The West Ranch Wildcats football team will have to wait another week to try to give first-year head coach TJ Yonkers his first win in charge of the program.
Hosting the Bishop Diego Cardinals at Valencia High School on Friday in their home opener, the Wildcats were hurt by turnovers and big plays as the Cardinals rode senior quarterback Tua Puailoa Rojas’ four total touchdowns en route to a 42-6 victory.
Yonkers said his young team got tired as the game dragged on. The Cardinals (2-0) scored 28 of their 42 points in the third quarter before a running clock in the fourth quarter shortened the end of the game.
“I hate to make excuses, but we’re young, we’re low on numbers,” Yonkers said. “They had a good game plan. They executed it well. You know, caps off to them. But I think inexperience really is our biggest issue right now. And it only comes with time.”
Rojas threw for three scores and ran one in himself. He broke the deadlock near the end of the first quarter with a 30-yard run on third and long. After the second interception of the half for Bishop Diego, a 60-yard bomb to senior receiver John Michael Flint made it 14-0 with just over two minutes to play. Rojas hit Flint again in the third quarter, this time from 7 yards out.
Sophomore Samuel Boedekker ran in a 3-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the second half for Bishop Diego. Senior Ian Bartley ran back an interception for a touchdown to seal the scoring for the Cardinals.
Rojas threw for 215 yards on just 15 pass attempts, completing nine of them. The Wildcats recorded just 174 total yards, and only 66 in the first half.
The big play of the game for West Ranch (0-2) came in the high-scoring third quarter when junior Mesziah Ramos rattled off a 60-yard touchdown run, accounting for nearly all of his 66 rushing yards on the night. Yonkers highlighted him and senior defensive linemen Max Greenberg as the Wildcats’ two stars on Friday.
“We’re young, so there’s few and far between, but we got some bright spots,” Yonkers said.
West Ranch was unable to capitalize on a couple of drives in the first half that broached the Bishop Diego end zone. Both drives ended in interceptions. Yonkers said he also would have liked to have seen his team take advantage of the 11 penalties the Cardinals were charged with, going for 126 yards.
“It’s a game that I think we had opportunities in early,” Yonkers said. “You know, the first quarter, it was a bit back and forth, pretty low-scoring. Like I said, we are a young team. It’s going to be tough to keep morale high when things go bad, that’s where we need some of our leadership from our older guys. As we know, when it rains, it pours, and unfortunately, that’s as true in football as it is in life. So, we’re just trying to keep our guys confident, keep them working positive.”
Wildcats senior Johsua Mussard recorded 45 yards on four carries in the fourth quarter. Sophomore quarterback Humza Harsiola threw for 52 yards, completing 10 of his 27 passes. Sophomore Dylan Williams had five of those catches for 22 yards. Junior Braylen Hensley recorded a pick in the second quarter for the Wildcats’ lone takeaway of the game.
It was Yonkers’ first game in charge of the Wildcats in front of the home fans. He said he’d prefer to call West Ranch High School his home field, but enjoyed leading the team at home for the first time.
“It’s still just the same for us as far as we’re concerned,” Yonkers said. “You know, it’s the first home game, we got a lot of young guys, there’s a bit of nerves, we got over it pretty early, but at that point, you know, I think the game got away from us. So, by the time we settled in, it was a little bit too late.”
West Ranch has just two games left before the Foothill League campaign gets started. Next up is a road game at Antelope Valley before the final non-league game at home against Thousand Oaks.
For Yonkers, all he wants is for his players to learn from their mistakes and approach each week as a new opportunity.
“We’re really working on fixing our stuff,” Yonkers said. “We’ve got an opportunity over the next two weeks to play some teams that we can compete with. You know, Antelope Valley’s gonna be a tough team. We’re focused on them right now. We’re on the road there, so, you know, there’s always that away game kind of atmosphere. But you know, we’re really just trying to keep our kids to stay the course, stay positive, you know, gain confidence as we go. They’re a young group, but they’ll get better as we go.”
