Tehachapi at Hanford High
December 12, 2008
CLICK ON STORY FOR QUICK LINK!Back-to-Back! Warriors Win 2nd Straight CIF Title. Posted by the Tehachapi News
Tehachapi Holds Off Fog, Hanford Turnovers Key Warriors' DIII Championship Win. Posted by the Fresno Bee
'Road Warriors Clear Path For 2nd Straight Section Crown. Posted by the Bakersfield Californian
Tehachapi vs Hanford Game Boxscore & Statistics
In a heavy fog, the Hanford defense had a difficult time figuring out if QB Kurtis Knudson would be handing off to either Adam Mullen (22) or Josh Strauss (25) in the
deceptive Wing-T offense. Both backs had tremendous games in leading the Warriors to a DIII championship. Photo by Mike Duffy, The Tehachapi News.
Posted December 13, 2008 by Tom Shea, The Tehachapi News Back-to-Back!
Tehachapi Wins Second Straight CIF Title
When the fog began to slowly creep on the field 10 minutes prior to kickoff, you could feel it. It was almost as if an aura of optimism was surreptitiously intertwined with the thick white mist.
The Warriors were seemingly on the doorstep of fate with perfect pre-game conditions bestowed from above.
In the end, fate became reality with Mountain Football taking a shocking 21-14 win over Division III no.1 seed Hanford, and with it, back-to-back CIF Central Section championships.
“To win this game every one of our kids needed to step up and execute their role,” said head coach Steve Denman. “We just told them not to give up. Keep plugging away. That was a very talented football team we played and our kids responded to the call.”
You could not ask for a better scenario in their run-first (pass to keep the defense honest) attack for Tehachapi (10-4). The murky brume provided the perfect compliment to the run-deception wing-t machine.
Adam Mullen and Josh Strauss, the workhorses of an astounding nine wins in the last 10 games, took full advantage of the elements.
Mullen finished with 159 yards on 28 carries and all three touchdowns, becoming the all-time touchdown leader (51) and points leader (312) in Tehachapi history, passing 2002-2003 running back Tanner Hutchinson in both categories.
The outside lanes were owned by Strauss, who ended with a game-high 164 yards on 24 attempts.
Fittingly, the running dynamos would be all that Tehachapi (10-4) would need on offense, counting on their defense to shut down Hanford’s stellar utility back arsenal.
“We did what we needed to do as far as containment,” Denman said. “There’s a great deal of size and speed at Hanford’s disposal. One of our best efforts of the year, without a doubt. You win championships with defense, and our kids and (Coach Dennis Ruggles) were able to do that.”
After spotting the Bullpups a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, the Warriors hunkered down and took control, forcing punts on Hanford’s next three possessions. Mountain Football also recorded a Garrett Coontz interception and a Derek Lange fumble recovery in second-half action.
Shifty back Mullen scored on a 15-yard jaunt on the Warriors’ first score, and then capped two impressive Warrior dives with a pair of up-the-gut 1-yard blasts to secure the touchdown tri-fecta.
Tehachapi also had three completed passes by Kurtis Knudson, with Coontz hauling in a five-yard catch and Jesse Olofson two completions for 15 yards.
Amazingly, the defending section champion Warriors won their title with four straight wins in the playoffs, defeating the no.11 seed Ridgeview Wolfpack (28-14), no.3 seed Golden Valley Bulldogs (48-24) and the no.2 seed Yosemite Badgers (62-41) prior to taking on Hanford. All four teams were Division II level playoff programs in 2007.
Mountain Football also became the lowest seed (no.6) to reach (and win) a section championship in the California Central-Section this season, along with recording the most victories in central section post-season play on the year.
“This has been an amazing run, a great group of kids,” Denman said. “We want to thank the Warrior Boosters, school administration, the teachers, parents, students and community for their support. We couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
Overall, Tehachapi secured the 10th CIF title in their rich football history, with championships won in 1951, 1952, 1956, 1980, 1985, 1988, 1993, 2003, 2007 and 2008.
“Our kids played their hearts out. We should all be proud.” added Denman.
Warrior Adam Mullen scores with 6:05 left in the game to give the Warriors a 20-14 lead over Hanford. The PAT
was good and the Warriors held on to defeat the #1 seeded Bullpups in a fog shrouded game, 21-14.
