New stories for 9/17

We've got loads of stories and features, including items on the son of a legacy at Vintage as well as the growth of artificial turf football fields. Enjoy your Thursday!

Longtime Denair basketball coach Dave Morgan has passed away. He was 89. Morgan, who also used to be the Southern League commissioner, is one of the winningest basketball coaches in state history. For the story in the Modesto Bee, click here.

The Lodi News-Sentinel has a preview story on the Tokay-Brookside Christian football game, a game featuring one of the Sac-Joaquin Section's largest and one if its smallest schools. For the story, click here. ... For News-Sentinel staff writer Richard Banas II's football predictions, click here. And for a Stockton Record preview on this game, click here.

The Napa Valley Register has a feature on Vintage running back Matt Orrick, the son of Russ Orrick, one of the stars from the Crushers' 1980 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship team. For the story by Marty James, click here.

The Sacramento Bee has a story on the rising popularity of artificial turf football fields. They're being built and installed all over the Sac-Joaquin Section. For Bill Paterson's story, click here. ... Paterson also has a sidebar on the schools that like the feel and tradition of natural grass more. For that story, click here.

The Merced Sun-Star's Shawn Jansen has a column looking at his area's football teams. For the first time in some time, GOlden Valley is off to a hot start while Merced struggled in its first game. To see Jansen's column, click here.

The Merced Sun-Star has a CCC boys soccer preview story, focusing on defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division I champion Merced. To see James Burns' story, click here.

The Colfax Record's Mike Ray has a story following up on the PVL football teams and his impressions on their first games. For the story, click here.

The Bear River soccer team is looking to end its 21-year playoff drought. For Ray Hacke's story in the Auburn Journal, click here.

The Lincoln-Lincoln Zebras football team takes on 2-0 Wheatland on Friday night. For the story in the Lincoln News-Messenger, click here.

The Loomis News has a Del Oro football roundup catching up with the Golden Eagles' win on Saturday night. Click here for the story.

Downey High has a new pool, complete with water polo scoreboard. For the story in the Modesto Bee by Stu Rosenberg, click here. ... For a ModBee water polo round, also by Rosenberg, click here.

St. Mary's girls basketball player Alle Moreno has verbally committed to play for Sacramento State. See Stephen Roberson's story in the Stockton Record here.

The Grant-Bellevue football game is one of the MaxPreps top 10 games in the country this week. For the story by Kevin Askeland, click here.

For several stories in the Manteca Bulletin concerning its area teams, click here.

ROUNDUPS: For a Colfax soccer roundup, click here. ... Placer volleyball beat Forest Lake Christian. Click here. ... Placer soccer beat Colfax. Click here. ... For a Placer cross country story, click here. ... For a Rodriguez cross country story, click here. ... Vista del Lago soccer beat Christian Brothers. Click here. ... Granite Bay soccer beat Del Oro. Click here. ... Granite Bay golf beat Roseville. Click here. ... Lincoln-L volleyball beat Wheatland. Click here. ... Two Lodi-area swimmers received all-American status. Click here for the story. ... For a volleyball roundup in the Modesto Bee, click here. ... For the ModBee sports results, click here. ... For a SacBee notebook, click here. ... For the Vacaville Reporter local roundups, click here. ... For the Vallejo TImes-Herald local roundups, click here. ... For the Woodland Daily Democrat local roundups, click here.