No. 1-Ranked Bakersfield to Play Pierce in Football Game With Playoff Implications

Bakersfield, the nation’s top-ranked junior college football team, will meet Pierce at 7:30 tonight in a Western State Conference Southern Division game at Pierce.

Bakersfield (9-0, 8-0 in conference play and 4-0 in divisional play) is led by cornerback Lance Geary, who shares the WSC lead with seven interceptions; quarterback Bryan Nixon, a left-hander who averages more than 22 yards a completion; and running backs Shon Ellerbe and Nathan Dupree, who rank third and fifth in the conference in rushing.

Pierce (4-5, 4-4, 2-2) could perhaps sneak into a bowl game with a victory.

Tony Madison, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard at Antelope Valley College, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball for New Mexico State, according to Antelope Valley Coach Newton Chelette.

Madison, a Dorsey High product, averaged 16.2 points a game last season and scored 33 points in a season-opening victory over Glendale. Madison, an All-Foothill Conference first-team selection, holds school records for three-point baskets in a game (8) and in a season (107).

He is expected to join Moorpark College point guard Sam Crawford in the Aggies’ backcourt. Both players signed Wednesday.

Peter Oviatt of Humboldt State, Jeff Gilkey of Cal Poly Pomona, and Teresa Poy of Cal State Los Angeles, all of whom have ties to the Valley area, will compete in the NCAA Division II cross-country championships in McKinleyville, Calif., Saturday.

Oviatt, a 1988 graduate of Agoura High, is the No. 1 runner for the sixth-ranked team in the country and Poy, who transferred from Cal State Northridge to Cal State L. A. in 1988, is the top runner for the ninth-ranked women’s team.

Gilkey, who transferred from Northridge last summer, is the No. 2 runner for Cal Poly Pomona’s fourth-ranked men’s team.