Taft at Tehachapi
Friday, October 12, 2007
Taft High’s Steven Spoonemore (#34) is tackled by Tehachapi’s Garrett Coontz in the first quarter Friday night in Tehachapi.
The Warriors went on to defeat the Wildcats, 17-3, to improve their season record to 6-1; 2-0 in league play.
Photo my Mike Duffy, Special to the Bakersfield Californian
Posted by thswarriors.com on October 13, 2007 Warriors Tame The Cats', 17-3
Taft Suffers First Loss of the Season
TEHACHAPI - The Tehachapi Warriors improved their season log to 2-0 in league play, 6-1 for the season, enroute to a 17-3 win over the visiting Taft Wildcats Friday night on the mountain. It was the first loss of the season for the highly touted Taft team (1-1; 6-1). In other SSL games, Bakersfield Christian High School remained undefeated with a 28-0 blanking over Shafter, and Wasco outgunned Arvin 42-34.
The story of the game was the rugged Warrior defense. Taft came into the game with one of the top offenses in the County, averaging over 37 points per contest. The only real scoring threat the blue-and-gold clad Wildcats mounted the entire game was on their first possession. That possession came when the Warriors fumbled away the ball on their opening drive of the game, giving Taft excellent field position. With the ball at the 26 yard line, Taft's field goal specialist Jesse Tafoya punched the ball through the uprights, a 42 yard field goal (with plenty of room to spare) to give Taft a 3-0 lead with 9:07 left in the first quarter.
A key play in the game occured at the 11:08 mark in the second quarter when Warriors QB Ehren Ochsenrider fired a pass over the middle on 3rd-and-long, only to have the pass intercepted and returned deep into Warrior territory. However, Taft was flagged on the play with a questionable roughing the passer penalty --- and Tehachapi retained the ball with a new set of downs. The Warriors proceeded to march down the field and score on a shifty 18 yard run by Adam Mullen with 9:16 left in the second quarter. The PAT kick by Ochsenrider was good to make the score 7-3.
With 3:37 left in the first half, the Warriors next score was set up when Byron Herman pounced on a fumble on the Taft 42 yard line. The drive featured another fine 18 yard run by Mullen and an Ochsenrider-to-Franky Rodriguez pass play that put the ball inside the Taft 10 yard line. With time running out, and several attempts to score unsuccessful, the Warriors settled for a hurried 24 yard field goal by Ochsenrider with 0:01 seconds on the scoreboard. The Warriors went into the locker room with a slim 10-3 halftime lead.
The Warriors began the second half of play with an onside kick --- trying to catch the Cat's napping, but the ball went out of bounds at the Taft 48 yard line. Thwarting any potential Taft momentum, the hard hitting Warrior defense once again held Taft and forced a punt.
Both teams exchanged several punts when Tehachapi took possession of the ball at the Warriors 36 yard line with 6:36 left in the third quarter. The Warriors then began the drive that would take the spirit right out of the Cats'. On a time consuming 13 play drive, Tehachapi drove 64 yards for the score, featuring key runs by Mullen and Kelly Lorenz. The Warriors scored with 11:05 left in the FOURTH quarter on an Ochsenrider 1 yard keeper around the end. The Ochsenrider PAT kick made the score 17-3.
The Cats' started going through the air in the final quarter, but a hard constant rush on Taft quarterback Dalton Botts made it difficult for the Wildcats to sustain a drive. Taft managed only 83 yards rushing in the game, and went 5-20 through the air for 60 yards.
Using a variety of different running backs, the Warriors were led by Mullen with 66 yards on eight carries, Rodriquez added five carries for 54 yards, Josh Strauss picked up 69 rushing yards, and Kelly Lorenz had 45 yards.
The Bakersfield Californian quoted Warrior coach Steve Denman as saying, "We didn't throw the ball much tonight, but we mixed it up with a lot of different running backs."
Posted by MASON KELLEY, The Bakersfield Californian on October 13, 2007 MOUNTAIN MADNESS
Tehachapi Hands Taft Its First Loss,
Remains Tied With BCHS Atop SSL
TEHACHAPI -- As Tehachapi marched down the field in the third quarter, someone from the sideline shouted, "Welcome to the mountain."
