Madera South suffers a blowout to Bullard
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera South’s Isaiah Tyler rolls out to try to find an open receiver during Friday’s loss to the Bullard Knights.
In a loss against the Bullard-Fresn Knights, the Madera South Stallions football team enjoyed its only successful stretch of the game in the fourth quarter.
With the Stallions down 55-0, Jesse Ford caught a 45-yard pass to give his team something to cheer about. Quarterback Isaiah Tyler then carried for a 10-yard touchdown run to score the Stallions’ only points of the game.
The rest of the night belonged to the Knights, who walked away with a 62-6 road win on Friday.
“Welcome to the CMAC,” Madera South head coach Matt Johnson said. “There’s a reason why both schools in Madera — being in the CMAC— we’ve only won one time against another opponent other than ourselves. It’s a good conference. We don’t matchup well.”
The Knights scored their first touchdown when Jayden Davis caught a 23-yard pass from Jaden Pierucci with 7:50 left in the first quarter. After a Madera South punt, Bullard’s Kobe Jenkins took it in from seven yards out for the Knight’s second touchdown.
“We knew what we’re getting ready to play going in,” Johnson said. “(Bullard is) a true Div. 1 team. A team that has won Valley Championships.”
The Stallions found a rare highlight in the first half when Anthony Vaca sacked Pierucci to force a Bullard punt. Still, the Stallions failed to do anything with the ball.
Bullard pushed the lead to 20-0 when Deandre Greeley caught a 47-yard touchdown pass. With five minutes left in the first half, a two-yard pass from Pierucci to Greeley made it 27-0. Kalon Wiley made the biggest play of the game when he caught a 62-yard pass to make it 34-0.
Bullard’s Jalen O’Neal forced a fumble at the three-yard line later in the second quarter and set up a short touchdown run by Shalom Welch.
The Stallions avoided a safety on their next possession, but still punted from the endzone and gave the Knights possession near midfield. Bullard made it 48-0 at halftime when Jaden Streets ripped off a 28-yard run.
With a five-yard run by Mitchell Contreras in the third quarter, the Knights pushed the lead to 55-0.
After Tyler’s touchdown run, the Knights capped the win with an 80-yard kickoff return by Jalyn Utendaal.
Johnson said the Stallions held out some key players against Bullard to prepare for the Stadium Road Showdown, the annual rivalry game against Madera, which will be played this Friday.
“We held out about six starters to get them freshened up for the Madera game,” Johnson said. “The big game that matters in our eyes is the Battle for the Saw. The Stadium Road Showdown with Madera probably played a big part in how anemic we were overall.”
