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WARRIORS BEGIN 2005 JOURNEY WITH SPRING TRAINING Posted 05-28-05
LEARNING FROM THE MASTER - Coach Steve Denman instructs the 2005 Warriors between play drills during May spring ball. TEHACHAPI NEWS - Coming fresh off their ninth consecutive playoff appearance last fall, the 2005 Tehachapi Warriors have begun preparation for an upcoming season with high expectations. With a young defense and a handful of juniors at the skilled positions, last year’s Warriors were able to compile a CIF Division III quarter-final berth and a second place finish in the SSL with an overall 7-5 (4-1 SSL) record. With many of those same players returning, the coaching staff is optimistic that the experience will result in an even better output in 2005. “Overall we like what we see out so far, we have over 50 players out for varsity this year and they’re working hard early,” said Head Coach Steve Denman. “It’s a good group and we’re excited about that.”
On defense, Tehachapi will
benefit greatly with the return of a strong frontline, with second year
down-lineman Levi Kerstein back along with
Matt Deger and Chad Johnson on the ends. In the
linebacking corps, Mike Barboa, Lance
Lange, Paul Abarquez, and
Zac Schlais
bring back with them a combined 161 tackles made in the 2004 season.
“We think we’ll have a great
team next year with a lot of players returning,” said Warrior
Zac Schlais. “At
some points their might have been some confusion last year with our
execution, but this season we can step up from where we left off with a
lot of the same guys.”
On offense, back for the
Warriors taking snaps behind center will be Tyler
Hansen, along with a talented offensive line have seen
significant playing action, some of which include Tommy O’Brien, Chris
Dockery, Matt Fort, Ralph
Curiel, and a host of others. Tehachapi will
also boast one of the best tight-end tandems in the entire valley with
the return of Barboa and three-year varsity
letterman Mike Papac.
In the backfield, which is
one of the key staples of the wing-t offense, the Warriors feel the
tradition of a strong running game can continue.
“We’re not going to have just
one guy carry the ball last year like we had with Sean (Finley),” said
Denman. “This year we have a lot of guys that can contribute for us and
we’re going to give each of them a chance to get some carries.”
The depth that Denman refers
to includes returning Warrior Robert Wright, who brings with him a
successful 290 yards with a 5.4 ypc average
from 2004, along with upcoming junior Gabe
Bressler, who terrorized opponents in the
junior varsity ranks last season to help guide the Braves to a 10-0 (5-0
SSL) league championship season.
“All of us want to do
whatever we can to help the team,” said Lance Lange. “The returning guys
want to be leaders and keep the tradition going.”
The Warriors will continue
spring ball practice this week, ending Thursday at 4pm. The next
gridiron meeting for the Warriors will be June 17-19 when they host the
Golden-State Wing-T Football camp at the Benz Youth Football fields, a
national event that will bring some of the best Wing-T offensive schools
throughout the state of California.
Attached is the 2005 Schedule
for the Warriors. Note that the schedule reflects the same for the
JV and Frosh as well. Frosh will be a day earlier...every
Thursday. The only exception location-wise is in week 1 for the
frosh, where the Tehachapi ninth-graders will be making the trip to LA
to face Compton while the JV and Varsity play the Tar Tar's at home on
Friday.
2005
Schedule
Date
Opponent
2-Sep
at West (Scrim)
9-Sep
Compton
17-Sep
at Paraclete (AV
College - Sat)
23-Sep
Foothill
30-Sep
at Stockdale
7-Oct
Garces
14-Oct
at Wasco
21-Oct
Taft
28-Oct
at Arvin
4-Nov
at Shafter
11-Nov
Golden Valley
Tehachapi will once again be hosts for the “National
Offensive Football Camp” (formerly called the
Golden State Wing-T Camp) this season. The staff, which will include
some of the premier coaching minds in the entire country, will be coming
to Tehachapi on June 17-19. The Warriors will be joined by some of the
other prominent wing-t camps in Southern California, with the full team
attendance TBD. If you’re a player or parent, please fill out the
brochure for the camp and hand it to coach
Denman as the camp date draws closer. Congratulations to the
Warriors baseball
team, who ended the year as SSL champions with a strong 11-1 record
before falling to El Diamante in the section quarterfinals, 5-4. After
falling to early SSL favorite Wasco 16-9 early in the year, Tehachapi
flexed their championship poise by winning the last two match-ups with
the Tigers, 5-2 and 12-5. Great job, men!
