Tehachapi at Arvin Bears
September 18, 2015
Keyron Scott (21) runs for a big gain in action Friday night in Arvin. The Warriors defeated the Bears 28-8 to improve their
record to 3-1 in the pre-league season. The Warriors have a bye week this Friday night. Photo by TBC Media Group.
Posted on September 19, 2015 by John Nelson, The Tehachapi News Warriors Offense Shakes Off
Two Week Doldrums
ARVIN — The Warriors offense finally woke up, and it was a little cranky.
Tehachapi punished and prodded the Arvin Bears into submission Friday night, Sept. 18, in a 28-8 victory that marked the return of the Warriors offense after two weeks' slumber.
The Warriors (3-1) amassed 323 yards of total offense, more than they could manage in their previous two games combined. Their four touchdowns were twice as many as they scored in the past two weeks.
They controlled the ball, keeping the defense off the field long enough to refresh and regroup between Arvin possessions, and quarterback Lars Olofson threw his first two touchdown passes of the season.
“This was definitely a confidence builder,” the senior quarterback said, beaming a big smile after the game. “It feels really good.”
Olofson's scoring passes both came in the second half, a 56-yarder to Troy Noda with 8:08 left in the third quarter and a 36-yarder to Jake Walters in the right corner of the end zone with 9:43 to play.
The TD pass to Noda covered about 25 yards down the right sideline with Olofson scrambling under pressure. Noda hauled in the pass over an Arvin defender and made
a diagonal bee-line for the left side of the end zone, running the final 30 yards after breaking a tackle.
“That was good to see,” head coach Steve Denman said. “We just have to keep building on that now.”
Keyron Scott scored Tehachapi's first touchdown on a 25-yard scramble with 2:40 left in the first quarter, and Olofson dodged an Arvin defender to get
into the end zone from 5 yards out with 9.3 seconds left in the half, making it 14-0.
Arvin didn't get on the scoreboard until just 13.7 seconds were left in the game, when Rafael Velasquez hit Eddie Molina with an 11-yard scoring pass,
capping a three-minute drive as Tehachapi substituted freely on defense.
Until that final drive, however, the Tehachapi defense had been dominant, constantly hounding Bears QB Aaron Allen until he finally was replaced in the second half by Velasquez.
Tanner Herman sacked Allen once, Noda intercepted him once, and the Tehachapi front line hassled and hounded him the entire first half.
While the bulk of the attention on offense was focused on the Warriors’ quarterback, the unsung hero definitely was fullback Noah Whitlach.
Running mostly up the middle, Whitlach gained 97 yards on 16 carries. His longest run of the night was 21 yards, but most of his carries were
for 5 or 6 yards as Tehachapi's offense controlled the ball over long stretches.
In the first half, Tehachapi's offense held the ball for 15:45 of the total 24 minutes, wearing down the Arvin defense and keeping the Bears offense on the sidelines.
The Warriors had one second-quarter drive that took 7:45 off the clock over 16 plays, finally ending when they turned the ball over on downs on the Arvin 8-yard line.
The Bears fumbled the ball away on the next play, and Olofson ran the ball into the end zone on his second try.
During the drive, Whitlach ran the ball seven times for 38 yards and two first downs.
“We were able to mix it up a little better tonight,” Denman said. “We showed a little improvement.”
The two touchdown passes represented the entirety of Olofson's completions in eight attempts, for a total of 92 yards. Olofson had at least one other pass dropped.
Olofson said if he could continue his personal turnaround, “it'll take a lot of pressure off our running backs and our line. We won't be so one-dimensional. It'll open things up.”
The Warriors have a bye this week before traveling to North High School on Friday, Oct. 2. They complete three straight road games the following week,
on Friday night, Oct. 9 at Independence in their South Yosemite League opener.
They play their next home game on Friday night, Oct. 16, against East Bakersfield in another league matchup.
Denman said the Warriors would take advantage of the week off to work on fundamentals.
“We're going back to the basics,” he said. “We'll get back to blocking, tackling and playing catch.”
Running back Keyron Scott (21) celebrates along with quarterback Lars Olofson (4) as Olofson just scored a rushing
touchdown for Tehachapi. Olofson also threw for two TD passes. Photo by TBC Media Group.
Posted on September 18, 2015 by Tom Shea, Bakersfield Californian Warriors 28 Arvin 8
Tehachapi Improves To 3-1 For The Season
ARVIN – The Warriors churned out ball control offense in the first half and then registered two touchdowns
through the air in the second half en route to a 28-8 win over Arvin.Noah Whitlach had 97 yards rushing to power Tehachapi (3-1), which finished with 231 yards rushing overall.
Keyron Scott and Lars Olofson both had first-half rushing touchdowns.
Olofson also had a 56-yard scoring pass to Troy Noda in the third quarter and a
36-yard completion to Jake Walters in the fourth quarter.
Rafael Velasquez led Arvin (1-3) with 69 yards rushing, and he threw a 12-yard TD pass to Eddie Molina in the final minute of the game.
Molina was the leading receiver for the Bears with five catches for 19 yards.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Tehachapi 7 7 7 7 28 Arvin 0 0 0 8 08
The Scoring:
1st Quarter:
T -- Scott 25 run (Lins kick)
2nd Quarter:
T -- Olofson 5 run (Lins kick)
3rd Quarter:
T -- Noda 56 yd. pass from Olofson (Lins Kick)
4th Quarter:
T -- Walters 36 yd. pass from Olofson (Lins kick)
A -- Valasquez 12 yd. TD pass to Molina (Quirino run)
Tehachapi vs Arvin Stats
THS AHS First Downs 9 14 Rushes-Yards 36-231 39-124 Passing Yards 92 49 Comp-Att-Int 2-8-0 10-17-1 Total Yards 323 173 Punts 2-29.5 3-27.3 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-3 Penalties 3-35 6-45
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING—Tehachapi: Whitlach 16-97, Scott 9-65, Herman 1-45, Noda 3-11, Macon 3-10, Ledesma 1-1, Olofson 3-2.
Arvin: Velasquez 18-69, Allen 7-30, Graves 5-13, Tamayo 5-11, Melgoza 2-4, Torres 1-1, Molina 1-(-4).
PASSING—Tehachapi: Olofson 2-8-0-92. Arvin: Velasquez 4-10-1 35, Allen 5-6-0 9, Tamayo 1-1-0 5.
RECEIVING—Tehachapi: Noda 1-56, Walters 1-36.
Arvin: Molina 5-19, Rosales 1-9, Zapata 1-6, Quirino 1-6, Torres 1-5, Chona 1-4.
Varsity – Tehachapi (3-1), Arvin (1-3)
Junior Varsity - Tehachapi 34 Arvin 14
Frosh-Soph Game - Tehachapi 8 Arvin 9
