Garces at Tehachapi
Friday, November 23, 2007
The Warriors' Franky Rodriguez went airborne on this 8-yard screen catch Friday night in first half action
against Garces. The Warriors won 23-0 to advance to the sectional championship game. Photo by Mike Duffy, Summit Photography.
Posted by Steve Lynch, The Bakersfield Californian on November 24, 2007 Warriors Silence The Rams
Advance To Section Finals
TEHACHAPI -- Three months ago on a hot, dry Bakersfield evening, Tehachapi and Garces battled for the newly commissioned Coach Gary Ogilvie Trophy.
And while the climate, locale and stakes might have changed in 13 weeks, the victorious team remained the same.
The top-seeded Warriors, led by a spectacular defensive effort, shut out No. 4 Garces 23-0 in the semifinal contest at Coy Burnett Field.
The Warriors allowed Garces just 128 yards and seven first downs.
"Defensively, we played really well," Tehachapi coach Steve Denman said. "We knew Garces has a lot of different guys that can hurt you with the ball. (Luc) Cauzza their quarterback and both their running backs are real tough."
Offensively, the Warriors (11-1) were able to move the ball on the ground with their three starting running backs Kelly Lorenz, Adam Mullen and Josh Strauss.
The trio combined for 235 yards on 50 carries. Lorenz lead the way with 19 carries for 120 yards.
"Our offensive line opened the holes and our backs just ran through," Lorenz said.
Mullen scored a pair of first-half touchdowns to give Tehachapi a 14-0 lead.
The junior plowed in for a 1-yard TD two plays after Lorenz ran 33 yards to the 2-yard line on Tehachapi's first play from scrimmage.
A partially blocked by punt by Garrett Coontz gave the Warriors good field position to start the short drive.
Later, Mullen capped a 15-play, 81-yard Tehachapi second-quarter drive with his second touchdown, a 4-yard run.
Mullen finished the game with 56 yards on 17 carries.
Tehachapi held Garces (7-6) to 90 yards in the first half.
Cauzza bolted 48 yards to the Tehachapi 32-yard line late in the first quarter. But on third-and-goal from the 11, a Cauzza pass was tipped at the line and the Warriors' Jonathan Perrien grabbed the free ball.
Perrien had a sack for an 11-yard loss in the fourth quarter to stall another Garces' possession.
"We just came out here with good intensity, ready to go," Perrien said.
"We didn't want to stop here so we left it all out on the field."
The Tehachapi defense clamped down even harder in the second half, not allowing Garces on the Warriors' side of the field.
"When you play good 'D' you want to grind it out and we were able to grind it out in the third quarter and kept it (the ball) out of their hands," Denman said.
"They have so many weapons. We were able to keep it out of those kids' hands and that helped us defensively.
"They had poor field position for a lot of the game and defensively that was a big factor
In other Central Section playoff games played last night:
Division I Semifinals
No. 5 Clovis West 17, No. 1 Fresno-Edison 10
No. 3 Bakersfield 56, No. 2 Centennial 7
Division II Semifinals
No. 1 Visalia-El Diamante 21, No. 4 Lemoore 7
No. 2 Tulare Union 38, No. 11 Reedley 17
Division III Semifinals
No. 1 Tehachapi 23, No. 4 Garces 0
No. 2 Foothill 30, No. 3 Fresno-Washington Union 26
Division IV Semifinals
No. 1 Taft 14, No. 4 Chowchilla 7
No. 3 Corcoran 17, No. 7 Exeter 8
Division V Championship
No. 2 Bakersfield Christian 35, No. 1 Fowler 34
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Garces 0 0 0 0 00 Tehachapi 7 7 0 9 23
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
Teh - Mullen 2 yard run (Ochsenrider kick)
Second Quarter:
Teh - Mullen 4 yard run (Ochsenrider kick)
Fourth Quarter:
Teh - Pimentel 6 yard pass from Ochsenrider (Ochsenrider kick)
Teh - Safety; high snap went through the end zone
Garces vs THS STATS
GHS THS First Downs 7 15 Rushes-Yards 25-96 55-241 Passing Yards 32 43 Comp-Att-Int 6-15-1 4-5-0 Total Yards 128 284 Punts N/A N/A Fumbles-Lost Penalties 11-105 8-65
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING-Tehachapi, Strauss 14-59, Mullen 17-56, Lorenz 19-120; Garces, Cauzza 10-36, Berry 1-2, Thompson 10-43, Phillips 4-15
PASSING-Tehachapi, Ochsenrider 4-5-0-43, Garces, Cauzza 6-14-1-32
RECEIVING-Tehachapi, Rodriguez 1-8, Balkar 1-19, Pimentel 2-16; Garces, Antongiovanni 1-2, Thompson 2-17, Jannino 1-9, Siegers 1-5, Berry 1-(-1)