Posted December 13, 2008 by Andy Boogaard, The Fresno Bee Tehachapi Holds Off Fog, Hanford
Turnovers Key Warriors' DIII Championship Win
HANFORD - Fans could see half the football field. Maybe. Punts sailed into the gray soup and disappeared.
Quarterbacks threw to blind targets.
Kickoff and punt returners heard contact off the foot and simply waited, having not a clue as to where the ball was directed.
But in the end, Tehachapi High's defense could see the ball when really needed on a night of dense fog, particularly two second-half turnovers that the Warriors' offense converted into touchdowns and a 21-14 come-from-behind win over top-seeded Hanford on Friday night for the Central Section Division III championship.
Garrett Coontz returned an interception 55 yards to set up a tying touchdown on the final play of the third quarter and Derek Lange's fumble recovery led to Adam Mullen's third rushing touchdown - his 11th, 12th and 13th scores in three playoff games - as sixth-seeded Tehachapi (10-4) rumbled out of the mountains in east Kern County as the section's lowest seed standing and successfully defended its D-III crown.
In doing so a year after defeating Foothill 33-24 as a top seed, the Warriors of the South Sequoia League denied Hanford (11-2) its first section football championship.
And oh how painful it was for a program that lost 41-12 to Bakersfield for the 1917 Valley Large Schools title and has been struggling to reach the top since.
"It hurts, you can see it on their faces," said Bullpups coach Josh Young, his eyes red and wet and looking toward a pack of players with tears streaming. "It definitely hurts. There's not a lot of words to describe the way we're feeling."
They left Neighbor Bowl saying one word: turnovers.
"One's going to cost you in a championship game," Hanford all-around senior Cougar Williams said. "And we had [two] tonight. When you play a good team like that, you can't turn the ball over."
The elements favored Tehachapi, with the Warriors' wing-T rushing game accounting for 4,123 yards - 82% of its offense - coming in. The Bullpups arrived with a virtual 50-50 split.
Hanford didn't even attempt to attack the Warriors with vertical passing routes, for it was senseless.
"I couldn't see more than 30 yards," said Hanford quarterback Bryant Furtado, who completed 16 of 25 attempts for 132 yards.
But Young was quick to dismiss the fog as an excuse: "We don't throw the deep ball much, we throw it on the perimeter. I don't know if it was clear or foggier than it was that it would have changed the outcome."
The thick blanket hanging over the field mattered none whatsoever to Tehachapi as Mullen carried 24 times for 163 yards and Josh Strauss added 161 yards on 28 trips. The Warriors attempted only four passes.
A key for Tehachapi was keeping Williams out of the end zone.
Arguably the section's most electrifying player - one with 20 touchdowns delivered in four different ways coming in - he carried five times for 65 yards and caught 11 passes for 59 yards.
But he couldn't pop a big one. Further, the athlete generally adept at making initial defenders miss was nailed for losses of 8 and 6 yards on two of his final three receptions.
The play of the game had Bullpups running back Lemuel Hutchings trip, stumble and fumble into the hands of linebacker Lange with 10:11 remaining and the score tied 14-14.
The Warriors then launched a nine-play, 65-yard drive, with Mullen scoring from a yard.
"The ball came right to me, I just caught it and ran," Lange said.
And what was he thinking with the gift in hand?
"Heck, yeah."
In a fog shrouded game, Warrior Adam Mullen (above) rushed for three Warrior TD's enroute
to establishing a new school record of 51 touchdowns scored in two seasons. Photo by The Bakersfield Californian.
Posted December 12, 2008 by Jeff Evans, The Bakersfield Californian 'Road Warriors Clear Path
For 2nd Straight Section Crown
HANFORD - One could sense an anxiety moment with 4:28 left in the third quarter when Tehachapi High senior running back Adam Mullen was shaken up along the Warrior sidelines.
Mullen laid on the ground for several minutes. But when the Warriors got the ball back two minutes later, Mullen returned to the field.
And that was a good thing for Tehachapi. Mullen scored two 1-yard touchdown runs after returning, the second with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter that was the difference in the Warriors' 21-14 win over top-seeded Hanford.
