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

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

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

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

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

• Regional Roundup

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.

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• President Obama's first year (45)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (44)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

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Lodi Flames not ready to give up on playoff pursuit

The Lodi Flames aren't ready to concede yet. Despite a 34-14 loss to Lincoln last week and dim playoff hopes, the Lodi football team is determined to finish the season strong.

The Flames will face San Joaquin Athletic Association foe Chavez tonight at the Grape Bowl, knowing they have to win their final two games to finish with a .500 record.

"With two wins at the end of our season, it would greatly add to the argument that we can make the playoffs," Lodi head coach Todd Dillon said.

Lodi (3-5, 2-1 SJAA) and Chavez (2-6, 2-1 SJAA) have both beat Franklin and Bear Creek this season, but in two very different ways. The Titans' average margin of victory over the two is 14.5 points while the Flames' is 35.

Last week against Lincoln (6-2, 2-1 SJAA), the Flames' running game managed only 87 yards compared to their 227.6 average. Dillon said Lodi will look to quarterback Collin Rhoads to air out the ball a little more this week to try and open up the ground game. Dillon also said the play of the line will be key.

"We need to block the defensive front with a sense of urgency accompanied with a dominant attitude," Dillon said.

Even if Lodi beats Chavez, and next week can pull off an upset against Tracy, which is 8-0 overall and 3-0 in league, the Flames still aren't guaranteed a playoff spot. They'd have to win a tiebreaker against Tracy to finish as the SJAA runner-up or grab on of the eight at-large playoff bids which are determined solely on number of wins.

Tokay vs. St. Mary's

Trying to rebound from its first Tri-City Athletic League loss against Edison last week, Tokay's road doesn't get any easier as it travels to St. Mary's to face the Sac-Joaquin Section's top-ranked Rams (8-0, 3-0 TCAL).

St. Mary's is led by star quarterback Marcus McDade, who is the main cog in a high-powered offense that averages 445.5 yards and 54 points per game. Tokay head coach Louis Franklin's plan for slowing down the Rams is simple — limit their time of possession.

"We will try to keep our offense on the field," he said. "That means on offense and defense when there is an opportunity to make a play, we must make the play. Last week, we let a few opportunities slip by."

With two games to go this season, Tokay (6-2, 2-1 TCAL) is still in good position for a postseason berth despite having its hopes for a league title dinged by the Vikings last week. Franklin wants to see the Tigers use their final two games against St. Mary's and West as tune-ups for the playoffs.

Franklin said Tokay's practices this week have gone well and had a very high tempo on Wednesday. He's hoping to see that carry over to tonight.

"It was nice to see them fired up, running around and having fun again," Franklin said. "I think this group of kids need a reminder (losing to Edison) that we win football games Monday through Thursday from hard work, effort and execution."

Galt vs. Oak Ridge

Being on the bubble for one of the section's at-large postseason bids, Galt would greatly improve its playoff chances with wins in its last two games. With the Warriors currently at 4-4 overall and 1-3 in the Sierra Valley Conference, two more wins would give Galt a winning record. Warrior head coach Richard Maberto is hoping the scenario gives his team a lot of motivation to try and upset Oak Ridge (5-3, 4-0 SVC) tonight at Warrior Stadium.

"We are still in the playoff race," he said. "We just gotta go out and win."

Galt will continue to play without junior running back Haran Piggee, who tore ligaments in his shoulder three weeks ago. Piggee learned this week that he will require shoulder surgery and be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Senior running back Jerren Crisologo will continue to take the majority of the carries in the backfield for Galt. Crisologo has carried the ball 39 times this season for 117 yards. He's best game came against Ponderosa when he gained 53 yards on 16 touches.

Oak Ridge has won five straight after a tough preseason where it suffered losses to some of the section's top teams in Rocklin, Folsom and Grant. The Trojans' balanced offense is averaging 366 yards per contest and the Warriors will look for their defense to bounce back after giving up 55 points to Christian Brothers last week.

Stone Ridge Christian at Elliot

When it comes to injury reports, the news is almost always bad for the short-roster Elliot Eagles.

Not this week.

After suffering season-ending injuries to leading running back Justin Santos and leading tackler Tyler Hale earlier this year, Elliot got good news this week when senior tight end Robby Freed and senior wide receiver Nathan Fickert returned from injuries just in time to face Stone Ridge Christian tonight at Lincoln High School.

Freed, and Fickert, who after being an All-Harvest Christian League WR last year missed all of this season with a broken wrist, should help the Eagles' offense by giving sophomore quarterback John Johnson more targets to throw to.

"It is a great boost for morale to have Robby and Nathan back. When they showed up Wednesday, it was a boost for whole team," Elliot head coach Dean Davis said. "I am happy for them because they will get in their last two games. I know it's been killing them to sit to on the sideline this year."

Elliot faced the Knights earlier this year in a game that didn't count in the league standings. Stone Ridge Christian won 14-8 in a sloppy game with 10 turnovers. Three of Elliot's five turnovers came inside the 5-yard line. Davis thinks the Eagles are a different team now compared to that who they were on Oct. 2.

"I think we have improved a lot in the turnover area. If we can hang to the ball, we should be OK," Davis said. "I feel like we have the personnel to shutdown their offense and also to move the ball when we are on offense."