'It just means a lot': Mt. Whitney beats Redwood in OT to win EYL, city championships
In one of the best Cowhide rivalry games of the 21st century, which featured no turnovers, the Mt. Whitney Pioneers came out on top in overtime.
Mt. Whitney linebacker Mario Rodriguez's fourth-down shoestring tackle of Redwood running back Jimmie Burk inside the 10-yard line helped preserve a 20-14 win against Redwood on Friday night at Mineral King Bowl.
Burk fell just a couple yards short of the first-down marker and the Pioneers captured an outright East Yosemite League championship and the Sid Hosking Trophy city title in the 68th Cowhide game.
How big was it to win the rivalry showdown on a defensive play?
"Huge," Mt. Whitney head coach Nathan Chamberlain said. "You always talk about how it's a game of inches, and that's literally a shoelace."
Mt. Whitney (7-3, 5-0) claimed its first league crown since the 2000 season. It's the second time in three years that the Pioneers have denied Redwood (6-4, 4-1) a chance to win a league championship.
The Pioneers cut Redwood's lead in the all-time Cowhide series to 38-29-1.
Mt. Whitney now has won four of the past six Cowhide games.
"Extremely proud," Chamberlain said. "They put the work in. To see their faces, being on the sidelines, saying that they believe is what it's all about. I'm extremely excited."
An all-around effort: Rodriguez entered the game as Mt. Whitney's leading tackler and he delivered with the game on the line.
With Redwood facing a fourth-and-15 in overtime at the Pioneers' 19, Rangers' sophomore quarterback Luke Sanchez hit Burk on a check-down pass in the flats.
Burk scampered inside towards three Pioneer defenders before cutting back outside and finding some space but Rodriguez's last-gasp attempt tripped down the Rangers' ball carrier at the six-yard line. The first-down marker was at the four.
"I saw just a tackle," Rodriguez said. "I wanted to end the game already. I was tired but I just saw a person and I went to go do my thing like I always do."
Mt. Whitney quarterback Micah Rodriguez threw three touchdowns to three different receivers, firing a 15-yard strike to Xavier Soto for a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Rodriguez later found Kysen Sing in the end zone on a 25-yard connection as the Pioneers surged ahead 14-7 in the fourth. He then linked up with Carter Myers in overtime for the eventual game-winning 19-yard touchdown.
Rodriguez completed 22-of-36 passes for 185 yards. Myers led the team with six catches for 78 yards.
How special was it to win the program's first league championship in 23 years?
"I can't even explain it right now," Mario Rodriguez said. "I really can't. It just means a lot."
Red zone woes: Redwood made five trips into the red zone and scored a touchdown on only one drive — Burk's five-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that gave the Rangers a 7-6 advantage.
On its opening possession, Redwood marched all the way down to the Mt. Whitney 9 but settled for a 25-yard field goal attempt, which was no good when the ball went off the right upright.
The Rangers turned it over on downs on their three other red-zone visits.
In the third quarter, Redwood had a chance to extend to its one-point lead, but on third-and-one at the Pioneers' two-yard line, the Rangers were penalized for a delay of game.
Two plays later, Sanchez was sacked on fourth down by Daymion Soto and Mt. Whitney took over on downs.
Then in overtime, it appeared briefly Redwood had a shot to score with good field position and a fresh set of downs at the Mt. Whitney 13, but the Rangers were called for a false start. That pushed the ball back to the 18. On the very next play, Sanchez was sacked, and on fourth down, Burk almost took the short pass to convert the fourth-and-long.
"It was a combination of Whitney playing some good defense, and then on the other side, we made some costly penalties that we shot ourselves in the foot there," Redwood head coach Kevin Scharton said. "We just couldn't get it in, in the red zone. Credit Mt. Whitney."
The Pioneers held Redwood to just 14 points — the fewest the Rangers have scored in nearly a month.
How were they able to accomplish that feat?
"Big thanks to Brian Allen, the defensive coordinator," Chamberlain said. "It's not just because he's standing right there next to me. He's been the drum on defense. He's set the tone early in the summer and didn't waver. All the things that we've done led up to this moment. Like I told him, our whole team, 'Defense wins championships.' So I'm not surprised. I'm extremely happy that they stood up because Redwood is a good team but we've been preparing for this moment not just this week but the last eight months."
Mt. Whitney 20, Redwood 14
MW 6 0 0 8 6 - 20
Redwood 0 7 0 7 0 - 14
First quarter
MW – Xavier Soto 15 pass from Micah Rodriguez (kick failed), 2:40
Second quarter
R – Jimmie Burk 5 run (Dallas Harris kick), 4:24
Fourth quarter
MW – Kysen Sing 25 pass from Rodriguez (Adrian Huerta run), 10:18
R – Moses Burk 34 run (Dallas Harris kick), 5:52
Overtime
MW – Carter Myers 19 pass from Rodriguez (pass failed)
Individual statistics
RUSHING – MW: Kysen Sing 16-52, Micah Rodriguez 7-(minus) 2, Donald Brooks 1-17. Redwood: Jimmie Burk 26-178, Moses Burk 2-34, Alex Perch 1-(minus) 1, Javion Richardson 1-14, Team 1-(minus) 1, Luke Sanchez 4-(minus) 12, Isaak Mendoza 1-2, A.J. Garza 2-10, Jacob Florez 1-5.
PASSING – MW: Rodriguez 22-36-0 161, Israel Briggs 1-1-0 7. Redwood: Sanchez 8-14-0 102.
RECEIVING – MW: Briggs 6-33, Carter Myers 6-78, Xavier Soto 4-30, Tallen Xiong 3-7, Sing 2-22, Brooks 1-15, Rodriguez 1-7. Redwood: Perch 2-20, Evan Galley 3-53, Florez 1-10, Moses Burk 1-6, Jimmie Burk 1-13.
Records – Mt. Whitney 7-3, 5-0; Redwood 6-4, 4-1.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Mt. Whitney beats Redwood in overtime to win EYL, city championships
