as one of the Top 20 teams in the nation at a tournament in Hemet earlier this month. The team was (from top left): Haley Harris, Ally Bryant, Tori Weatherford, Cassidee Turpen, Taylor Gerhardt, Molly McWilliams, Tonya Walker, Lauren Vestal, Hardy Vestal (Coach), Tito Cervantes (manager), Richard Walker, (Coach), Kayla Spini and Emily Stokes. SOFTBALL North Valley Rapids Special to the DN The North Valley Rapids played their hearts out last week at the 2010 18U “A” Nationals, which was held in Hemet and finished as the 20th best team in the country. The 2010 Nationals started on Aug. 1 and the Rapids played up to Friday night, but ran out of steam after a hard grueling schedule. The Rapids started out the bracket play with a 4-1 loss against the American Athletics out of San Diego. If anyone knows tournament play starting out with a loss and landing in the losers bracket becomes a bear and a long road. The Rapids put their head down and hoped for the best and started playing, like there was no tomorrow and it was. The Rapids kept winning one game after another, coming from behind in every game. Then on Friday, the Rapids had a grueling schedule. In order to make it in the Top 10 and play on Saturday, the Rapids would had to win five games in-a-row. They spent 14 hours at the ball field but came up short on game five — their final game of the day. The Rapids played Teams from Arizona, Pennsylvania, Illi- nois, Florida and Southern Cali- fornia. Teams consisted of the best player in each state, in most cases, and include 19-year-olds that have played Division I col- lege. Southern California Teams have between 17 and 24 players on their roster and have the option to play for any of the other 500 teams in the area. The magnitude of the accom- plishment was the Rapids only had one senior, five juniors, three sophomores, and one fresh- man. This was the tenacious ten and they played their hearts out and finished in the 20th spot out of the best 140 Teams in the United States. The Northern California area was very well represented in the softball world. Not only did the Team meet new friends from other States, they presented great sportsman- ship by following their new friends and cheering the teams on in the bleachers. “It was a great team feeling to see such team bonding and coaching for over 30 years that is still a good felling to end the season with,” said Coach Tito Cervantes. wasn’t near the names of Bubba Watson and Francesco Molinari, who each opened with a 4-under 68; or Ernie Els, Matt Kuchar and Nick Watney, who also were at 4 under when it became too dark for them to finish the first round. Woods, who made three birdies inside 12 feet on the opening four holes, had to birdie his final hole just to break par, a 1-under 71. That used to be considered an ordinary start in a major. Considering his recent woes, this was near- ly cause for celebration. ‘‘To shoot something under par, that was the goal today,’’ Woods said. He joined 21 others among the 78 early starters who com- pleted the first round, which was delayed by more than three hours because of fog. Still to be determined is whether he can back that up. It was the first time in eight rounds that Woods had broken par. And there were enough errant shots, including one that went so far left it found a marsh he didn’t know was there, that Woods had to make an 8-foot birdie on the final hole to avoid wasting a day in which he appeared to make progress. ‘‘I’ve played too good not to shoot under par,’’ Woods said. ‘‘It would’ve been very disappointing and frustrating to end up at even par as well as I played today. To make that putt — to shoot under par — just feels like that’s what I should have shot the way I played today. And that’s a good feeling.’’ Since when is shooting 71 a good feeling for a guy with 14 majors? When he’s coming off the worst tournament of his career, an 18-over 298 at Firestone to beat only one player in the field, raising questions that ranged from whether this would be his last PGA Tour event of the year in America to whether he belonged in the Ryder Cup. ‘‘Welcome to golf, you know?’’ Woods said. The fog delay meant none of the late starters could finish the opening round. Els, desperate to make sure another year doesn’t end without a major, played bogey-free through 14 holes and was at 4 under, making a 7-foot par save on the 14th shortly before the horn sounded. Also at 4 under were Matt Kuchar See PGA, page 2B