Tehachapi takes control of SSL with win over Taft
| Friday, Oct 30 2009 11:49 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Oct 31 2009 12:10 AM
Images
Rod Thornburg/ Special toThe Californian Taft vs. Tehachapi #9 Travis Farewell of ? of Tehachapi gets apparent stiff armed by Taft's #44 Brice Royal .
Rod Thornburg/ Special toThe Californian Taft vs. Tehachapi # 43 Blake Emberson of Taft gets a arm around # 7 Chris Rush of Tehachapi.
Rod Thornburg/ Special toThe Californian Taft vs. Tehachapi #9 Travis Farewell of of Tehachapi gets apparent stiff armed by Taft's #44 Brice Royal .
Rod Thornburg/ Special toThe Californian Taft vs. Tehachapi Michael Lowder #31 of Tehachapi avoids a tackle by Taft's # Andrew Smith.
Rod Thornburg/ Special toThe Californian Taft vs. Tehachapi #26 Jesse Olofson of Taft. runs through a maze of Taft opponets.
TEHACHAPI -- In dire need of a big play and its vaunted ground game stalled, Tehachapi went where few Warriors have gone before: To the air.
Senior quarterback Chris Rush converted two huge passing plays to lift Tehachapi to a late touchdown and a 16-7 victory at home against Taft that puts the Warriors squarely in the driver's seat for the South Sequoia League title.
"We finally threw the ball a little bit," Tehachapi coach Steve Denman said. "Kid made a great throw, and kid made a great catch. Taft's a great football team. They took us right down to the wire."
After a cerebral connection from Rush to Travis Farewell put Tehachapi in scoring position late in the game, the quarterback hit Zach Maravigli for an 18-yard touchdown on fourth down-and-9 with 3:54 to play. Derek Lange intercepted Taft quarterback Hunter Liljeroos on the next play from scrimmage, effectively sealing an enormous win for Tehachapi (7-1, 3-0 SSL).
"Biggest win of my life," said Rush, who finished 4-of-7 for 118 yards passing. "We lost to Taft three years in a row, our class (in underclass games), and to beat them senior year, this felt like a championship."
If it weren't for Rush's heroics, Taft (6-2, 2-1) might have ground out a 7-6 victory and come away from the mountain a winner for the first time since 1992.
Instead, the Wildcats lost their eighth straight road game to the Warriors.
The teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter, but Tehachapi, minus kicker Jake Reimer because of injury, failed on a two-point conversion attempt. That left the Wildcats up 7-6 for most of the game. Taft even had several opportunities to add to the lead, starting two drives on Tehachapi's side of the field that ended without points.
"Every time we were moving the chains, we screwed up," Taft coach Steve Sprague said. "There's no doubt about it. We can't complain about weather, we can't complain about field position. We didn't push them around, and that's what we're used to. No one to blame but ourselves."
Still, Shirreffs ran for 120 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries, and the one-point lead held until Tehachapi took the ball midway through the fourth quarter. Then, with Jesse Olofson and the ground game unable to get out of first gear against Taft's physical defense, Tehachapi coach Steve Denman tried something else.
Rush rolled out to his right and looked for junior tight end Travis Farewell on a seam route. When Taft safety Cody Shirreffs rotated over to cover him, Farewell broke off his route to the sideline. Rush found him open for a 44-yard gain down to Taft's 19.
"We've probably got one of the smartest quarterbacks in Kern County," said Farewell, who also caught a 42-yard touchdown pass in the first half. "I just go to the ball. ... I looked back, and I saw that he was in a scurry, so I was like, 'Just throw it up.'"
Olofson worked hard for 96 yards on 26 carries, but he was stuffed twice after Farewell's big catch. Rush threw incomplete on third down, and Tehachapi called timeout to set up the biggest play of its season to date.
With Taft's coverage swarming to the right to cover Farewell, Maravigli slipped out to the opposite side and was wide open.
"The corner had been coming across all game, and we sucked that guy over," Rush said. "I was just praying that (my pass) got there."
Touchdown Tehachapi, more mountain magic, and after the interception, Taft was left only to rue its missed opportunities.
"The defense did fine for 44 minutes," Sprague said. "But it doesn't take 44 minutes to win a game; it takes all 48."
Tehachapi has road games left at Wasco and Arvin to seal the school's eighth SSL title since it joined the league in 1992.
"We're proud of our kids, that they could rise to the occasion there in the fourth quarter," Denman said. "... They were patient, and when they had to make a big play, they did. And that was the difference in the ballgame."
And so the quarterback got to be the hero, a rarity in Denman's Wing T offense.
"We throw when we have to," Rush said, "and tonight we had to."
