Foothill-Bakersfield at Tehachapi
Friday, November 30, 2007
A night of Mountain football complete with a layer of fog coated Coy Burnett field Friday as the Warriors battled Foothill for the Central Section championship.
Above, Warrior Garrett Coontz picks up first down yardage on this run early in the fourth quarter. Photo by Michael Duffy, The Tehachapi News
Posted by Steve Lynch, The Bakersfield Californian on December 1, 2007 Warriors Big 2nd Half
Tops Foothill, 33-28
TEHACHAPI -- It was cold and foggy but nothing could dampen Tehachapi's spirits after capping off a near perfect season Friday night at Coy Burnett Field by defeating Foothill 33-28 in the Central Section Division III championship game.
"It's great," said Tehachapi coach Steve Denman. "Foothill's a first-class team and they did a great job. It could have gone either way tonight. We're just fortunate that we played a good second half and got a couple of turnovers and were able to get a couple in the end zone. We feel very fortunate and very proud to get this win tonight."
"This means a lot, said Tehachapi running back Kelly Lorenz. "We've been practicing all year. Since freshman year in high school I've wanted to win it and we came out and won. It's the best feeling ever."
Ehren Ochsenrider threw three touchdowns to lead the Warriors, including a 42-yarder to J.J. Balkar with 2:25 remaining to give top-seeded Tehachapi the lead for good. Ochsenrider completed 7-of-17 passes for 163 yards.
Foothill (9-4) led 21-14 at halftime and appeared to be in control until Ochsenrider found Garrett Coontz for a 6-yard score late in the third quarter. But a missed Ochsenrider extra point following the touchdown allowed No. 2 Foothill to retain a 21-20 lead.
The Warriors' chances to win the game looked slim when Foothill made a goalline stand with just over four minutes remaining in the contest. Tehachapi came up empty when three carries from Adam Mullen and one by Kelly Lorenz produced just 1 yard.
But a three-and-out gave Tehachapi (12-1) the ball in good field position following a Foothill punt from deep in its territory.
On the very next play Ochsenrider found Balkar for the difference- making score.
"We had been running a curl pattern all along," Denman said "We just ran a fake curl, a little hook-and-go and he got it. J.J. did a great job catching the ball."
"It was a great high school football game," Foothill coach Dennis Manning said. "The conditions were tough but our kids battled, not being used to these conditions. We got up and with three minutes left in the game we were up by one and it just slipped away from us. You have to take your hats off to Tehachapi. They played a heck of a game."
The Warriors jumped to a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game on Adam Mullen's 4-yard run. Franky Rodriguez intercepted Matt Guerra's long sideline pass to end Foothill's first possession. And after two straight runs by Kelly Lorez picked up 14-yards, Josh Strauss gained 16 more on a sweep to setup the score.
Foothill quarterback Matt Guerra fired three touchdown passes in the first half. Guerra found Randy Davenport open on a long fade route for a 36-yard score to tie the game at 7 with 4:15 remaining in the first quarter.
Lawrence Weldon gave Foothill its first lead of the contest on a 56 yard pass from Guerra on its next possession. The Trojans began the drive with four carries by Eric Jones for 48 yards.
Tehachapi tied it when Ochsenrider stepped up in the pocket to avoid the pass rush and found a wide open Adam Mullen for a 57-yard touchdown with 5:20 left in the first half.
"We started off slow," Ochsenrider said. We were down at halftime but these kids are great. We just kept fighting. We came in the second half and took the lead with two minutes left. It was amazing."
But Guerra struck again just before halftime, finding Ronnie Churchill open across the middle in the end zone with a 10-yard lob. The touchdown capped a 10-play, 69-yard drive.
After the game ended in last Friday’s title game, head coach Steve Denman told his players that they will be “remembered for all time.”
Posted by Tom Shea, The Tehachapi News on December 3, 2007 Warriors Are Number One!
A team and brotherhood, the Tehachapi High School Warriors won their ninth section title with a 33-28 victory over Foothill, clinching their place as the Central Section Division III Valley champions.
A fired-up Tehachapi (12-1) squad wasted little time in finding the end zone at the start of the contest, with Adam Mullen capping a four-play drive on the Warriors’ first possession to take a 7-0 lead. The score was a 4-yard run, supported off an interception by Franky Rodriguez on Foothill’s opening possession. Mullen later added a 57-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
Tehachapi’s early lead was short-lived, with Foothill (9-4) opening up the passing game early thanks to two long scoring catches that went the distance for a 14-7 advantage.
