Andy Boogaard: Liberty's win over Bakersfield opened TRAC door

Here's what matters regarding Liberty-Bakersfield's 28-17 upset of a Bakersfield team then top-ranked in the Central Section and No. 5 in the state:

It virtually guarantees the Central Section's Division I No. 1 seed will come out of the Tri-River Athletic Conference because of Central's 10-9 win at Liberty on Aug. 31.

Further, the TRAC has swept all games of significance against the Southwest Yosemite League -- Clovis beating Centennial (28-17) and Stockdale (37-6), and Clovis North defeating Frontier (38-21).

So, regardless if Central, Clovis North and Clovis -- now ranked Nos. 1-2-3 -- exchange wins in the TRAC, the D-I seedings will refer back to those key TRAC wins vs. the SWYL.

Some other D-I thoughts:

While the weather has finally cooled, three weeks of heat is about to arrive in the TRAC: Clovis at Central on Friday, Central vs. Clovis North at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Oct. 18 and Clovis North at Clovis on Oct. 26.

Defense under coordinator Kevin Johns continues to drive the turnaround at Clovis, which is 23-8 in three seasons after going 5-26 in the previous three.

Friday's 20-0 win over Clovis East was the Cougars eighth shutout since 2010. And this one was led by lineman Nick Nevills, linebacker Jordan Harper and deep backs Jason Black, Alan Crowley and C.J. Broussard.

Clovis marches into Koligian Stadium on Friday in a forward lean, having beaten the Grizzlies 21-7 and 26-0 last year.

For all his success at Edison, Ricky Manning has a problem -- Sanger.

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Andy Boogaard: Liberty's win over Bakersfield opened TRAC door