City reels off 44 unanswered points in rout

City offensive lineman Christian Fetters (Clovis West), middle, blocks County's Shane Williams (Yosemite) during City's 51-9 victory at the 54th annual City/County All-Star Football Classic June 20 at Central High Deran Koligian Stadium.

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The 54th annual City/County All-Star Football Classic was played with 15-minute quarters -- as opposed to the 12-minute quarters standard in high school.

The extra time didn't make a difference as City, which fielded four 2008 Clovis West graduates, demolished a County team, with 15 players from Buchanan, Clovis East and Clovis High, 51-9 June 20 at Central High's Deran Koligian Stadium.

"They came out last night at the dinner saying they were going to blow us out," said County running back Stanley Yarbrough (Clovis East) after the loss, a far cry from last year's 7-6 County victory. "It showed on the scoreboard who was ready to play."

County scored on the game's second play from scrimmage when City quarterback Jerry Davis (Edison) was tackled in the end zone after a botched pitch attempt to make it 2-0. City responded six minutes later on a 23-yard Rakim Dawkins (Central) scoring run and didn't look back, scoring 44 unanswered points in the rout.

"When they got that safety, all I told the fullback was get to the pitch faster," said City coach Jim O'Brien (Fowler), a former Buchanan assistant. "If they'd gone down and scored [after the free kick], I would have been a little concerned."

With a balanced offense packed with innovative pass plays and misdirection runs, Dawkins added a 19-yard touchdown run, Michael Dixon (Edison) scored on runs of 16 and 5 yards, and Davis connected with Brandon Williams (Bullard) from 16 yards out as City sprinted into the locker room up 34-2.

While City rolled, County's offense sputtered.

"I'm used to shotgun, and this is your standard I-back, run-up-the-middle offense," said County quarterback Jake Henderson (Buchanan), who finished with 90 yards on 6-of-15 passing. "I had to get used to the five-step drop again."

With City's offensive and defensive lines overpowering in the trenches and a speedy secondary swarming County receivers, quarterbacks -- Henderson and Alex Gutierrez (Firebaugh) -- completed just 11 of 32 passes. County's running game struggled as well.

"I found a couple of holes, but it's difficult against that defense," said Brett Sanchez (Clovis High), who will attend Clackamas (Ore.) Community College on a wrestling scholarship. "We started off good with the safety, but then they started clicking."

Sanchez ran for 27 yards on eight carries, while teammate Yarbrough, a 1,400-yard rusher during the 2007 season, managed just 2 yards on six carries.

A 30-yard Davis pass to Dawkins and a 38-yard Kyle Negrete (Clovis West) field goal highlighted the third quarter for City before County found the end zone for the first time on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Gutierrez to Nico Garcia (Reedley).

City's J.C. Carter (Edison) finished things off, taking the ensuing kickoff 107 yards for the score, a new City/County record.

"Any time you win it's a good one," O'Brien said. "Speed and size were the No. 1 factors. The kids worked hard for two weeks."

Manning the special-teams front for City was Negrete, the 2007 Tri-River Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player. The San Diego-bound safety punted and kicked for City, sending one kickoff for a touchback after an offsides penalty pushed the tee back 5 yards. Negrete made one tackle.

City's Jake Day (Clovis West) had one catch for 26 yards and County's Mark Foster (Buchanan) hauled in one reception for 10 yards.