Ridgeview-Bakersfield at Tehachapi
October 27, 2017
Warrior Patrick Grimes #7 hauls in the first of two TD passes from quarterback Chris Garcia in Friday night action
at Coy Burnett Field in Tehachapi. The Warriors shut down the high powered team from Bakersfield, 21-14. Tehachapi
now plays West Bakersfield in the SYL finale in Bakersfield on Friday, Nov. 3. Photo by Chad Cole.
Posted by John Sanders, The Bakersfield Californian, on October 27, 2017. Tehachapi Plays Complete Game To Sink Ridgeview
TEHACHAPI – The blueprint for defeating South Yosemite League leader Ridgeview was simple.
Keep the Wolf Pack’s explosive offense off the field.
Of course that was Tehachapi’s game plan all along. It wanted to run the ball, chew up clock and make Ridgeview’s defense tire out.
The Warriors won the war of attrition, and the game, with an impressive 21-14 victory over the Wolf Pack on Friday night at Tehachapi High School.
“This was a team win, not just one guy. Our defense has been playing so well since league started. It has been playing lights out,” Warriors’ head coach Doug DeGeer said. “Tonight we weren’t sharp by any means. When some things went bad, the kids never got down. They were confident the whole night. We’ll take this win any way we can get it, but we made some big plays.”
The wild SYL got pretty interesting following the Warriors’ victory. Independence leads the league with a 4-0 record after a 27-22 victory over East High. Ridgeview and Tehachapi trail the Falcons by only a game. The Wolf Pack will play Independence for at least share of the league title, however, the Falcons can with the title outright with a victory. The Warriors are hoping for a Ridgeview victory and they must defeat West High next week to claim a piece of the SYL championship pie.
Playing with a short field in the first quarter, Tehachapi struck first with an 8-play, 49-yard drive which was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Connor Timm, giving the Warriors a 7-0 lead.
In an unfortunate turn of events in the second quarter and the Warriors opting to punt, a poor snap by Tehachapi forced punter Dylan Ragsdale to go down on one knee to try to field the ball. Ragsdale was called down, giving the ball to Ridgeview (5-4, 3-1) on the Warriors’ 6-yard line. Two plays later, Alijah Alexander-Williams scored from 2-yards out to tie the score.
Just before halftime Tehachapi had the ball on the Wolf Pack’s 42-yard line with a fourth down and three. The Warriors called a naked bootleg for quarterback Chris Garcia, who took the ball all the way down to the 5-yard line. On the ensuing play — on Garcia’s first pass of the game at that point — he connected with Patrick Grimes for the touchdown and Tehachapi led 14-7 at halftime.
“This win was all about hard work. We just started playing more as a team. This is great, it gives us a shot at SYL,” Garcia said. “We needed this game and we wanted it bad. It was all about mountain football, ground and pound. We like to control the game and we did that tonight.”
Garcia completed all three of his passes, albeit one was to Ridgeview, and finished the game 2-of-3 for 25 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 51 yards on six carries.
The Wolf Pack tied the score following Garcia’s interception, which was returned all the way to the 18-yard line of Tehachapi. Later in the drive Ruben Cruz bulled his way into the end zone from four yards out which tied the score 14-14.
With the score tied 14-14, on Ridgeview’s 25-yard line and a fourth and three for the Warriors, Garcia used a play action fake and hit Grimes again for a short pass play which Grimes turned into a 25-yard touchdown proving to be the game winner.
Wolf Pack quarterback Justin Hinzo was picked off by the Warriors’ Peyton Stowers with 1:32 remaining in the fourth quarter and Ridgeview mounting a potential game-tying drive.
Warrior defenders Rory Bishop #34, Tanner Love #33, and Dylan Hanzel #52 track down a Ridgeview ball carrier. Photo by Chad Cole.
Posted by The Tehachapi News on October 29, 2017. Warriors Back In The League Title Hunt
It was another game for the ages on the mountain last Friday night.
