Pitman High's varsity football team reached a milestone and achieved something no other Pride team has ever accomplished in a single season when they hosted Buhach Colony on Friday night in a wet and soggy night at Joe Debely Stadium.
The Pride are off to the best start in school history after picking up the program’s 100th all-time victory in a dominating 47-7 win over the BC Thunder.
“This is just the beginning, we are not making history, we are history in the making, this is far from the end, we are gonna keep it going,” said Pride defensive lineman Julian Barrera of the team’s first 7-0 start in the program’s 13-year history.
Pitman head coach Tom Tyler also reached a landmark after he captured his 50th home win as a head coach for both the Pride and Turlock Bulldogs.
In Friday's historic contest the Pride defense manhandled the Thunder from start to finish, especially in the trenches.
“We are hungrier for wins now,” said Pitman left tackle Chris Martinez. “We finished the whole game and played hard all game long; we weren’t slowing down but rather playing hard every drive. We weren’t really thinking about the record, we were just focused on the win.”
Focus was the name of the game.
In the first half, the Pride outscored the Thunder 26-7 while outgaining them in offensive yards, 267-132. Pitman’s Devan Bass had 118 yards on 11 carries for two rushing touchdowns in the first half alone.
He finished with three rushing touchdowns on 127 rushing yards and caught three passes for 70 yards.
“This streak has pushed us a lot more and we were not worried about numbers,” said Martinez. “We just wanted to play football; it was a good football team. They had all the potential to beat us.”
The Pride held the Thunder to negative two yards in their first four drives of the second half, which amounted to 19 minutes out of 24. BC only had five drives for the second half as Pitman commanded the field.
“We were not nervous, but a little uneasy since we know Buhach is a good football team and we had to put out our best effort,” said Pitman’s Brandon Pacheco. “Everybody did their job. Best effort from everybody tonight, a good all-around win.”
Matt Parker, Bass and Willie Burke each scored for the Pride in the second half. The Pride also forced a fumble and Austin Bird picked off BC quarterback Clay Abrams to solidify the team's mark in the school's history books.
“It might be something to look back on later but for now we gotta keep rolling since we have some tough games coming up, so we have to keep going,” Pacheco added. “We are focused on one game at a time and keep it going.”
“You know what I am always nervous,” Tyler added. “But I tell you I thought we played physical and I thought we played smart, I thought we did some good athletic things and I am proud of how we played. Buhach is a pretty good football team and I thought we played them well.”
Next for Pitman will be a road contest against El Capitan at 7 p.m. Friday.
