Tulare Western beats Mt. Whitney with five touchdowns, three interceptions

Establish the run.

Play tough, fundamentally sound defense.

Those were the off-season goals for the Tulare Western High School football team.

The Mustangs put that all together in their 36-21 win over Mt. Whitney on Friday night in a non-league game at Mineral King Bowl.

Despite falling behind 15-0 after the first quarter, Tulare Western (2-1) rolled to nearly 300 yards of total offense, including 262 yards rushing, and scored a season-high 36 points. Danny Azevedo and Aubrey Taylor each scored two touchdowns and Jaanveer Singh sealed the victory with a six-yard run in the fourth period.

On defense, the Mustangs registered three interceptions — receiving one each from Jaydon Henningham, Taylor and Josiah Orosco. They also fell on a muffed punt in the third quarter.

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"That's what this team is going to be all about," Tulare Western head coach Derek Rosa said. "If we can play good defense and run the football like we did tonight, we're going to be a tough team to beat. I know we started off slow but once we can capture both sides of what we want to do in our game plan, I think you saw it tonight after that, we can get it going."

Tulare Western junior Mikey Johnson was the workhorse for the Mustangs. Johnson erupted for a game-high 152 yards rushing on 28 carries and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. He had four runs of 10 yards or more — 17, 12, 13, 14 — and led a Mustangs' Pistol Wing T offensive attack that controlled the game with long stretches of possession.

Down 15-0, Tulare Western took over the game in the second quarter when Azevedo capped off a 14-play, 81-yard drive with an eight-yard scoring scamper. That series chewed up more than 7 minutes off the game clock.

That was a sign of things to come.

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After forcing a Mt. Whitney 23-yard punt, the Mustangs drove 32 yards on seven plays. Taylor scored on a six-yard catch and after a successful extra point kick, the game was tied at 15-all.

On the ensuing possession, Henningham intercepted a Mt. Whitney pass on the Pioneers' first offensive play of that drive to set up Taylor's second touchdown catch. That gave the Mustangs a 22-15 lead at halftime.

Tulare Western put the game away in the second half on Azevedo's 33-yard scoring scamper and Singh's six-yard touchdown run.

The Mustangs scored 29 unanswered points between the second and third quarters.

"It was awesome," Rosa said. "I told them at halftime, it was kind of unmade checklist that a head coach has in the season. Last week, we came behind from being down by Bullard from two touchdowns. I knew we had that in the bank. But the other part was, 'Can we bring that energy on the road?' It took a little while but once we got the spark, the fire lit and we got going."

Taylor scored two touchdowns in only two offensive snaps. He found the end zone on a six-yard catch and an 8-yard scoring strike.

"It was unexpected but it was cool," Taylor said. "I knew I could do it."

Rosa had a game plan for Taylor.

The junior is a starter in the defensive secondary but when Tulare Western got into the red zone, the Mustangs head coach inserted Taylor into the game.

That resulted in two touchdowns.

"He begged me all week at practice to get in on offense," Rosa said. "He's a great free safety for us, that centerfield free safety, he can high point the football unlike anyone else, so when we need him, it's great that he steps up on a moment's notice."

Tulare Western limited Mt. Whitney (1-2) to just 211 yards of offense (67 rushing, 144 passing). Sophomore receiver Israel Briggs led the Pioneers with a pair of touchdown receptions, hauling in a 23-yard pass in the first quarter and a two-yard snag in the fourth.

The Mustangs will be back in Visalia in Week 4 when they face Redwood (1-2) on Sept. 8 at Mineral King Bowl. The Rangers (1-2) are coming off a 42-35 win over Tulare Union at Bob Mathias Stadium.

"Next week, Redwood is a helluva an atmosphere," Rosa said. "We got to bring our own energy from the start."

Tulare Western 36, Mt. Whitney 21

TW        0           22            7              7           -              36

MW             15             0            0              6           -              21

First quarter

MW – Carter Myers 18 pass from Micah Rodriguez (Israel Briggs pass from Rodriguez), 6:00

MW – Israel Briggs 23 pass from Rodriguez (Rodriguez kick), 2:42

Second quarter

TW – Danny Azevedo 5 run (Jaanveer Singh run), 7:36

TW – Aubrey Taylor 6 pass from Xavier Garcia (Carlos Sanchez kick), 1:47

TW – Taylor 8 pass from Garcia (Sanchez kick), :01

Third quarter

TW – Azevedo 33 run (Sanchez kick), 3:58

Fourth quarter

MW – Briggs 2 pass from Rodriguez (kick failed), 9:23

TW – Singh 6 run (Sanchez kick), 3:02

Individual statistics

RUSHING – TW: Mikey Johnson 28-153, Danny Azevedo 10-89, Jaanveer Singh 8-31, Xavier Garcia 4-(minus) 11. MW: Micah Rodriguez 3-(minus) 2, Israel Briggs 1-1, Kysen Sing 14-68, Donald Brooks 1-0.

PASSING – TW: Garcia 3-6-2 36. MW: Rodriguez 13-26-3 144.

RECEIVING – TW: Josiah Orosco 1-22, Aubrey Taylor 2-14. MW: Tallen Xiong 1-(minus) 1, Carter Myers 4-70, Adrian Huerta 2-12, Briggs 5-55, Sing 1-8.

Records – Tulare Western 2-1, Mt. Whitney 1-2.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare Western beats Mt. Whitney with five TDs, three INTs