Tulare Western at Tehachapi
November 20, 2015
Warrior QB Lars Olofson attempts a pass during the game with Tulare Western Friday night (Nov. 20) in Tehachapi.
The Mustangs defeated the Warriors in a defensive battle, 15-8, to advance in the Central Section valley playoffs.
The Warriors end their 2015 season campaign at 7-3 overall. Photo by TBC Media Group.
Posted on November 21, 2015 by John Nelson, The Tehachapi News Warriors Fall In Bizarre Fashion
At CIF Tournamnet
The end came in an unusual way for the Tehachapi Warriors.
A team that had averaged more than 275 yards rushing per game got just 81. A team that had scored more than 31 points per game got just 8, and those came after three scoreless quarters.
With injured teammates Keyron Scott and Angel Garcia on the sidelines, the Warriors were defeated 15-8 by Tulare Western on Friday night, Nov. 20, in the quarterfinals of the CIF-CS Division 3 playoffs.
It was the second straight season the Warriors had failed to win a playoff game, and it came against a lower-seeded team that Tehachapi was favored to beat. Tehachapi was seeded third with a bye into the quarters, while Tulare was the sixth seed. “Too many turnovers and mental mistakes. We didn't do our jobs,” senior quarterback Lars Olofson said after hugging teammates and friends on the field. “It came down to who made fewer mistakes, and it was them.”
Despite the turnovers, despite the mistakes, Tehachapi might still have won if Scott and Garcia had been healthy. It's the “Big If.”
With 1,351 yards rushing during the season despite missing all or part of the final three games, Scott had accounted for nearly half of Tehachapi's offense. He sat out with a nagging knee injury, a deep bone bruise that just wouldn't heal quickly enough.
Garcia, meanwhile, sustained a hyper-extended left knee early in the second quarter and could not play the rest of the way. He led the Warriors with 115 tackles, averaging 11.5 tackles per game, and was the on-field leader of the defense.
“Keyron's a great player, and Angel is a great player,” head coach Steve Denman said. “We needed to band together on both sides of the ball, and make up for it. ”On defense, they did. Despite the absence of Garcia, the Warriors held Tulare Western to just two touchdowns on 97 yards rushing and 111 passing. “We played great defense all night,” Denman said.
On offense, they didn't.
Wide receiver Jake Walters wound up the Warriors leading rusher with 34 yards, all on one carry. It was Tehachapi's longest play from scrimmage the whole night and set up its only touchdown of the game, a 4-yard run by Troy Noda with 4:40 to play.
When Olofson hit Jacob Gonzalez in the back of the end zone for the 2-point conversion, it tied the score 8-8 and sent the Tehachapi bench into a frenzy. Suddenly, there were signs of life.
The Mustangs scored the first 8 points of the game in the third quarter. They earned 2 points for a safety after Tehachapi snapped the ball over punter Gabe Dodge's head into the end zone, and came away with 6 on David Alcantar's 18-yard scoring run two minutes later.
The Warriors started their game-tying drive when Chris Podratz recovered a fumbled punt on the Mustangs 42. One play later, Walters beat the Tulare Western defense around the left corner before he was pushed out of bounds at the Mustangs 8.
A Tulare Western penalty gave Tehachapi the ball at the 4, and Noda ran it in off left tackle. After more than three quarters of futility, the Warriors appeared to have some momentum. It was short-lived, though.
Tulare Western took a ground-hugging kickoff at its own 48 and scored three plays later. A pass from Andre Aguilar to Joshua Portillo got the Mustangs into Tehachapi territory, and a 30-yard scamper by Alcantar landed Tulare Western on the 1-yard line. Alcantar scored 3:54 left.
“They made a couple of good plays — that one run up the sideline — and that's really all you can say,” Denman said. The Warriors got the ball twice after that, fumbling it away the first time and failing to move the ball even a single yard the second time. A frustrating night for the Warriors finally ended with the ball in Tulare Western's hands and its quarterback on his knee.
“We had a few plays that worked a couple of times” during the game, Olofson said, but they were too few and too far between.
After the game, Denman said he told his players to “keep their heads held up.” They’d finished second in the South Yosemite League with a 3-1 record, were 7-3 overall against a tough schedule and had a successful season. “They're a great bunch of guys, very positive, and they worked hard,” he said. “That's all you can ask of them. You win some and you lose some. Tonight, we lost one.”
Warriors Rally Around Fallen Leader On Defense
In the absence of defensive leader Angel Garcia, a gang of Warriors took over on defense against Tulare Western.
In holding the Mustangs to just 97 yards on the ground, five Warriors defenders had five tackles apiece: David Wight, Colten Eaton,
Tanner Herman, Thomas Blewett and Jackson Caudle.
Garcia left with a hyper-extended left knee early in the second quarter and did not return. Team medical trainer Roger Davis said
the injury was a soft-tissue injury and should heal well.
Garcia had just one tackle when he was injured.
The Warriors defense also came up with one sack, by Israel Guerrero, an interception by Wight and fumble recoveries by Guerrero and Chris Podratz.
