Bears Trounce Waterford

Written by: Mike Woicick

The Waterford Wildcats, ranked 4th in the Sac Joaquin Section, division VII, rolled into Tuolumne with all the hopes in the world to beat the number one Bears, but the Bears were ready to defend their ranking. The Bears stopped the Wildcats on their first drive, and five running plays later scored their first touchdown with Colton Cash crashing into the endzone from 4 yards out. The Bears basically controlled the game from that point on and finished the night with a convincing 46-to-12 win.

The Bears had 190 rushing yards in the first half, scoring 3 touchdowns. Bryce Leveroos scored twice, going in from 18 and later from 13 yards after Cash’s 4-yarder.  The fourth TD came on a 36-yard pass from Leveroos to Kyle Hamilton. Bryson Benites kicked three extra points and a 36-yard field goal in the half, while Luke Larson made a 2-point conversion after scooping up a poor extra-point snap and running it in. The Wildcats were able to cross the end line once, and the halftime score was 32 to 6.

The second half was not as eventful as the first, however, the Bears added 14 points with Leveroos throwing a 14-yard TD pass to Owen Herrera and Javen Rodgers running in a 2-yarder. Like last week, the fourth quarter was played with a running clock and there isn’t much time for scoring.

The Player of the Game was Bryson Benites, who was 5 for 5 kicking extra points and hit the 36-yard field goal with one second left in the first half. Benites has not missed an extra point in the first three games and is 3 for 3 on field goal attempts.

The Hot Hit of the game was made by Owen Herrera when he knocked a Wildcat kick returner flat on the 15-yard line.

The Bears have a bye next week and will return to action on Friday, the 20th of September, when they travel to Angels Camp to match up with the Bret Harte Bullfrogs.

In other gridiron action, Calaveras lost to the Ripon Christian Knights 27 to 6 and the Bret Harte Bullfrogs were defeated by the Franklin Yellow Jackets 21-14