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ByJanieMcCauley TheAssociatedPress SANTACLARA EricReidgotaquick lesson on the Black Hole, a new term for the second-year San Fran- cisco safety. "I don't even know what the Black Hole is, what is that?" Reid asked, standing at his locker Wednesday at the midway point of preparations for Sunday's game at Oakland. Ah, yes, those crazy characters all dressed up in the Coliseum end zone. Doctors. Lawyers. Techies. School teachers. "I've seen highlights on TV. They get pretty dressed up, right? That'll be fun. I like that kind of stuff," Reid said. "My dad is a pastor and he likes to get dressed up in mo- torcycle gear and try to act tough. It's good to change it up a bit. I bet they enjoy it." Reid and the 49ers' defense have been doing their part to carry the load in recent weeks, and now San Francisco (7-5) is playing for its playoff life as it makes the short road trip to Oakland (1-11) on Sun- day, likely needing to win its four remaining games or at least get some help. "We could play better. There are some plays that cost us games in the earlier part of the season," Reid NFL 49er'D'carriesloadasoffensestruggles SanFranciscotravelsacrossbaytofaceNorthern California rival Raiders in Oakland this Sunday BENMARGOT—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, le , is sacked by San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Ray McDonald during the first quarter Nov. 23. COURTESY PHOTO During a recent class reunion, members of the 1974 Red Bluff Spartans basketball team decided that they wanted to find a way to give back to the program. Each of them submitted a check for $100 to help support the Holiday Classic basketball tournament. The group would like to challenge all alumni of the Spartans basketball program to do the same. Each $100 donor will receive two passes that allow access to every Holiday Classic game as well as unlimited access to the VIP Sponsor Room. For more information on donations contact Nancy Mackey at 200-0283. The alumni pictured (from le to right) are Bob Nott Jr., Doug Smith, Jim Morris, Holiday Classic VIP Sponsorship Coordinator Nancy Mackey, Mike Oelrichs, Frank Wray and Paul Trujillo. HOLIDAY CLASSIC ALUMNI CHALLENGE Members of 1974 Red Bluff High basketball team look for fellow alums to join fundraising Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray has been cleared to play this week against San Francisco a er missing the previous game with a concussion. Murray was cleared Tuesday morning. NFL Raiders'Murrayhas been cleared to play FULLSTORYONPAGEB2 The Red Bluff Lady Spar- tans will play West Valley on Thursday at the Anderson Tournament. Corning is at the Live Oak Tournament. Mercy will be at the Biggs Tourna- ment. GIRLS BASKETBALL Girls teams at tourneys to open their seasons County rivals Mercy and Los Molinos play 5:30p.m. at the Block LM Tournament. Red Bluff plays Amador at 8p.m. at the Argonaut Quarterback Club Tournament. Corning is at the Pierce tournament. BOYS BASKETBALL Block LM tournament continues Thursday Iranian jets have carried out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq in re- cent days, Pentagon officials and independent analysts say, underscoring the strange alli- ances generated by the war. STRANGE ALLIANCES US: Iran launches airstrikes against IS FULL STORY ON PAGE B5 Red Bluff's Joseph Bosetti is fouled Tuesday as he drives to the basket. Staff Reports RED BLUFF Joseph Bosetti got to the free throw line 19 times on his way to a 26-point performance to lead Red Bluff to a 64-53 win Tues- day in their season opener over vis- iting West Valley. Red Bluff scored 19 points in each of the first three periods, on their way to a 57-32 lead entering the fi- nal frame. Bosetti made 12-of-19 free throws on his way to the game-high per- formance. Joey Knight made three 3-point- ers for Red Bluff and finished with 16 points. Lane Pritchard had nine points, K.J. Hinkston seven, Wyatt Clement four and Emilio Soto two points for the Spartans. Jesse Traetz led West Valley with 16 points. Tyler Burson had 13 and Gio Lak- mann 10. The Spartans are in Jackson from Thursday through Saturday for the annual Argonaut Quarterback Club Tournament. CORNING66,WILLOWS45 The Corn- ing Cardinals opened their boys basketball season with a 66-45 win Tuesday over visiting Willows. Corning led 33-20 at halftime. The Cardinals outscored Willows 22-12 in the fourth quarter. Corning was scheduled to play Winters in the Pierce tournament Wednesday. Girls basketball LOS MOLINOS 55, CORE BUTTE 24 The Lady Bulldogs opened their sea- son with a 55-24 win Tuesday. Los Molinos is at Weed Dec. 9. Boys Soccer ORLAND2,CORNING1 Orland scored a goal in each half to beat visiting Corning on Tuesday. Corning dropped to 1-1 on the season, after beating Las Plumas 18-2 Monday. Corning hosts Chico on Dec. 8. PREP ROUNDUP Spartans,Cardinalsbothwin Bosetti scores game-high 26 points for Red Bluff in victory over West Valley to open new season By Anne M. Peterson The Associated Press Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez helped devise the hurry-up spread offense nearly 25 years ago. Then coach Chip Kelly made Oregon fa- mous for it. These days, current Ducks coach Mark Helfrich acknowl- edges the offensive similarities between Oregon and Arizona, calling them cousins. "I don't know what kind of cousin," Helfrich joked about his analogy. "Route structure is a little different off it, how they use their quarterback. But a run- based, spread offense, being able to throw the ball, mix those things up, but yeah, it's very similar." The two similar schemes will meet — again — on Friday night when the No. 3 Ducks (11-1, 8-1) play the No. 8 Wildcats (10-2, 7-2) in the Pac-12 championship. Rodriguez, named this season's Pac-12 Coach of the Year, also ze- roed in on the familiarity factor. "Philosophically, they look very, very similar, not only the tempo with which they're able to go at, but how they want to attack the field from vertical and horizontal standpoints," Rodriguez told re- porters on a teleconference ear- lier this week. "You'd think these two coaches are related." As head coach at Glenville State in West Virginia in 1990, Rodri- guez wanted to run a spread for- mation but he had a quarterback who was on the smallish side — so he went to a run-based system out of the shotgun. To keep de- fenses even more off-balance, he decided to run the offense with- out ever huddling. Rodriguez eventually brought his innovative offense to West Vir- ginia, turning a team that won three games his first season into a national contender. Fast forward to 2007, when Or- egon coach Mike Bellotti hired Kelly as his offensive coordina- tor. Kelly put a hurry-up, no-hud- dle spread option on hyperdrive that thrived with a mobile quar- terback, Dennis Dixon. By 2008, the Ducks were averaging nearly 42 points and 485 yards of total offense per game. In 2010, with Kelly as head coach, the Ducks led the nation with averages of 47 points and 531 total yards per game. The revved- up offenses left opponents so gassed they were known to fake injuries to get a breather. Helfrich, who was the offen- sive coordinator and quarter- backs coach under Kelly, took over as head coach in 2013 when PAC-12 TITLE GAME Oregon, Arizona similar on offense 49ERS PAGE 2 PAC-12 PAGE 2 COURTESY PHOTO SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, December 4, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1