By Stu Bownes

Huskies clash with Silver Valley in Yermo tonight, Nov. 8. The Huskies must win tonight to keep their 2013 playoff hopes alive.

A riled up Huskies Team struck often last Friday. QB Lucas Underkoffler threw 6 times for 149 yards and 2 touchdowns last week, both to Alex Mueller.

Underkoffler connected right off for a tone setting score to Mueller on the Huskies first possession. Mueller had 3 catches on the night for 116 yards and 2 TDs. Top Huskies ball carriers included Dennis Orrick who ran the ball 12 times for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns. Nate Liuag carried 5 times for 45 yards and a touchdown and Matt Graef rushed 3 times for 32 yards and a TD. Ricky Cuellar hit 5 PAT attempts.

Mammoth and Silver Valley come into tonight’s evenly matched on paper. Both need to win tonight’s game to have a chance at landing a CIF playoff spot this season. Silver Valley is a passing team and will be putting pressure on Huskies D-backs Van Winkle, Banda, Webber, Haakana, Cody Underkoffler, Jose Villilobos, Liuag, Graef, Mueller and Ricky all night.

The Huskies have league leading tacklers in Graef and Mueller with most of the rest of the Huskies Defense ranked in the top 25.

A continually hard-hitting and quick off the ball Huskies Linemen who go low are making the difference. The Huskies fierce linemen Logan De Angeles, Casey Haveruk, Nick Damico, Pablo Apodaca, Marcos Morales, Ray Calixto, Brallen Martinez, Liam Carrigan, Jesse Warden and Justin Wallasch are at full speed and full strength.

The Mammoth Huskies victory over Desert Christian last Friday night in Mammoth set up a very interesting upcoming final Friday night of the season. The Desert Mountain League has become a lot more competitive than I remember it to be, especially season. Things are getting exciting, the Huskies are not out of the CIF 2013 playoffs just yet. If the Huskies can find a way to beat Silver Valley in Silver Valley this Friday then it’s very possible that there would be a 3 way tie for 3rd place in the DML. The top 3 teams from the DML go to the CIF Playoffs.

This is how things are shaping up. Right now the 3 and 3 are tied with Silver Valley. Excelsior, now 4 and 2, occupies the 3rd spot but they have a date with disaster coming Friday with the DML’s number 2 team Boron in Boron. I expect Boron will prevail and Excelsior will end up 4 and 3. Vasquez could not seal the deal for the third spot last week as they went down to Excelsior. Vasquez is now in 4th place with a 4-3 record. Vasquez is done with League play this season so they won’t be able to improve their record in the final week as they have a non-league game.

So it is very possible for the Huskies, Vasquez and Excelsior to wind up in a 3 way tie. I’m not sure how a 3 way is broken but we may find out if all the stars line up for the Huskies.