The former Clovis East star was named All-American as a freshman at FCC.
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Two undefeated teams are set to square off on Friday night as TRAC play officially begins. The two 5-0 teams, Clovis and Buchanan High, are seeing each other after dominating the preseason. Clovis High started the season with a 27-12 win against Central Valley Christian, then demolished Edison 53-0. The Cougars followed up with a 57-27 win against Frontier, 41-14 against Salinas and 53-0 vs Bullard.
Junior Deagan Rose completed 12/17 passes with two touchdown passes in the win against Bullard. Cougars’ junior Maddox Merrill also added two rushing touchdowns in the shutout victory.
Buchanan started the season with a 38-0 shutout against St. Pius X-St. Matthias, then won 34-20 vs Kennedy, 61-6 against Edison, 14-10 vs Liberty and 33-13 against Paso Robles.
Buchanan’s rushing game carried the load in the win against Paso Robles. Carvell Wafer, Joshua Madrigal, Wyatt Aviles and Gannon Sever each scored a rushing touchdown in the victory.
Friday’s match-anticipated matchup between Clovis and Buchanan is set to kickoff at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. Here is what the players had to say about the excitement leading up to the game.
Clovis High Quarterback Deagan Rose:
This game is super exciting. I’m pretty sure our whole entire team is super pumped to play our first TRAC game against a good team like Buchanan so it should be a fun one.
It’s always good to get off to a good start in our league, especially with what it looks like this year, so if we win this game it will set us up really nice going into next week when we play against North.
Buchanan is a really physical team with great young running backs and secondary. We just have to all do our jobs and not do too much and we should be good.
Clovis High running back Maddox Merrill:
It’s pretty exciting knowing the hype coming into this game. All we have to do is go out there and take care of business. We are fired up and ready to go.
This game is a statement game. The goal is to go out there and show the rest of the TRAC that we aren’t messing around. It’s super important to dominate this game and get rolling.
I would say Buchanan’s best strength is their run game, but based off the pre TRAC games we have one of the best run defenses in the Valley, so I would say we match up pretty good.
Buchanan running back Carvell Wafer Jr:
As a team we are super stoked. It’s our homecoming game against a school we’ve been competing with for the past few years. This is a game that means a lot to us and we’ve been looking forward to this game all year. All I can say is that I’m fired up for this Friday.
This game is most definitely a statement game and we have something to prove. It would be huge to start the TRAC with a win. Clovis High has a solid group, so it would be big for us to get this win and would set the stage for the league.
They have a good passing game, but our defense has been putting in the work everyday to be prepared for Friday night.
A Night They Will Never Forget!
It’s A Winning Culture At Caruthers!
Last year’s 83-41 loss against San Joaquin Memorial was still fresh on the mind of the Bullard Knights as they entered Tuesday night’s matchup against the Panthers. Motivated by that blowout loss, the Knights were determined to come out with a different result nearly a year later as they visited San Joaquin Memorial.
The Knights’ plan nearly didn’t happen. Trailing by a point in the final minute, Bullard struggled to make free throws. But the Panthers didn’t help themselves either at the line.
So with 16 seconds left, the Knights executed their play patiently and made it possible for Dalen Felder to get the layup that would seal the victory.
“It feels good because last year we came in here and they blew us out,” Bullard junior Jaleel Jackson said. “It feel real good to come back and get them back, win it for the squad.”
Jackson missed consecutive free throws as the Knights tried to take the lead in the final minute. But he also grabbed his own rebound after missing the free throws, giving the Knights a chance to win the game.