Coming into the game as underdogs, Tehachapi (4-5; 3-1 SYL) knocked off perennial Bakersfield power Ridgeview with opportunistic offense and stellar defense en route to a hard-fought 21-14 victory.
The Warriors converted two key fourth downs on a pair of scoring drives in the win, both resulting in touchdown receptions by Patrick Grimes from quarterback Chris Garcia.
“We knew we needed to have confidence coming into this game,” said Grimes. “It is about faith and trust in each other and knowing we could get it done.”
On the first touchdown connection, Garcia hit Grimes in stride in the back corner of the endzone for a five-yard touchdown reception. The score was set up by a Garcia 37-yard quarterback keeper run on fourth down near midfield earlier in the drive.
Garcia then connected with Grimes for the game winner early in the fourth quarter, converting on fourth down with a 25-yard touchdown pass-and-catch to take the lead for good.
“It was a big game and it was won with big plays,” said head coach Doug DeGeer. “Our guys executed when they had to on offense and that, along with our defense, was the difference for us.”
Defensively, the Warriors were stifling in all phases, holding Ridgeview (5-4; 3-1 SYL) to only 64 yards rushing. The output was well below the Wolf Pack’s season average of 135 rushing yards per game.
“Our defense has been a strong point and they just keep getting the job done every week,” added DeGeer.
Grimes added to his offensive heroics by leading the team with 10 total tackles. Other standouts included Luke Soto (nine tackles, two sacks), Dylan Ragsdale (eight tackles), Favian Garcia (seven tackles), Dominic Counihan (six tackles), Sean Schulgen (five tackles), and Mason Kiernan, Dylan Hanzel, Peyton Stowers, Rory Bishop, Connor Timm and Noah Howell each with three tackles.
In other offensive highlights, Timm scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter and Garrett Curry led the team on the ground with 70 yards on 16 carries. Along with two touchdown passes, Garcia also had 51 yards on six carries and Hayden Palmer had 39 yards on 14 attempts.
With the victory, the Warriors have set themselves up for a possible share of the South Yosemite League championship heading into the final game of the regular season.
If Ridgeview can defeat Independence and Tehachapi can defeat West this upcoming Friday night, all three teams would be tri-champions of the SYL with identical 4-1 records. Coincidentally, that was the final league standings last season.
“It is pretty amazing that we could possibly be in the same situation as last year,” DeGeer said. “But we need to take care of business, focus on our game and see how it all plays out.”
The game against West will be in Bakersfield this Friday night with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Ridgeview 0 7 7 0 14 Tehachapi 7 7 0 7 21
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
Timm 1 run (Medovitch kick)
Second Quarter:
R: Alexander-Williams 2 run (Guillen kick)
T: Grimes 5 pass from Garcia (Medovitch kick)
Third Quarter:
R: Cruz 4 run (Guillen kick)
Fourth Quarter:
T: Grimes 25 pass from Garcia (Medovitch kick)
Tehachapi vs Ridgeview Stats
THS RHS First Downs 7 Rushes-Yards 47-167 31-64 Passing Yards 30 129 Comp-Att-Int 2-3-1 9-25-1 Total Yards 197 193 Punts 6-29.5 Penalties 5-40
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING—Tehachapi: Palmer 14-39, Grimes 4-(-5), Curry 16-70, Love 3-22, Timm 3-5, Garcia 6-51, Ragsdale 1-(-15).
Ridgeview: Alexander-Williams 12-22, Cruz 12-65, Allen 2-(-6), Eddington 1-2, Hinzo 4-(-19).
PASSING—Tehachapi: Garcia 2-3-1 30; Ridgeview: Hinzo 9-25-1 129.
RECEIVING—Tehachapi: Grimes 2-30; Ridgeview: Zendejas 2-47, Thompson 3-33, Allen 1-17, Hodges 2-9, Alexander-Williams 1-23.
JV: Tehachapi Braves 30 Ridgeview 31
Frosh: Tehachapi Indians 00 Ridgeview 40
Varsity Records: Tehachapi 4-5; 3-1 SYL. Ridgeview-Bakersfield 5-4; 3-1 SYL
