Friday Night Lights (Week 10 MHS vs. Pitman HS)

Two Words:: We Lost! We're done for the year! We are heartbroken

Merced's three-year reign over the Central California Conference came to an end with a giant thud. Pitman shoved, stomped and just flat ran over Merced on its way to a 49-7 win on Friday night at Merced College. Merced's season is suddenly over...

No fourth straight title.

No playoffs.

"I don't know what happened, I kind of feel like I'm in a total fog right now," said Merced coach Rob Scheidt, whose team dropped to 4-2 and 4-6. "The kids never expected this to happen. I don't think anybody did. You have to give (Pitman) credit. They did a great job."

Until next year...here are a few pics to finalize our season~

Gregory with a special fan

**Merced Sun-Star.com

Friday Night Lights (Week 9 MHS vs. Turlock HS)

Again WE WIN!!! Our stats now are 4-1 in the CCC and 4-5 Overall. One more win and the Central California Conference title is ours!!! Lets go Bears! Next week will be a tough game against Pitman High School

G warming up. #85

"Ocho Cinco"

Keep an eye on #85 ~ Warming up just before the game

#85 - Top of the screen - 35yd line - Black sleeves ---THAT'S my boy!!

Friday Night Lights (Week 8 MHS vs. Atwater HS) Shock and Awe at Santa Fe Bowl XL: Atwater wins thriller with last-second touchdown!

Two Words... WE LOST

Here's the skinny on last nights game...The senior hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Sanchez (my cousin) with 5 seconds left to help Atwater pull off a miracle 21-20 win over Merced on Friday night at Stadium '76. Atwater's win creates a logjam atop the Central California Conference with Atwater, Merced and Los Banos all tied at 3-1.

Atwater's chances of pulling out a victory didn't look very promising after Merced had scored on a big play of its own.
Merced took a 20-14 lead when quarterback Rudy Monteon hooked up with Juan Valenica (my nephew)for a 30-yard touchdown pass on a fourth down play.
A bad snap on the extra-point attempt kept the lead at six points with 1:37 left in the game.

The win snapped Merced's CCC winning streak at 21.
It was a game Merced let get away after jumping out to a 14-0 lead after two second-quarter touchdown runs by Eric DeAnda, who finished with 114 yards on 32 carries.

Merced had three second-half touchdowns called back!!!! (we were robbed of two of those) J. People returned his second interception of the game 63 yards, including a flip into the end zone only to have the score negated by a block in the back.
People again brought the Merced crowd to their feet early in the fourth quarter when he scooped up a fumble and ran 80 yards for another apparent score.

However, the referees blew an inadvertent whistle to blow the play dead.
Merced had to settle for the ball back at its own 36-yard line.

We have one game left in the CCC and its going to be just as important as this one was. Not giving up hope! Our boys played hard but it just wasn't our night...

*Merced Sun-Star

Friday Night Lights (Week 7 MHS vs. Golden Valley HS)

Quick scores keeps Mayor's Cup in Merced's hands

(#85 ~ That's my "G")

Nine seconds doesn't seem like much.
That's all the time our boys needed to put away Golden Valley on Friday evening.
We scored two touchdowns in a nine-second stretch late in the second quarter to open up a 15-point lead at halftime.

Our momentum never left the sideline as Merced scored the final 34 points on its way to a

55-20

victory to hoist the Mayor's Cup for the fourth straight year.

"It was a crazy few moments," said Merced coach Rob Scheidt, whose team sits all alone atop the Central California Conference at 3-0 and 3-4 overall.

(Our boys celebrating our win and Mayor's Cup trophy)

(#21 Eric Deanda -- "D-Train" Running that ball in for a TD)

(Can't nobody stop him!!)

Our boys will be meeting up with Atwater High School (2-1 CCC, 5-2 Overall) next week! Atwater HS has been the "Old School" rival ever since MHS was established and we will definitely be ready to WIN next week! This will be a tough, tough game!

Merced High School will also celebrate its Homecoming on Friday so it will be a "Fun-Filled Friday" for sure!

