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Sports 1B Wednesday December 4, 2013 Red Bluff boys soccer team drops Paradise By RICK SILVA MediaNews Group PARADISE — The Paradise High School varsity boys soccer team is a young and inexperienced bunch this year and Monday night's 3-0 loss to the visiting Red Bluff Spartans was an example. Paradise (0-2) couldn't convert on loose balls inside the box while the Spartans did. "We had some defensive miscues there, a little bit of ball watching," Coach Doug Carroll said. "The ball was bouncing around in front of the net and they finished their chances and we didn't." Carroll said Red Bluff's speed up front "created some dangerous situations" for the Bobcats defense but he felt the Bobcats could have scored themselves. "We had just as many chances," he said. "We didn't finish them." The Spartans (1-0) got on the board early after Bobcat keeper Blaine Gibson-Evans knocked away several shots but freshman Carlos Ascencio found the net just five minutes into the game. The two sides played even until the 26th minute minute when freshman Kevin Mesa's shot bounced off Gibson-Evans' hands and onto the foot of Spartan senior Michael Stone who put the ball into the net. Late in the first half the Bobcats had a series of chances to score with an open net but failed to convert giving the Spartans a chance to gather the ball in. It appeared the Bobcats were too patient in the box with the ball. "A lot of times in other areas of the pitch we are trying to get them to settle it take their time and find their teammates," Carroll said. "But in front of the goal, is the time to just go for it and hit it." But Carroll said that just a function of a young team that is learning. "It's young players and not only is their a certain lack of experience," he said "But we're still learning to play together. It's a work in progress." Paradise had another opportunity missed in the 45th minute sail over the net. Meza made the miss sting more by scoring a minute later and sealing the win. Instead of a 2-1 game, the game was essentially over for the Bobcats. "That's the inexperience," he said. "We did create some chances, so as the team evolves you have to create more chances and then also have the composure to finish the chances you get." Paradise will get plenty of time to develop the experience this weekend as it plays three games in the Foothill tournament. "We have some tough opponents with PV and Enterprise," he said. "And it will be a challenge and add a lot Lady Spartans fall MediaNews Group PARADISE — When the Paradise High School girls varsity soccer team saw its 2012-13 season end in a semifinal North Section playoff loss at Pleasant Valley, Bobcat coach Rachel Leduc said finishing at the net would be a priority in the coming year. Two games into the season, Leduc's team is showing it can finish -- as Monday's 6-1 win over Eastern Athletic League foe Red Bluff. "It's getting better everyday, honestly," Leduc said. "It's good to see. They are definitely finishing better than they were last year." Senior forward Sarah Gomez scored the first of her two goals early in the first half. Sophomore Sarah White scored what would prove be the winning goal in the 10th minute to give the Bobcats a 2-0. Paradise kept the offensive pressure on when senior Kaylie Pillsbury dropped one over the Spartan keeper's head from about 29 yards out and barely 12 minutes in, the Bobcats had a 3-0 lead. Just seven minutes later, sophomore Zalina Medrano on a breakaway off a pretty through ball, punched the ball by the Spartan keeper from about 25 yards out for a 4-0 lead. Senior Ali Rank closed out the first half scoring for Paradise with a beautiful direct kick from about 28 yards out that beat the keeper just below the cross bar for a 5-0 lead in the 29th minute. "Ali has that kind of foot," Leduc said. "It's nice to have that." Red Bluff scored with just more than seven minutes to go in the half to cut the lead to 5-1. But that was close as the Spartans would get. Tehama Tracker Today's schedule BOYS SOCCER Enterprise at Red Bluff, 4:30 p.m. WRESTLING Corning at Orland, 6 p.m. Sports on TV MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 4 p.m. ESPN — Maryland at Ohio St. ESPN2 — Wisconsin at Virginia 5 p.m. ESPNEWS — Saint Joseph's at Temple FS1 — Penn at Villanova 6 p.m. ESPN — North Carolina at Michigan St. ESPN2 — Boston College at Purdue NHL HOCKEY 5 p.m. NBCSN — Philadelphia at Detroit SOCCER 11:40 a.m. NBCSN — Premier League, Everton at Manchester United AP photo Oakland Raiders wide receiver Rod Streater (80) catches a pass in front of Tennessee Titans cornerback Jason McCourty during the third quarter of an NFL football game in Oakland on Nov. 24. Undrafted receivers holding up well for Raiders ALAMEDA (AP) — Rod Streater and Andre Holmes are perfect examples of how things have changed with the Oakland Raiders in the post-Al Davis era. Though both are fairly swift on the field, neither of the two wide receivers is particularly fast, a trait Davis always favored in his players. Streater and Holmes are also more possession-type receivers who are better on the sideline and crossing routes than they are at getting deep. The two have something else in common. They both went undrafted, Streater in 2012 and Holmes the year before that. Over the past three weeks, however, the duo has been among Oakland's most productive players. Holmes, who spent two mostly nondescript years in Dallas before signing with Oakland this past offseason, caught a career-high seven passes for 136 yards in Oakland's 31-24 loss to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. He also made a stellar 33-yard leaping reception against Houston two weeks prior to that game against his former team. Streater, on the other hand, is averaging nearly 17 yards a catch in his past three games and leads the Raiders in receptions and yardage this season. "When you don't get drafted, that kind of puts you back but it also gets you that edge," Streater said Monday. "You want to work hard and you always feel like you've got something to prove. That's kind of the thing with Andre. It was like the perfect situation going against the Cowboys. They let him go, and he was undrafted." The Raiders have been trying to stabilize their receiving corps most of the season, with very little luck. Denarius Moore, a fifth-round pick in 2011, was the team's leading