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Tuesday Volleyball — Corning at Orland, 4 p.m. Volleyball — Foothill at Red Bluff, 7 p.m. Volleyball — Los Molinos at Pierce, 5:30 p.m. Volleyball — Redding Christian at Mercy, 6:30 p.m. Tennis — Corning at Central Valley, 3:30 p.m. Tennis — Red Bluff at Chico, 3:30 p.m. Sports 1B Tuesday September 21, 2010 Hey, you Niners lose on late FG Hey, you — Mr. Cardinal football player. Yeah, you with the grin on your face from beating your county rival. I know this past Friday felt pretty good, but it’s time to get over it. It’s time to look forward to this Friday. Shasta’s coming to town and everybody outside of Tehama County believes you’re going to get blown out. Calpreps is predicting the Rich Greene Wolves to beat you 35-14. That should made you mad. Do you think Shasta’s three touchdowns bet- ter than you? Three touchdowns better than you on your own field? Wow, if I was you, my blood would be boil- ing. Remember last season when you got no respect from outside the immediate area — well, it’s happening again. Seems as if that No. 3 seed you earned last year means nothing. Seems as if your 3-0 record this year and 376.3 rushing yards per game means nothing. No one wants to rank you. They say you haven’t beaten anybody. Your opponents are a combined 2-8. Shasta defeated Red Bluff by a lot more than you did. They say you’re too small. They say you don’t have the talent of a Clay Cavender. It’s time to prove them wrong. You surprised people last year when you went up to Redding and battled Enterprise 10-7. But they chalked it up to first game of the year rust for the Hornets. They didn’t want to give you credit. This time the Redding school is coming to your backyard. It’s time to make a statement. It’s not going to be easy. We can give our opponents respect even if they’re not giving it back. About a month from now, I’ll probably write a column about the upcoming playoff seeding and how Corning is getting no respect. It sure would be nice if you gave me a leg to stand on when I make the argument. So, Mr. Cardinal football player — it’s time to get to work. Make us proud. ********** Hey, you — Mr. Spartan football player. Yeah, you with the slouching head that you’re not sure you want to lift. Pick it up. Those first two games did leave a bitter taste in everyone’s mouths — that’s what happens when the scoreboard gets out of hand. But you played a respectable game against Corning. People were already counting you out and you showed there’s still fight underneath those green helmets. The schedule’s still tough, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Football isn’t easy. Here’s another thing about football — if you don’t believe in yourself, you’re never going to win. So get some confidence. You ran the ball well against Corning. Few schools can claim to do that. The defense is coming around. You started creating some turnovers.’ Just stop the stupid little mistakes like your coach said and before you know it you’re going to be right there in the fourth quarter again. Chico’s ripe for the picking. Make a statement. ********** Hey, you — Mr. Bulldog football player. This feels a lot better, now doesn’t it? It’s nice to win a couple games in a row, to be sitting at .500 headed into league play. Kind of makes all those hard practices worth it, huh? Fair warning — don’t get ahead of yourself. One game at a time from here on out, don’t overlook your next opponent. I know, it’s cliche, but there’s a reason it’s said over and over again. So enjoy your week off, have fun at the fair and come next week get ready for a thrilling six-week ride you haven’t had in awhile. ********** Hey, you — Mr. Warrior football player. Things are going to start getting tough. That adrenaline high from the first game has worn off by now and the opponents are going to start getting better. On the bright side, you’re a pretty good team yourselves and nobody knows it yet. The key is going to be is if you can replicate the intensity you played with against Champion Christian for the rest of the season. Can you come out each week geared up to play? I bet you can. Hey, you — Mr. or Mrs. Reader. Want to reach Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene? You can do so at 527-2151, ext. 109 or by e- mail at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. MCT photo San Francisco 49ers’ linebacker Patrick Willis tackles Reggie Bush, Monday night. New Orleans 25 49ers 22 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Last season, the New Orleans Saints won their games with a high-flying offense. So far this year it’s been all about defense. Garrett Hartley kicked a 37-yard field goal that barely fluttered through as time expired after Drew Brees set it up with a 30-yard completion to Mar- ques Colston and the Saints spoiled the San Francisco 49ers’ home opener with a 25-22 victory Monday night. San Francisco’s Frank Gore ran for a 7-yard touchdown with 1:19 to play and Vernon Davis made a close-call catch at the goal line for the tying 2- point conversion. The play was initial- ly called no good, but the 49ers (0-2) challenged the ruling and won. The defending Super Bowl champi- on Saints (2-0), who relied on their defense most of the game, got the ball back at the 30 with 1:14 left. Brees hit Colston with a pass that put the Saints on the 18 with 18 seconds left. The 49ers watched anxiously as Hartley’s kick just made it. ‘‘We’ve stayed with the mindset we are the hunter, not the hunted,’’ Brees said moments after the game. Reggie Bush caught a 6-yard TD pass in his first game since giving back See NINERS, page 2B Cable not ready to name starter Oakland Raiders ALAMEDA (AP) — Coach Tom Cable made one declaration about his starting quarterback a day after backup Bruce Grad- kowski relieved Jason Campbell and rallied the Oakland Raiders to a victo- ry — and it wasn’t about who will start this week. ‘‘There isn’t going to be a controversy,’’ Cable said Monday. ‘‘I’ll make a good decision, the right decision, and we’ll go from there.’’ Cable said he had a good idea of what he planned to do, but would wait until Wednesday before revealing his deci- sion about who would start for the Raiders (1-1) in Ari- zona on Sunday. He said having two capable quarterbacks was a good problem to deal with after struggling to find any- one capable of leading the team for much of the past two seasons when JaMar- cus Russell was the starter. ‘‘We have a good issue here. We’re not going to let it be a negative or make it a negative,’’ Cable said. ‘‘The bottom line here is we’ve got two guys we think can play. We’ll do what we think is best for our team. If we need to make a switch again down the road — we’re going to need them both, probably need all three of them before the year’s over with the way this league is. I like where we’re at.’’ Cable said he would consult with his assistants MCT photo Jason Campbell loses the ball against the St. Louis Rams, Sunday. on the decision. He made the move to the backup much earlier this season than a year ago with Rus- sell. He waited until the seventh game to pull Rus- sell for the first time and didn’t make the switch to Gradkowski as starter until the 10th game of the sea- son. Owner Al Davis allowed Cable to make that call last year. Cable said it’s See CABLE, page 2B Lady Cardinals top River Valley FIELD HOCKEY hard corner shot assisted by Angelica Ramos. River Valley 1 Corning 2 The Lady Cardinals held visiting River Valley to just three shots on goal, Mon- day, and picked up a 2-1 win. Mayra Diera scored 1:58 into the game on a nice “Diera had the desire and you could see she wanted to score,” coach Teresa Lamb said. Nine minutes later Anna Nelson put Corning up 2-0 with a hard push from the stroke line. Samantha Bobadilla assisted the score. River Valley closed the gap in the second half, but they managed just three shots on goal. Kelsey Henderson and Claudia Lopez were taking the ball away from the River Valley forwards throughout the game and passing it up to Corning’s attackers. Katlyn Huntley and Bethany Vader each made one save in goal for the Lady Cardinals. Lamb said Nicole Mason did a nice job of moving to the ball and recovering back to her orig- inal position. Karlie Jennings also had a solid game and Julie Van Doorn had an amazing reverse strick drive.