MCHS Grizzlies destroy Bret Harte

If anyone doubted Mariposa County High School’s football team after its opening game thrashing of Sierra, they shouldn’t be doubting them any longer.

After two games this season, the Grizzlies have outscored their opponents 91-0. The most recent shellacking came last Friday night, a 49-0 road victory over Bret Harte. After three minutes of play, Mariposa led 20-0 and finished the first quarter leading 34-0.

MCHS coach Chase Pometta was once again able to give many different players chances at playing time. Eleven different players got to touch the ball and Mariposa had five running backs carry the ball in the first half alone.

“That is exciting stuff,” said Pometta.

Senior Rusty Bull led the charge for the Grizzlies, carrying 9 times for 130 yards (average of 14.4 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns.

“He’s an unbelievable athlete,” Pometta explained. “He’s at the top of the list of what he’s capable of.”

Manuel Siller took the ball 11 times for 67 yards, while Jhovany Marquez tallied 7 carries for 55 yards. Devin Coca rushed 8 times for 44 yards.

Quarterback Austin Battles had an efficient game, going 3-of-4 for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Battles hit Ezekiel Weiland in the flat for a 47-yard touchdown on the fourth play of the game, immediately putting Bret Harte on its heels.

“He made a great read and a great throw,” said Pometta. “They over-pursued, like we anticipated.”

Pometta was referring to a tendency his coaching staff spotted during film study.

“We saw that there was a lot of movement on one side of the Bret Harte defense. They were very active on that side, but we also saw a lot of missed tackles. Sometimes you can over-pursue things. So on the first drive our plan was to attack that side of the defense. It worked out great,” he said.

From there, things only snowballed. Lyell Marcis had one rushing and one receiving touchdown, while Battles added a rushing touchdown, as did Siller.

“Sometimes things are contagious as far as momentum. You can’t quantify it, but it’s a real thing,” Pometta said.

It wasn’t just the offense that shined, obviously. The defense once again shut out its opponent, led by an interception from a transfer student from Hawaii, Jiah Esh.

“He is a great cover corner. Very athletic,” gushed Pometta.

Brady Martin and Joey McGrady each contributed a sack and the team recovered two fumbles.

Pometta credited his defensive coaches, including coordinator Rodney Bull, defensive backs coach Evan Hill, and Jeremy Briese and Steve Ward, the defensive line coaches, for a brilliant game plan.

“We came up with a plan in our coaches meeting last week. We wanted to clean up some angles, which we did,” Pometta said. “Bret Harte wants to throw the ball. We decided we were going to man them up. We rushed three (players) all game long and manned them up. We had our linebackers playing a spy technique on the quarterback and also matching up with the running back. It’s a testament to their film study and the plan they put in.”

Bret Harte dropped back to pass 20 times and were 0-10 officially, unable to connect on a single air attempt. In fact, their offense only had one first down over the entire game.

“Their quarterback was slippery and made a couple moves, but our pursuit was relentless,” Pometta said.

Pometta also praised his offensive line coach, former National Football League lineman Cody Wichmann, who is now retired and living in Mariposa.

“Our offensive line, a huge shout out to (O-line coach) Cody Wichmann. He’s got them working as a single unit,” said Pometta. “He’s a really neat guy. Very insightful. When he says something, (it means) he’s been thinking about it. We’ve talked a lot about his time in the NFL. It’s some fun stuff to talk about.”

Wichmann has helped with the progression of several of the players, including one that Pometta also had praise for, Kayden Ogden.

“He’s fun to watch,” Pometta added.

Mariposa improved to 2-0 on the young season. Up next is a clash at Amador on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s going to be another well-coached team. I am excited to take the boys up there. They have a nice facility. Bret Harte had a nice facility, too. The boys got to play on turf and they felt like they were at the next level (of college football),” Pometta said.

“Amador has had a lot of years of being a top notch program. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’ll be a long trip, but we are used to that.”