By: Tyler Stark
Photos by: Abigail Miller and Aiden Hatch
Ranger fans, we are just hours away from the biggest football game of the season! And the anticipation has been growing all week leading up to this exciting game. Not just Redwood High School, but the entire city of Visalia sits back and waits for Friday night’s 66th cowhide game.
The Rangers are coming into Friday night with a record of 4-4, and an impressive three-game winning streak, that featured the Rangers beating the likes of El Diamante, Golden West, and of course the team’s biggest win of the year against the formally undefeated Hanford Bullpups.
When looking at Mount Whitney’s record this year they have not been too impressive. They’re coming into this game with a record of 1-6, meaning compared to Redwood, Whitney’s team is the underdog coming into Friday night’s game.
The Ranger’s head coach Kevin Scharton knows how heavily favored his team is, but he is making sure his boys do not get overconfident coming into Friday night. Scharton says, “We definitely do not want to be overconfident going into the Cowhide game against Mt. Whitney. Confidence is good, but we just need to focus on our game plan and execute plays.”
Scharton goes on to say that he wants to see his boys play as a team and have fun on the field when Friday night comes around.
For defensive back Ambrose Bueno ‘23, playing on Friday night will be a dream come true. Bueno says, “I’ve been coming to the Cowhide games since I was a kid. One of my biggest goals, since I was little, was to one day play in the Cowhide game.”
Bueno goes on to say he is ecstatic to live out his dream on Friday night.
The best mindset for The Rangers to have, coming into a big rivalry game, is to be focused and to not feel the pressure. Defensive back Christopher Shin ‘22 described his team as being just that coming into Friday night.
Shin says, “We don’t feel any pressure, we feel like we’re going to go out there and win.”
These boys are extremely confident coming into this game. It’s going to be interesting to see how that confidence affects this team on Friday night.
The most unfortunate aspect of this season for the Rangers has certainly been the lack of games superstar linebacker Marcus Correia ‘22 has played. Correia has been fighting through injuries all year long and has only played in 3 games this year.
Fortunately for the Rangers, Correia will be returning for Friday night. Correia says that at first, his injury was incredibly tough to deal with, but it got better over time.
Correia says, “It was tough, especially in the beginning, trying to battle the pain and try to play with it. I took it day by day and was able to come back sooner than I thought I originally would.” Correia continues saying that he’s ready and excited to play in Friday night’s game.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how Correia plays this Friday night. If he looks even half as good as he did before getting injured it’s going to be a treat to watch him play.
Cowhide week brings far more attention than any other game. Wide receiver Ashton Ibarra ‘22 understands this, but he is not at all concerned for his team.
Ibarra says, “Cowhide week does bring a lot more attention fan-wise and treatment wise but I don’t think it will have an effect on us guys. It’s just another normal home game with more students and parents attending.”
Tyler Stark
Tyler Stark ('24) is in his freshmen year, and this is his first year writing for the Redwood Gigantea. Tyler hopes to work for Sports Illustrated in the future. you can contact him by email with: tyler.st3800@vusd.us
Tags: cowhide, cowhide rally, cowhide week, cowhide2021, Mt Whitney, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, redwood sports, rhs, tyler stark, visalia ca
