Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/17089
Thursday Volleyball — Durham at Corning, 4 p.m. Volleyball — Mercy at Chester Volleyball — Red Bluff at Las Plumas, 7 p.m. Tennis — Corning at Yreka, 3:30 p.m. Tennis — Oroville at Red Bluff, 3:30 p.m. MLB — ARIat SF, 12:30 p.m., CSNB, OAKat SEA, 7 p.m., CSNC Sports 1B Thursday September 30, 2010 Singletary works to get 49ers on track Week 5 football San Francisco 49ers SANTA CLARA (AP) — Mike Singletary is not wavering in the slight- est from his offensive philosophy for the San Francisco 49ers. He wants a physical, balanced attack. Singletary still expects his 0-3 Niners to bounce back and win the NFC West as every- body thought they would. Two days after he fired offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, Singletary's players expressed their enthusiasm for a fresh start heading into Sunday's game at Atlanta (2-1). The Falcons have won the last three meetings between the teams. "I am convinced that being at the place that we are right now has allowed us to see some things and do some things and make some changes that will take us where we need to go," Sin- gletary said Wednesday. "Thankfully, it's early in the season. And we still have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. And that's the way we see it." Promoted quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson is expected to bring a more creative offensive approach as coordi- nator, along with flexibility to consider different personnel groups in various situations while not making major overhauls in the middle of the season. He might opt to open things up and incorporate the spread. There had been so much made this season of the 49ers' continuity at the coordinator spot, with Raye returning for a second year. It marked the first time in eight seasons the franchise did- n't put a new person in the position. "It really hurts if you change the whole scheme, but really it's the same stuff," running back Frank Gore said of the switch. "I think coach Johnson might do more (with) personnel, to give defenses a different look so that they just can't be able to know what we're doing." Singletary is standing by quarter- back Alex Smith. The coach acknowl- edges Smith has underachieved along with everybody else on the roster. Smith agrees, and he made it clear Wednesday he isn't blaming Raye. "It's easy to point the finger when guys are gone and roll them under the bus a little bit," Smith said. "It's conve- West Valley at Red Bluff Friday, 7:30 p.m. West Valley Eagles: 2-2, W1 (Last week beat Astoria 35-21) Red Bluff Spartans: 0-4, L4 (Last week lost to Chico 48-20) 2009 Red Bluff 17, West Valley 14 Trailing 14-3 at the start of the fourth quarter the Spar- tans rallied to win the season opener behind a pair of touchdowns by Zack Schwabauer. The Spartans’ defense preserved the win with a goal line stand in the waning min- utes of the game. Schwabauer carried 37 times for 240 yards and Trevor Gipson had a 21-yard field goal. Players to watch West Valley — #20 Tyler Low, #78 Joshua Wilfong, #22 John Holmer Red Bluff — #13 Ty Smith, #66 Jordan Padilla, #12 Cody Case Notes: West Valley missed the D-II playoffs last sea- son, but this season has already pulled off an upset of Enterprise...both teams go with a running back by com- mittee...first of two and the only D-II opponents on Red Bluff’s schedule. MCT photo Alex Smith is sacked during last week’s loss at Kansas City. nient for the guys that are still here, but it's not the right thing. We certainly all had a hand in it, but it's something we've got to get fixed." Singletary chose Johnson over offensive line coach Mike Solari to assume coordinator duties largely based on Johnson's existing strong relationship with Smith. Singletary said it hadn't been decided whether Johnson would work from the field — where there are distractions, emotions and crowd noise — or in the booth as Raye did it to call plays. Either way, Singletary feels good about his decision. "I wanted the trust, the communica- tion and everything else to continue moving forward," he said. "I did not want any setbacks whatsoever in Alex's development at this point." Smith was sacked five times in a 31- 10 loss last week at St. Louis. The 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick, deemed this season's starter at the end of last season, L.A. Angels 2, 11 inn. ANAHEIM (AP) — Torii Hunter’s two-out sin- gle drove home Jeff Mathis in the 11th inning, and the Los Angeles