Pitman High continued its winning ways Friday night with an old fashioned, defensive beat down of Buhach Colony High in the Pride’s Central California Conference home opener at Joe Debely Stadium.
Pitman held the Thunder to 150 total yards—75 in the first half and 75 in the second half—and allowed only one touchdown in the 34-13 win. Conversely, the Pride racked up a total of 385 yards as their offense pounded the rock on the ground.
“I’m real proud of the guys. We’re so young I didn’t know if we were ready to play this kind of game,” Pitman head coach Tom Tyler said.
After struggling on their first two possessions, the Pride offense set the tone for the rest of the game with a 65 yard touchdown run by junior running back Ryan Yniquez to give Pitman a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Blake Mcbay extended Pitman’s lead on its next possession when he rumbled his way into the end zone from four yards out before Yniquez hit another home run play with a 60-yard dash for his second touchdown of the night.
“As soon as I saw the hole I knew I just had to hit the corner, because on the first run the cornerback was completely turned around. He didn’t even see me; he wasn’t even looking at me, so I just hit the corner full speed and got the easy touchdown,” Yniquez said.
Yniquez finished the night with 140 yards from scrimmage—136 of which came in the first half.
“He’s done a good job all year. We’re real pleased with him because he can block, too,” Tyler said of his junior running back. “Yniquez can play.”
Pitman’s defense sprang a leak on the Thunder’s first possession of the second half as Justin Stefani capped a nine-play drive for Buhach with a barreling touchdown run from 10 yards out, but the crack was quickly sealed as Buhach’s next two possession ended with a four and out and an interception by Pitman’s Aj Chaney.
The Pride offense also continued to assert its dominance over the Thunder as they scored their final two touchdowns via a 53-yard touchdown pass from Matt Carrigg to Micah Millentree and a one-yard touchdown plunge from Mcbay.
“We lost to them the last four years, we haven’t been able to beat them, so this is a huge win for us,” Yniquez said. “We’ve been working hard in practice and we know that it doesn’t matter how young we are, we deserve it.”
Pitman is now 5-0 as it prepares to face the defending CCC champions, Merced High, on the road next Friday.
“I think our defense is going to have to come through. Our defense was great tonight, if they’re great next week against Merced I think we can take the win,” Yniquez.
