Mt. Whitney capitalizes on six takeaways in third straight win

The Mt. Whitney Pioneers are out to make a statement this season.

What are they trying to prove?

They are a legit East Yosemite League title contender — through two weeks of conference play, that notion may ring true.

The Pioneers defeated crosstown rival Golden West 33-23 on Friday night at Mineral King Bowl to win their second straight EYL game. They are now tied with Redwood atop the EYL standings. The Rangers shut out Porterville 21-0 in Strathmore. Both teams are currently 4-3 overall and 2-0 in league action.

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Mt. Whitney was solid on all three phases — defense, offense and special teams — in their win over the Trailblazers.

The Pioneers capitalized on six takeaways, intercepting three passes, and receiving one each from Michael Sanchez, Noah Murillo and Adrian Huerta. The Pioneers also fell on a fumble and recovered two muffed punts and blocked another punt that led to a 22-yard touchdown catch by receiver Israel Briggs in the second quarter.

Murillo returned his interception 72 yards for a touchdown in the third to hand the Pioneers a 27-7 edge.

“We’re really happy for the kids,” Mt. Whitney head coach Nathan Chamberlain said. “They’ve been putting in the work, excelling in practices, and for them to come out here and compete the way they did, it was really awesome.”

Running back Kysen Sing scored three rushing touchdowns, finding the end zone on a one-yard dart, a seven-yard sprint and a 28-yard jaunt. His final touchdown of the night gave Mt. Whitney a commanding 33-7 advantage with 3 minutes and 39 seconds left to play in the third.

"He does a lot of good things," Chamberlain said. "He makes the offense right a lot of times even when it's not just because of his skill."

Sing, a junior who is listed at 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds, rushed for a game-high 101 yards on 22 carries.

"It was real fun," Sing said. "All the [prediction] scores said we would lose. We just had to prove them wrong."

Mt. Whitney held Golden West to just 96 yards rushing on 27 attempts for an average of 3.5 yards per carry.

Trailblazers quarterbacks Raymon Velazquez and Jayden Najera combined to pass for 232 yards — the majority of those came in the second half with Golden West trailing.

What was it like to see the Mt. Whitney defense shine in the win?

"It's exciting," Sing said. "It puts us back on the field to try to go let us go score. I'm really proud of our defense. They really stepped it up."

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Golden West was without its top offensive player, junior running back Case Anders, for practically the whole game. Anders was injured after catching a three-yard pass on the first offensive play from scrimmage and never returned.

Anders entered Friday's contest as the team's leading rusher with 467 yards and three touchdowns and was also first on the squad with 31 catches.

Golden West hits the road to face Porterville (5-2, 0-2) in Week 9.

Mt. Whitney will play at El Diamante (1-6, 1-1) next week. The Miners are coming off their first win of the season in a 24-14 victory over Monache (1-6, 0-2).

Since a three-point loss to Mission Oak in September, the Pioneers have won three straight.

What's behind that winning streak?

"We have a lot of chemistry," Sing said. "We've been working together and we don't really give up no more. We're getting better."

Mt. Whitney 33, Golden West 23

GW        7           0            8              8           -              23

MW             8             13            12              0           -              33

First quarter

GW – Isaac Elias 31 pass from Jayden Najera (Christopher Garcia kick), 5:40

MW – Kysen Sing 1 run (Israel Briggs run), 1:26

Second quarter

MW – Sing 7 run (Tallen Xiong kick), 6:02

MW – Israel Briggs 22 pass from Micah Rodriguez (kick failed), 2:01

Third quarter

MW – Noah Murillo 72 interception return (kick failed), 6:55

MW – Kysen Sing 28 run (run failed), 3:39

GW – Raymon Velazquez 2 run (Chris Garcia pass from Velazquez), 1:59

Fourth quarter

GW – Rowen Collins 9 pass from Velazquez (Luca Spiotta pass from Velazquez), 2:35

Individual statistics

RUSHING – GW: Rowen Collins 12-59, Raymon Velazquez 5-8, Jayden Najera 6-30, Jesse Huerta 4-(minus) 1. MW: Team 4-(minus) 33, Kysen Sing 22-101, Micah Rodriguez 2-4, Donald Brooks 8-14, Israel Briggs 2-1.

PASSING – GW: Velazquez 13-16-1 110, Najera 8-11-2 122. MW: Rodriguez 7-12-0 62.

RECEIVING – GW: Case Anders 1-3, Isaac Elias 7-107, Chris Garcia 5-62, Darryl Toney 5-38, Luca Spiotta 2-13, Collins 1-9. MW: Xavier Soto 1-6, Briggs 2-30, Tallen Xiong 2-20, Carter Myers 1-5, Andrew Licea 1-1.

Records – Golden West 1-6, 1-1; Mt. Whitney 4-3, 2-0.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Mt. Whitney capitalizes on six takeaways in third straight win