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1B Sports Friday September 6, 2013 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW | Red Bluff Spartans Daily News photo by Andre Byik Members of Red Bluff High School's football team practice Thursday at Spartans Stadium. Red Bluff opens its season on the road at 7:30 p.m. today against Oroville at Harrison Stadium. Spartans turn corner, look to sustain spark The mission last year was to put Red Bluff High School football back on the map after years in the doldrums. In 2012, the Spartans went 6-5 overall and made the playoffs for the first time in years. Now, second-year varsity coach Corey Hein will look to sustain postseason expectations with a new starting quarterback and offense. "I think we've gotten over that hump," Hein said. "So now it really is about sustaining that winning attitude and having these guys believe that they can compete year in and year out." Red Bluff opens its season on the road at 7:30 p.m. today against Oroville at Harrison Stadium, but will be missing a few staples that last year held the team together, such as star running back Tucker Gulliford, defensive leader Brandon Ragone and the calm and collected quarterbacking of Garrett Sandow. All lost to graduation. Even so, Hein said he sees a team that can make the playoffs and, perhaps, win a couple of games KINGS when it gets there. "Our goal, just like last year, is we want to compete in all 10 of the games," said Hein, who added that ultimately the prize is bringing a an elusive championship back to Red Bluff. Helping the Spartans reach that goal will be Greg Dufour, the team's starting quarterback. Hein said he's been coaching Dufour coming on three years now. "For me, fortunately it's my third year of coaching Greg in a row so he and I, in some ways, speak the same language out there," Hein said, adding he expects to use Dufour's speed. "We're going to run him a little bit more than we have in the past," Hein said, adding, "I just feel like last year (with Sandow), and it was because of me, not because of him, but we didn't let him run the ball at all. I was afraid in my first year of losing our guy that I just wouldn't let him run the ball. This year I feel like we got a ton of team speed and Greg being one of those guys, he was a track star here, I want to be able to use that speed and there's no reason a quarterback can't be a playmaker as well." Dufour started one game at quarterback last season, and spent most of his playing time on defense. Dufour said the Spartans have the personnel to get back to the playoffs and make some noise, pointing to players in the backfield, such as Mike Stone, who are some of the fastest in the Northern Section. "It's kind of hard to fill the shoes of Tucker Gulliford," Dufour said, adding that the team's running backs looked up to him. "They saw from Tucker that anything can happen," Dufour said. "Because Tucker, his junior year he actually got eight carries. Then senior year, best running back in the league." The Spartans' first three games of the season are against Oroville, Anderson and Corning, and are the same three games they swept last year before hitting a three-game losing streak against Eastern Athletic League opponents that could throw the ball around. Defensively, Hein said, the team last year was successful against teams that predominately ran the ball, such as Corning, Wheatland and Paradise. Red Bluff kept those teams to a combined 26 points. "What we want to do is, we're going to get in a four-man front, we're going to simplify our defense so that our kids can just play football," Hein said. "There's not a lot of thinking on defense for them. They just react, they tackle and they do their job and they don't have to process while they're out there. That's critical for us. Simplify the game." U.S. OPEN By ANDRE BYIK DN Staff Writer Mullin joins front office By ANTONIO GONZALEZ AP Sports Writer The Sacramento Kings on Thursday hired Hall of Famer Chris Mullin as an adviser to owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Pete D'Alessandro. Mullin had been advising Ranadive in an unofficial capacity since the Silicon Valley software magnate bought the team in May, including scouting ahead of the NBA draft. Ranadive also said he had sought Mullin's advice before hiring D'Alessandro, who worked under Mullin in Golden State's front office. ''Chris Mullin is an incredible addition to our organization,'' Ranadive said in a statement. ''I have great respect for his accomplishments and understanding of the game. From day one, we have focused on making the Sacramento Kings a first-class franchise built for the 21st Century. Chris brings the experience, knowledge, and influence to help us achieve our ultimate goal — bringing a champi- onship to the fans and city of Sacramento.'' Mullin was the general manager of the Warriors from 2004-09, including a memorable playoff run in 2007 when the team upset the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round. He was a five-time All-Star with Golden State, a member of the USA's gold-medal winning ''Dream Team'' in 1992 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. The 50-year-old Mullin had worked as a broadcast analyst for ESPN in recent years and often expressed interest in getting back in a front-office role. ''I couldn't be more excited about joining the Kings and playing a part in making this team a winner again,'' Mullin said. ''I'm especially grateful for the unique opportunity to work in close proximity with a world-class ownership group led by Vivek Ranadive and the talented group of individuals assembled in our front