STOCKTON, CA - It's believed an Air Force pilot from Tuolumne County is missing after a jet on a training mission crashed off the coast of Italy.

The Modesto Bee reported Capt. Lucas Gruenther was the pilot who disappeared Monday.  Debris from the plane was later found by a fisherman in the Adriatic Sea.

In Tuolumne County, a high school guidance counselor at Summerville High School remembered Gruenther with great fondness.

Mitch Heldstab described Gruenther as an "unbelievable leader", a "mover and shaker who made things happen."

Gruenther was an outstanding student, class president, and top soccer player, said Heldstab.

He said Gruenther married his high school sweetheart, and the couple was expecting their first baby in a few weeks.

TURLOCK, Calif. - It was a game of highs and lows, giving football fans at the Dust Bowl Brewery a season's worth of mood swings in a span of three hours.

For Turlock citizens, the NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons had a more  personal element involved. It was a championship with a friend leading the home team.

"It's very stressful. Definitely stressful," said Dave Jones.

"We root all root for Colin, not just because he's from here, but because he represents so well," said Diane Romeo, whose children went to Pitman High School with Kaepernick.

"I feel like I'm watching my own son get the opportunity of a lifetime," said Angela Jones, who became a football fan after Kaepernick became the starting quarterback for the 49ers this fall.

TURLOCK, CA - San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick comes from Turlock and has made a name for himself moving from backup to starter in his second year. Now he's leading a team that could go to the Super Bowl. His success has turned Turlock into "Title-Town" and Northern California is pulling for him.

January is typically a slow month for bakeries because the holidays are over. But with the 49ers moving through the playoffs, a Turlock bakery has fired up its ovens to cash in on lucky number 7, Kaepernick's jersey number. When it comes to frosting colors, red and gold makes green at the Olde Tyme Pasties on Geer Road as it turns ou #7 jersey cookies and helmet-shaped cakes. 

"This is like an instant holiday," said manager and cake decorator Terri Coonce.