Del Oro JV running back Kenny Andri (21) scored nine touchdowns for the Golden Eagles in their last three games. Del Oro finished the season with a record of 8-2 and tied for the Sierra Foothill League crown.
Eagles, Miners Close Gap On Hillmen For No. 2 Tie
After countless hours of summer workouts, three weeks of preseason drills and 10 weeks of grueling practice sessions and games, the votes are in.
And in a close vote of area coaches and sportswriters, the foothillpreps.com's JV poll had Placer's Hillmen nudging past Del Oro and Nevada Union for the No. 1 spot in the final rankings..
The Hillmen finished the season with a 9-1 record and were the lone team to win an outright league championship going 6-0 to take the Pioneer Valley League title.
Del Oro and Nevada Union, both worthy teams, shared the final No. 2 spot with both the Golden Eagles and Miners handing Elk Grove fairly comparable defeats.
Del Oro, 8-2 overall, has good argument for the top spot, however, because of its 40-13 drubbing of Woodcreek and Woodcreek's previous 26-14 win over Placer.
"It's hard to go by comparative scores," said Del Oro coach Jerry Van Lengen. "We also had a couple of kids up on the varsity too."
Nevada Union also went 9-1 and missed out on a piece of the Delta River Conference title by dropping its lone game earlier in the season to Laguna Creek.
Coach Mitch Giles' Miners were outsatnding on defense with the likes of Tyler Prince, Josh Cena, Boddi Winegar, Taylor Barney and Max Talbot leading the way.
JV Top Five
1. Placer (9-1) - Josh Turney, Darren Centi and Colin Burnett were the offensive stars for the Hillmen. On defense, coach Rick Foley and staff turned to Connor Gray, Zach Scott, Caleb Mitchell, and Cameron Hennen to provide toughness.
Hillmen finished big with decesive wins over Lincoln, Colfax and Whitney.
2. Del Oro (8-2) - Only losses to Merced and Granite Bay - both by one touchdown or less - kept the Golden Eagles from a perfect year. Kenny Andri, Max Magleby and Cody O'Sullivan were the standouts on offense while the "O" line of Ryan Cope, Justin Mollard, Aaron Harvey, Tyler Adair and Adrian Garabaldo impressed veteran coach Jerry Van Lengen.
2. Nevada Union (9-1) - The Miners closed the year with a 17-10 win at Davis and were sparked on offense by Brock Kraus, Robin Callas and Josh Cena. Miners also held big win over Elk Grove.
4.Colfax (5-5) - Falcons losses were to 10-0 Truckee team which allowed only 33 points and to 9-1 Placer and Lincoln teams. leaders were Josh Moreno, 890 yards rushing in seven games and Conner Brown, 765 yards rushing. Quarterback Avery Baccala's 1,003 yards passing puts him in elite JV air company with Marcus Arroyo (1995) and Nate Ray (1997) as the lone three JV QBs at Colfax to go over the century mark.
5. Bear River (4-6) - Tough league losses to Colfax, Placer, Lincoln and Whitney kept Bruins from posting winning mark. Despite the under .500 finish, coach Chris Bean likes the group he is sending to the varsity ranks.