Ridgeview-Bakersfield at Tehachapi
October 30, 2015
A Ridgeview running back rambles for big yardage as Warrior defenders #35 Jonathan Eppler and #42 Caleb Huebner move in to make the tackle.
Ridgeview whooped the Warriors, 64-21, giving coach Denman his worst defeat in his 34 years of coaching at THS. Photo by TBC Media Group.
Posted on November 1, 2015 by John Nelson, The Tehachapi News Warriors Fall Out Of SYL Lead
With Humbling Loss, 64-21
Things went every which way but the right way for the Warriors. Or just about, it seemed. The Warriors couldn't hold onto the ball, giving up three
fumble returns of 60 or more yards for touchdowns. They gave up big plays, too, including five TD's from scrimmage of 30 or more yards.
The Warriors ’leading rusher, Keyron Scott, gained 171 yards but was lost for the entire second half with a deep bruise below his left knee.
And they lost their first South Yosemite League game of the season by a humbling score of 64-21 to undefeated Ridgeview on Friday night, Oct. 30.
“At times during the game, we played our worst football of the season,” head coach Steve Denman said, “but at times, we played our best football of the season.”
The 43-point loss was the most lopsided in Denman's 34 years as Tehachapi head coach,
and it was the first time a Denman-coached Warriors team had allowed 60 or more points in a game.
Not since 1954, when Tehachapi lost to Garces 48-0, have the Warriors sustained a worse loss,
and the last time a Warriors team gave up 60 or more points was in 1930 in a 68-0 loss to the Bakersfield junior varsity.
Despite his team-leading nine solo tackles, linebacker and defensive captain Angel Garcia was not happy.
“It doesn't mean anything with that up there,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the scoreboard. “Not when we lost by that many points. It doesn't mean anything. We've got a lot of work to do.”
It wasn't all on the defense, though.
Three fumbles accounted for 220 return yards and touchdowns of 84, 75 and 61 yards, the longer two coming in the first half as the Wolfpack built a 48-14 lead.
Add to that a 63-yard scoring pass from Lawrence White to Cristion Brown in the second quarter, and three fumbles and one blown coverage accounted for more than half of Ridgeview's first-half points.
Scott scored two of Tehachapi's three touchdowns and, for a while, helped the Warriors make a game of it.
Ridgeview took the opening kickoff and turned it into a 7-0 lead when Darius Smith ran 41 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown.
Less than two minutes later, however, Scott got the Warriors even at 7-7. He slashed over left tackle, cut to the outside while breaking two Ridgeview tackles, cut back to the center of the field and finally finished off a stutter-stepping 63-yard touchdown run down the left sideline.
“We came out playing smash-mouth football in the first half,” Scott said.
Two more Wolfpack scores made it 21-7, and Tehachapi then went on its best offensive drive of the game, starting at its own 21-yard line and finishing it off with a 7-yard Scott TD run.
The drive took eight plays and nearly three minutes, and it included four carries up the middle by fullback Noah Whitlach. Scott broke four tackles to get the ball from the 35 to the 7-yard line on the play before his touchdown.
Tehachapi trailed 21-14 with 2:58 left in the first quarter, and the Warriors had the momentum.
That's when the turnovers took it all away.
With the Warriors on Ridgeview's 15-yard line, poised to tie the score once again, Brown stripped the ball out of Whitlach's hands for a fumble and outran everyone to the other end zone, giving Ridgeview a 28-14 lead.
Then, with 5:35 left in the half and Tehachapi once against threatening, Scott lost a fumble on the Ridgeview 25-yard line, and Amir Knox ran it back 75 yards for a touchdown that made it 35-14.
To make matters worse, Scott was hurt when he was tackled with about four minutes left in the half. He spent the second half hobbling around on the sideline.
“We will evaluate him,” Denman said. “He was walking around, so that was good.”
The Wolfpack scored twice more in the final two minutes of the first half, both on long pass plays, and the rout was on.
With a 6-2 record and just one loss in three league games, the Warriors' final SYL matchup at West High School on Friday night, Nov. 6, loomed large.
“We'll go back to work on fundamentals and ball security,” Denman said. “We'll build on some of the positive things we did tonight and work on the things we didn't do well.”
No one was taking West lightly, even with its two league losses. After all, in West's game against Ridgeview, the Vikings trailed the Wolfpack by only 13-7 at halftime.
“They've got a big quarterback, their wide receivers are big and fast, and they've got a big line,” Denman said of West. “They're not quite as efficient as Ridgeview, but in terms of athletes, they're a lot like them.”
