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• Return of Community Car brings a bit of Mayberry to rural towns

• Lodi family helping to ensure orphanage is built in Kenya

• Regional Roundup

• Public Meetings

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

February 2nd, 2010

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Jumpers across California

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

February 1st, 2010

• Find cuddly alpacas not too far from Lodi

• Public Meetings

• Patients can expect faster, better service when Lodi Memorial Hospital's new emergency room opens

• Man killed by Amtrak train in Lodi

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

• President Obama's first year (67)
• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (67)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future (58)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (49)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (40)
• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen (32)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

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Rams can't deliver win in Lodi football debut

It was not the kind of result Central Valley head football coach Louis Byrd wanted from his Rams in thier debut as Lodi's new semi-pro football team at the Grape Bowl against the visiting Central Coast Barnstormers.

Barnstormers quarterback Bryan Smith passed for five touchdowns and ran for another score as Central Coast knocked off Central Valley 43-29 in the Northern California Football League non-conference opener for both teams in front of an estimated 250 fans on Saturday night.

But Byrd was quick to guarantee a better performance from his Rams when they host the Marin Bulldogs at the Grape Bowl on March 28 at 6 p.m.

"The Barnstormers were the league champs two years in a row a couple of years ago. It was a tough first game against a very good team," Byrd said. "We made some mistakes in our pass coverage and dropped a lot of balls on offense. We are going to go back to practice and put on a better show when we come back here in two weeks."

After Ram kicker Javier Perez booted a 36-yard field goal to put Central Valley on the board on the Rams first drive, Central Valley quarterback Rob Arthur connected with wide receiver Teon Anderson for a 64-yard touchdown pass for a 9-0 lead after the extra point try was blocked.

Smith followed with the Barnstormers first touchdown when he hit wide receiver Aaron Muro with a 15-yard scoring strike to narrow the score to 9-7 to close out the first quarter after Danny Bettencourt's PAT kick.

Arthur opened the second quarter with his second scoring aerial when he dumped off a pass to running back Brenton McCreary for a 73-yard catch-and-run touchdown as the Rams jumped back on top 15-7.

But Smith rallied the Barnstormers by riddling the Rams' secondary with three touchdown passes and then keeping the ball on a 1-yard plunge to paydirt as Central Coast scored 29 unanswered points over the second and third quarters for a 36-15 lead midway through the third stanza.

Reserve Ram quarterback Scott Ackley spotted wide receiver Dywane Smart all alone in the end zone with a pass from eight yards out to break the scoring drought and make it 36-21 after the two-point conversion failed.

Smith then came right back with his last touchdown pass of the day, hitting wide receiver Rigo Munoz for an 18-yard reception to give the Barnstormers a 43-21 lead at the third quarter gun.

Fullback Carl McGee then capped the scoring for the Rams in the fourth quarter with a touchdown run from four yards out. Arthur then tacked on the final points with a run on the two-point conversion.

Ackley, the son of Jim Elliot Christian High's assistant football coach Mick Ackley, said the Rams needed to work on eliminating mistakes.

"We need to practice, practice, practice. Practice makes perfect, and obviously, we could have done a better job tonight," Ackley said. "We did better in the second half and the offensive line was giving me some time to throw the ball downfield."

The halftime entertainment was provided by Lady-T and the Lady-T dancers, who performed a stirring rendition of her rhythm-and-blues hit, "On Da Flo" and was followed by a punt, pass, and kick competition for the kids.

Byrd was slightly disappointed at the turnout for the game.

"We need to fill up the stands and get the community involved. We have to do a better job getting the word out that there is quality football being played here at the Grape Bowl," Byrd said.

Contact reporter Richard Banas II at sports@lodinews.com.