receiver until going down with a shoulder injury against the Texans on Nov. 17. He has been inactive each of the past two games and no timetable has been given for his return. Jacoby Ford, a fourth-rounder in 2010 who averaged 18.8 yards as a rookie, has been mostly absent from Oakland's offense. He caught a season-high three passes against Dallas after getting shut out the previous three games. Streater had already been getting regular reps with the offense. The injury to Moore opened the door for Holmes, who missed the first four games of the season while serving an NFL suspension for a performanceenhancing substance. "You look across the league and there's a lot of undrafteds starting and a lot of undrafteds playing," Holmes said. "It's what you do on the field on Sunday. It's taken me three years to be able to do it and I think it's just the development and me figuring out the skills that I need when I'm out on the field. "Part of it could be opportunity and things like that, but I wouldn't say that I wasn't doing it before or anything like that. It was just the right time." Holmes had just two career catches going into the year. He spent 2011 on the Cowboys' practice squad, then played in seven games for Dallas the following season before latching on with Oakland. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder was dominant against his former team on Thanksgiving. Holmes caught seven of the 11 passes thrown his way, averaged 19.4 yards a reception and just missed scoring his first NFL touchdown after making an adjustment to haul in a 15-yard reception from rookie quarterback Matt McGloin in the second quarter. "He's been doing this way back since camp," Streater said. "The four-game suspension kind of threw him out but you see he goes out there and makes plays. He might not be the fastest but if you put the ball in his area he's going to come down with it." Streater's success this season hasn't been as surprising. A part-time starter for two years at Temple, he caught 39 passes and scored three touchdowns as a rookie in 2011. This season, Streater has been more consistent. He's caught a pass in every game and has had five or more receptions in four games, allowing him to overtake Moore as the Raiders' leading wide receiver. Streater and Holmes have been two of the few bright spots over the past month for an Oakland team that is reeling. The Raiders are 4-8 and have lost four of their last five heading into Sunday's game against the New York Jets. "We're still right there," Streater insisted. Notes: The players returned to work after getting three days off following the loss to Dallas. The team won't hold its first on-field practice of the week until Wednesday. ... Running back Rashad Jennings (concussion) has not yet been cleared for full contact. Packers aren't ruling out Rodgers for Sunday GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers aren't ruling out Aaron Rodgers for Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons even though the star quarterback hasn't yet been medically cleared to play since breaking his left collarbone a month ago. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said that Rodgers will practice today in a limited fashion but that backup Matt Flynn would take the snaps with the starters. "Aaron wants to play, there's no question about it," McCarthy said Tuesday. "But it's a medical situation. He has a clear understanding where he is as far as the process of getting back on the field. He feels good, and we're going to see what he can do tomorrow." Speaking on his weekly radio show Tuesday night, Rodgers confirmed that he had an X-ray and CT scan earlier in the day and acknowledged that the outlook wasn't as promising as he'd hoped when he met with team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie. "I saw the X-rays and scan," Rodgers said. "We're now four weeks and one day from my fracture. I've made a lot of progress. A lot of it is just the bone healing. Bone takes three to six weeks to heal. We all hoped we'd be on the short end of that. "I trust Doc McKenzie. When I'm ready to play and everyone is on board, then I'm going to play," he added. "After we sat down Tuesday, I haven't had that full clearance. I'm not ruling myself out. I know there's a rush to get back out there. I feel it internally, but also externally. I desperately want to be out there, but it has to look good." The Packers enter Sunday's game at 5-6-1 and are 0-4-1 since Rodgers was injured on the opening series of their loss to the Chicago Bears on Nov. 4. They've gone from 5-2 and on a fourgame winning streak to needing to win their final four games and get some help to qualify for the playoffs for the fifth straight year. "Ultimately, I'm not going to be able to play if I don't get medically cleared," Rodgers said. Amid reports the team might shut Rodgers down if the team was out of playoff contention, McCarthy denied such a discussion has occurred. "There has been no internal conversation about shutting Aaron Rodgers down," McCarthy said. "Aaron wants to play. When he's healthy, he'll be given the opportunity to play." If Rodgers is not medically cleared to face the Falcons, Flynn is set to make his second straight start. In Thursday's 40-10 Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions, Flynn completed only 10 of 20 passes for 139 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked seven times, including once for a safety. He also lost a fumble on a center exchange. Flynn took over when McCarthy benched Scott Tolzien during a 26-26 tie with the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 24, when Flynn rallied the Packers from a 23-7 fourth-quarter deficit. Asked why he would go with Flynn over Tolzien, who took over for an injured Seneca Wallace against Philadelphia on Nov. 10 and started the team's Nov. 17 loss to the New York Giants, McCarthy cited Flynn's experience. While he didn't sign with the team until Nov. 12, Flynn was Rodgers' primary backup from 2008 through 2011. "We just think Matt's further along as far as game experience and just a little more comfortable in the system," McCarthy said. "Scott's worked extremely hard. Frankly for both Scott and Matt, Scott really had one week of full reps to get ready for the Giants game. This will be Matt's first opportunity to get a full week of reps getting ready for Atlanta game. That's what you have to look at."