office.'' Tehama Tracker Today's schedule FOOTBALL Red Bluff at Oroville, 7:30 p.m.; Las Plumas at Corning, 7:30 p.m. CROSS COUNTRY Corning, Red Bluff at Springhorn Classic at Shasta College TENNIS Enterprise at Red Bluff, 3:30 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Los Molinos at Fall River Tournament; Corning, Mercy at Hamilton City Tournament MLB Texas at Oakland, 7:05 p.m., CSNC San Francisco at San Diego, 7:10 p.m., CSNB Sports on TV COLLEGE FOOTBALL 5 p.m. ESPN2 — Wake Forest at Boston College GOLF 7 a.m. TGC — European PGA Tour, European Masters, second round, at Crans sur Sierre, Switzerland (same-day tape) Noon TGC — Web.com Tour, Chiquita Classic, second round, at Davidson, N.C. 3:30 p.m. TGC — Champions Tour, Montreal Championship, first round (same-day tape) MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 11:10 a.m. WGN — Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs 4 p.m. MLB — Regional coverage, Boston at N.Y.Yankees or L.A. Dodgers at Cincinnati SOCCER Noon FS1 — Men's national teams, World Cup qualifier, England vs. Moldova, at London 6:15 p.m. ESPNEWS — Men's national teams, World Cup qualifier, Mexico vs. Honduras, at Mexico City TENNIS 9:30 a.m. CBS — U.S. Open, mixed doubles championship and women's semifinals, at New York AP photo Andy Murray reacts during a break after losing the first two sets to Stanislas Wawrinka during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Thursday in New York. Murray makes his exit NEW YORK (AP) — After one set, Andy Murray slammed his racket into the court, then mangled it once he reached his chair on the sideline. After the second, he gestured over to his coach, Ivan Lendl, and let out a frustrated scream. Stanislas Wawrinka had the U.S. Open defending champion in knots all day, and when the surprisingly short, less-than-competitive match was finished Thursday, Murray was a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 upset loser in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows. ''I would have liked to have played a little bit better,'' Murray said after rushing off the court and into the interview room to explain the loss. ''I've had a good run the last couple of years. It's a shame I had to play a bad match today.'' Ninth-seeded Wawrinka made his first Grand Slam semifinal, earning a spot in the final four for Switzer- land that for so long felt like Roger Federer's birthright. ''It feels amazing for sure, especially here,'' said Wawrinka, who didn't face a break point over his 14 service games. ''Especially after that match. He's the defending champion, He's a tough opponent.'' Wawrinka will play the winner of Thursday's late quarterfinal between No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 21 Mikhail Youzhny. After years of close calls and deep trips into majors, the third-seeded Murray finally won his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows last year, then his second at Wimbledon this July. But the straight-set loss to Wawrinka ended a stay in New York during which he never got completely comfortable — not when he had to wait until the first Wednesday to begin defense of the title, not when he struggled in a four- set victory over Denis Istomen in the fourth round and certainly not Thursday. This was Murray's earliest exit from the U.S. Open since 2010, when Wawrinka also did the honors — that year in the third round. Murray conceded it's been a long road since he broke into the top, first at the Olympics on home turf last year, then with the two major titles. ''When you work hard at something for a lot of years, it's going to take time to fire yourself up and get to training 110 percent,'' Murray said about his preparation for the year's final Grand Slam. ''That's something kind of natural after what happened at Wimbledon.'' An amazing letdown, especially considering the numbers he has been putting up of late. —He had appeared in the finals of the previous four major tournaments he entered (he missed this year's French Open because of a back injury). —He had won 30 of his last 32 Grand Slam matches. —He had been 7-0 on hard courts in major quarterfinals. —This marked his first straight-set loss in a major since the semifinals of the 2011 French Open, when the opponent was Rafael Nadal. ''If I'm meant to win every Grand Slam I play or be in the final, it's just very, very difficult just now,'' Murray said. ''With the guys around us, it's very challenging.'' Wawrinka is certainly one of those guys now. He played near-flawless tennis, especially considering the windy conditions that had the ball warbling all over the place in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Wawrinka had 45 winners to 15 for Murray. His serve averaged 119 mph — 9 mph faster than Murray — and he won 37 of 42 points in which he got his first serve into play. Wawrinka also charged the net, not allowing Murray to get comfortable while trying to figure out the windy conditions on the baseline. Wawrinka won the point on 31 of 42 trips to the net, including 10 for 10 in the third set. ''I thought there was a fair few long points, but I didn't get into enough return games, which is disappointing for me,'' Murray said. ''That's normally something I do pretty well. I always give myself opportunities to break serve, and I didn't today.'' Wawrinka's win came on the heels of another surprising result in Ashe Stadium — the loss by Mike and Bob Bryan to Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek that ended the Americans' bid to win all four majors in the same year. Paes and Stepanek won the semifinal match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.