The 2009 Warriors include #1 Kash Knudsen, #2 Levi Garrett, #3 Jake Reimer, #4 Cory Lange, #5 Max Clark, #6 Eric Erickson, #7 Chris Rush, #8 Brennen Davis, #9 Travis Farewell, #10 Zach Austin, #11 Adam Bullard, #12 Phillip Maxwell, #13 Dylan Fralick, #14 Nick White, #15 Salvador Contreras, #17 Noah Copus, #18 Cosmo Balassa, #20 Zach Maravigli, #21 Justin Perry, #22 Phil Rhodes, #23 Matt Anderson, #24 Jason Kerns, #25 Skyler Stephens, #26 Jesse Olofson, #27 Cal Weeks, #28 Brian Matthews, #30 Bobby Cooley, #31 Michael Lowder, #32 Nick Howell, #33 Marcus Curiel, #34 Austin Herman, #35 Michael Kennison, #36 Zach Trimm, #37 Tre'von Harris, #45 Tony Montes, #50 Ray Cross, #51 John Porter, #54 John Cramer, #55 Cameron King, #57 Cesar Meza, #59 Drew Howell, #62 Travis Hall, #64 Oscar Gonzales, #66 Zach Crosby, #67 Troy Matthews, #71 DJ Rickheim, #72 Tyler Guyon, #74 Luke Thompson, #75 Niko Taliulu, #77 Gene Wahlstrom, #78 Colt Murrow, #81 Matt Khoury, #85 Luke Mears, and #88 Tyler Holstrom. Team photograph by Vicky Henzel.
Season Review by Tom Shea, www.thswarriors.com
Keeping The Winning Tradition - Another 10 Win Season
Warriors Capture Share of SSL Crown
With so many seniors graduated from the back-to-back CIF championships of the past two years, many valley observers predicted a ‘rebuilding year’ for the Tehachapi Warriors.
But Mountain Football was to have none of that, proving at season’s end that they were a team that was simply, ‘reloading’.
Tehachapi was led in 2009-2010 by the brilliant running of Jesse Olofson, who blitzed the record books with an astounding 25 touchdowns and 1,932 yards on the ground. Each record re-wrote Warrior-lore, giving him the fourth mark all-time in a single season for both rushing touchdowns and yards.
Helping Olofson out was a potent offensive line that produced 6.04 yards per carry (3,402 yards) on the ground and 625 yards through the air by quarterback Chris Rush. Tehachapi also combined for 48 total touchdowns in 13 games.
Mountain Football started their season with a long road trip to Santa Ana , taking on the Segerstrom Jaguars. In a back-and-forth battle, Tehachapi was able to defeat Segerstrom for the second time in two seasons, thanks in part to a goal-line stand when the Jaguars went for two on a PAT late in the fourth quarter. Travis Hall, Cory Lange, Cameron King and Jesse Olofson were able to prevent the go-ahead points with pressure on a quarterback roll-out, preserving the 21-20 win.
With their only preseason hiccup coming against Frontier, the Warriors were able to move into league play with a 4-1 record with victories over Garces, Burroughs and Rosamond, cruising with 101 points in all three games combined.
Jesse Olofson led the way with 433 yards and nine touchdowns in all three games. On defense, Nick Howell and Cameron King combined for 22 tackles on defense against Garces, while Adam Bullard and both Howell brothers combined for 35 tackles in the win over Burroughs.
In the win against Rosamond, the Warriors made it a happy homecoming with a 32-6 drubbing. A total of eleven Warriors got on the rushing action, combining for 231 yards, while Travis Farewell also caught one of his six touchdown catches on the year and team-leading 331 yards receiving.
With the pre-season behind them Tehachapi's next focus took shape. After missing out on the South Sequoia League championship in 2008, the Warriors were on a mission to reclaim their title. At season’s end AMountain Football achieved their goal with a 4-1 record, sharing the championship with Taft and Wasco, with both teams also finishing the year with an identical league mark.
