After each having a week off, the Tehachapi Warriors and the Golden West Trailblazers will shake off the cobwebs and face off against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Two weeks ago, Tehachapi humbled Wasco with a 36-8 victory. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Warriors.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Tehachapi to victory, but perhaps none more so than Andrew Aguirre, who rushed for 96 yards on only seven carries, and also caught a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Aguirre a new career-high in rushing yards. Another rusher making a difference was Kaidon Hagerty, who gained 73 total yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Tehachapi was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 262 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 157 rushing yards in 16 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Golden West had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 49.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three two weeks ago. They took their contest at home with ease, bagging a 48-0 victory over the Stars. Considering the Trailblazers have won three matchups by more than 43 points this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Golden West found their leader in underclassman Jayden Najera, who threw for 356 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 17.8 yards per attempt. Those 356 passing yards set a new season-high mark for Najera. Case Anders helped Najera out on the ground, picking up 93 receiving yards and a touchdown, while also punching in a touchdown on the ground.
Tehachapi's win bumped their record up to 3-1. As for Golden West, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 3-1.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Tehachapi has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 236.8 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Golden West has preferred to attack from the air: they average 282.5 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Everything came up roses for Tehachapi against Golden West when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 41-7 win. Will Tehachapi repeat their success, or does Golden West have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
