High school football: Game winners for Clovis West and Clovis East, plus Top 25 fared

There was no quit in the Clovis West football team.

And freshman quarterback Jamar “JJ” Howard made sure of that.

After trailing Edison-Huntington Beach 21-7 in the first quarter, the Golden Eagles roared back and got a late touchdown and converted a two-point conversion in a 29-28 victory over Edison-Huntington Beach in a high school football game at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

“It was just awesome to see the resilience of our team,” Clovis West coach Eric Brown said. “Really proud of our guys.”

The win happened when Howard found Michael Espinosa for a 13-yard touchdown with three seconds remaining.

It was predetermined that if the Golden Eagles were to get a touchdown, they would go for two and Tytus Dimmer ran it in for two points to seal the win.

Clovis West made plays on defense, too.

Elijah Amatt stripped the ball and returned the ball for a 30-yard touchdown to trim the Chargers’ lead to 21-14 in the second quarter.

Clovis West then went for an onside kick and recovered the ball.

All that meant was Howard finding Fresno State commit Jonavon Darrington for a touchdown with 1.2 seconds remaining to tie the game.

Howard finished the game with three touchdown passes.

His first touchdown pass came on a flea-flicker in the first quarter, hitting Darrington for 71 yards.

“He kept working just like the team did,” Brown said. “Nevertheless, he said we’re going to come back and win.”

The game featured former Fresno State coach Pat Hill’s former players coaching on the opposite field.

That would be Brown and Edison coach Jeff Grady.

Clovis beats CVC in Arax’s debut

Clovis quarterback Deagan Rose admits he still needs to work on things.

Even after a 27-12 win over Central Valley Christian at Tim Simons Field at Lamonica Stadium, Rose was disgusted at himself for throwing an interception.

Yet, he still rebounded and made plays and threw for three touchdowns in the win.

“We got a lot of stuff to work on,” he said.

Even Rose admits CVC under new coach Don Arax, the Cavaliers “were doing some funky stuff.”

Blitzes is one thing he kept noticing.

Rose touchdown passes went to Syrus Mendes, Maddox Merrill and James Rose.

Arax took over for Mason Hughes who is now at College of the Sequoias.

Arax spent many seasons at Bullard before he was let go two seasons ago.

Clovis coach Aaron Wilkins said he liked how his team responded after CVC scored.

“No. 12 (Rose) had a great night,” he said. “We had some big plays from some big-time players when we needed it.”

Before the game, Clovis renamed the field for longtime coach Tim Simons.

Clovis East picks up late FG to win

Altitude was no problem for Clovis East.

Even for Francisco Damas.

Damas kicked the game-winning field goal from 39 yards to give the Timberwolves a 24-21 victory over West-Salt Lake City.

Clovis East withstood West’s answer and had big moments in the game.

The Timberwolves were aided by Blake Mathieu’s two touchdowns, and Taemell Horton’s touchdown and two blocked punts.

Coaches win in debuts

Ricky McCoy (Roosevelt), Jerald Campbell IV (Lemoore), Mitchell Francis (Selma), Louis Franklin (Bullard) and David Muro (Fowler) won in their debuts at the school.

McCoy took over for interim coach Josh Kloster, while Campbell took over for Rich Tuman who is now at San Joaquin Memorial.

Francis takes over for his dad, Art Francis.

Franklin takes over for interim coach Brandon Gilbert at Bullard.

Week 1 predictions

The Bee went 5-0 in the season openers, correctly picking Clovis North, Central, Clovis, Sunnyside and Sanger to win its games.

The Bee will continue predictions all season and will do a running win-loss count.

Top 25 fared

1. Clovis North (1-0) defeated San Joaquin Memorial 24-0

2. Clovis East (1-0) defeated West-Salt Lake City 24-21

3. Liberty-Bakersfield (1-0) defeated Highland 19-14

4. Clovis (1-0) defeated Central Valley Christian 27-12

5. Frontier (0-0) vs. Oak Ridge, 7 p.m. Saturday

6. Central (1-0) defeated Garza 40-0

7. Hanford (1-0) defeated Kennedy 45-29

8. Sanger (1-0) defeated Dinuba 37-14

9. Central Valley Christian (0-1) lost to Clovis 27-12

10. Clovis West (1-0) defeated Edison-Huntington Beach 29-28

11. Lemoore (1-0) defeated Monache 41-15

12. Tulare Union (1-0) defeated St. Joseph 34-21

13. Shafter (1-0) defeated Exeter 22-14

14. Kingsburg (1-0) defeated 45-6

15. St. Joseph (0-1) lost to Tulare Union 34-21

16. Garces (0-1) lost to Paraclete-Lancaster 42-21

17. Bakersfield Christian (0-1) lost to Faith Lutheran-Las Vegas 19-14

18. Tehachapi (1-0) defeated Burroughs 26-14

19. Bakersfield (1-0) defeated Edison 54-0

20. Sunnyside (1-0) defeated Madera 54-27

21. Mission Oak (1-0) defeated Sanger West 31-0

22. Arroyo Grande (1-0) defeated Golden West 44-37

23. Kennedy (0-1) lost to Hanford 45-29

24. Centennial (1-0) defeated Redwood 31-21

25. Buchanan (1-0) defeated St. Pius X-St. Matthias 38-0