Observations from Thursday night:
Sanger 21, Edison 19: While the Apaches have owned this series, the loss is as bad as coach Tim McDonald has had in seven years at Edison.
But there's an asterisk: Tevin McDonald, the team's defensive quarterback at safety and everything on offense as a receiver and runner, sprained an ankle and didn't play the last three quarters. Friday, Tevin said he expects to be back on the field next week.
Even with McDonald's absence, this one hurt Edison. It came against one of Sanger's worst teams in years, a team that had lost to Buchanan 50-7, a down Clovis East 35-0, a down Clovis 21-12 and an up Hoover 34-18.
With kicker Kenny Travis out with an injury, the Tigers missed their first two conversion kicks.
Even with the upset of No. 5 Edison, the odds are still against Sanger of extending its streak of consecutive winning seasons to 14 under coach Chuck Shidan. At 3-4, the Apaches should lose to Bullard and beat Clovis North and Reedley to end the regular season at 5-5. Then, I'd expect them to split two games in the playoffs to close at 6-6.
Tulare 56, Porterville 21: This is the first time I'd seen Tulare in a three-year span that has seen it go 33-1. And what did I learn? Not much, unfortunately. But it's obvious the Redskins and their superior athletes continue to get fat against poor competition from Tulare/Kings counties.
It was laughable, watching Porterville attempt to defend Edward Dillihunt and Marquess Wilson. And, understand, the Panthers are probably the second-best East Yosemite League team to Tulare.
That said, we can't ignore facts such as this: In last year's D-II semifinals, El Diamante beat Edison 21-15. And, the following week, Tulare toasted that same Miners defense for 42 points in winning the title game.
Again, for the 100th time, it's just so unfortunate Tulare won't play at least one nonleague game against a school from Clovis or Bakersfield.
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