Top Warrior running back Keyron Scott eludes two Ridgeview defenders Friday night in Tehachapi. Scott scored 2 TD's and rushed for 171 yards
in the first half before he was injured. Scott is expected to return this Friday night against West in Bakersfield. Photo by John Harte, TBC Media Group.
Posted on October 30, 2015 by Trevor Horn, Bakersfield Californian Ridgeview Rolls To Rout Of Tehachapi
Wolf Pack 64 Warriors 21
TEHACHAPI — Ridgeview doesn’t normally need help putting points on the board.
Tehachapi lended the Wolf Pack a hand anyway on Friday.
The Warriors turned the ball over four times, with three of those turnovers run back for scores as the Wolf Pack thumped Tehachapi, 64-21.
Ridgeview’s Zavion Roberson recovered the first, a fumble, and Darius Smith scored on a 38-yard run on the following play.
Smith finished with 131 rushing yards and two scores.
Two drives later, Cristion Brown returned a fumble 84 yards, and Amir Knox took the third fumble 75 yards.
Daniel Williams also returned a fumble 61 yards with less than a minute left in the game.
“It takes a lot of pressure off our defense,” Knox said. “It’s fun to see so many guys score like that. It shows we have a lot of great players.”
Things got worse for Tehachapi, as Smith scored on runs of 38 and 41 yards and Lawrence White completed touchdown passes of 36 and 30 yards to Jaleyn Prevost.
All of that happened before halftime when the score was 48-14.
“We can’t make that many mistakes like we did,” Tehachapi coach Steve Denman said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in all of my 34 years here. It was unbelievable.”
To make matters worse for Tehachapi, Keyron Scott went down with a left knee bruise late in the second quarter. Scott scored on touchdown runs of 68 and 7 yards in the first quarter.
He finished the game with 171 yards on 16 carries.
Scott was walking around on the sideline but did not return after halftime.
“We will evaluate him,” Denman said. “He was walking around, so that was good.”
It was the 100th victory in Manning’s 13-year career. Sixty-nine of those victories have come at Ridgeview, where he’s in his seventh season. Manning also coached at West and Foothill.
“It’s a reminder that I’ve been blessed to be a part of a lot of great people, coaches and players,” Manning said. “But man, it pales in comparison to Steve’s 294 wins.”
Manning was alluding to Denman’s 294 career wins in his 34 years at Tehachapi.
Friday was the second time Manning has coached a game at Tehachapi. The first was in the Central Section Division III championship for Foothill in a loss to the Warriors. This time was a bit different.
The 64 points is the most scored by a Manning-coached team and the most in Ridgeview history.
Tehachapi rushed for 319 yards, including a 6-yard score by Paul Stephens in the fourth quarter.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Ridgeview 28 20 9 7 64 Tehachapi 14 0 0 7 21
The Scoring:
First quarter:
RHS - Smith 41 run (Garza kick)
THS - Scott 63 run (Lins kick)
RHS - Prevost 36 pass from White (Garza kick)
RHS - Smith 38 run (Garza kick)
THS - Scott 7 run (Lins kick)
RHS - Brown 84 fumble return (Garza kick)
Second quarter:
RHS - Knox 75 fumble return (pass fail)
RHS - Brown 63 pass from White (Garza kick)
RHS - Prevost 30 pass from White (Garza kick)
Third quarter:
RHS - Moya 3 run (Garza kick)
RHS - Safety
Fourth quarter:
THS - Stephens 6 run (Lins kick)
RHS - Williams 61 fumble return (Garza kick)
Ridgeview vs Tehachapi
RHS THS First Downs 7 10 Rushes-Yards 30-204 54-351 Passing Yards 176 4 Comp-Att-Int 8-14-0 1-2-0 Total Yards 380 355 Punts 2-21.5 4-27.3 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 6-4 Penalties 6-64 3-30
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING—Tehachapi: Scott 16-171, Whitlach 13-39, Olofson 3-15, Macon 10-24, Noda 1-9, Vachon 6-42, Ledesma 2-12, Stephens 1-6.
Ridgeview: D.Smith 14-131, Moya 6-30, Brown 1-2, White 5-40, Battle 3 -(-2), S.Smith 1-3.
PASSING—Tehachapi: Olofson 1-2-0-04. Ridgeview: White 8-14-0 176.
RECEIVING—Tehachapi: Walters 1-4. Ridgeview: Prevost 3-71, Brown 2-79, Knox 1-2, Cry 1-22, Alcaide 1-12.
Varsity – Tehachapi (6-2; 2-1 SYL), Ridgeview (9-0; 4-0 SYL)
Junior Varsity - Tehachapi 20 Ridgeview 14
Frosh-Soph Game - Tehachapi 14 Ridgeview 32
