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• Q and A with new assemblywoman

• Male-dominated engineering field tends to be shifting slowly with increase in female college students

• Breaking barriers in a male-dominated field

• Historical Galt building to be converted into restaurant

• Lodi, San Joaquin county try to stem robberies

• Rain to dominate Lodi area this week

• Regional Roundup

• Public Meetings

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 8th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

• Lining up for flu shots in Lodi

• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks

• Daytime thieves targeting Lodi homes

• Lodi High School rally featured on 'Good Day Sacramento'

• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

• Regional Roundup

• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 7th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

• Lining up for flu shots in Lodi

• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks

• Daytime thieves targeting Lodi homes

• Lodi High School rally featured on 'Good Day Sacramento'

• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

• Regional Roundup

• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

• Regional Roundup

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Regional Roundup

• Group investigates reports of haunting

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (73)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (70)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (60)
• Universal health care solves big problems (54)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (35)
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• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks (24)
• Majority cannot deprive the minority (23)

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St. Mary's wins section title, headed to D-II state championship

STOCKTON — As far as numbers go, it was not a career day for St. Mary's senior quarterback Cody Vaz on Saturday.

What Vaz, a Lodi native, displayed was his poise under pressure and his talent for managing a football game — something that does not show up in the statistical box score. The result was the Rams' second Sac-Joaquin Section title in five years and their first-ever state championship playoff berth.

Vaz ran for one score and threw for another as St. Mary's whipped Pleasant Grove 36-14 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship game at the University of the Pacific's Stagg Memorial Stadium in front of an estimated 6,000 spectators.

St. Mary's (12-2) will now travel south to the Home Depot Center in Carson to represent Northern California in the California Interscholastic Federation Division II state championship game on Saturday at 4 p.m. against unbeaten Cathedral Catholic of San Diego (13-0), the Southern California selection and the San Diego Section Division III champion.

Vaz completed 19 of 30 passes for 250 yards and one touchdown with one interception in the face of a constant Pleasant Grove blitz all afternoon. In fact, the backside of Vaz's number 12 jersey was probably the dirtiest it had been all season after being sacked twice and repeatedly hitting the turf on numerous other occasions, especially in the first half.

Not that it mattered. Whether standing in the pocket in the shotgun formation or throwing on the run, it was Vaz who coolly picked apart the Eagles defense, completing passes to six different Rams players.

His favorite target was junior wide receiver Louie Lechich, who nabbed eight passes for 125 yards, including a 19-yard scoring aerial in the second quarter and also had a reception on a two-point conversion.

St Mary's Shannon Clark runs back a fumble recovery during the Sac-Joaquin Section football championship game against Pleasant Grove at the University of the Pacific's Amos Alonzo Stagg Memorial Stadium in Stockton. (Clifford Oto/The Record)

After the Eagles went three-and-out on the game's first drive, Vaz methodically marched St. Mary's 73 yards in 15 plays on its opening drive, opting to keep the ball himself when he plunged in for a TD from a yard out for the first score of the contest.

Pleasant Grove quarterback Jalen Saunders then returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown and the Eagles then followed that up with Russell Vonchoesch's 1-yard touchdown run to take a 14-8 lead late in the first quarter.

The Rams then scored 28 unanswered points to ice the game, which included a pair of short scoring runs by fullback Jordan Davis and a 60-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by defensive end Shannon Clark.

Halfback Maurice Howze led St. Mary's with 97 yards rushing on 20 carries and Ray Guyton chipped in 37 yards on 10 carries. In addition to his two touchdowns, Davis ran for 30 yards on nine carries.

The win might have proved costly to the Rams however, as Vaz's season-long favorite target, two-way performer Josh Harper, who plays wide receiver and defensive back, was lost to an ankle injury in the first quarter. His status for the state championship game is unknown.

Only an agonizing two point 38-36 loss to Napa in last year's section championship finale kept Vaz from being the first Ram quarterback to win back-to-back section crowns.

St. Mary's won its first section title in 2004 by beating Nevada Union 50-45 behind the play of Willie Tuitama, who recently finished his senior season after three years as the starting quarterback at the University of Arizona.