A see-saw battle ensued, and Foothill (9-4) continued to counter Tehachapi again with another score right before halftime to go up 21-14.
“They really got us that first half,” said senior linebacker Alek Taliulu. “They were an aggressive, hard-hitting team, but it was a team effort for us too. We knew we needed to come out in the second half and come out strong.”
And come out strong they did, with the Warriors outscoring the Trojans 19-7 en route to their title.
The third quarter gave Tehachapi two key turnovers to help keep the game flow in Trojan territory. The Warriors capitalized when a deflected-pass found the hands of Garrett Coontz on the third drive of the second half for a 6-yard touchdown. With the fog thickening, a majority of the Tehachapi fans in attendance did not even see the Coontz touchdown conversion play itself, but erupted when the referees lifted their hands in the air to verify the score.
The Coontz touchdown was set up off of Jeff Waldram’s interception, with his pick at midfield and race to the Foothill 10-yard line helped get the Warriors back in the game.
“Their quarterback was really getting on our secondary, the first half he just picked us apart,” Waldram said. “But on the interception, I just caught a beat on (Tommy Hunley’s) route and just went for it and just ran hard down the sideline.”
Ehren Ochsenrider had his best game as a Warrior in a seven-completion, 164-yard passing night and three scores, and his biggest touchdown conversion to date coming late in the fourth quarter of the championship.
Down 21-20, Tehachapi took their first lead since their opening series of the contest when Ochsenrider connected with JJ Balkar for a 42-yard catch-and-score, sending the home crowd in a vivacious frenzy and giving the Warriors a 26-21 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
“I had the best quarterback in the Central Section this year, hands down,” said an emotionally spent Balkar after the game. “That catch was the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life. I was on top of the world after I caught it. It was all team though, all of us made it happen.”
After a Derek Lange sack forced a turnover on downs on Foothill’s next series on offense, senior running back Kelly Lorenz capped the win with a 5-yard touchdown run to put Tehachapi up for good.
At the conclusion of the game, the Tehachapi players clustered near midfield in a mosh eruption and were later joined by their THS classmates sprinting from the stands as Coy Burnett became clouded with bodies in celebration on the cold foggy night.
“We are a small community that is tight-knit, close,” added Denman. “This game was as big as it gets, and our kids answered the call and came away champions Their success is etched in history now.”
In other Central Section championship playoff games played last night:
Division I Championship
No. 3 Bakersfield 19, No. 5 Clovis West 16
Division II Championship
No. 1 Visalia-El Diamante 63, No. 2 Tulare Union 14
Division III Championship
No. 1 Tehachapi 33, No. 2 Foothill 28
Division IV Champiomship
No. 1 Taft 28, No. 2 Corcoran 14
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Foothill 14 7 0 7 28 Tehachapi 7 7 6 13 33
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
Teh - Mullen 4 yard run (Ochsenrider kick)
FHS - Davenport 36 yard pass from Guerra (Linares kick)
FHS - Weldon 56 yard pass from Guerra (Linares kick)Second Quarter:
Teh - Mullen 57 yard pass from Ochsenrider(Ochsenrider kick)
FHS - Churchhill 10 yard pass from Guerra (Linares kick)Third Quarter:
Teh - Coontz 6 yard pass from Ochsenrider (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter:
Teh - J.J. Balkar 42 yard pass from Ochsenrider (Ochsenrider kick)
Teh - Lorenz 5 yard TD run (Ochsenrider kick)
FHS - Hunley 52 yard pass from Churchill (Linares kick)
Foothill vs THS STATS
FHS THS First Downs 8 Rushes-Yards 36-137 Passing Yards 164 Comp-Att-Int 7-17-1 Total Yards 301 Punts N/A N/A Fumbles-Lost N/A Penalties 5-40
Individual Satistics:
RUSHING-Tehachapi, Lorenz 19-95, Strauss 6-18, Mullen 10-24, Ochsenrider 1-0
PASSING-Tehachapi, Ochsenrider 7-17-1, Foothill, Guerra 0-0-0, Churchill 1-1-0
RECEIVING-Tehachapi, Balkar 1-42, Pimentel 1-8, Mullen 1-57, Coontz 2-28, Strauss 1-6, Rodriguez 1-23
Foothill quarterback Matt Guerra get's sacked by Tehachapi's Adam Mullen during Friday's game in Tehachapi. The Warriors defeated
the Trojans, 33-28, to earn a Division III Valley Championship. Photo courtesy of the Bakersfield Californian.