Angels wrapped up their home schedule with a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. Los Angeles failed to score with the bases loaded and one out in both the ninth and 10th innings, but Math- is and Howie Kendrick sin- gled in the 11th against Brad Ziegler (3-7). Hunter then lined a hit to center, ending a disappointing sea- son at Angel Stadium with a fireworks celebration for the dethroned AL West cham- pions. Kendrick had three hits for the Angels, who will miss the postseason for the first time since 2006 and just the third time since their only World Series title in 2002. Their three-year reign atop the division officially ended last weekend when the Texas Rangers clinched the title in Oakland. Rajai Davis had a run- scoring double for the A’s, who have lost six straight while falling behind Los Angeles into third place in the AL West. Bobby Cassevah (1-2) pitched two scoreless innings of relief to earn his first major league victory in his 14th appearance for Los Angeles. has completed only 72 of 119 passes for 732 yards and two touchdowns. He has a dismal 66.2 quarterback rating with seven sacks. It's hardly the start people envisioned from him, or a team considered the division favorite from the beginning. This unexpected winless start has clearly worn on Singletary, who showed up to his Wednesday media address with a sheet of notes to work from and a more confident look — almost a swagger — to him than in recent days when he seemed almost down. "It's important right now for us as a football team to continue to eliminate the distractions that surround our team in the first three weeks," Singletary said. Singletary has no plans to switch his starting lineups on either side of the ball against the Falcons. The Niners have been outscored 87- 38 so far. Hunter’s RBI in 11th leads Angels to sweep of A’s Athletics 1 teacher attended games while he was out of baseball four years ago. Joel Pineiro allowed five The Angels swept a series for the eighth time this season while preventing Oakland from winning the California clubs’ season series for the first time since 2003. Anaheim native Bobby Cramer pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning for the A’s in the 30-year- old rookie’s fourth major league start. He was cheered enthusiastically by his hometown fans in his first appearance at Angel Stadium, where the erst- while substitute math Tehama Tracker VOLLEYBALL Mercy 20 19 14 Pierce 25 25 25 The Lady Warriors were swept in three games, Tuesday, at Pierce. Maggie Keller recorded nine kills, four aces and 16 digs in the loss. Jennifer Gentry added 10 assists and 14 digs and Diana Van Ert had 13 digs. TENNIS Red Bluff 3 Las Plumas 6 The Lady Spartans won three matches in Tuesday’s scorching heat, but fell 6-3 to Las Plumas. Meredith Lord defeated Kaitlyn Davis 6-3, 6-2 and Allie Madison defeated Taylor Meyer 6-3, 6-1 in singles play. Madison then teamed with Dina Menendes to defeat Davis and Meyer 10-5 in doubles play. hits over seven strong innings in the final start of his first season with the Angels. He won 10 games for Los Angeles despite missing nearly two months with a strained muscle in his side, returning for three consecutive solid starts in late September. Mark Trumbo scored Los Angeles’ first run on Kendrick’s groundout in the third inning. Oakland evened it in the fifth when Chris Carter scored on Davis’ double. Cramer spent nearly five months of this season in the Mexican League before returning to the A’s organi- zation with Triple-A Sacra- MLB West Division American League WL Pct GB x-Texas 88 70 .557 — Angels 78 80 .494 10 A’s 77 81 .487 11 Seattle 61 97 .386 27 East Division WL Pct GB z-Tampa Bay94 64 .595 — z-New York 94 65 .591 1/2 Boston 87 71 .551 7 Toronto 82 76 .519 12 Baltimore 63 95 .399 31 Central Division WL Pct GB x-Minnesota 92 65 .586 — Chicago 85 73 .5387 1/2 Detroit Cleveland 68 91 .428 25 Kansas City 65 92 .414 27 z-clinched playoff berth x-clinched division ————————————————— Wednesday’s Games Texas 6, Seattle 5 L.A. Angels 2, Oakland 1, 11 innings Cleveland 4, Detroit 0, 1st game Toronto 8, N.Y.Yankees 4 Baltimore 2, Tampa Bay 0 Cleveland 4, Detroit 3, 2nd game Chicago White Sox 5, Boston 2 Minnesota at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m. Thursday’s Games Oakland (G.Gonzalez 14-9) at Seattle (Fister 6-13), 7:10 p.m.,CSNC Detroit (Bonderman 8-9) at Baltimore (Guthrie 10-14), 4:05 p.m. Los Angeles (Kazmir 9-15) at Texas (Cl.Lee 12-9), 5:05 p.m. Boston (Lester 