Tehachapi at Garces-Balersfield
November 22, 2013
Warrior defenders Sean Casey #56 and Tyler Kroeger #28 close in on a Garces ball carrier to make the tackle.
The Warriors were eliminated from the Division II playoffs by Garces Friday night in Bakersfield, 20-3.
Tehachapi finishes the season at 8-4 overall. Photo by Casey Christie, The Bakersfield Californian.
Posted on November 25, 2013 by Tom Shea, The Tehachapi News Football Season Ends At Garces
Warriors Play Inspired Defense
The Warriors played one of their most impressive defensive games of the year against a prolific, high-scoring offense in the CIF Division II Quarterfinals.
However, Garces matched Mountain Football with a stifling performance of their own en route to a 20-3 win over Tehachapi.
With the turnover battle one of the major contributing factors to Tehachapi’s loss in the SEYL championship two weeks before, the Warriors turned the tables in the playoff rematch. The Warriors recorded a fumble and interception in the first half to help preserve an early lead.
On Garces’s second play from scrimmage, a mishandled snap and a blitzing Bobby Sharp gave Tehachapi (8-4) early momentum, with Sharp picking up the pigskin from the turf and racing 19 yards to the Garces 15-yard line.
The Warriors took advantage of the early gift by connecting on a 25-yard field goal by Abraham Katona for a 3-0 advantage at the 9:08 mark of the first quarter.
The lead held pat for the majority of the first period. David Carter stopped another drive on the next Garces possession by tipping a pass and recording an interception at the Tehachapi eight-yard line. The turnover stymied a Rams scoring opportunity, negating points from a Garces 57-yard drive that recorded three first downs.
Garces would get on the scoreboard at the 5:46 mark in the second quarter on a 20-yard touchdown run and add two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to end the Warriors’ season.
Carter finished as the leading tackler for Tehachapi with eight takedowns, followed by Micah Fjeld and Ty Curry with seven tackles each. Thomas Blewett, Angel Garcia and Sharp added five tackles apiece and Sean Casey and Joseph Blewett contributed with four takedowns each.
Thomas Blewett also had two sacks and Willy Urciel recorded a sack for Mountain Football.
On offense, Christian Terle led all rushers with 27 yards on eight carries, playing the entire first half before re-aggravating an ankle injury on Tehachapi’s second play of the third quarter and not returning to action. Other rushing leaders included Carter with 21 yards and Skylar Valencia with 18 yards on the ground.
Chris Llamas led the passing attack with four completions for 64 yards, connecting with Logan Soto on two catches for 58 yards and Dakota Medovitch on a catch for six yards. Valencia also had a reception for zero yards.
All-SEYL selections for Tehachapi will be announced in a future edition of the Tehachapi News. Please be sure and log into thswarriors.com for a full season recap and highlights throughout the season. Full stats on the players will be posted in maxpreps.com within the next few weeks.
Warrior defenders Steven Cross #24 and Dakota Medovitch #81 wrestle down the Garces QB in action Friday night in Bakersfield.
The Rams defeated the Warriors, 20-3, to advance in the CIF Division II post-season playoffs.
Photo by Casey Christie, The Bakersfield Californian.
Posted on November 22, 2013 by Stephen Lynch, The Bakersfield Californian Garces "D" Hushes Rival Tehachapi in DII Playoffs
BAKERSFIELD - The Garces football team showed that its a lot more than a high-powered offensive machine that wins by racking up bunches of points.
The Rams demonstrated that they can play championship-caliber defense too.
Third-seeded Garces completely stymied No. 6 Tehachapi's normally potent offensive attack and posted a 20-3 Central Section Division II quarterfinal victory over the Warriors Friday night at Sam Tobias Field.
The Rams held Tehachapi to just 120 yards of net offensive in beating their Southeast Yosemite League rivals for a second time in three weeks.
"I thought our defense was just lights-out tonight," Garces coach Jim Maples said. "They just played so well against a very good football team."
The win earns the defending champion Rams a semifinal match-up against second-seeded Kingsburg next Friday night.
Sheldon Croney once again led the way for Garces, rushing for 125 yards and a touchdown while registering two sacks on defense.
"I think our defense won us that game," Croney said. "
Despite the 17-point final margin, Garces was tested by Tehachapi, which came away with just three points on two trips inside the Rams 10-yard line.
The Warriors only points came on a 25-yard Abraham Katona field goal after Garces fumbled away the game's opening possession.
Down 7-3 Tehachapi missed a golden opportunity to take over the lead early in the third quarter.
But after driving down to the 1-yard line, the Garces defense stuffed two straight David Carter runs, causing Tehachapi to turn the ball over on downs.
"If they would have scored it would have been a whole different ballgame," Garces wide receiver/defensive back Dominic Frasch said. "On defense a goal line stand is the greatest thing you can ask for. It's like scoring on offense."
The goal line stand seemed to light a spark in the Rams' offense, which promptly marched 90 yards, scoring on a Jake Paveltich 17-yard fake-handoff and run.
That score gave Garces a 13-3 advantage with 9:48 left in the game.
Later the Rams sealed the victory, their eighth in nine games, when Pavletich connected with Dominic Frasch on a 49-yard touchdown pass.
Pavlatich finished 10-of-16 for 174 yards passing.
"We played great defensively but offensive we got down there and didn't score," Tehachapi coach Steve Denman said. "When you get in the red zone you have to score and we didn't do that."
The first half was an extreme defensive struggle. Garces led 7-3 at halftime but had only 135 yards before the intermission.
The Rams' swarming defense held Tehachapi to only 59 yards of net offense in the first half.
Following a slow start, the Rams potent offensive attack, which came into the game averaging 33.7 points per game, finally got going late in the first half.
Croney took the handoff up the middle and unable to find a hole there, bounced the play outside before racing into the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown.
That play capped off a 73-yard drive.
Garces looked sloppy early on, turning the ball over on each of its first two possessions.
Already down 3-0 the Rams drove down to the Tehachapi 14-yard line before Pavletich fired a pass over the middle that Carter tipped up into the air and caught.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Tehachapi 3 0 0 0 03 Garces 0 7 0 13 20
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
THS -- Katona 25 yard field goal.
Second Quarter:
GHS -- Croney 20 run (Curutchague kick)
Fourth Quarter:
GHS -- Pavletich 17 run (kick blocked)
GHS -- Frasch 49 pass from Pavletich (Curutchague kick)
Tehachapi at Garces Stats
THS GHS First Downs 7 12 Rushes-Yards 29-56 37-145 Passing Yards 64 174 Comp-Att-Int 4-14-0 10-16-1 Total Yards 120 319 Punts 5-36.8 2-33.0 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 4-1 Penalties 3-25 8-75
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING:
Tehachapi: Tehachapi: Terle 8-27, Carter 7-21, Valencia 8-18, Curry 2-5, Rhodes 1-1, Llamas 3-(-16);
Garces: Croney 28-125, Pavletich 7-11, Frasch 1-10, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING:
Tehachapi: Llamas 4-14-0-64. Garces: Pavletich 10-16-1-174.
RECEIVING:
Tehachapi: Soto 2-58, Medovitch 1-6, Valencia 1-0; Garces: Frasch 6-106, Logan 2-46, Lundy 1-21, Giulietti 1-1.
Varsity – Tehachapi (8-4), Garces (9-3)
