DINUBA. The Yosemite Badgers used a balanced offensive attack to break loose for big yardage and a stingy defense to hold off the Dinuba Emperors, 35-12 Friday night in a non-league contest.

The win at Claud Hebert Stadium avenged a 28-21 loss to Dinuba in the same stadium in 2007. The Badgers (6-3, 4-2 NSL) guaranteed their ninth straight season with six or more victories and a ticket to the playoffs.

With only the regular-season finale to go tomorrow night in the Mountain Bowl against long-time rival Sierra (2-7, 2-3 NSL), the Badgers can move up to second place in the North Sequoia League with a victory.

"It's nice to see our running game coming together with our passing game," said Aaron Eames, the Badgers' head coach. "We'll need another big effort (on Friday), and it's always a battle with Sierra."

Dinuba (4-5, 1-4 CSL), meanwhile, has lost five of its last six games after starting the season 3-0. The Badgers wasted little time jumping out to a 14-point lead; it was a matter of seconds.

With less than three minutes gone in the opening quarter, and the football resting on the Yosemite 42 yard line, Badgers' quarterback Jesse Lownsbury handed off to wide receiver Jackson Glines on a reverse, and the speedy junior broke several tackles and sprinted into the end zone for a 58-yard touchdown with 9:21 on the clock.

After the Badgers kicked off, the Emperors' quarterback Bobby Mendoza mishandled the snap and Yosemite's Garrett Yoder was there for the fumble recovery.

Lownsbury wasted little time connecting with senior wide receiver Jon McNamara for a 41-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, putting Yosemite up by 14 points with 9:04 remaining in the quarter. Two scores, two downs, :19 seconds.

The Badgers' quarterback enjoyed a solid all-around game, passing for 173 yards and three touchdowns -- to Glines, McNamara and Jeff Shackleford -- to go along with his five-yard touchdown run. On the night, Yosemite racked up 399 yards of offense - with 220 coming on the ground.

"Offensively, I feel like we played pretty well Friday," Eames said. "The defense is coming through with big plays as well."

Running back Jayme Lee inched closer to the 600-yard rushing mark on the season with 74 yards. The senior now has tallied 596 yards and three TDs.

Also, Shackleford got involved offensively with 72 total yards and a score on 15 touches (14 rushes, one catch).

"Our defense was on, last Friday," Lee said. "We were on our game, and we were doing a good job stopping their run game and forced them to pass we were there in coverage."

All Yosemite did was to sack the Dinuba quarterback Bobby Mendoza four times for -95 yards and held him to only two completions and an interception in14 attempts. The Yosemite defense was led by seniors Erik Sotelo (six tackles and two sacks, 15 yards) and Greg Smith (12 tackles and half a sack). The Badgers' defense added four more sacks to its totals this season.

Game notes: Assuming that the Badgers will go to the Division III playoffs regardless of Friday's game's outcome, Coach Eames' coached teams have put up some impressive numbers: after failing to qualify for the playoffs from 1992-1998, Yosemite has advanced to the playoffs 11 straight times, with a 14-8 record, including valley championships in 2002 and 2004.