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By Keith Rainville
Sports Editor 9-15-07
A defensive struggle in 8-man football, and fiery halftime talk and hard hits that forced turnovers and stopped runners, were the keys to Lone Pine’s 14-8 victory on the road at Big Pine last Saturday. The Eagles defense kept the team in the game early and gave it positive momentum, and by the second half the offense found its stride, using a short field for a pair of big scores to win the game.
“We got off to a slow start,” said Lone Pine head coach Dale Newell. “They took it too us right off the bat, but then our defense really came on strong and shut them down.” Newell said the defense’s play was especially important to keep the teams morale up after having several long gains on offense called back on early-season- type penalties.
To start the game, Big Pine drove the field in the first quarter to take an 8-0 lead, which is normal for 8-Man football, but then neither team would score for 24 minutes. “I was happy with our execution for a first game with a young team,” said Big Pine head coach Mark Tillemans. “We put ourselves in position to win late in the game, and that’s all you can ask for.”
After a scoreless second quarter, Big Pine took an 8-0 lead into the half. Coach Newell said that he really challenged his players at the half. “I said ‘We’ve worked too hard to get here, now let’s go out and do it.’”
After running in a strong first half, Eagles halfback Jeremy Pierce drew a lot of attention from Big Pine, allowing Elder Rodriguez and quarterback David Jones to find some open running room. Pierce carried the ball 10 times for 32 hard-earned yards. Jones ran 6 times for 25 yards, and Rodriguez added 27 yards on 5 carries.
The Eagles tied the game midway through the second half and then Rodriguez rammed home the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 8. Big catches by Joe Ruiz (for 22 yards), Edwin Castro (22 yards) and Rodriguez (3 for 27 yards including a TD grab) allowed Lone Pine to take advantage of excellent second-half field position.
Jones spread the ball out between his receivers, going 5-8 for 75 yards and the 11-yard TD pass to Rodriguez. For LP’s other score, Jones dialed-up his own number, scampering into the end zone. In the tight game, the senior’s punting, two punts for 65 yards, also made a difference, helping the Eagles win the field-position game.
Coach Tillemans was happy with most areas of his team’s play and was impressed to see his young Warriors in action. New QB David Seymour “really came through at quarterback,” said Tillemans. “He was putting the ball on people and we’ll really be able to develop our passing game as the season goes on.”
Tillemans said that the defense was outstanding, holding its opponents to only 14 points and about 100 yards rushing in an 8-man game. “We tackled really well and forced some turnovers by gang tackling and ripping the ball loose. Rusty (Tillemans) and Skyler (Amisone) both played well at linebacker. David (Seymour) and Jose (Lemus) did a nice job of shutting their sweeps down.” Amisone made a nice deflection at the line and Chance Colvin was able to grab the tipped ball for a big interception.
The one area Tillemans was looking for improvement in was his team’s ability to roll with the ups and downs of 8-man football and stay up and positive. “I really tip my hat to Dale and David (Greene); they kept their kids up and took the game in their hands. We can mature in that area.” Tillemans said his team wasn’t used to playing from behind after the last few years, and was close to scoring a couple more touchdowns, but needs to work on “closing the deal.”
“It was a hard-hitting game and a clean one,” said Newell. “It’s the best game I’ve seen in a long time.”
Ruiz led the Eagles with 6 tackles and 11 assists, followed closely by teammate Carlos Alanix with 5 tackles and 10 assists. “Carlos, Dustin (Newell) and Luis Rodriguez really won the battle in the trenches for us on the offensive line. Blake Nogales really stepped up in the second half and made some huge tackles.”
With the game tied in the second half, Nogales made three consecutive solo tackles on sweeping runs to force a punt. He finished with 4 tackles and 8 assists. Elder Rodriguez did a great job of getting to the ball carrier and slowing him down, allowing his teammates to add licks. He finished with 15 assists. Pierce also used his speed to race down runners, making 3 tackles with 10 assists.
“I was really surprised at how big the younger Big Pine players were,” said Newell. “Both Mark and I thought someone was going to break the game open in the second half, but it stayed close. It was one of the games when you could hear the cracks of the hits.
“After we got over the first- game jitters, we were able to move the ball pretty well,” said Newell. “On our scoring drives we didn’t go that far because our defense kept giving us such good field position.”
Both coaches were extremely complimentary of each other’s teams. For such a hard- hitting game, the two sides played good, clean football. Both coaches were also very optimistic about their teams’ futures. Tillemans was impressed with how much his players were able to digest and run effectively for a first game. Newell was impressed to see his team reach that next level and play together as a squad for a tight game without any quit. “I’m real proud of our whole team,” he said. “The kids were ready to play and it sure made a difference.”
The Warriors travel to Coleville today to battle a team with Nevada championship aspirations. Lone Pine gets to help break-in a brand-new field at Immanuel Christian in Ridgecrest.
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