Posted by thswarriors.com, on November 14, 2009 Warriors Advance to the Playoffs as #2 Seed
Mira Monte Comes To the Mountain Friday
The 2009 Warrior varsity football team advanced to the CIF Central Section Division III playoffs Friday night after defeating the Arvin Bears, 34-7. The Warriors earned a #2 seed and will host #15 seed Mira Monte-Bakersfield in the playoffs this Friday night at Coy Burnett Field.
The mighty Warriors finished the regular season at 8-2, 4-1 in SSL play, sharing the league crown with Taft and Wasco. For Tehachapi, it was their seventh SSL crown since joining the league in 1992.
The Warriors are the defending two-time CIF Division III champions and are advancing to the valley playoffs for the 14th straight season under head coach Steve Denman. All first round playoff games begin Friday, November 20, at 7:00 pm.
Mira Monte, a new high school, finished the season with a 5-5 season record and were members of the South Central Sequoia League with other new schools Independence, Mission Oak-Tulare, and Kennedy-Delano. The Tehachapi-Mira Monte winner will meet the winner of the #7 seed South Bakersfield - #10 seed Foothill-Bakersfield game.
Mira Monte is the co-champion of the South Central Sequoia League with a 5-1 record. In the pre-seaon, Mira Monte lost four straight games to Chavez-Delano, 33-0; Clovis North, 52-22; Shafter, 30-11; and South Bakersfield, 48-0. Shafter is the only common opponent that both the Warriors and Mira Monte have played (the Warriors defeated Shafter, 28-0). Mira Monte, as a new high school, does not have a senior class this season, nor do any of the other schools in their league.
There are 15 teams in the Division III tournament, and the Warriors would have to win four straight games to win their third straight CIF championship. On the other side of the bracket is the #1 seed Dinuba Emperors (8-2), the third place team in the Central Sequoia League behind league champion Kingsburg (10-0) and Exeter (6-4).
In the eleven-team Division IV tournament, undefeated Kingsburg (10-0) earned the #1 seed while Washington Union-Fresno (8-2) was seeded #2. Both schools have a first round bye.
In Division IV, Taft High School received a #3 seed and also has a first round bye. Taft will meet the winner of the #6 Dos Palos - #11 Central Valley Christian-Visalia winner. Taft finished their regular season at 8-2 after crushing Bakersfield Christian, 54-15, in their league finale.
Wasco High School (8-2) was seeded #4 and plays #5 Exeter (6-4) in the first round. Wasco defeated Shafter, 27-0, Friday night, earning their share of the SSL crown.
In Division V, SSL member Bakersfield Christian (3-7) was seeded #9 and will travel to #8 Mission Prep-SLO in the first round. Corcoran (8-2) earned the #1 seed in Division V and has a first round buy.
Warrior fans can view all of the playoff bracketing for Division III if you follow this link to the CIF offices in Porterville:
http://www.cifcs.org/division_iii_football___presente1.htm
The following link is for the Division IV tournament which includes Taft and Wasco:
http://www.cifcs.org/PlayoffBrackets/division_iv_football.htm
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