(Mountain Pass League)
Bulldogs bully Titans, Cougars hunt down Mustangs in week 9
This is the second to final week before the regular season ends: everyone is gearing up for the playoffs. Unfortunately not everyone is going to get a chance to compete in the postseason: spots are limited. Hemet High pulled up to Tahquitz High School on Friday knowing that that had to win if they wanted to make the playoffs this season. Hemet was fresh off a loss to San Jacinto High, but San Jacinto plays in a much higher division than Hemet: and that is really the story of Hemet’s season; losses coming to opponents that are ranked much higher than they (Chaparral, J.W. North, Beaumont, & San Jacinto). Hemet High has a truly elite defense; they play fast and play hard, led by Senior safety Bradley Fye and Junior Cornerback Frankie Castillo. Together they lock down receivers and force teams to improvise.
Tahquitz has struggled on offense. They have had some coaching staff issues that they will hope to resolve when the season is over, but for now, they just have to get out of their league play. Unfortunately for them, four out of the five opponents in league are in much higher divisions, which makes it hard to make the playoffs in your own division. Hemet got started early in this game and never really let up: before Tahquitz even knew what was happening Hemet had a huge lead and they never let up. This game was a good old-fashioned butt-kicking by Hemet High. They needed to bounce back in a big way. Hemet went on to win 43-0 and increase their chances of a playoff berth.
Beaumont traveled down to West Valley last week. West Valley started off their season 2-0 and were riding a wave of confidence that was quickly derailed when they started to run into opponents like Temecula Valley & San Jacinto. They didn’t look like they would make much of a wave at all this season. Then suddenly they took on Citrus Hill and nearly squeaked out a victory (14-6). Citrus has been the top dog in the league for a long time, so to keep a game close and to lose it in only the final seconds was actually very impressive. All of a sudden there were talks going around wondering if West Valley would be able to pull off the upset against Beaumont. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, it was never even close. Beaumont jumped out to a huge lead and never let off the gas, winning the matchup 42-0, putting West Valley on a 6-game losing streak.
This was a huge week for Mountain Pass League teams: currently San Jacinto (4-0) sits in first place in the league. Beaumont (3-1) is in second place. Hemet (2-2) and Citrus Hill (2-2) are tied for third, although Hemet currently owns the tiebreaker between the two. Tahquitz (1-3) is currently in fifth place, and West Valley (0-4) is in last place in the league.
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