IN SPORTS: TIGERS SHUT OUT BY RAMS
For the second week in a row, the Tokay football team’s offense came up empty.
St. Mary’s produced the big offensive plays in Friday’s Tri-City Athletic League game at the Grape Bowl, which led to the Rams’ 49-0 win over the Tigers on Senior Night. Lincoln posted a 50-0 win over the Tigers in Stockton last week.
The game was also the last time that Tokay (0-4 in the TCAL, 0-9) will be calling the Grape Bowl its home turf. After next week’s TCAL and cross-town finale against Lodi, the Tigers, who will be the visitors in next week’s game, will be playing on the school’s on-campus stadium that is near completion starting in 2019.
After St. Mary’s Asar-alim Moore returned an interception 48 yards for a 7-0 lead with 7:15 in the first quarter, Tokay started to make some noise on its second offensive possession. Faced with a fourth down and one at their own 19-yard line, quarterback Jacob Varney (6-of-13 for 102 yards) completed a 43yard pass to wide receiver Xavier Santoyo to the Rams’ 36.
“I’ve told the guys that might have been the best we’ve played,” said Tokay coach Michael Holst of his post-game talk with his players, continuing, “you just happen to play the best team on the schedule.”
But on the next three plays, the Tigers were held to zero yards; three yards on two running plays but loss of three on third and seven.
“We threw the ball pretty well,” Holst said. “Protection was hold and cold sometimes. He (Varney) made some good things happen. It’s the best we’ve thrown.”
St. Mary’s (4-0 in the TCAL, 5-4) wasted little time in upping its lead to 14-0 with 1:18 in the opening quarter. Running back William Brown took the hand-off from quarterback Noah May and exploded 75 yards down
The Lodi High football team was looking to start a winning streak on Friday.
But Tracy’s squad cooled off the Flames in a Tri-City Athletic League game on the west side of San Joaquin County. The host Bulldogs were able to build on a slim 7-6 lead for a 41-12 win over Lodi (1-3 in the TCAL, 2-7). The Flames beat Tracy’s crosstown
the Tigers’ sidelines into the end zone.
Varney completed passes to Chase Howell and Johnny Craggs on the Tigers’ next offense drive that moved the ball to their own 48. But St. Mary’s defensive end Damerien Claridy jumped on a Tokay fumble to set up the Rams’ next score at 21-0.
“Defensively, we just gave up too many big plays,” Holst said. “They’ve got guys who can do that.”
Four plays into on a drive that started on Tokay’s 46, May hit wide receiver Elijah Wood on a 31-yard play action pass. Ricky Quezada’s extra-point kick after the touchdown was good, as were all of his boots throughout the game.
Varney connected with Howell again on a 5-yard pass that looked like the Tigers could find some type of offensive momentum after it was 21-0, as the football sat on their own 36. But loss of yards on back-to-back plays led to another Tokay turnover on loss of downs.
That set up St. Mary’s final touchdown of the first half. Brown scored on a 2yard off-tackle play with 5:39 left in the second quarter.
Howell, who has started at defensive back for the Tigers since the start of league play, had an interception toward the end of the second quarter for the Tigers, spotting the ball at their 35. He continued his running ways on carrying the ball on first and second downs for seven yards. But an incomplete pass led to the Tigers punting the ball again. Howell had a combined three carries for 54 on kickoff returns.
“Chase played his best game of the year,” said Holst of Howell, who’s been playing receiver after starting the season at quarterback. “He played well defensively, too.”
Woods wasted no time in forcing game officials to call for a running clock to start the third quarter of the game. He returned the Rams’ opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown at 11:47 to make it 35-0.
Tokay started an offensive drive at its own 26 and moved to the Rams’ 43. But the Rams’ defense, as it did in the first half, made the Tigers’ life difficult as Tokay was forced to punt — again.
At the end of the quarter, St. Mary’s made it 42-0 when Tyrei Washington, only a sophomore, scored on a 37-yard run. He also crossed the plane in the fourth quarter for the Rams’ final touchdown, a 5-yard run to make it 49-0.
In the junior varsity game, St. Mary’s was also too much for Tokay, posting a 50-16 victory.