by Mike Finnerty (mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com)
The Bradshaw Christian Pride football team has buried many opponents this season, including a 63-0 Zero Week thrashing of West Campus.
But a 62-6 win over the Foresthill Wildfires at the Grape Bowl in Lodi gave Bradshaw Christian the Sac Joaquin Section Division VI championship and an exclamation on an impressive 11-1 season for the Pride.
“It’s a great group of kids,” said Bradshaw Christian head coach Drew Rickert. “They work hard. It’s great to have support. We’re just fortunate to have kids who want to go out and work hard. I’m happy with the kids.”
Highlighting the afternoon was Bradshaw Christian’s dominating rushing performance that included over 600 yards a group.
Said Rickert, “We have Upshire, Louis Correia, and Taylor Blackford. We always say ‘you can get one of us, but not all of us’ we have very unselfish kids. We don’t have kids who feel it’s about them they feel it’s about the team.”
Bradshaw Christian stormed out to a 21-0 first quarter lead on a 4-yard touchdown run by Lou Correia that was followed by a pair of L.J. Upshire touchdowns from 8 and 43 yards out, and after that, the rout was on.
The score climbed to 42-6 by halftime when the Pride continued to find success on the ground. Upshire scored on a 13-yard run, Taylor Blackford raced 54 yards for another score, and quarterback Kevin Williams joined in on the fun with a 28-yard touchdown to cap off a nearly perfect first half for the Pride.
Bradshaw Christian had four players go over 100 yards rushing on the day, led by Taylor Blackford’s 183 yards and two scores. While Blackford had a big day, he gave credit to the defense.
“It feels really good,” said Blackford. “We worked really hard. Everybody thought we could do it this year. We knew they ran the pistol offense, we knew how to shut it down. Our coaches worked us real hard this week. We just shut them down on defense.”
As for the play of the Pride defense, Foresthill was overwhelmed from the moment the game started. Big performances by Ian Fowler, Zach Rangel, Josh Katt, Kyle Betts, Davis Ellis, Jake Burg, Erik Dulock, Luke Goveas, and Christian Gregory all contributed to the Wildfires managing just six points.
Upshire was certainly no stranger to the end zone with four touchdowns and 171 yards, while Louis Correia (106 yards, 1 TD) and Kevin Williams (100 yards, 1 TD) rounded out the foursome of Pride rushers to reach 100 yards or more for the game.
“That’s all we do, we ground and pound,” said Upshire. “We have a great offensive line. They helped us push it through. We showed them we were tougher, bigger, and stronger, and we just pushed it on them all game.”
For Bradshaw Christian and head coach Drew Rickert it was the third section title in football with wins coming in 2008 (Division VII) and 2009 (Division VI).
The Pride sent four players off to college from last year’s team, so Rickert felt like this year’s group had something to prove.
“Everyone said we would be down, but these kids said ‘no, we’re going to work and prove to everyone its about team’. I’m proud of the kids and it says a lot about who the kids are and how hard they want to work,” said Rickert.
NOTE:
Highlights and post-game interviews will air on SureWest Sports Show #142 that will air Tuesday, November 29 at www.surewestsports.com.