High school notebook: Centennial excited heading into opener
| Wednesday, Sep 08 2010 10:07 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Sep 08 2010 10:42 PM
For the second straight week, one of Kern County's best teams will open its season a day before everyone else.
This time, it's Centennial's turn to try out the Thursday night spotlight with a home game against Visalia-Redwood at 7 tonight.
"It's kind of different," Centennial coach Bryan Nixon said. "It's a different atmosphere and a short week after our scrimmage."
The Golden Hawks were able to hold a long practice on Labor Day, and Nixon said the early start shouldn't affect his team.
"Everybody's pretty excited," Nixon said. "This group has a great attitude, and we just want to play some football."
Centennial, which reached the Division I Central Section championship game last year, returns quarterback Cody Kessler, one of the nation's premier quarterbacks and a verbal commit to USC, and linebacker Jared Norris, a Utah commit.
But Redwood isn't without talent. The Rangers lost a narrow game to Frontier -- which beat Centennial just three weeks earlier -- in last year's Division II playoffs. They return Fresno State-bound Dillon Root at running back and have a couple of other Division I recruits in their pro-style offense.
"With the way our league stacks up, it's very good to play very good opponents in the preseason," Nixon said. "And Redwood is definitely a challenge."
Schilhabel donations
Nixon said volunteers would collect donations to help Tyler Schilhabel and his family at tonight's game.
Schilhabel, Independence's junior quarterback, was paralyzed from the chest down during an ATV accident Sunday and is being treated in Stanford Hospital.
Independence coach Sean McKeown also said a fund for Schilhabel has been set up at Wells Fargo. Those who want to donate can do so at any Wells Fargo branch.
Independence also is holding a car wash at 2:30 p.m. today to raise money, and the Falcons will sell T-shirts at their Friday night game against Ridgeview.
Liberty volleyball takes Clovis Challenge title
In a tournament full of the Central Section's top contenders, Liberty got its volleyball season off to a smashing start with a victory against Centennial in the championship of last weekend's Clovis Challenge at Clovis North.
The Patriots took out the Golden Hawks 25-16, 25-19 in the final. The bracket portion of the tournament was full of Southwest Yosemite League games; Liberty beat Bakersfield 25-13, 25-18 in the quarterfinals and Frontier 25-23, 25-23 in the semifinals.
Harris named 3rd-team All-American
Bakersfield Christian junior Tyler Harris was named to the National Christian Schools Athletic Association third-team basketball All-American list for his play as a sophomore last year.
Stats coming next week
Attention coaches: Football, volleyball and cross country stats and rankings will be published each week during the fall starting next Thursday. To be sure your team is included, make sure your football and volleyball stats are up to date through each Tuesday's games on MaxPreps. Deadline for each week is noon Wednesday.
