The 92nd Rice Bowl
By Steve Beckley
September in the Sacramento Valley means many things, warm evenings, the start of rice harvest, and high school football. One of the major September events in Colusa County is the football game between Williams High School and Pierce High School, which was played for the 92nd time this past weekend and is known as the Rice Bowl.
I covered this year’s Rice Bowl at Williams Jr/Sr High School’s McCarl Field Friday evening. Yes, it is a football game, but it also a time for friends to gather and visit. If I didn’t say hello, it was that I was thinking about the next shot. Those young players move faster than tractors and harvesters.
The Williams High School Yellowjackets also retired the jersey of Lewis Davalos #32, a young man who died way too young but left a positive mark on his community. The jersey honoring Davalos will be displayed in Williams’ North Gymnasium.
Congratulations to both Williams and Pierce High School on great performances and showing our communities what sportsmanship and friendship is all about. Oh yes, Pierce won and kept the trophy.
The game will be played over and over in conversations, especially by adults who will be collecting or paying off bets at Louis Cairo’s and the Arbuckle Golf Course. But more important, the students at the two high schools made friends for life from two Sacramento Valley schools about 10 miles apart.
