Lindsay, Strathmore set to renew rivalry

Strathmore football coach Jeromy Blackwell doesn't hide his feelings too well.

In a tough home loss to Riverdale two weeks ago, Blackwell was escorted out of the game in the fourth quarter for voicing his opinions about the referee's ability to do his job.

As a result, he could not attend last Friday's game against Woodlake, another close loss at home.

Instead, Blackwell found himself in Lindsay's stands, studying the Cardinals' every move as they lost to Caruthers. He didn't seem to care that Lindsay coach Robert Hurtado - or anyone else in the stadium for that matter - noticed his presence.

"We saw him in the stands last week," said Hurtado, who knew Blackwell during the latter's days as a student at Lindsay. "That's the type of guy he is. We know each other about as well as two coaches can."

And knowing Blackwell, Hurtado shouldn't be surprised to hear that the Spartans coach is just as open about the longstanding Lindsay-Strathmore rivarly, which enters its 86th edition tonight in Strathmore.

"It's gonna be a slugfest, dude," Blackwell said. "It's gonna be intense. It's gonna be a Super Bowl."

The adjectives didn't stop there. Needless to say, Blackwell is fired up. And so are his players.

"If they can't get any motivation to play Lindsay," Blackwell said, "then I should be fired as a coach. We've got just as much animosity between the players in our rivalry as Porterville and Monache do."

While Hurtado said his players have stepped up the intensity all week in practices, he didn't take any chances and had each Strathmore player's photo pasted in the locker room, displaying their stats, their sizes and even their ages.

"It's motivation so that our guys see them every day and they know exactly who they're playing, what number he is, what his name is," Hurtado said. "This is our war."

Hurtado even has his own sources of motivation.

"It's funny - the old athletic director told me when I was hired on that there are two games you don't lose," the first-year coach Hurtado said. "You don't lose Homecoming and you don't lose to Strathmore."

So far, so good. In his experience as Lindsay's JV coach and in his first Homecoming game as varsity coach - a win against McFarland - Hurtado's record is spotless.

To date, the score is Strathmore 33 wins and Lindsay the rest, with the exception of a handful of ties. But the Spartans have taken five of eight since 2000.

"To be honest, they should beat us every time," Blackwell said. "Their school is triple the size of ours."

But in this case, size doesn't matter as the 3-3 Spartans display just as much talent as the 1-5 Cardinals.

"(Running back Jesse) Soria is their No. 1 guy and we expect him to get the ball 30 times or so," Hurtado said. "And (receiver Serafin) Moreno is their No. 1 guy they throw to, whereas we've got a lot of different people to go to."

Five players have rushed for over a hundred yards for the Cardinals, though the lion's share of the yards belong to Jonathan Duarte, who Hurtado says is "50-50" pending his recovery of a sprained ankle, and Adam Gamboa.

Both coaches differ, however, on what will be the keys to the game.

"I think the biggest thing we'll have to contend with tomorrow is the emotion of the game," Hurtado said, "because of the way Jeromy gets his team pumped up. He's a great motivator."

Blackwell says the game comes down to who gets the first punch.

"We've gotta come out and make the statement first," Blackwell said, "because if we dont, who makes the first statement? They do."