Tigers open West Yosemite League campaign with loss against powerful Redwood; at El Diamante Friday

However, Lemoore’s struggling varsity football team simply couldn’t stop the powerful and unbeaten Redwood Rangers from scoring a pair of TDs in the second half and departing Tiger Stadium with a 30-14 victory, and their unbeaten streak intact.

Lemoore fell to a disappointing 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the West Yosemite League. The Tigers, after four straight home games, hit the road this Friday for a 7 p.m. game at El Diamante. The Miners (0-6, 0-1) might be ripe for a loss as they head into Friday’s game without a victory.

El Diamante felt the wrath of a powerful Hanford team Friday night, dropping a 49-6 decision to the Bullpups in Hanford’s Neighbor Bowl.

The Rangers drew first blood Friday night when visiting Redwood scored first on a Diamond Davis 11-yard touchdown run with about three minutes left in the first quarter.

Lemoore's Chris Taylor runs for a short gain during Friday night's football game in Tiger Stadium.

Gary Feinstein/Feinsteinfotos

Still in the first quarter, Lemoore appeared to strike back with a vengeance when a scrambling Lemoore quarterback Justin Holaday found a streaking Koy Davis for a thrilling 80-yard touchdown pass that appeared to tie the game. Unfortunately, officials whistled the Tigers for pass interference, and the theatrics were all for naught.

The Tigers, unable to advance the ball, found themselves deep in their territory. Redwood took advantage and upped the Rangers lead to 9-0 with an unexpected safety.

The Rangers failed to get anything going and punted to Lemoore. Again, the Tigers couldn’t get anything going and punted away.

Starting at the Tigers 34, the Rangers took three plays to score again, upping their second-quarter margin to 16-0 with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Terry Reid.

Lemoore then came up with some theatrics of their own when running back Elijah Jones, taking the ball and running right, suddenly spotted a wide-open Koy Davis who promptly hauled in the pass and scored from 37 yards out.

With just 30 seconds left in the half, Lemoore cut the gap to just two points at 16-14 following an impressive march that had the Tigers at the two-yard line. A hard-charging Jones took the handoff and scored to narrow the once big Ranger lead to just two points at 16-14.

The Tigers couldn’t get anything going in the second half, but they weren’t about to go down without a fight, including recovering a surprising on-side kick to start the second half. Unfortunately, Redwood’s defense wasn’t about to let up, blocking a Holaday pass and then sacking the quarterback to end the threat.

The Rangers got a third-quarter two-yard touchdown from Marcus Garvey Correia and a TD early in the fourth quarter to account for the final margin.

West Yosemite League Standings

School                   WYL       Overall

Hanford                 1-0          6-0

Redwood               1-0          6-0

Golden West          1-0          5-1

Lemoore                0-1          1-5

El Diamante           0-1          0-6

Mt. Whitney           0-1          0-6

Upcoming Games

10/11 at El Diamante, 7 p.m.

10/18 at Golden West 7 p.m.

10/25 Mt. Whitney at Lemoore 7 p.m.

11/1 at Hanford 7:30 p.m.