Visalia-CVC ends Tehachapi's perfect season with 48-27 victory in D-II quarterfinals
Nov. 11—VISALIA — After watching the Tehachapi football team breeze past its first 11 opponents this season, you just had a feeling that it was going to take a superhuman performance for somebody to beat the undefeated Warriors.
On Friday night, host Central Valley Christian got one.
Senior running back Bryson Donelson rushed for 390 yards and six touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach, to lead the top-seeded Cavaliers to a 48-27 victory to hand No. 9 Tehachapi its first loss of the season and eliminate them in the Central Section Division II quarterfinals.
Donelson, who has committed to play at Fresno State next year, was virtually unstoppable all night for CVC (11-1), which advanced to host No. 4 Tulare Union in next week's D-II semifinals.
"With what we do defensively, I honestly thought they were going to throw it a little bit more," Tehachapi coach Kris Krempien said. "Loosen up the box and then hammer us with the run ...but they had a lot of success early on with it so they just leaned on that."
The 6-foot, 205-pounder ran for 33, 30 and 67 yards the first three times he touched the ball, scoring twice to help his team to an early 20-7 lead. Donelson had 10 carries for 183 yards in the first quarter alone.
But Tehachapi (11-1) matched the Cavaliers at nearly every turn, with senior AJ Anderson leading the way with 242 yards rushing on 28 carries.
The Warriors trailed just 34-27 when senior quarterback Jacob Root connected with Andrew Aguirre for a 33-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the third quarter. Aguirre lost the ball headed toward pay dirt, but quickly recovered the fumble in the end zone to complete the score. He finished with three catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns.
"These kids don't have that in their blood," said Krempien of his team's no-quit attitude. "Sometimes you have to pull it out of them in practice, but when it comes to game time, in front of this town and all these awesome people that come down here, there's no quit in them."
The Warriors ultimately just couldn't keep up.
