Blog has moved

For the past couple months, we at the Enterprise have been managing two identical sports blogs hosted at different web sites, this one and the one available through our newspaper web site.

This will be the final post on this blog and we will be permanently moving to the new blog, so to see new posts you will have to visit that one.

Here is the link to the new blog.

You can also access it by going to www.davisenterprise.com and clicking on "Blogs" at the top, and then "Enterprise sports blog".

Outside of the site at which we will post, nothing will change about the blog. We look forward to providing you with extra tidbits of information on our blog that doesn't make the paper.

Farewell, Davis

Sadly, this will be my last post with The Davis Enterprise.

On Thursday, I was informed that the sports editor position was eliminated for budgetary reasons and my services were no longer needed. How can a newspaper survive without a sports editor? Well, you'll have to ask The Enterprise about that one.

Despite the way things ended, I enjoyed my four years in Davis. It was quite a culture change from conservative, rural Marysville (where I worked last) but I adapted eventually.

I will miss the relationships I formed with several individuals, both at UC Davis and Davis High School. It was always a pleasure coordinating our football preview cover with Aggie coach Bob Biggs. No matter how strange the cover sounded originally, he always humored us.

I will miss talking with Davis High coaches like Paul Ochs, Bill Gregg, Dan Gazzaniga and Leigh Whitmire as well. They always seemed to make my job easier and I was floored by the dedication to their sports.

It was a challenge adapting to UC Davis' transition to Division I, but I think our sports writers did an incredible job. We've tried to expand coverage of sports like men's soccer and baseball in the past two years as those programs gained national attention.

My fondest memory reporting on a game came in June when the baseball team played the Cardinal at the Stanford regional. I can still feel the noise from the big Davis crowd as it hung on every Eddie Gamboa pitch in the ninth inning.

As for me, I will bounce back. Maybe I will see Lane Kiffin on the unemployment line.

Thanks for the memories, Davis.

Biggs on comebacks

Enterprise photo editor Wayne Tilcock put together a video package of UC Davis head coach Bob Biggs talking about some of the top comebacks in Aggie history.

Chris Saur's 60-inch epic story, which featured thoughts of ex-coach Fred Arp as well, ran in Friday's edition.

Here's the link to Wayne's package.

Bulldogs run over Devils

Alex Bell's 180 yards on the ground and 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown weren't enough as the Davis High football team fell 56-28 to Vacaville on Friday night at Halden Field.

Vacaville (3-2) got it done on the ground, rushing for 376 yards with Jimmy Hines leading the way by getting 215 on 15 carries and three touchdowns.

The Blue Devils (0-5) had their best offensive game of the season, with their 28 points being twice as many as they scored in their first four games combined.

DHS tied the game at 21 late in the first half on an 18 yard scamper by Bell before Vacaville scored 28 straight points to put the game away.

Also on Friday, Dixon ran wild on Brookside Christian in a 43-0 rout and Pioneer was overwhelmed by Roseville 48-13. Woodland fell to Rio Americano 24-21 on Saturday.

For more on the game, check out Sunday's Enterprise.

- Conor Tekautz

Now on deck ...

UC Davis women's soccer is the next sport we'll feature on the UC Davis page on Wednesday.

The Aggies are 5-4-2 overall, 2-0 in the Big West Conference after consecutive 1-0 setbacks to UC Irvine and Long Beach State.

UCD had won four in a row before that - all of those one-goal victories.

The Aggies are still a very young team: Nine freshmen and six sophomores are part of the roster. One of the few senior starters - Molly Scott - is pictured against Sacramento State.

By the way, the Aggies are home this week, facing UC Riverside on Friday and Cal State Fullerton on Sunday.

Where does finish stack up?

The Greg Denham-to-Bakari Grant touchdown pass on the game's final play against Northern Colorado will go down as one of the top finishes in UC Davis' history.

Where does it stack up?

We'll explore that issue this week at The Enterprise.

Feel free to weigh in with other memorable finishes.

New Woodland rivalry?

David Butterworth’s return to Halden Field was a success on Friday as visiting Pioneer knocked off Davis 21-7 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

The Blue Devils (0-4) made some progress, as they turned the ball over just once and cut back on penalties. DHS’ run defense - except for a Martin Galindo 67-yard run - was solid. The Patriots were missing their top running back in Kalin Carlos (high ankle sprain).

DHS running back Alex Bell, who carried the ball a whopping 28 times, found the end zone from 11 yards out in the second quarter to make it a 14-7 game.

The Patriots (3-1) helped put the game away, however with a 23-yard touchdown from quarterback Pat Colin to Galindo with 4 minutes, 13 seconds left in the third quarter. Colin connected with James Tillman a 23-yard score in the first quarter as well.

The Blue Devils had a chance for a second score in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter but the drive stalled on Pioneer’s four-yard line.

In other area games, Dixon fell to rival Vanden 14-7 in a tight game in Fairfield. Michael Hendrix scored on a 37-yard touchdown, but the Vikings took advantage of two Ram turnovers for their two scores. Also, Woodland fell to Roseville 27-9 and Anderson beat Winters 8-0.

For more prep football action, check out Sunday’s Enterprise.