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• Despite an increase in homeless students, school districts look to bolster enrollment, raise revenue

• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

• Watchful neighbor in Lodi helped bust suspected burglars

• New Galt city manager juggles job, family

• A first look at 2009 vintages at Lodi's First Sip wine-tasting event

• Regional Roundup

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

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? (69)
• President Obama's first year (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 (59)
• 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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Lodi Flames can't keep up with speedy Blue Devils in boys water polo

Steal, breakaway, goal, repeat. That's the formula for the Davis boys water polo team.

The Blue Devils executed it flawlessly in Friday's Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinals against Lodi High, taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on their way to a 17-6 victory at Tokay High's pool.

Davis, the defending section champion, will now play St. Mary's, which is going for its first section title in school history, today at 3:30 p.m. at Woodcreek High School.

Before Lodi could even get its offense set up, the smothering Davis defense was all over the ball carrier. They then forced bad passes or came up with steals and quickly transitioned down the pool before the Flame defense had a chance to set up. The result was numerous one-on-one matchups with Blue Devils getting up close and firing away at Lodi senior goalie Daniel Shuler.

"We wanted to come out and seize control of the game," said Davis head coach Tracy Stapleton.

Shuler made 10 saves in the game, but couldn't stop the relentless Blue Devil attack that was led by Max Reilly's five goals.

"They are very high contact. They took it too us," said Lodi junior Jake Lear, who finished with two goals and an assist. "That's how they always play. I wish I could play like that."

Lodi kept pace with the Blue Devils in the second period, only being outscored 3-2. Freshman Joe VanderLans scored with 4:35 left in the second period and Lear added a goal three minutes later to make it 10-2 at half.

Chris Orgon added three goals in the second half for the Flames and Lear netted Lodi's final goal with a little over three minutes left in the game.

Despite the loss, Lodi head coach Robert Elrod said the Flames' season surpassed his expectations.

"That was a great season. Everybody is going to lose to those top-three teams (Davis, St. Mary's and Jesuit), but we deserved to be here," Elrod said. "Everyone is losing by the same amount to these guys as we did. We deserved to be here. I hope the kids are proud."

Lodi, which was the San Joaquin Athletic Association champion, only has two seniors and return most of its squad next season. Davis has 12 seniors on its roster. Elrod, who helps coach the Lodi Water Polo Foundation club team, is already thinking about the club's game plan of getting Lodi's players on the same playing field as the faced-paced teams like Davis, St. Mary's and Jesuit.

"It is so much faster. They practice at a much faster pace. As a club team, Lodi, Tokay, Lincoln, Bear Creek, that's what we are looking at," Elrod said. "That's what we are focusing on starting on practice on Monday. We are sick of this."

Contact reporter Joelle Milholm at joellem@lodinews.com.