19-8) at Chicago (Danks 14-11), 5:10 p.m. Tampa Bay (Garza 15-9) at Kansas City (Greinke 9-14), 5:10 p.m. Toronto (Sh.Hill 1-2) at Minnesota (Liriano 14-9), 5:10 p.m. 80 78 .50612 1/2 mento last month. He won his first two major league starts earlier this month, and he battled Los Angeles’ lineup throughout a swelter- ing afternoon in Orange County. A’s manager Bob Geren finally pulled Cramer after Erick Aybar’s two-out sin- gle on Cramer’s 118th pitch. When his fans above the Oakland dugout gave him a standing ovation, Cramer responded to his hometown crowd with a sweeping wave of his hat. Reliever Boof Bonser narrowly escaped the jam, stranding two runners in scoring position. Los Ange- les stranded eight runners in the final four innings before winning it. MLB West Division GIANTS National League WL Pct GB 89 68 .567 — Padres 87 70 .554 2 Colorado 83 75 .525 6.5 Dodgers 78 81 .491 12 Arizona 64 93 .408 25 East Division WL Pct GB x-Philadelphia95 64 .597 — Atlanta 90 69 .566 5 Florida 77 81 .487 17 1/2 New York 77 81 .487 17 1/2 Washington 68 91 .428 27 Central Division WL Pct GB x-Cincinnati 88 70 .557 — St. Louis 82 76 .519 6 Houston 75 83 .475 13 Milwaukee 75 83 .475 13 Chicago 72 85 .459 15 1/2 Pittsburgh 56 102.354 32 x-clinched division ————————————————— Wednesday’s results Arizona at San Francisco, late Atlanta 5, Florida 1 Los Angeles 7, Colorado 6 Milwaukee 8, New York 7, 1st game St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 1 Philadelphia 7, Washington 1 Houston 2, Cincinnati 0 Milwaukee 3, N.Y. Mets 1, 2nd game Chicago at San Diego, late Thursday’s Games Arizona (Enright 6-6) at S.F.(Bumgarner 6-6),12:45 p.m.,CSNB Chicago (Gorzelanny 7-9) at S.D.(Garland 14-12), 3:35 p.m., MLBN Houston (Myers 14-7) at Cincinnati (Arroyo 16-10), 4:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Narveson 11-9) at New York (Gee 2-1), 4:10 p.m. Pittsburgh (Duke 8-14) at Florida (Volstad 11-9), 4:10 p.m. Colorado (Hammel 10-8) at St. Louis (C.Carpenter 15-9), 5:15 p.m. Corning at Oroville Friday, 7:30 p.m. Corning Cardinals: 3-1, L1 (Last week lost to Shasta 63-7) Oroville Tigers: 0-4, L4 (Last week lost to Pleasant Valley 27-3) Last meeting (Oct. 10, 2003) Corning 28, Oroville 6 These teams haven’t met since 2003 when the Cardi- nals scored three times in the fourth quarter to pull away. Cisco Bobadilla rushed for 116 yards and two touch- downs. Jeremy Matz scored on a run and Bryant Bingham hooked up with Cliff Cleland on a beautiful passing touch- down. Players to watch Corning — #44 Tyler McIntyre, #72 Ryan Henderson, #4 Ezekiel Rodriguez Oroville — #10 Josh Sorenson, #2 Ben Archuleta, #8 Alex Klein Notes: Oroville has won two of its last 31 games, both of the wins came against Las Plumas, which has lost 26 consecutive games. Maxwell at Los Molinos Friday, 7:30 p.m. Maxwell Panthers: 3-1, W3 (Last week beat Fall River 41-8) Los Molinos Bulldogs: 2-2, W2 (Off last week, beat University Prep 14-0 on Sept. 17) Last meeting (Sept. 7, 2007) Maxwell 35, Los Molinos 0 The Panthers shut out the Bulldogs in Los Molinos and got plenty of offense. Gustavo Rangel rushed for a touch- down and threw one to Brian Hamner, who also added a rushing touchdown of his own. Hunter Stillwell scored twice. Cody Crosbie and Jarred Brooks picked up sacks for the Bulldogs. Players to watch Maxwell — #10 Tyler Wells, #45 Brett Cabral, #2 Steven Perry Los Molinos — #44 Luis Camacho, #52 Steven Funes, #10 Graham Wagenfuhr Notes: These teams will meet twice this season...the Panthers are averaging 37.75 points per game this season. Mercy at Dunsmuir 8-man Friday, 7 p.m. Mercy Warriors: 2-0, 0- 0 in California — North, W2 (Last week beat Loyalton 56- 50 in overtime) Dunsmuir Tigers: 4-0, 1-0 in California — North, W4 (Last week beat Happy Camp 62-18) Last meeting (Aug. 27, 2004) Dunsmuir 36, Mercy 16 Back in the 11-man days, Mercy opened up their 2004 season with a road trip to Dunsmuir — things didn’t go so well. Calvin Gooch rushed for 311 yards and four scores and Deno Stibi chipped in with 104 yards and a score. Mercy got on the board in the fourth quarter on a Michael Jenkins rush and a Jenkins to Kelly Schnase pass. Players to watch Mercy — #2 Mitchell Lopez, #5 Royce Crane, #55 Chris Bartlett Dunsmuir — #2 Colton Sordahl, #75 Justin Shuler, #54 Jacob Mekeel Notes: Sordahl has rushed for 933 yards and 15 touch- downs this season as the Tigers are averaging 11.24 yards per rushing attempt...the Tigers average margin of victory this season is 45 points.