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Football Bruins Battle Through Heat But Fall Short
BEECROFT
Lady Bruin Alysia Beecroft, 12, lines up a pass to a teammate in last Wednesdays home varsity volleyball game against Argonaut. Riverbank came up on the short side of the match, losing 3-1.News Photos By Ric McGinnis

The Bruin football team faced high temperatures at game time on Friday evening, but fought back to keep the game close. In the end, they came up short after a hard fought battle.

On the same day that San Francisco set an all-time high temperature record well over 100, the RHS football players took the field that evening to readings of 100-plus degrees here as well.

Heat and Air Quality warnings for the weekend were posted up and down the state, with high schools sports programs in the Sacramento area scrambling to reschedule their football games last week. Many campuses have stadiums without lights, with game play held in the daytime. Last week, Sacramento teams shared schedules on lighted fields, with some play moving to Thursday night while some games pushed back their start times to fight the heat and the smoky conditions.

In Riverbank, there was no JV football game scheduled for Friday, so the Bruin varsity went with a 7 p.m. start. They faced the Wolves of Western Sierra Collegiate Academy from Rocklin.

Despite being down 27-14 at the end of the first quarter and 40-28 at the half, the host Bruins closed the gap, down by just 40-35 at the end of the third quarter. They continued to battle and fought back to get within three points with about 7:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. A score by the Wolves with about one minute left put the game out of reach. The Bruins ultimately fell, 59-50.

This week, Riverbank hosts Stone Ridge Christian High School from Merced, for a third home game in a row on Friday, Sept. 8 with JV game time set for 5:30 p.m., varsity at 7:30 p.m. Temperatures at the end of the week are forecast to be in the upper 80s to low 90s, a welcome reprieve from the recent triple digit heat.

 

Volleyball Season Begins

Also this past week, Lady Bruin volleyball got underway for the 2017 season, with a loss at the Foundation Game in Ceres on Monday, Aug. 28, then they fell in a 3-0 loss to Liberty Ranch in Galt on Tuesday, Aug. 29.

The next day, Riverbank met Argonaut High School’s Lady Mustangs for their first home play of the season. They went down 17-25 in the first game before coming back with a 25-17 win in the second. They then battled in a 24-26 loss in the third game, but were downed 25-17 again in the fourth, falling 3-1 in match play.

RHS varsity girls kept up a hectic pace, but lost at Grace M. Davis High School in Modesto last Thursday. They took the host team the full five games before falling by a 3-2 final.

Following the Monday holiday this week, the Lady Bruins were to travel to Sutter Creek to take on Amador High on Tuesday, Sept. 5, then to Downey High School in Modesto today, Sept. 6. Tomorrow, they’re set to host Delhi High School.

 

Cross Country

Finally getting their league season off and running, the Bruin cross country team is scheduled to compete in the first Trans-Valley League meet at Tuolumne Regional Park in Modesto today, Wednesday, Sept. 6.