TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

This summer is condensed for me because of various vacations, the Olympics and our involved local athletes and, most notably, the impending birth of my second child coming in August and all the preperations that entials.

Still, as promised, we will do a condensed version of Year in Review to meet the condensed summer schedule before firing into high school football previews. I'm going to fire through sports as quickly as I can, often more than one in a day. Stay on your toes by following my Twitter feed, where I post links to blogs as soon as they're posted.

First of all, the All-Area teams began publication in this morning's Californian with the boys golf team. Highland's Ryan O'Leary and Liberty's Brett Kettler will share Player of the Year honors.

Today will be one of the more action-packed recap days. There's a lot to get to in football, obviously, but also in volleyball and girls golf, two of Kern County's traditionally more successful sports. So let's hop to it.

2011-2012 Year in Review FOOTBALL

Overview: So often in this town, high school football fans would have you believe Bakersfield High was the only school in town. That's not often true, but in 2012, it really did seem like it was all about the Drillers. The season opened with a 38-13 beatdown of Provo (Utah)-Timpview in the Mission Viejo Football Classic, and it ended with a 38-3 trampling of Fresno-Bullard in the Division I section title game. Even when Centennial tried to pull off the shocker of the year in the section quarterfinals, the Drillers scored 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to snuff out the upset attempt and march on.
That's not to say other teams didn't have their moments. Centennial's offense went crazy on Clovis West in the playoffs as Brice Royal rushed for 411 yards to eliminate the defending champions. Garces avenged a 2011 semifinal loss to Tehachapi and reached the Division II championship game, which the Rams lost to Clovis North. Ridgeview and Wasco had wonderful seasons and reached their respective section title games in Divisions III and IV. Stockdale rode the fortunes of running back D.J. Martin, who ran for more than 500 yards in two games before an academic eligibility issue (stemming from a lack of credits at a continuation school) forced the Mustangs to forfeit those games and took Martin out of action for the next five. By the time he came back, Stockdale was officially 0-7. It finished 2-8 and missed the playoffs, but Martin verbally committed to Cal and steeled for his senior year.

Best player: Bakersfield quarterback Chris Hannible, who was the maestro of a BHS offense that couldn't often be stopped.
Honorable mention: Phillip Anspach, Garces; Triton Douglas, Frontier; Shannon Edwards, Ridgeview; Kamari Moya-Cotton, Ridgeview; Silas Nacita, Bakersfield; B.J. Nard, Frontier; Brice Royal, Centennial

Best game: You had to be there to know what an incredible experience Bakersfield's 49-42 victory over Centennial in the quarterfinals. The Golden Hawks, behind big play after big play, stormed to three-touchdown leads twice, including 42-21 late in the third quarter. But they couldn't put the final nail in Bakersfield in one of the great high school games you'll ever see.
Honorable mention: Ridgeview 21, Frontier 20, OT; Kingsburg 41, Ridgeview 34, D-III championship; Bakersfield 31, Clovis 14, Division I semifinals; Tehachapi 27, Wasco 18

Up next: Volleyball