Tehachapi at Ridgeview-Bakersfield
October 31, 2014
Warrior quarterback Lars Olofson is brought down by Ridgeview defenders Friday night (Oct. 31) in Bakersfield. Ridgeview defeated the Warriors, 43-14,
to remain undefeated in South Yosemite League play. The Warriors play their regular season finale Friday at Coy Burnett Field against West High.
Photo by Nick Ellis, The Bakersfield Californian.
Posted on November 3, 2014 by Tom Shea, The Tehachapi News Mountain Football Falls To Ridgeview
Wolfpack Improves To 4-0 in SYL
With a stable of playmakers at their disposal, Ridgeview showed off their big play offense and held the Warriors at bay in a convincing 43-14 victory.
Down 13-0 in the first half, Tehachapi (5-4; 2-2 SYL) nearly put their first points on the board when Evan Sheehan caught a 34 yard completion from Lars Olofson, eventually setting up a 27-yard field goal attempt by Abraham Katona.
Katona would miss on the try, but made up for it late in the second quarter with a 39-yard field goal to give the Warriors their first points of the night. Katona also recorded a special teams highlight in the contest, booting a wind-aided 84-yard punt through the endzone.
Mountain Football scored a touchdown to open up their first drive of the third quarter when Chris Rhodes rumbled 58 yards through the middle of the line of scrimmage to set up a first and goal at the Ridgeview seven-yard line. One play later, Willy Urciel punched in a seven-yard touchdown run.
Rhodes finished as the leading rusher for the Warriors with 94 yards on 10 carries, followed by Urciel with 87 yards on 17 attempts. Nick Steele also had 53 yards on nine carries.
The Wolfpack offense would dominate the rest of the game, scoring 15 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.
Adverse weather conditions did give the Warriors a pair of safeties in the fourth quarter for the game’s final points. With swirling winds and a high dust storm making the game difficult for both teams, the first safety came off an errant snap out of the endzone and the second safety came when Ridgeview elected to run out of the endzone on fourth down to avoid having to punt against the wind.
Defensively, Angel Garcia led the team with 13 tackles, followed by Colten Eaton with seven tackles. Other leaders included Daniel Wight with five tackles, Steele with four tackles and Katona, Tanner Herman and Jacob Gonzales with three tackles each. Gonzales also recorded a sack.
Registering multiple tackle games included Nathan Collier, Ethan Averett, Jerry Castaneda, Connor O’Neal and Troy Noda.
The Warriors will play in the regular season finale this Friday night at home against West. The game against the Vikings will be at 7:30 p.m. at Coy Burnett Field.
The CIF Division II playoffs will start next week, with seeding and bracket information expected to be announced over the weekend on cifcs.org.
Tehachapi quarterback Lars Olofson, right, fakes a handoff to running back Willy Urciel in the first half against Ridgeview.
Urciel score 1 TD for the Warriors and rushed for 87 yards. (Photo by Nick Ellis, The Bakersfield Californian.)
Posted on October 31, 2014, by Zach Ewing, Sports Editor, The Bakersfield Californian Ridgeview Runs Away With Win Over Tehachapi
At many schools, Darius Smith would be listed first on the football marquee. Not at Ridgeview, where Sheldon Croney, Lawrence White and Ja'Mar Moya all get their fair share of attention.
But on Friday, as Tehachapi tried to make a game of it with the host Wolf Pack, it was Smith who made the biggest play of what turned into a 43-14 Ridgeview victory.
After the Warriors (5-4, 2-2 South Yosemite League) had scored on the opening drive of the second half to cut Ridgeview's lead to 28-10, Smith caught a short kickoff and returned it 83 yards for a touchdown.
"Smith is a great weapon to have; he's returned a couple of big ones this year," Wolf Pack coach Dennis Manning said. "He's having to wait his turn a little bit behind guys like Sheldon Croney and Lawrence White, but he's unselfish, and he's a great weapon himself. That was a big momentum change for us."
Somaan Iqbal picked up a bad snap on the extra-point attempt and ran it in for two points, and Croney scored on a 21-yard touchdown run minutes later to give Ridgeview a 43-10 lead.
The Wolf Pack, ranked No. 3 in BVarsity's Central Section top 25, clinched a share of the SYL title. Ridgeview (8-1, 4-0) travels to rival Independence (6-3, 3-1) next week with the outright championship on the line.
"We're excited," Manning said. "No matter what, it seems like Independence always plays us tough."
On this night, Ridgeview won its fourth consecutive game by 28 or more points, a streak that started after the Wolf Pack's only loss, 28-20 to Bakersfield.
Croney finished with 149 yards and two touchdowns rushing. White had 57 yards passing and 45 yards and a touchdown rushing, and he also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Darryn Blackshear with 6 seconds left in the first half.
"We've got kids who are team kids," Manning said. "They're not selfish; they don't care who gets the ball or the big play."
Chris Rhodes had 94 rushing yards for Tehachapi, and Willy Urciel had 87 yards and a touchdown. But too often the Warriors couldn't turn long drives into points. They scored a total of three points on two first-half red-zone possessions and also had a costly interception lead to a touchdown.
"We made mistakes, and the first quarter was a disaster," Warriors coach Steve Denman said. "They played good defense and put pressure on us, but those little mistakes will kill you against a good team."
Tehachapi scored twice on safeties in a fourth quarter marred by gusting wind and swirling dust. On the first, White couldn't handle (or see, perhaps) a snap that flew behind him and out the back of the end zone. On the other, Blackshear simply ran the ball out of the end zone so Ridgeview wouldn't have to punt into the wind in the final seconds.
Earlier in the quarter, Tehachapi punter Abraham Katona recorded an 84-yard punt with the wind at his back.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Tehachapi 0 3 7 4 14 Ridgeview 13 15 15 0 43
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
R--Lopez 1 run (Garza kick)
R--White 2 run (kick failed)
Second Quarter:
R--Croney 1 run (White run)
T--Katona 39 FG
R--White 25 pass from Blackshear (Garza kick)
Third Quarter:
T--Urciel 7 run (Katona kick)
R--Smith 83 kick return (Iqbal run)
R--Croney 21 run (Garza kick)
Fourth Quarter:
T--Safety, ball snapped out of end zone
T--Safety, Blackshear ran out of end zone
Tehachapi vs Ridgeview Stats
THS RHS First Downs 11 12 Rushes-Yards 40-217 37-224 Passing Yards 45 106 Comp-Att-Int 2-7-1 6-14-0 Total Yards 262 330 Punts 7-32.5 1-38.0 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-1 Penalties 10-61 7-53
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING — Tehachapi: Rhodes 10-94, Urciel 17-87, Steele 9-53, Sheehan 1-(-1), Stephens 1-(-7), Olofson 2-(-9).
Ridgeview: Croney 14-149, White 8-45, Moya 5-38, Smith 3-28, Lopez 2-(-1), Blackshear 3-(-2), TEAM 2-(-33).
PASSING — Tehachapi: Olofson 1-4-1-34, Stephens 1-3-0-11. Ridgeview: White 4-10-0-57, Blackshear 1-2-0-25, Moya 1-1-0-24, TEAM 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — Tehachapi: Sheehan 2-45. Ridgeview: Moya 2-35, White 1-25, Hooper 1-24, Prevost 1-9, Croney 1-3.
Varsity – Tehachapi (5-4; 2-2 SYL), Ridgeview (8-1; 4-0 SYL)
Junior Varsity - Tehachapi 13 Ridgeview 07
Frosh-Soph Game - Tehachapi 06 Ridgeview 44
