South Bakersfield at Tehachapi
November 9, 2017
The Warrior defense was dominant against East Bakerfield Thursday night holding the Rebels to one late fourth quarter touchdown.
Warriors Connor Timm #3, Dylan Ragsdale #27, and Payton Stowers #31 haul down a Sout High running back. Tehachapi defeated South 34-8 and
advance to the second round of the playoffs hosting Fresno High this Friday at 7:00 pm. Photo by Nick Ellis, The Bakersfield Californian.
Posted by The Tehachapi News on November 10, 2017. Warriors Dominate In Playoff Win Over South
Aided by cold weather and a relentless defense, Mountain Football cruised to a CIF Division III first round playoff victory with a 34-8 drubbing over South.
The Tehachapi (6-5) defense led the way for the majority of the game, holding South (5-5) to only 138 yards of offense, 67 of which came on a late fourth quarter touchdown run by Deveon Williams with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
“We are doing better than just bend and don’t break. Our defense has been doing a heck of a job of shutting people down,” said head coach Doug DeGeer.
Dylan Ragsdale led the charge at linebacker with a team-high eight tackles, while Favian Garcia, Dylan Hanzel and Patrick Grimes had six tackles each. Hanzel and Grimes also had sacks.
Luke Soto spearheaded the defensive front, wreaking havoc on the line with four tackles and three sacks.
“There is definitely a difference between the beginning of the season and now,” said Soto. “After the regular season and the playoffs hit, our mindset has been to step it up a level, pull it together and play hard.”
Other defensive standouts included Sean Schulgen (five tackles), Mason Kiernan (four tackles), Peyton Stowers (four tackles), Nolan Gollenhon (three tackles) and Rory Bishop (three tackles). In the secondary, Connor Timm, Trevor Medovitch and Stowers all had interceptions.
Offensively, the Warrior offense line opened up gaping holes to record 261 yards rushing and five total rushing touchdowns, four of which came in the second half.
“We just have a brotherhood up on the line, we work really well together and we have each other’s backs,” said Warrior center Matt Gonzales. “As a team, we are rising up at a good time, getting everything going.”
Garrett Curry led the ground game with 77 yards rushing and two scores, while Hayden Palmer had 51 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns. Patrick Grimes also had a rushing touchdown on a 22-yard run in the third quarter.
Other offensive standouts included Timm with 49 yards rushing, while Chris Garcia, Tanner Love, Noah Ledesma and Matthew Finklea combined for 64 yards on the ground.
On special teams, Ragsdale recorded two kickoff touchbacks and Medovitch connected on four point after attempts.
With the victory, No. 5 seed Tehachapi will move on to the CIF Division III playoff quarterfinals, earning another home game against No. 13 seed Fresno.
Fresno was an upset winner over No. 4 seed Independence last Thursday night. The game will be on Friday, Nov. 17, at Coy Burnett Field with a 7 p.m. kickoff. It will be the first-ever matchup between the two schools.
“It would have been nice to have another shot at Independence but we have another home game and we are certainly happy with that. We are looking forward to it,” added DeGeer.
Warrior running back Garrett Curry #42 rumbles for yardge Thursday night against South Bakersfield. Curry led the
Warriors with 77 yards rushing nad scored two touchdowns. Photo by Nick Ellis, The Bakersfield Californian.
Posted by John Sanders, The Bakersfield Californian on November 9, 2017. Tehachapi Runs Over South 34-8
TEHACHAPI — Tehachapi did exactly what it wanted to do Thursday in the opening round of the CIF Div. 3 playoffs.
That was run the football. Then, when visiting South High figured out what the Warriors wanted to do, Tehachapi ran again.
It was the “three yards and a cloud of dust” mentality for the Warriors as they totaled 220 yards on the ground and had no problems with the Rebels as they cruised to an easy 34-8 victory on their home field.
With about two minutes remaining in the game a huge roar was let out by the partisan Tehachapi crowd after it was announced that Fresno High had upset Independence, 26-21, meaning Tehachapi would host next Friday’s game against the other Warriors.
The Rebels (5-5) had no answer for Tehachapi’s run game, in particular Garrett Curry and Hayden Palmer. Both Curry and Palmer scored a pair of touchdowns to help lead the Warriors into the next round.
Curry was the blue-collar workhorse for Tehachapi (6-5) as he finished with 77 yards on 21 carries. Palmer carried 18 times for 51 yards. All of Tehachapi’s total offense came on the ground.
The Warriors only led 7-0 at halftime as they got a touchdown in the first quarter following a 3-yard run by Palmer. However, Tehachapi blew the game wide open with a 20-point barrage in the third quarter, including Palmer’s other touchdown run and one each from Patrick Grimes and Curry.
Prior to a late 67-yard touchdown run by South’s Deveon Williams, when the game was already out of reach, Tehachapi’s defense had only allowed 72 yards of total offense to the Rebels at that point.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final South High 0 0 0 8 08 Tehachapi 7 0 20 7 34
The Scoring:
First Quarter:
THS - Palmer 3 yd. run (Medovitch PAT kick good)
Third Quarter:
THS - Curry run (Medovitch PAT kick failed)
THS - Palmer run (Medovitch PAT kick good)
THS - Grimes 22 yd. run (Medovitch PAT kick good)
Fourth Quarter:
THS - Curry run (Medovitch PAT kick good)
SHS - Williams 67 yd. run (2 Pt. PAT Conversion good)
South High vs Tehachapi High Stats
SHS THS First Downs 16 Rushes-Yards 64-261 Passing Yards 0 Comp-Att-Int 0-2-0 Total Yards 138 261 Punts 1-42.0 Penalties 3-25
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING—Tehachapi: Curry 21-77, Palmer 18-51, Timm 7-49, Love 5-21, Grimes 2-20, Garcia 3-23, Ledesma 3-15, Gaines 3-0, Finklea 2-5.
South: Not available.
PASSING—Tehachapi: Garcia 0-2-0 00; South: Not available.
RECEIVING—Tehachapi: None. South: Not available.
Varsity Records: Tehachapi 6-5 (4-1 SYL Co-Champs). South Bakersfield 5-5.
