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1B Sports Tuesday September 3, 2013 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL | Redding Christian 70, Mercy 18 Warriors stumble in season opener By ANDRE BYIK DN Staff Writer PALO CEDRO — Mercy High School's 8-man football team, facing the opponent that bounced it from the playoffs last year, couldn't overcome the athleticism of the Redding Christian Lions on Saturday. In the inaugural Battle for the Bell rivalry game, the Lions defeated the visiting Warriors, 70-18. It was the first taste of action for Mercy (0-1 overall), which skipped a preseason scrimmage for fear of losing a player to injury. The Warriors had nine active players Saturday, and should have 11 for its game against Elk Creek on Saturday. "Definitely the most difficult scrimmage ever," Warriors coach Charlie Ford said after the game, adding that he thought his team passed well, and saw strong running from Alejandro Guerrero in the backfield. The Lions (1-0 overall), who last year beat the Warriors in the first round of the Northern Section Division VI playoffs and went on to ultimately fall in the championship game, jumped to an early start as returning quarterback Hayden Piper completed two touchdown passes, and ran one in for 53 yards. Redding Christian had a 34-0 lead going to the second quarter, and took a 49-0 lead to the half. The Warriors somewhat settled in the third quarter as Guerrero put Mercy on the board with a 16-yard rushing touchdown. Guerrero ran for 67 yards on the night. Warriors quarterback Tommy Garcia ran one in for 42 yards, and Mercy trailed Redding Christian 70-12 going to the fourth. Garcia hooked up with Teddy Ramberg for a 54yard touchdown early in the fourth. The Warriors next host Elk Creek at 1 p.m. Saturday at Sacred Heart Parish School. Daily News photo by Andre Byik Mercy High's Tommy Garcia, right, runs the ball against Redding Christian on Saturday in Palo Cedro. The Warriors fell to the Lions, 70-18. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL | Williams 56, Los Molinos 0 ATHLETICS 4, RANGERS 3 Athletics pull into tie with Texas Daily News photo by Andre Byik The Los Molinos High School football team retook the field Friday to a healthy crowd of supporters after its season last year was ended after two games. Los Molinos (0-1 overall) hosted Williams (1-0 overall), and fell 56-0. Bulldogs retake field, get stung by Yellowjackets U.S. OPEN Vinci, Pennetta on to quarters NEW YORK (AP) — Roberta Vinci will face a fellow Italian in the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second straight year. In a testament to the depth among Italy's women's tennis players, the 10th-seeded Vinci will also be taking on a countrywoman for the third straight round at this year's tournament. She and longtime friend Flavia Pennetta both won Monday. ''We try to motivate everyone,'' Pennetta said. ''It's really nice because always we make a good result, almost always.'' On a day when experience trumped youth, three 30-something women beat opponents in their early 20s. Vinci defeated Camila Giorgi 6-4, 6-2 in 67 minutes. Moments later, rain started pouring down, stopping all matches at Flushing Meadows for 4 1/2 hours. The delay couldn't have come at a better time for Pennetta, who returned to the court to seize momentum and clinch a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over 21st-seeded Simona Halep. American wild card Alison Riske forced a third set against Daniela Hantuchova, but the Slovakian veteran pulled away for a 6-3, 57, 6-2 victory. Halep had set point on her serve, trying to send the match to the third, when the Tehama Tracker Today's schedule TENNIS Corning at Las Plumas, 3:30 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Corning at University Prep, 5:30 p.m. Mercy at Paradise Adventist Academy, 6:30 p.m. MLB Texas at Oakland, 7:05 p.m., CSNC San Francisco at San Diego, 7:10 p.m., CSNB Sports on TV CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE 4:30 p.m. NBCSN — Montreal at Toronto MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 4 p.m. MLB — Regional coverage, Detroit at Boston or St. Louis at Cincinnati WGN — Chicago White Sox at N.Y.Yankees SOCCER 5 p.m. FS1 — Women's national teams, exhibition, United States vs. Mexico, at Washington TENNIS 8 a.m. ESPN2 — U.S. Open, men's round of 16 and women's quarterfinals, at New York 4 p.m. ESPN — U.S. Open, men's round of 16 and women's quarterfinals, at New York skies opened up to her dismay. Once they resumed play, Pennetta pounced on a second serve to set up a big forehand that erased the set point. ''After that I was very nervous and I lost the game — very fast,'' Halep said. Pennetta won the next two points on short rallies to even the second set at 55. Halep promptly broke again, but she couldn't serve out the set this time, either. Then the 31-year-old