In
women’s softball
action, first-year head coach Tracy Goodell was able to guide the Lady
Warriors to a CIF quarterfinal berth and a second place SSL finish with
a 15-10-2 overall record. With a host of upcoming juniors, sophomores,
and freshmen set to return next season, the results promise to be even
better in 2006…way to go ladies on a strong year! Congratulations again go out
to Warrior All-Area senior Brandon
Rooney, who was selected for
scholarship to Iowa State University to run cross-country and track for
the Cyclones.
From Warrior to Cyclone:
Brandon Rooney closed a great chapter on his
high school cross-country running career, finishing 10th in the state as
a junior and 4th in the state as a Senior. He has also won
two-consecutive CIF championships and Grand Masters. Coupled with his outstanding
cross-country prep-run, Rooney won three SSL titles this season in
spring track, claiming victories in the 800 (1:58.07), the 1,600
(4:40.57), and the 3,200 (10:29.24), while taking the CIF Championship
in the 1,600 (4:18.04). What really got the Big-12
conference member Cyclones interested however was Rooney’s impressive
showing at state-sponsored events earlier this year, where he ran a 4:12
mile to take first place honors at Arcadia and a 4:16.07 1,600 to take
first at the Pasadena Games. "If you earn a scholarship in the Big 12,
you're a great athlete," said Corey Ihmels, Iowa State's cross country
coach, who also works with the school's distance runners in track and
field. "Brandon's potential is limitless. I think he has just scratched
the surface of what he can do and I think he’ll be one of the first guys
to get us to the top of the Big 12.” Other members of the
Warrior track team
that did well this past year include Mountain Football’s Maurice Sales,
who won the SSL title in the high jump and the triple-jump (39-21/2), to
help Tehachapi to a second place SSL finish. In the Sequoia-Sierra CIF
Championships, Tehachapi took a very respectable bronze team finish with
67 overall points, just behind second place Templeton with 79 and
Shafter with 93. Highlighting the strong CIF
showing was Tehachapi’s 4x400 team of Scott Anderson, Jeff Pouson,
Maurice Sales, and Brandon Rooney, who set a new school record in the
event with a time of 3:31.16. On the women’s side, Lauren Campbell won
the CIF championship in the high-jump with mark of 4’-11”, while taking
third in the triple-jump with a 31’-10” effort to help Tehachapi to
sixth place overall. Congrats Warrior runners,
jumpers, and throwers! In it’s inaugural season, the
Lady Warriors Swim Team
earned an achievement that many thought would belong to the Taft Lady
Wildcats at seasons end…win an SSL title. In the SSL deciding meet
against Taft, the ladies came in first on eight events, with winners
including Christina DePorto in the 200 Free (2:16.65) and the 100 Free
(1.00.21), Tessa Brown in the 200 IM (2:29.16) and the 100 Breast Stroke
(1:13.46), Sara Brady in the 50 Free Style (27.91), and Hannah Schroeter
in the 500 Free (6.01.11). Lena Patton and Jill Taylor took home
victories with Brown and Deporto in the 200 Free Relay, winning with a
time of 1:53.77, while Brady and Deporto joined Chelsea Gadzia and
Chelsi Dominguez to take first place in the 400 Free with a time of
4:14.75. The overall team score ended
with Tehachapi on top, 96-79. Congrats ladies on a SSL championship! On the men’s side, the
Warriors finished their season with a 3-2 SSL record. Questions? Concerns? Corrections? Send Tom Shea an email, he'd like to hear from you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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