There’s still plenty to be decided in next week’s regular-season finales, but Liberty, Bakersfield and Wasco made sure they will all be a part of the discussion.

The stage was set for what appeared to be another dramatic victory in a magical season for Foothill High. East freshmen Rudy Villegas had just missed a potential game-tying field goal as time expired, a 45-yard attempt that fell well short and wide to the left.

Thursday’s scores

Winning without starting quarterback Tyson Dozhier, who broke his collarbone at Highland on Aug. 27, could have been an immense challenge for Shafter. But converted receiver Devon Sundgren led the Generals to a 5-3 record heading into Friday night's game at Kennedy.

If this year’s Central Section playoff brackets are any indication, the Garces girls tennis team is expected to make a repeat run to the finals.

Winning a league title doesn’t always equate to receiving a favorable path in the postseason.

In their last match, against Long Beach State, the CSUB women's soccer team held firm for 109 minutes before conceding a heartbreaking game-winner in the 110th. The Roadrunners followed up that performance Thursday night against UC Irvine with an uneven showing in which the defense was stead…

With just two weeks left in the regular season, plenty of storylines will be playing out.

Derek Thorn is poised to claim his sixth Spears SRL Southwest Tour championship in his home base of Bakersfield.

Josiah Quiroz and Gracen Hayes each secured decisions late in the third round — Quiroz with an escape at 157, Hayes with a last-second near-fall at 165 — and the Bakersfield Renegades beat the Cuesta Cougars 24-15 Wednesday night.

Since the day he was born, Kamaka Pocock has been immersed in the hot rodding culture.

There’s a sense of urgency beginning to permeate many of the fall sporting events at BC and CSUB, with post-conference competition less than a month away. Let’s see how local teams did this past week as their postseason prospects started to come into focus.

The Bakersfield College Renegades fought back from 20-16 and 24-22 deficits in the second set, then won the third by scoring eight of the last ten points to secure a 3-0 victory over the Ventura College Pirates.

It’s crunch time for CSUB men’s soccer.

The Garces girls golf team had a pretty good afternoon Monday at North Kern Golf Course.

The Garces girls tennis team finished 10-0 for the second straight year to win the Southwest Yosemite League title on Monday at Stockdale.

CENTRAL SECTION RANKINGS

Fresh off a Pacific Division championship, the Bakersfield Condors featured plenty of familiar faces when they took the off ice for Saturday's 2021-22 American Hockey League season opener, part of two weekend home games at Mechanics Bank Arena.

In a battle of California Community College Athletic Association top-10 teams — College of the Canyons at No. 4, Bakersfield at No. 8 in both polls — one team justified its high ranking and the other fell flat.

There’s still some more games left in the regular season and no league titles have been decided, but this week's results were important to several teams who enjoyed rebound victories and regained much-needed momentum.

Thursday's scores

There wasn’t much in the way of breathing room for most of the 48 minutes of football Friday night at San Tobias Field.

What do you do when your hardcore running team, with over 300 rushing yards on the night, finds itself 26 yards away with 25 seconds left, needing a game-winning score?

Football

It's hard to imagine that was how Cal State Bakersfield envisioned its second half going.

Prior to the start of the season, all the area football coaches were asked to submit their predictions for use in an anonymous poll to be featured in the BVarsity 2021 High School Football Preview issue.

Equal parts intensity and compassion, Chuck Chamberlain became a fixture at Arvin High for parts of six decades.

As excitement begins to build for upcoming winter sports, let's take a look at how teams from BC and CSUB did from Wednesday to Tuesday, with many heading into the home stretch of their fall season:

The further out, the better for both Bakersfield and LA Valley's attackers Tuesday evening.

Believe it or not, the Bakersfield College football regular season is halfway done.

Following a brief hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the North High Athletics Hall of Fame is set to honor its 2020 and 2021 classes at an induction ceremony on Saturday night at Luigi’s Warehouse.

The wait is finally over.

It wasn't as dominating a performance as two years ago, but it came close.

There’s still three games left in league play, but a handful of Kern County football teams are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as championship aspirations go.

Thursday’s scores

Whatever suspense there might have been when Liberty and Centennial met on the football field Friday night sure didn’t last long.

All the momentum was with the Golden Valley Bulldogs as they led 14-7 on the road with just under four minutes remaining.

It wasn’t pretty Thursday night at Ned Permenter Stadium, but you get the feeling fourth-year Foothill football coach Brandon Deckard doesn’t mind much.

Darren Carr said his Bakersfield Christian Eagles teams had been practicing surprise onside kicks for six years leading up to Thursday night's game against the West Vikings.

Seeding teams for the playoffs has always been challenging, a process that has also been somewhat controversial.

A bit of Bakersfield Speedway history was a victim of the COVID pandemic in 2020.