When opponents play the Warriors on their home field, they can expect two things: hard hits and a heavy dose of running plays.
In a matchup between two SSL powers, the Warriors rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns to claim a 17-3 victory over Taft on Friday.
"Everyone did their jobs," linebacker Alek Taliulu said. "We came through."
Tehachapi started slowly, fumbling on its first possession. That set up the Wildcats' only score of the game, a 42-yard field goal by Jesse Tafoya.
It wasn't until their first drive of the second quarter that the Warriors found a seam in Taft's defense.
The first play the Warriors broke loose came on a sweep by Franky Rodriquez, who broke around the outside for 21 yards. On the next play, Adam Mullen sprinted toward the sideline, but he couldn't find a hole. With a Taft defender diving for his jersey, Mullen spun the other way, found a seam and the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown.
"I just cut back," Mullen said. "I had blockers in front of me and I scored."
Both big runs came on sweep plays that exposed a weakness in Taft's defense. Mullen finished with 66 yards on eight carries, while Rodriquez added five carries for 54 yards. Kelly Lorenz and Josh Strauss also played well for the Warriors with 45 and 69 rushing yards respectively.
<> "Both kids made some good cuts," Tehachapi coach Steve Denman said of Rodriquez and Mullen. "Second and third effort was what it ended up being with those kids."
The Warriors went into the half with a 10-3 lead after a 24-yard field goal from Ehren Ochsenrider. The kick was set up by a Taft fumble on its own 42.
With just 69 yards in the first half, the Wildcats needed a spark early the third quarter. But it was Taliulu who made a statement on the first play of the half when he hit Taft running back Ricky Romo for a loss of 2 yards. That set the tone for the rest of the game. The Wildcats couldn't pick up a first down in the third quarter and only had two possessions because the Warriors chewed up the clock with a 13-play drive that spilled into the fourth quarter.
"We didn't throw the ball much tonight," Denman said. "But we mixed it up with a lot of different running backs."
Tehachapi (6-1, 2-0) attempted just one pass on the drive, which resulted in pass interference penalty. Ochsenrider would cap the drive with a 1-yard run.
"I didn't think we played that badly on defense," Taft coach Steve Sprague said. "We asked out defense to do too much. They were a typical Tehachapi defense. They make you grind out everything."
Taft finally got its offense going late in the fourth quarter, but their last drive stalled deep in Warriors territory, allowing Tehachapi to run out the clock.
"You don't come up here and play mediocre and win," Sprague said.
Welcome to the mountain.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Taft 3 0 0 0 03 Tehachapi 0 10 0 7 17
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
Taft - Jesse Tafoya 42 yd. FG Good (9:07)
Second Quarter:
Teh - Adam Mullen 18 yd. TD run - Ochsenrider PAT Good (9:16)
Teh - Ehren Ochsenrider 24 yd. FG Good (0:01)
Fourth Quarter:
Teh - Ehren Ochsenrider 1 yd. TD run - Ochsenrider PAT Good(11:05)
Taft vs Tehachapi STATISTICS
Taft THS First Downs 9 15 Rushes-Yards 27-83 44-239 Passing Yards 60 31 Comp-Att-Int 5-20-0 3-6-0 Total Yards 143 270 Punts 5-38.2 3-N/A Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-2 Penalties 7-67 11-85
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING - Tehachapi, Lorenz 9-47, Strauss 19-70, Mullen 8-67, Rodriguez 5-52, Ochsenrider 2-3; Taft, Botts 9-29, Romo 7-14, Taylor 7-31, Shirreffs 3-7.
PASSING - Tehachapi, Ochsenrider 3-6-0-31, Taft, Botts 5-20-0-60
RECEIVING - Tehachapi, Mullen, 1-3, Rodriguez 1-12, Coontz 1-16; Taft, Kolb 4-49, Halphin 1-11.
Varsity Records: Tehachapi 2-0 (6-1), Taft 1-1 (6-1)
JV — Tehachapi 6, Taft 14
Frosh – Tehachapi 30, Taft 12
Week 7 SSL Scoreboard:
Wasco 42 Arvin 34
Bakersfield Christian 28, Shafter 0