Friday Night Lights (Week 6 MHS vs. Buhach Colony HS)

Merced football keeps CCC streak alive AGAIN with win over Buhach Colony HS!

MHS 33-BC30

One of our amazing Running Backs E. Deanda "De-Train" set the school's single-game rushing record with 303 yards and scored 3 touchdowns at last nights game against Buhach Colony!! This record hasn't been broken since 2000~ We are all so proud of our boys!

2-0 CCC and 2-4 Overall

Our team has improved to 2-0 in the Central California Conference and 2-4 overall. We now won 20 consecutive league games!! Also on fourth-and-5, Rudy Monteon (QB) hooked up with Juan Valencia for a 35-yard touchdown pass to extend our lead to 33-22 early in the fourth quarter.
"After the 0-4 start, we just stayed together like a family," DeAnda said. "We kept our heads up. It's all about the love on this team."

Gooooo Bears!

Friday Night Lights (Week 5 MHS vs. Los Banos HS)

Merced football keeps CCC streak alive with win over Los Banos!!!

WE WIN!!!! Not a high scoring game but its a WIN!!

Eric DeAnda's 20th carry of the game would be his most important.
Facing a fourth and a little over a yard from the Los Banos 28-yard line, Merced needed just a first down to ice its 19th consecutive Central California Conference victory.
And everyone at Loftin Field knew the junior running back was getting the ball. As he had all second half, DeAnda delivered.
The Merced back took a pitch to the right, got behind his fullback and lowered his shoulder. He picked up the final three of his game-high 142 yards and sealed a hard-fought 6-3 victory over Los Banos.

This win means a lot, because it proves who we really are. We're not the team that went 0-4

Merced (1-0, 1-4) answered with some trickery on the first play of the fourth quarter.

It was a tough game and here are the qtr stats:

Merced 0 0 0 6 -- 6
Los Banos 0 0 3 0 -- 3

*Merced Sun-Star

Friday Night Lights (Week 3 MHS vs. Napa HS)

Two Words: We lost

I'm usually lost for words at times like these because I'm not used to us losing 2 games in a row this early in the season. Our boys played their hearts out but the final score was... 43-22!!

We'll get 'em next week boys! Such a tough start for us being that we are playing the BEST of the BEST of teams not in our league. It's good practice though. We'll be ready for Conference to start in October. You can bet on that ;)

* Next week we play Edison High School of Fresno, Ca (another tough team)

Friday Night Lights (Week 2 -- BYE)

Our boys have the week off! No news to report but glad they had the week to revamp their game plan.

Next week we play Napa HS @ Home!!

To be continued~

Friday Night Lights (Week 1 MHS vs. Bullard HS)

Just a little bit of info on our game. Didn't have the heart to take lots of pics. It was tough and I really felt for our boys. Here's a little bit of the story:::

With the very first play of the game, Fresno Bullard quarterback gave the Merced football team notice that it was in for a long evening. The 6-foot-3 senior let fly on a 76-yard touchdown pass that was negated because of a holding call. It didn't matter. Their quarterback was just getting warmed up.
He started the game off with a 56-yard touchdown pass just a few plays later and ...

The Bullard rout was on.

Merced has become a regional power the last three seasons with players that were bigger, stronger and faster than its opponents. All three adjectives described Bullard on Friday night, and as a result, Merced's squad struggled on both sides of the ball.

"We just didn't play our game," A Merced defensive lineman said. "They're good, but we just didn't show it tonight. We just have to double our efforts in practice to make sure this is a one-time thing" Merced's offense didn't fair any better.

As a result, Merced lost to Bullard HS 41-0

We have to make a few adjustments and with a "bye" this week, it will give us time to make those adjustments and be ready for our next challenging opponent. I have faith in our Coaches and our boys.

We WILL be back and stronger than ever---

Next week Merced will host Napa High school.

Walking on the field before the game

Warming up

The pre-game "Bear Huddle" *Merced what, Merced what...woo ooh*

~Until next week...