•••
In a scoreless first half against Tulare Western, the Warriors managed only 18 plays on three possessions and one first down, while being plagued by bad field position.
Their first three possessions ended on punts after failing to gain a single first down. Finally, on their third drive of the half, late in the second quarter,
Tehachapi managed a first down on a 7-yard run by Troy Noda to the Mustangs 40.
That was as deep as they got into Tulare Western territory before intermission.
To start the fourth quarter, Tulare Western had an apparent touchdown wiped out by a holding penalty, then fumbled the ball away.
Warriors tackle Israel Guerrero recovered at the Mustangs 37, but four plays netted Tehachapi just two more yards.
The Warriors did not penetrate Tulare Western territory again until their lone touchdown drive late in the game.
•••
The loss to Tulare Western was Tehachapi's only loss to a Division 3 team this season.
Its other two losses came against Division 1 Centennial, 25-7, on Sept. 11 and 64-21 to Division 2 Ridgeview in a South Yosemite League game on Oct. 30.
Both those losses were at Coy Burnett Field, giving the Warriors a 2-3 record at home this season, while they were 5-0 on the road.
Warrior running back Noah Whitlach fights for yardage against Tulare Western defenders. The Mustangs upset the Warriors
on the mountain 15-8 in a Central Section playoff game. Photo by the TBC Media Group.
Posted on November 20, 2015 by Tom Shea, Bakersfield Californian Tulare Western Upsets Warriors On The Mountain
Tulare Western 15 Warriors 8
TEHACHAPI – Despite an inspired defensive effort, the no.3 seed Warriors could never get their offensive on track in a 15-8 upset defeat against no.6 seed Tulare Western in the CIF Division III quarterfinals on the mountain.
Tehachapi (7-3), who were handicapped from the outset without offensive star Keyron Scott, managed an anemic 53 rushing yards on the night and only three first downs. Scott accounted for nearly half of the Warriors’ total offensive yardage during the season and was held out of the game due to a nagging knee injury suffered in week 9 against Ridgeview.
To make matters worse, the Warriors also lost defensive leader Angel Garcia early in the second quarter to a knee injury, but still managed to keep the score knotted 0-0 at halftime.
The game’s first points came in the third quarter when the Warriors bobbled a punt snap through the endzone for a safety, giving Tulare Western (9-3) a 2-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Mustangs drove 49-yards for the first touchdown of the game, capping the drive with a David Alcantar 18-yard touchdown run.
Momentum eventually shifted back to the Warriors midway through the fourth quarter when Chase Podratz recovered a muffed punt return at the Tulare Western 42-yard line. On the ensuing drive, Jake Walters registered Tehachapi’s longest run from scrimmage on the night on a 34-yard sweep, setting up an eventual 4-yard touchdown run by Troy Noda.
The Warriors tied the game on a two-point pass from Lars Olofson to Jacob Gonzales in the back of the endzone to make the score 8-8.
However, Tulare Western put the game away for good on their next offensive possession, driving 52 yards on only three plays, ending with an Alcantar 1-yard touchdown plunge.
Alcantar finished as the game’s leading rusher with 71 yards on 14 carries.
Tulare Western quarterback Andre Aguilar complimented Alcantar’s running with 100 pass yards on nine completions.
Joshua Portillo was Aguilar’s favorite target, catching five passes for 66 yards.
On defense, the Warriors were led by Tanner Herman, Daniel Wight, Thomas Blewett, Colten Eaton and Jackson Caudle, who each had five tackles. Israel Guerrero also had a fumble recovery and a sack.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Tulare Western 0 0 8 7 15 Tehachapi 0 0 0 8 08
The Scoring:
Third quarter:
TWH - Bobbled snap out of endzone for safety
TWH – Alcantar 18 run (run failed)
Fourth quarter:
THS - Noda 4 run (Gonzales pass from Olofson)
TWH – Alcantar 1 run (Hosrting kick)
Tulare Western vs Tehachapi Statistics
TWHS THS First Downs 11 3 Rushes-Yards 34-97 33-56 Passing Yards 111 00 Comp-Att-Int 9-14-0 0-5-0 Total Yards 208 56 Punts 5-40.4 6-37.8 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 4-3 Penalties 9-75 4-30
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING—Tehachapi: Walters 1-34, Whitlach 7-21, Noda 5-21, Macon 9-14, Olofson 10-(-9), TEAM 1-(-25).
Tulare Western: Alcantar 14-71, Bernardo 8-16, Portillo 1-3, Aguilar 14-0, Alonzo 1-0.
PASSING—Tehachapi: Olofson 0-4-0 0, Llamas 0-1-0 0. Tulare Western Western: Aguilar 9-14-0 100.
RECEIVING—Tehachapi: None. Tulare Western: Portillo 5-66, Macias 2-20, Damarin 1-14, Salazar 2-6.West: Boyd 5-53, Haywood 1-9.
Varsity – Tehachapi (7-3)), Tulare Western (9-3)
