Tigers headed for a showdown for WYL title? Must get past Mt. Whitney in Homecoming game

Monday, October 21, 2019 - 11:44am By The Leader Staff

Lemoore's Will Schalde scored on a Justin Holaday TD pass with seconds left in the first half to help lead the way in the Tigers 36-29 victory over Golden West Friday night in Visalia.

Photo by Bill Burris, Lemooresports.com

Lemoore’s surprising varsity football team is back in the West Yosemite League title hunt. Going into Friday night’s game at Golden West, the Tigers sported a disappointing 2-5 record and were just 1-1 in league play, seemingly going nowhere. But, on a cool, crisp Friday night, the Tigers resurrected themselves, surprising the high-scoring Trailblazers, beating them 36-29 to improve to 2-1 and setting up a legitimate shot at the league title.

All the Tigers have to do is beat Mt. Whitney Friday night (Oct. 25) in their homecoming game and then upset an unbeaten, high-flying Hanford team on Nov. 1 in the season closer – in Hanford. The Bullpups, on Friday, beat previously WYL unbeaten foe Redwood 36-20 to take sole possession of first place.

On paper, the Tigers shouldn’t have much of a problem with the visiting Pioneers, but football isn’t played on paper. Instead, football is played on a rough-and-tumble field where just about anything can happen. However, the Tigers appear to have a legitimate shot at a league title against Hanford. The Pioneers are currently winless this season at 0-8, 0-3 in the WYL.

It hasn’t been a “pretty” year for the Pioneers. In WYL play, they lost 61-7 to Golden West, 68-3 to Hanford, and 41-0 to El Diamante.

Aaron Villerreal and Ozzy Hernandez team up for a tackle during Friday night's win at Golden West, helping lead the Tigers to a 36-29 win.

Photo by Bill Burris, Lemooresports.com

On Friday night, the Tigers put together a winning game plan that unfortunately didn’t include much of a ground game, but oh, what a passing effort. Lemoore’s play-caller, Justin Holiday, had perhaps the finest game of his career Friday night when he threw for about 360 yards and four touchdowns.

His final touchdown, in the fourth, was the clincher for the Tigers, and it came on an 80-yard pass to Will Schalde, the receiver’s third TD catch of the night. He also had a 5-yarder in the first quarter and a 41-yard pass in the second. Schalde caught six passes on the night for over 160 yards.

Holaday’s second TD came early in the second quarter on a 34-yard pass to Chris Taylor. Taylor caught nine passes Friday night for 97 yards to contribute to Friday’s win.

Lemoore’s offense didn’t do much with the running game. Holaday was the team’s leading rusher with 28 yards. The Trailblazers, on the other hand, ran almost at will against Lemoore as Lonnie Wessel rushed over 300 yards on the night.

The Blazers led at the end of the first quarter thanks to a Lonnie Wessell 56-yard touchdown run early in the game. The Tigers scored on Holaday’s pass to Schalde to take a 7-6 lead, but Golden West regained the lead at 12-7 with just one second left on the first-quarter clock.

Holaday’s three touchdown passes, his 34-yarder to Taylor and Schalde’s two first-half TD’s handed the Tigers a 22-19 lead at the half.

The team was scoreless in the third, but in the fourth, Kloster scored early on a short run, and minutes later, he caught the 80-yard game-winner to take the lead the late lead at 36-29.

The Blazers, now trailing by 7 points, mounted what they hoped would be the winning drive, but with about a minute left in the game, with the Blazers knocking on the door at the Tiger 21-yard line, they failed on a fourth-down, giving the ball back to Lemoore.