Garces High QB #12 Cruise Adams runs for tough yardage against a Bakersfield High defender.
Photo courtesy of The Bakersfield Californian.
Posted by thswarriors.com on October 31, 2012 Ogilvie Bowl VI:
Powerful Rams Invade Tehachapi In League Finale
SEYL Title On The Line
The powerful Garces Rams are coming up the mountain Friday night in the annual Ogilvie Bowl game with the Tehachapi Warriors. Game time is 7:30 pm at historic Coy Burnett Field.
Just like old times, at stake is a league championship as both schools are 4-0 in Southeast Yosemite League (SEYL) competition. For Garces, they are the defending league champions. For Tehachapi, they are new to the SEYL and attempting to win their first SEYL championship.
The other looming factor in the game is the winner will also earn a #1 seed in the Division II playoffs set to begin Friday night, November 9. A #1 seed will earn homefield advantage throughout the playoff season.
These two schools have met 41 previous times in a long storied rivalry dating back to 1946. Garces holds a slight edge, 20-19-2.
The modern era of the rivalry saw the Rams and Warriors battle as members of the South Sequoia League (SSL) between 1992 and 2003. Every year it was either Garces or Tehachapi that won the league championship, further fueling the epic battles between these two schools. Garces, a private Catholic school, left the SSL in 2004 to join the SEYL.
Since 2004, Tehachapi has continued to play Garces in non-league games, but the two schools have met three times in tension filled playoff games.
This past week, Garces coach Jim Maples was quoted in The Bakersfield Californian as saying, "We've got Tehachapi next week, and we've gotta play them on the mountain in the fall, so it's going to be an intense week of practice. We feel like it's our week one playoff game, and we want to win it so we can have home-field advantage through the playoffs. I think if we play at our level, no one can beat us."
Tehachapi will enter the game with plenty of motivation, losing twice to the Rams last season, their only two losses of the year.
Meet the Garces Rams
Garces is 8-1 this season under first year head coach Jim Maples. Maples has overhauled the Rams offense, using elements of the old Wing-T offense, but spreading out the field to better utilize the talents of his skilled position players.
The results have been off the charts, including one 77 point performance against Golden Valley. Senior quarterback Cruise Adams #12 has completed 94 of 155 passes for 1,964 passing yards and 25 TD's. His favorite targets are seniors Jake Sweaney #1 (25 catches, 546 yards, 8 TD's) and Angus Bellue #7 (27 catches, 665 yards, 8 TD's).
The leading rusher is sophomore Sheldon Croney #4 with 800 yards in 91 carries, scoring 15 TD's.
Garces has been outstanding on the defensive side of the ball as well led by linebackers Connor Carlovsky #35 and George Borba #45.
The Rams have been ranked in the Top 10 in the Central Section all season long by both The Fresno Bee and The Bakersfield Californian. The Rams only loss this season was to Bakersfield High, 34-24, in a game that was closer than the final score indicates.
Veteran Warrior coach Steve Denman will be looking to pull a few suprises out of his bag of tricks to contain the explosive Rams.
Ogilvie Bowl VI
The annual contest between Garces and Tehachapi is now named the "Ogilvie Bowl" after long time coach Gary Ogilvie. The winner of the game gets to keep the Ogilvie Bowl Trophy for one year --- with the trophy handed out for the first time in 2007.
Ogilvie was a standout quarterback for Garces during his playing days, guiding the Rams to their first ever Valley Championship in 1953 and serving as the school's head coach from 1964-1969. During his six years at Garces, his teams won several SSL championships.
Ogilvie then moved to Tehachapi where he was the head coach two different times, from 1971 to 1974, and from 1979 to 1981. During that period, his Warriors teams went 68-12, capturing four Desert-Inyo League championships and one CIF section championship.
Garces leads the Ogilvie Bowl series 3-2, but up until this year, all of the previous games were non-league affairs. This time around, a league championship and a #1 seed in the upcoming CIF playoffs is on the line.
QB Gary Ogilvie (1953)