Tehachapi’s win over Taft was one of their most impressive wins on the year, with Chris Rush finishing with 118 yards passing and two touchdowns. Rush orchestrated one of the biggest plays on the season, an 18 yard strike to Zach Maravigli in the fourth quarter to preserve the Warrior win at home.
At the post-game press conference, Maravigli was quoted saying, “I wanted it, I wanted it so bad. After I caught it, when you hear the crowd just go crazy, there’s nothing like it. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
With their only league set-back a loss to Wasco (27-21), Mountain Football also reeled off dominant wins over Bakersfield Christian (40-12), Arvin (34-7) and Shafter (28-0) in SSL play, where Jesse Olofson again went wild with 614 yards rushing and eight touchdowns combined to lead the offensive effort.
In the CIF Division III playoffs, Tehachapi earned the #2 seed, and took advantage with two home wins over #13 seed Mira Monte (49-16) and #10 seed Foothill (21-14). Tehachapi’s only blemish in the playoffs came against #3 seed Porterville in the semifinals, where an injury-strapped Warrior squad gave an inspired effort before falling, 24-17.
Tehachapi finished the year ranked #31 in the Central Section poll, and was recognized as one of the top teams in Division III by the central section committee at season’s end. Due to the success from recent years, Tehachapi was tapped to move up to Division II, which will take effect in the upcoming 2010 season.
Earning All-League honors for Tehachapi were Drew Howell (OL, LB), Jesse Olofson (RB), Tyler Guyon (OL), Nick Howell (DB), Travis Hall (DL) and Cameron King (DL) on the first team, Chris Rush (QB), Max Clark (RB), Niko Taliulu (OL), Travis Farewell (TE), Brennen Davis (DB), Luke Mears (DL) and Austin Herman (LB) on the second team, and Jake Reimer (K) honorable mention all-league.
Earning All-Area recognition was Drew Howell (OL, LB) on the first team, while Jesse Olofson (RB) made second team at runningback. Tehachapi’s Chris Rush also was named the Young-Woodridge Scholar Athlete of the Year among all Kern County players.
The Tehachapi Junior Varsity Braves finished the year as back-to-back SSL champions with an 8-2 (5-0 SSL) record, while the Freshmen Indians had a 4-6 (3-2 SSL) record.
2009 Regular Season Schedule (Click On Individual Opponent For Game Summary/Statistics) OPPONENT THS OPP L GAME HIGHLIGHTS Sep 4 Segerstrom (Santa Ana) 21 20 A Max Clark: 2 TD's, 94 yd. kickoff return Sep 11 Garces (Bakersfield) 27 06 A Jesse Olofson: 4 TD's, 166 yds. rushing Sep 18 Frontier (Bakersfield) 14 43 H Travis Farewell: 1 TD Pass Rec. Sep 25 Burroughs (Ridgecrest) 42 34 H Jesse Olofson: 3 TD's, 217 yds. rushing Oct 9 Rosamond 32 06 H Jesse Olofson: 3 TD's, 50 yds. rushing Oct 16 Shafter * 28 00 A Jesse Olofson: 2 TD's, 251 yds. rushing Oct 23 Bakersfield Christian * 40 12 H Jesse Olofson: 4 TD's, 246 yds. rushing Oct 30 Taft * 16 07 H Chris Rush: 2 TD passes, 118 yds. passing Nov 6 Wasco * 21 27 A Jesse Olofson: 2 TD's, 210 yds. rushing Nov 13 Arvin * 34 07 A Jesse Olofson: 2 TD's, 117 yds. rushing
* Denotes League Game
CIF Central Section (San Joaquin Valley) Div. III Playoffs
OPPONENT THS OPP L GAME HIGHLIGHT Nov 20 Mira Monte (Bakersfield) 49 16 H Jesse Olofson: 2 TD's, 99 yds. rushing Nov 27 Foothill (Bakersfield) 21 14 H Jesse Olofson: 2 TD's, 212 yds. rushing Dec 4 Porterville 17 24 H Max Clark: 1 TD, 82 yds. rushing