John McNamara caught passes for two touchdowns and Jesse Lownsbury passed for 271 yards, leading 13th ranked Yosemite to a 33-20 defeat of Kerman Friday in Badger Stadium. The victory was the Badgers' 6th in succession over Kerman.

The Badgers (4-3, 2-2) used its quick-strike passing game in building a 17-13 halftime lead behind receptions of 70 yards by Tim Smith and 45 yards by McNamara, a senior wide receiver. Lownsbury's running and passing carried the Badgers to scores on three of the five first-half possessions he directed. The other possessions ended on missed field goals.

Kerman had two fourth down plays stopped by the Badgers defense and a fumble that was quickly turned into a quick Badger score in dropping to 5-2 and 3-2 in the NSL. Yosemite rolled up 445 yards' total offense to 247 for the Lions. Lownsbury, a senior, also threw for 15 completions in 29 attempts and carried 5 times for 20 yards, including a 3-yard run around left end for a third-quarter touchdown.

Lownsbury's domination of the Lions defense was most apparent on a 72-yard drive with 6:33 left in the opening quarter. After Jackson Gline's fair catch of a punt at his own 28, Erik Sotelo ran 18 yards on a third and 15, then Lownsbury passed 12 yards to a leaping Detri Dunn in the left flat, who made a fingertip catch and run to the Kerman 43.

Jaymie Lee then carried for 20 yards and Lowsnbury passed for 14 and six yards to Glines and Jeff Shackleford for four more to set up a 23-yard field goal by sophomore kicker John DiTomaso, making the score 3-0, more importantly, the drive took almost five minutes off of the play clock.

In the second quarter, Yosemite held the Lions on a fourth and one at the Badgers 32 and then Lownsbury made quick work of the Kerman secondary when he hit Tim Smith in stride down the left sideline and the 6-foot-1-inch tight end raced 70 yards untouched for the score.

Kerman scored with 41 seconds left in the first half, when Olivio Rivas scored on a third and goal at the Yosemite four. With the Badgers holding a three-point lead, the extra point try by Kerman could have been important, but on the high snap, McNamara raced around the right side and knocked down the Jose Magana PAT.

"I thought that we could have done better in the red zone," Yosemite coach Aaron Eames said. "Our running game has improved over the last few games and when you can run it's easy to set up the passing game."

Yosemite scored four of five times in the red zone, twice on field goals by DiTomaso.

The Badgers defense held Kerman scoreless in the third quarter and did not allow a first down and scored 10 unanswered points on DiTomaso's second field goal of the game and Lownsbury's three-yard touchdown run.

PREVIEW

WHO:

Dos Palos Broncos (2-5, 0-3 NSL) vs. Yosemite Badgers

WHERE: Badger Stadium

WHEN: Friday, 7 p.m.

WEATHER: Overnight Low 51°F

40% chance for rain

Wind: WNW 4 m.p.h.

Max. Humidity: 61%

Sunset: 6:24 p.m.

Excellent Friday night football weather.

The Matchup

Yosemite has won six of the last seven meetings.

The Broncos are the Badgers oldest rival.

The two teams first met in 1980 and have played every year, except for 2000-01 when Yosemite moved to the Central Sequoia League.

Dos Palos leads the series 17-9.

Dos Palos is having one of its worst seasons in school history but that hasn't diverted the team's focus.

After defeating Mendota 51-8, the Broncos fell on hard times, losing their next five in a row. But they salvaged last week's contest with lowly Immanuel 24-6.

"We are small, inexperienced and have no speed," said Broncos long-time head coach Mike Sparks (21 years).

On the positive side, Dos Palos returns Humberto Del Rio -- is a four-year starter as the team's kicker -- who has at times been the whole offense. Del Rio has five field goals and 19 of 23 extra points.

A surprise for the team's offense is sophomore running back Kevin Schofield (6-feet, 175 pounds) who has 407 yards rushing on 72 carries.

Senior Hector Gomez (5-feet-9-inches, 175 pounds) has helped the offensive cause with 22 receptions for 475 yards.

"On defense the Broncos will have to guess right," Coach Sparks said. " We have a lot of holes so we have to take chances and hope we can keep it close. (Try to keep the ball and keep the clock running.)."

Don't count the Broncos out, they are hungry and might catch the Badgers looking ahead to Dinuba next week.

Prediction: Yosemite 35, Dos Palos 24.