Sixth-seeded Tehachapi (10-4) won its second straight CIF Central Section Division III championship in a game most fans in attendance didn't see. Heavy fog obscured the field throughout the game.
It was the Warriors' 10th section title -- seven in the Central Section and fourth since the school returned to the Central Section from the Southern Section in the mid-1980s.
Hanford, which opened in 1892 and began playing football in the 1920s, has never won a section title.
Mullen had all three Tehachapi TDs. He also had a 15-yard scoring run with 8:57 left in the first quarter to cut into what was a 14-0 Hanford lead.
"We knew going in we had to play hard," said Mullen, who scored 13 touchdowns in the last three weeks -- Tehachapi playoff wins over the top three seeds in Division III.
Josh Strauss, Tehachapi's other standout running back, was also busy: 24 carries for 164 yards.
But Mullen's ability to return from his injury -- a shoulder stinger, according to coach Steve Denman -- proved crucial.
"His arm went numb," Denman said. "He got to the sidelines -- we were on defense then -- and shook it off. So he ran right back out there on our next possession."
Mullen and Strauss kept Hanford (11-2) off-balance by expertly running the Warriors' wing-T.
"They run it the best we've seen," said Hanford coach Josh Young, who is also the Bullpups' defensive coordinator. "Their offensive line does a great job and their backs run hard."
Tehachapi lost a touchdown when what would have been about a 65-yard punt return by Mullen was nullified by a roughing-the-kicker penalty. That penalty kept alive the Bullpups' drive that ended with quarterback Bryant Furtado's 1-yard TD plunge.
Tehachapi's only turnover of the night -- an interception by Cougar Williams -- set up Hanford's final touchdown. That came with 11:06 left in the second quarter when running back Lemuel Hutchings caught a swing pass to the left, turned up field and finished off a 14-yard scoring play.
Two second-half turnovers by Hanford proved pivotal in the Warriors' comeback. Both were converted into touchdown drives, helping Tehachapi rally from a 14-7 halftime deficit.
An interception by defensive back Garrett Coontz was returned 50 yards to the Hanford 16. Quarterback Kurtis Knudson completed a 4-yard pass to Jesse Olofson on a fourth-and-3 play to keep the drive alive, and Mullen eventually powered in from the 1 on the final play of the third quarter. Jake Reimer's PAT tied it 14-14.
The game-deciding turnover was by Tehachapi linebacker Derek Lange. Hanford had driven inside the Tehachapi 30 when Hutchings lost the ball at the 22. Lange came out of a pile of players with a fumble recovery. Hutchings pleaded with the officials that he was down by contact, but to no avail.
"I was right in front of him and the ball went right into my hands," Lange said. "He was still up. There's no way he was down."
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Tehachapi 0 7 7 7 21 Hanford 7 7 0 0 14
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
H -- Furtado 2 yard run (Kurtz PAT Good) 7:46
Second Quarter:
H -- Hutchings 14 yard TD pass reception (Kurtz PAT kick Good) 11:05
T -- Mullen 15 yard TD run (Reimer PAT kick good) 8:57
Third Quarter:
T -- Mullen 1 yard TD run (Reimer PAT kick good) 0:00
Fourth Quarter:
T -- Mullen 1 yard TD run (Reimer PAT kick good) 6:05
THS vs HHS STATS
THS HHS First Downs Rushes-Yards 58-333 26-93 Passing Yards 20 154 Comp-Att-Int 3-4-1 17-26-1 Total Yards 353 247 Punts 5-25.4 N/A Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-1 Penalties
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING--Tehachapi: Strauss 24-164, Mullen 28-159, Ku.Knudson 6-10.
Hanford: Williams 6-59, Hutchings 8-20, Hudgins 5-24, Reis 1-3, Furtado 6-(-13).
PASSING--Tehachapi: Ku.Knudson 3-4-1, 20 yards. Hanford: Furtado 17-26-1, 154 yards.
RECEIVING--Tehachapi: Olofson 2-15, Coontz 1-5. Hanford: Williams 9-65, Hutchings 4-30, Veenendaal 1-39, Jackson-Maciel 1-20.
Varsity – Tehachapi (10-4), Hanford (11-2)
