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Sports 1B Tuesday September 24, 2013 Red Bluff beats Corning in thriller Daily News photo by Rich Greene Christian Shaffer celebrates the game winning touchdown Friday night in Corning. By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer CORNING — On Monday Red Bluff running back Christian Shaffer was having his photograph taken for the Tehama County Shootout preview. The transfer student asked if the game was a big deal. By Friday night he knew the answer. "I think it is really big, very important," Shaffer said all smiles and out of breath after scoring the winning touchdown in a 21-14 come from behind win for the Spartans. Shaffer's score came with 1:05 remaining in the game. It was Red Bluff's first lead of the game and in the end the only one that mattered in a contest that might not have been a Shootout, but was definitely added a classic chapter for the ages. The upstart Corning Cardinals took advantage of Red Bluff's early mistakes and led 14-6 at halftime. On their first drive quarterback Chayce Maday and running backs Chance Nelson and Alex Davila slammed the ball down the Spartans throat. Helped by three Spartan penalties Maday took in the opening score from six yards out and Jayve Uriostegui booted in the extra point for a 7-0 Corning lead. The Spartans countered behind the sharp passing of Greg Dufour, who completed his first six passes of the game. The sixth was a 20-yard corner route to Jared Poore for a Red Bluff touchdown. Red Bluff went for some trickery with a 2-point conversion attempt out of a kicking formation, but failed and Corning clung to a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter the Cardinals extended that lead when Davila, a sophomore, sped his way past the Spartans defense for a 77-yard touchdown run and a 14-6 Corning lead. Corning had a golden chance to add to that lead when a bad punt snap on Red Bluff's next drive gave the Cardinals the ball at the Spartan 15-yard line. But the Spartans defense held strong, driving the Cardinals back on four consecutive plays and Red Bluff regained possession at their own 42. Red Bluff's next possession also ended with a strange punt play, when the Spartans punter dropped the snap before booting it away. Corning drove down to the 21-yard-line, but Chase Root blocked Uriostegui's field goal try. The Cardinals received the second half kickoff and the Corning offense continued to move the ball until a Spartan defender put a walloping hit on Chance Nelson near mid- field and Walker Dodero pounced on the loose ball for Red Bluff. From there Shaffer put his stamp on the game. Red Bluff fed him the ball six straight times, bringing the ball down to the Corning 10. It set up the perfect play call and the Spartans ran it such, as tight end Wyatt Clement slipped behind the Corning linebackers who were committed to the run and Dufour found him wide open for the score. Needing a 2-pointer to tie, Dufour hooked up with Clawson to knot the game at 14-14. Momentum by then had switched back to Red Bluff, until a few drives later when Corning's Thomas Lowe stood up Shaffer, ripped the ball from his hands and rumbled the other way to set the Cardinals up on the Spartans' side of the field. But Red Bluff's defense was up to the task again and they forced a turnover on downs to set up a dramatic fourth quarter. The Spartans and Cardinals exchanged punts to open the fourth. Red Bluff started its winning drive with 6:02 on the clock. Dufour hooked up with Clement on a pass play that despite being brought back 10 yards for an illegal block still put the Spartans at the Corning 47. Red Bluff relied on Shaffer to garble up yards and time, but faced a fourth-and-two at the Corning 28 with 3:35 remaining. Dodero ran a quick sideline route from his tight end position and Dufour delivered a ball that was falling short of the intended target. Dodero, flashed to his baseball background. "I was wide open. I saw it go low and went in baseball style, slid in and caught it," Dodero said. A few plays later Red Bluff faced a third-and-8 at the 21. This time Dufour found Aaron Lyon, who made a great catch to give the Spartans first-and-goal. Three plays later Shaffer ran up the middle on his 27th carry for the winning score and to finish off a 135-yard rushing game. Garrett Ward kicked in the extra point after Red Bluff was backed up for delay of game. Corning got late life on their last chance when Maday's face mask was grabbed on the ensuing kickoff return. That set up the Cardinals with a little over a minute to play at the Red Bluff 48. But the Cardinals, never known for their passing, threw four consecutive incompletions to end the game. It was Red Bluff's second consecutive Shootout win, and the second year in a row