After suffering yet another loss, the Redwood Rangers look to bounce back against the visiting Golden West Trailblazers.
By: Jacob Serrato and Luis Flores.
The temperature is dropping, the rain is coming, winter is just around the corner, and more football is heading your way.
This week, the Rangers are back home and will face off against the visiting Golden West Trailblazers at the Mineral King Bowl this Friday, October 23, at 7:30 pm.
Both teams are looking to switch the narrative heading into the final two weeks. Redwood has dropped their last two games to Tulare Western 34-28 and a blowout loss to Hanford last week, 42-20. While Golden West has had a dreadful 6 straight losses and are looking to get their first win since week 2.
Golden West is coming off of a league game loss to the Tulare Union Tribe 28-13; the loss drops the Trailblazers to 2-6 on the season and 0-4 in the EYL.
The Trailblazer offense has been primarily led by Jayden Najera, the heartbeat of the offense. Najera is Visalia’s all-time leading passer who has put up miraculous numbers throughout the past 3 years with 7,913+ passing yards, 86+ touchdown passes, and a career 113.9 passer rating.
This season, Najera has 1,410 passing yards, 11 touchdown passes, 5 interceptions, a completion percentage of .649, and a passer rating of 95.2. The offense has only been able to average 23.1 points a game with 231.5 passing yards a game and 113.0 rushing yards a game.
Being able to not just throw the ball, but also run the ball, the leader in rushing yards being Jayden Najera with 339, and the leader in rushing touchdowns with 7 behind him is EJ Avalos with 219 rushing yards.
But after an Injury against Tulare Western, Najera has been limited; backup Quarterback Albert Ramos has started the last two games, throwing a combined 442 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.
In the last four league games, the offense has only scored 47 points with a small average of 11.75 points, and has not been able to score more than 20 points.
The defense has been the Achilles’ heel of the Trailblazers; in the eight games played, the Golden West defense has given up 45.75 points a game, with the defense giving up 183 total points in the last four games, which have all been EYL games.
The year hasn’t gone as planned, to say the least. Golden West is on the trajectory of a 3-7 record; the last time this team had three wins was only three years ago in 2023.
It was only a year ago Golden West finished with a 9-3 record and the year before that a 10-2 record, along with an EYL championship.
Their opponent, the Redwood Rangers, is on a two-game losing streak. The thrilling loss to Tulare Western was their first of the season, but last week was a different story: Redwood was blown out 42-20 against Hanford; although the offense had a combined 373 yards, it was no match for Hanford’s persistent offense.
Redwood’s defense gave up the most points they have all season last week, with 42, and gave up 6 touchdowns in the process. Still only giving up 19.5 points a game the defense will need to return back to its original form with playoffs just around the corner.
The offense has stayed consistent; quarterback Nash McElree put up some of his best play the last two weeks. A total of 50/82, 571 passing yards, 5 touchdown passes, and 2 interceptions. Although it wasn’t enough to win, it’s good for Redwood to know their QB is getting hot at the right time.
The Rangers went from 6-0 and number one in the EYL to 6-2 and fell to the fourth seed in the league in just two weeks. But Redwood, as of right now, holds the No.5 seed in the Central Section Division ll playoffs, with the possibility of moving up depending on the outcome of the next two games.
EYL standings as of 10/20
- Tulare Western 3-0
- Tulare Union 2-1
- Hanford 2-2
- Redwood 2-2
- Central Valley Christian 2-2
- Golden West 0-4
The EYL is seemingly out of the hands of both teams; Tulare Western has a grip on the league with a 3-0 lead, two of those wins being against Redwood and Golden West.
Although the race for the EYL title is almost over, both teams must prepare for their respective rivalry games.
The Rangers battle Mt. Whitney in the Cowhide game and are looking to keep the hide at Redwood. Golden West faces off against El Diamante in the Battle for the Saddle to keep the Saddle at Golden West, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and let’s focus on this Friday night.
Don’t forget your sweater and that school spirit. It’s the Golden West Trailblazers and the Redwood Rangers, familiar foes battling it out once again.
Jacob Serrato
Jacob Serrato is a senior and first year sports writer for the Redwood Gigantea, he is beyond thrilled to be apart of the Gigantea and to cover Redwood sports all year long.
Luis Flores
Luis Flores is a freshman that is apart of Redwood Gigantea, he loves to write about sports topics and can't wait to write plenty of stories and cover every sport of Redwood.
Tags: gobigblue, rangers, redwood gigantea, redwood rangers, RedwoodvsGoldenWest, rhs, sports