Pennetta dominated the tiebreaker against a disheartened Halep. The 21-year-old Romanian was still thrilled to make her first career Grand Slam round of 16. Pennetta is in the U.S. Open quarters for the fourth time. But this one is sweet, because she missed last year's tournament with a right wrist injury that explains why her ranking has slipped to 83rd. ''Was not easy, I can tell you,'' Pennetta said of coming back from surgery. ''I cry a lot, yeah. But I love this sport.'' OAKLAND (AP) — Coco Crisp hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fifth that was confirmed by a video review, and the Oakland Athletics pulled into a first-place tie with Texas atop the AL West by beating the Rangers 4-2 on Monday. Yoenis Cespedes homered leading off the second inning and Chris Young added an RBI single in Oakland's fourth straight win. David Murphy hit a tying two-run shot in the Texas fifth for his first homer since Aug. 1. But the Rangers loaded the bases against Dan Otero with one out in the sixth and couldn't deliver. Crisp set a career high with his 17th homer that stayed just fair of the leftfield foul pole, topping his 16 for Cleveland in 2005. He homered for the third straight game to help the A's (79-58) move a season-best 21 games over .500. Crisp fouled a ball off the area below his right knee in the sixth. He stayed in and struck out, and then was removed for what the team called a shin contusion. A's lefty reliever Brett Anderson, pitching at home for the first time since April 29, worked a 10-pitch seventh, helped by Ian Kinsler's inning-ending double play. Ryan Cook worked out of a jam in the eighth and Grant Balfour finished for his 36th save in 38 tries as the Rangers left the tying run at second. Oakland won for the seventh time in eight games and is hoping for another strong September like its 17-11 showing last year on the way to the West crown on the final day. ''I expect it to go all the way down to the end. Division champs over there,'' Texas manager Ron Washington said. ''I don't expect them to go away and I cer- tainly don't expect us to go away. Everything goes through Oakland. Doesn't matter where positioned in the standings right now.'' If Washington intended to put a target on the A's, manager Bob Melvin quipped, ''I'll flip it back to him.'' The Rangers had their three-game road winning streak snapped with just their third defeat in the last 15 games away from Arlington. Young singled in a second run for the A's three batters after Cespedes connected for his 21st homer, against Derek Holland (9-7). Center fielder Leonys Martin missed the ball on Young's base hit and it got past him for a two-base error. Young tried to score on the play and was thrown out at home after stumbling slightly rounding third. Top A's prospect Michael Choice went 0 for 2 with a walk in his major league debut as the designated hitter. Dan Straily (8-7) won back-to-back starts for the first time since early July, putting together two solid outings following a seven-start winless stretch in which he went 0-5. Cespedes singled in the fifth for consecutive multihit games as the A's began a stretch with 19 of their final 26 games against divisional opponents. Lance Berkman started at DH and went 0 for 4 one day after Texas activated him from the disabled list. He had been out since July 7 with left hip inflammation and a sore surgically repaired right knee. The Rangers won three of the teams' first four series this year — and, after this week, the clubs play once more in Arlington from Sept. 13-15. PADRES 4, GIANTS 1 Zito loses 8th straight decision SAN DIEGO (AP) — Ian Kennedy beat an NL West opponent for the first time in 12 starts this season, pitching the San Diego Padres past the San Francisco Giants 4-1 Monday. Kennedy (6-9) gave up one run and five hits over six innings while striking out seven. He is 3-1 with a 4.04 ERA since the Padres got him in a trade with Arizona on July 31. Kennedy improved to 1-5 with a 4.97 ERA in his starts against NL West teams this year. Huston Street worked a spotless ninth to earn his 26th save in 27 chances. Barry Zito (4-11) lost his eighth straight decision. He has won only once in his last 20 starts. Zito was pulled after four innings, allowing four earned runs on four hits and three walks. He fell to 0-9 with a 10.00 ERA in his last 11 starts away from AT&T Park. Kennedy drew one of Zito's three walks in the second. Ronny Cedeno hit an RBI single and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs. Nick Hundley hit his 11th home run in the fourth. The Giants scored in the fifth on Brandon Belt's double. With runners on second and third, Buster Posey hit a twoout liner that third baseman Logan Forsythe reached high to snag. In the eighth, the Giants had the tying run at the plate, but Sandoval and Crawford failed to produce against reliever Luke Gregerson.