they have started 3-0. Red Bluff leads the season series 25-23-1. "It's the best thing of your life," Red Bluff junior Justin Nunez said of playing in and winning the Tehama County Shootout. Corning dropped to 2-1 with the loss. Dufour finished 12-for-19 for 126 yards and a pair of touchdowns. A number of first half drops sagged his completion total. "We knew we could move the ball on offense just had to minimize our mistakes," he said. Clement had three catches for 49 yards. Poore finished with two catches for 28 yards and had a touchdown for his third straight game. Root had three catches for 19 yards. Lyon caught two balls for 19 yards. Clawson and Sean Freeny each had a catch. Shaffer's 135 rushing yards led Red Bluff. Mike Stone carried five times for 25 yards. Daniel Koenig had 17 yards on five carries and Dylan Schaible had a 4-yard carry. Maday finished just 1-for-8 passing with the lone completion to David Edson for six yards. Davila had 94 rushing yards on nine carries. Maday finished with 49 yards on the ground. Nelson added 40 yards on eight carries. --------Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, Ext. 109 or by email at rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. Daily News photo by Rich Greene Corning running back Alex Davila finds a hole during Friday's Tehama County Shootout. Mercy falls on the Red Bluff volleyball tournament Corning road at Greenville The Mercy Warriors dropped to 13 on the season after losing at Greenville 42-25 Friday night in 8man football. Greenville led 22-18 at halftime and used a 14-0 third quarter to put the game out of reach. Cooper Kingdon threw for four touchdowns for Greenville, finishing his night 12-for-20 for 342 yards. Mercy was led by Alejandro Guerrero, who racked up 161 yards on the ground and two scores on 23 carries. He also scored a touchdown on a return. On defense Guerrero made 17 tackles. Tommy Garcia hooked up with Teddy Ramberg on a 20yard pass play for Mercy's other score. Garcia was 4-for-15 passing for 62 yards. Brandon Gorden caught two passes for 29 yards and Koleby Potter had a 13-yard reception. William Gentry had 16 rushing yards on three carries and Brenten James carried twice for 15 yards. Gorden and Gentry made 10 tackles each. Bryce Baer had nine tackles. Tehama Tracker Today's schedule TENNIS Red Bluff at Enterprise, 3:30 p.m. Corning at Central Valley, 3:30 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Corning at Sutter, 7 p.m. Los Molinos at Hayfork, 7 p.m. Mercy at University Prep, 6:30 p.m. MLB: Oakland at L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m. L.A. Dodgers at San Francisco, 7:15 p.m. Sports on TV MLB • 7 p.m., CSNB — L.A. Dodgers at San Francisco • 7 p.m., CSNC — Oakland at L.A. Angels Enterprise won the 2013 Red Bluff Invitational held Friday and Saturday. A look at how local teams fared: Red Bluff Lady Spartans Anderson 21, 12 Red Bluff 25, 25 Tayler Zazueta led Red Bluff with seven kills and three blocks. Emily Gallagher had four aces and seven assists. Katie Gallagher had eight assists. Corning 23, 14 Red Bluff 25, 25 Hailey Reineman had a teamhigh five kills for Red Bluff and also had four blocks. The Spartans had 12 aces in the match. Emily Gallagher had four and Daisy Brose and Katie Gallagher three each. Emily Gallagher had nine assists. Arcata 25, 10, 15 Red Bluff 22, 25, 13 Zazueta had seven kills. Hannah Woodall had three aces. Larissa Vogelbacher made 11 digs. Katie Gallagher had nine assists and Emily Gallagher had eight. University Prep 20, 16 Red Bluff 25, 25 Woodall had four kills. The Spartans had 14 aces. Katie and Emily Gallagher each had four and Vogelbacher had three. Emily Gallagher had nine assists and Katie Gallagher had seven. Paradise 15, 17 Red Bluff 25, 25 Zazueta had seven kills. Alex Funk and Reineman had three aces each. Funk made 11 digs Katie Gallagher had 12 assists. Enterprise 25, 25 Red Bluff 11, 19 Zazueta had eight kills. Funk had 13 digs. Katie and Emily Gallagher each had five assists. Lassen 19, 25, 18 Red Bluff 25, 21, 16 Zazueta had 13 kills, four aces and 13 digs. Brose had 11 digs. Katie Gallagher had four aces and 15 assists. Funk made 15 digs. Emily Gallagher had 11 assists. Lady Cardinals • Arcata beat Corning 25-17, 25-22. • The Lady Cardinals lost a close match to Anderson 26-24, 23-25, 15-9. • Red Bluff beat Corning 2523, 25-14. • Trinity beat Corning 25-18, 25-23. Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs • Los Molinos beat Paradise 25-20, 25-22 • Los Molinos beat Hamilton 25-18, 25-22. • West Valley beat Los Molinos 25-16, 25-23. • Gridley beat Los Molinos 25-23, 25-18. • Los Molinos beat Eureka 25-19, 25-16. • Los Molinos beat Arcata 2520, 25-17. • Los Molinos beat Yreka 2826, 25-15. • Lassen beat Los Molinos 25-18, 18-25, 15-8.