On Friday night, the Biggs Wolverines, a school of 300 students in Butte County, made the over three-hour drive to Los Banos to take on the Los Banos Tigers football teams.
A small roster and a long bus ride made for a difficult night for the Wolverines, as both the Tigers junior varsity (51-0) and the varsity (41-0) shut out Biggs on a hot night at Loftin Stadium.
The varsity Wolverines put up a defensive effort early on, forcing punts on the first two Tigers possessions. But they tired as the game progressed, and Los Banos accounted for 377 yards of offense and scored 41 points.
Speaking to The Express, head coach Dustin Caropreso said, “They were a lot tougher than our guys thought they were going to be. They really played good defense early in the game, but they wore down as the night progressed.”
On their third drive, the Tigers used a fumble recovery by Urijah Swarez at the Biggs 45-yard line to score their first TD of the game.
Bradley Villagrana (5 rushes, 81 yards, TD) ripped off a 22-yard run to start the drive. Then, Zaevin Cancino (14/24 passing, 146 yards, 3 TDs) connected with Jayden Rasberry (2 catches, 24 yards, TD) on a 23-yard scoring pass.
When Sebastian Puentes added the conversion kick, the Tigers opened a 7-0 lead. On their next possession, Los Banos marched 67 yards in 7 plays.
Cancino completed passes to Maggio Carter (4 catches, 45 yards) and Elijah Chiappetta (5 catches, 67 yards, TD) to set up an eight-yard TD catch by Justin Sherwood (2 catches, 9 yards, TD). Puentes added the conversion for a 14-0 Tiger halftime advantage.
The Tigers made it 21-0 on their first possession of the third period, marching 67 yards in 10 plays with Jon Snapp (13 carries, 79 yards, TD), behind his offensive line of Armondo Lugue, Arath Villavaso, Pierre Berry, Leonardo Molina and Emmanuel Alvarado, who provided most of the yardage.
Cancino then connected with Chiapetta on a 10-yard scoring strike, and with the conversion, it was 21-0 in favor of the locals.
Andrew Loretto intercepted a Wolverine pass at the Biggs 31-yard line to set up the fourth Tigers score. A Cancino-to-Carter pass and runs by Snapp covered the 31 yards in 6 plays, with Snapp scoring from 7 yards out. Puentes kicked the conversion, giving the Tigers a 28-0 advantage.
On the next Biggs drive, Zayden Affonso-Stiers forced a Wolverine fumble that Jeffrey Barnthouse recovered at the Biggs 30-yard line. Two Villagrana carries covered the 30 yards for the score. The conversion kick was blocked, so the Tigers’ lead was 34-0 with 11:38 left in the game.
Jacob Nunez then took the reins at quarterback, and he scored the final Tigers TD on a 28-yard scamper. With the conversion kick, the Tigers recorded their 41-0 whitewash over Biggs.
Cancino paced the Tiger offense with 177 total yards, followed by Villagrana (81 yards), Snapp (79 yards) and Nunez (32 yards).
On defense, Zayden Affonso-Stiers (7 tackles, sack) led the team, followed by Robert Valles and Loretto (4 stops each) and Jon Lonnon, Brody Martinez and Snapp (3 tackles each).
In the junior varsity contest, it was a Tigers (1-2) defensive effort, as Los Banos not only held the Wolverines scoreless, but Biggs finished the game with negative yardage.
Tyson Bridgeford and Landon Bell (just up from the freshman team) had 6 tackles each, and Luke Barrett (6 tackles, 2 sacks) led Los Banos to the shutout. Manuel Buenrostro added both an interception and a fumble recovery, and Reese Moreno and Eduardo Martinez each recorded a QB sack.
On offense, the Tigers received the opening kickoff, and Jace Rasberry returned the kick 75 yards for an opening TD. Los Banos never looked back. The Tigers accounted for 284 yards of total offense, and they scored TDs on all 6 possessions.
The Tigers scored their second TD on an Adrian De La Cruz (3 rushes, 42 yards, 2 TDs, 2/3 passing, 31 yards, 2 TDs) 4-yard score.
Then, Rasberry (2 rushes, 39 yards, 2 TDs) scored on a 10-yard score, giving the Tigers a 28-0 advantage. Daniel Morales hauled in a 15-yard scoring pass from De La Cruz to increase the Tigers’ lead to 37-0.
A Barrett sack on fourth down gave Los Banos great field position at the Biggs 22-yard line. Two plays later, Daniel Contreras powered into the end zone for a 44-0 lead.
Los Banos scored their final TD when Jorge Oliveras carried the ball on 7 consecutive plays, scoring on a one-yard plunge to complete the shutout, 51-0, in favor of the Tigers.
This Friday the Tigers host San Joaquin Memorial with JV at 5 p.m. and varsity at 7 p.m.
