Footballs filled the air Friday night at Reedley Stadium where the 14th ranked Yosemite Badgers (2-1) took on the Immanuel Eagles (0-3).
Jesse Lownsbury threw five touchdown passes -- three in the first half -- as the Badgers flew to a 27-7 lead and held on to defeat the Eagles, 47-21, in non-league action.
"It felt good to be out there after missing last week," Lownsbury said, "I started slow in the first quarter but then I got into a rhythm and my receivers were catching everything." Lownsbury finished the night completing 20 of 29 passes with no interceptions and five touchdowns for 426 yards, that being a new school record.
"I knew that no one had ever thrown for 400 yards for us before (Lownsbury held the previous record 364 yards)," Yosemite head coach Aaron Eames said. "I guess that means that he was feeling better."
Lownsbury threw scoring passes to four different receivers, including two to senior wide receiver Jon McNamara. The 5-foot-9-inch McNamara also returned a punt 36 yards for a score in the fourth quarter.
"It was nice to see Jon (McNamara) having a good game like tonight," Lownsbury said.
The senior quarterback missed the Hanford game with a bad case of the flu.
The night's fireworks started on the game's fourth play when Immanuel's Carsten Friesen fumbled the handoff on a reverse. The Badgers' Jackson Glines picked the ball up and didn't stop until he reached the end zone 45 yards away.
The winless Eagles threw their bag of tricks at the Badgers but couldn't put points on the board. The Badgers defense kept the Eagles quarterback busy with the blitz and the secondary led by Glines and McNamara kept the long ball away from Immanuel receivers.
Then came the second quarter. Lownsbury connected on eight of ten passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns, the first to Detri Dunn for 35 yards.
"I wanted to get some passes thrown to Dunn," Eames said. "He didn't let us down, he beat his defender and came up big." Dunn caught seven passes for 181 yards and the touchdown, his first for the varsity.
The Badgers defense wasn't about to be outdone by the offense, held the Eagles to 102 yards rushing on 44 carries (2.3 yards a carry) and kept pressure on quarterback Jeff Janzen who completed five of 22 passes (23 percent) for 122 yards.
Senior wide receiver Cody Shahan caught seven passes for 147 yards as he pursues Jon Blea's receiving records.
The Badgers travel to Chowchilla on Friday to open the North Sequoia League play against the Redskins.
Yosemite at Chowchilla -
Friday @ 7 p.m.
The preseason is over and the real test will take place in Redskins Stadium when the 14th ranked Badgers (2-1-0) travel to the 15th ranked Chowchilla Redskins (3-0-0) to open league play.
It's Yosemite's passing game in the form of senior quarterback Jesse Lownsbury (6-foot-1-inch, 210) who is healthy and ready to play. Lownsbury is completing 64 percent of his passes in two games (34 of 53) for 549 yards and five touchdowns, but has thrown two interceptions.
The Redskins are led by Rob Diepersloot at quarterback who doesn't throw often but is the team leader for the Redskins.
"Rob Diepersloot is a VERY well respected leader on our team. He runs our offense as a general -- leading by example, staying positive, committing to everything the coaches ask him to do, etc.," Chowchilla head football coach John Henson said. "He is doing a great job as a double wing QB: lead blocking, running the ball, and throwing when needed. Taking all of this into account, I would rank him as a quality young man who is indispensable to our program."
But the dangerous weapon that the Redskins possess is senior running back Kyle Espinola who ran roughshod over the Badgers in 2007, gaining 207 yards rushing and scoring 18 points in the Redskins 35-28 win at Badgers Stadium.
Chowchilla doesn't do anything fancy, they don't need to, they just ram the football back in your face.
"We are still running the double wing. Our offense has really impressed me so far," Henson said. "As the staff calculates, we are probably five to six weeks ahead of playbook implementation and overall physical ability vs. where we have been the past two seasons at this point in time. We have plenty of little things to work out, but I do like our offense's ability to control the clock and possess the ball.
Prediction:
Yosemite 29, Chowchilla 27. But it could go either way with turnovers by either team.
