The Warriors will travel to Wasco Friday night to play the Tigers. The Warriors defeated the Tigers last year in Tehachapi, 49-21.
The last Wasco win over a Tehachapi team occurred in 1995 by a final score of 2-0. Photo courtesy of The Tehachapi News
Posted by thswarriors.com on November 4, 2009 SSL Ramblings ...
Warriors Travel To Wasco Friday Night
SSL Title and #1 Seed on the Line
The Warriors played their finest game of the season last Friday night in defeating the Taft Wildcats, 16-7, to position themselves for another SSL title and a possible #1 seed in the post-season Division III playoffs.
But first things first, the Warriors have a very important date this Friday in Wasco with the highly motivated Tigers. A Wasco win would probably create a three-way tie for first place with Taft, Wasco, and the Warriors.
Coming off an emotional win over Taft, the Warriors are ripe for an upset if they don't get off the bus in Wasco in the right frame of mind.
Against Taft, the Warriors defense was brilliant all night long, doing a good job of containing Taft's gifted running back Cody Shirreffs. The Warriors saved their heroics for the final quarter as the offense erupted for eight points and the defense scored two points with a safety to end the game.
Tehachapi advanced their season record to 7-1 overall, and 3-0 in league play. The Warriors are the current #1 seed in Division III as ranked by the Fresno Bee and the #14 ranked team in the San Joaquin Valley by the Bakersfield Californian. And this from prep beat sports writer Zach Ewing of the Californian on the upcoming Warrior-Tiger game:
"The last piece of the SSL puzzle will be fit in after this game, and all signs point to a Tehachapi victory en route to another league championship, what would be the Warriors' ninth since joining the league 17 years ago. Any reason to believe the Tigers can spoil the party and create a three-way tie with Taft atop the league standings? Well, a few. Taft did a great job of not letting Quentin Cheatham and Jacob Salinas bust the big plays that have hurt every other team on Wasco's schedule; Tehachapi has the goods to do the same, but if it doesn't execute on D, those guys will be gone in the blink of an eye. But even if Wasco throws the first punch or two, Tehachapi has shown its resiliency and, maybe more important, its ability to score in different ways. In a game closer than they'd like, the Warriors come through."
Prediction: Tehachapi 26, Wasco 15
The Warriors defense has been outstanding this season. Above, Michael Lowder #31 and Zach Timm #36, move in for a tackle in a recent game.
Meet the Wasco TigersThe Wasco Tigers are enjoying one of their best football seasons in many years. The Tigers are currently 6-2 overall and 2-1 in SSL play. As previously mentioned, a Tiger victory over the Warriors would create a three-way tie for first place.
For the most part, the Tigers had a soft pre-league schedule compared to the Warriors. However, the Tigers do have a quality win over Porterville this year, 34-14. Porterville has had a very good season so far with a 5-3 record.
The gut wrenching loss for Wasco this season was two weeks ago against Taft, 42-0, at home. Wasco is looking to avenge that loss against the Warriors.
For Wasco to be successful, they need to establish the running game. Carrying the load for the Tigers again this year is runing back #9 Quentin Cheatham (1,494 yards, 16 TD's). Cheatham has rushed for 100 or more yards in every game this season, and has three 200+ yard rushing games.
The Warriors have defeated Wasco 13 straight times and 20 times in the past 21 seasons. That one loss was in 1995 by the score of 2-0. That's not a misprint, as in one safety, 2-0.
Around the SSL This Week ...In other games this week, Arvin (1-7; 1-2 SSL) will travel to Bakersfield Christian (3-5; 1-2). This should be a good game, but Bakersfied Christian will prevail.
Shafter (2-6; 1-2) will feel the wrath of Taft when they travel to the oil town. The Wildcats will want to get back on the winning track after the loss to the Warriors.
One of the biggest games in Kern County this week pits undefeated Frontier (8-0) at Stockdale (7-1). Warrior fans are hoping that Frontier can run the table this season and win the Division II crown.
And remember Segestrom of Santa Ana? The Warriors narrowly defeated the Jaguars in Santa Ana in the first game of the season, 21-20. The Jags are 4-4 on the season, but 3-0 in league play. Segestrom will be hosting powerful Westminster High for the probable league title match-up this week. Westminster is the defending league champion.
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