Roth leads Hawks into football playoffs
tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune Liberty’s Wyatt Roth sheds a Chowchilla tackler during a record-breaking performance in Friday’s victory to help give the Hawks the North Sequoia League championship.
Madera Coyotes earn No. 5 seed and will host Fresno Warriors Liberty Hawks running back Wyatt Roth rushed a season-high 30 times Friday night to help his team upend the Chowchilla Redskins and claim the North Sequoia League title.
With the NSL championship, the Hawks were given the No. 4 seed in the Div. V football playoffs and host No. 13 Lindsay on Friday night.
Roth continued his record-setting season with 263 yards rushing, third most in school history and four more touchdowns Friday night. He was six yards short of his brother’s mark last year and three yards short of his mark set in Week 5. Suffice to say, he’s the only Liberty running back with two 250-yard or more rushing yards in a game in school history.
Roth is re-writing the Liberty record book. Long known as a rushing school, Roth is the first Liberty running back to rush for more than 1,800 yards in a season (1,879), breaking Brandon Graham’s mark in 2006.
“Our linemen work them down the most,” Roth said Friday night. “This is probably the best line I have had. All of my success comes from them. Our linemen wore them down and I just reap the benefits of their hard work.”
Roth also broke the school record for rushing yards in a career (3,771), breaking Josh Garza’s 3,666 yards set in 2009. Roth is also tied with Graham with 32 touchdowns this season. He also has 54 rushing touchdowns in a career to overtake Graham’s 49.
Roth is also the first Liberty player to score more than 200 points in a season (204) with 34 total touchdowns, also breaking Graham’s mark in 2006.
In the Div. III football bracket, the Coyotes, despite going 0-5 in the County/Metro Athletic Conference, were rewarded for a strong pre-league schedule and was given the No. 5 seed.
Game-breaking quarterback Colt Nelson and receiver J.J. Nelson will lead the Coyotes into a first-round match-up with the 12th seeded Fresno Warriors on Friday in Memorial Stadium. Water Polo
The Country/Metro Athletic Conference co-champion Madera Coyotes girls water polo team earned the No. 2 seed in the Div. II playoffs on Saturday.
The Coyotes earned a home playoff date with No. 15 Sunnyside on Wednesday at 6 p.m. with the winner to play in the quarterfinals Saturday.
