Joshua Springs Wins Third Straight
CIF Championship!!!
By Jeff Sherman
The Joshua Springs Lightning made their fifth consecutive trip to the CIF Championship Friday night traveling to New Cuyama, CA to take on the Cuyama Bears. The Lightning came into the game having won the Champion- ship the last two years, and hoping to get their third in a row. The road trip to New Cuyama Valley took about five hours which added to the stressed of the day. It was a very cold night, with tempatures in the low 30's.
The game started out with a shocker for the Lightning when the Bears returned the opening kick-off for Six points. The 72yd KICKOFF RETURN for a TD was the first ever for the Bears in the playoffs. The Bears were no good on their 2-point Conversion.The Lightning received the ball,and were 3-and-out, it was not looking good for the Lightning, it had been awhile since the last time they were loosing a game,and went 3-and-out to start out the game.
The Bears received the ball,and the Lightning Defense had shut them down this time ,forcing the Bears to punt. The Lightning started the next series of downs never looked back from there. The Lightning scored on an rik McClay 31yd TD PASS from Joe Leichtner. The game was tied 6-6. The Lightning contuined to shut down the Bears offense. At the 1 minutes mark of the 1st quarter, the Lightning scored again on a Leichtner 7yd TD RUN (McClay CONVERSION PASS from Leichtner). The score was now, 14-6, Lightning.
In the 2nd quarter, the Lightning knew they had to score more points, they were starting to feel the momentum and were getting excited like when a shark smells blood in the water. This is when the Lightning start to dominate, just how they have with their last 10 opponets. Brett Hollins scored on a 70yd TD PASS from Leichtner (Lindblom CONVERSION RUN). The Lightning kept the scoring pressure on the Bears, but then suddenly, Ahumada scored on a 10yd TD RUN and the Bears were right back into the game with the score of 22-12. The Lightning were not frightened by their score, the Lightning fired back with another touchdown of their own when Greg Lindblom scored on a 2yd TD RUN (Lindblom CONVERSION RUN). The score was now Lightning 30-12.
The Joshua Springs Lightning could taste thier Third Championship in a row, but they knew what they needed to do and finish the game. Hollins scored again with about a minute left in the third quarter on a 19yd TD PASS from Leichtner (Hollins CONVERSION RUN). It was going just how the Lightning wanted the game to go. With One final quarter to go, the Championship was in their hands if they just worked the clock. The Lightning not only controlled the game but went on to win 56-12 claiming their back to back to back CIF Championship.
In the game, junior quarterback Joe Leichtner threw for 4 touchdowns for 225 yards,with only 1 INT.And also rushed for 66 yards on 10 carries. Senior Greg Lindblom rushed for 80 yards on 13 attempts. Junior fullback Jake Husband had 46 rushing yards on 10 carries. Duran Ramirez once again lead the team in tackling with 15 tackels, and 2 fumble recoverys. Brett Hollins finshed with 14 tackles and 1 sack. Junior Nose Tackle Jeff Sherman finshed with 13 tackles, 1 sack,and a fumble recovery. Greg Lindblom and Erick Mcclay both finshed with 12 tackles, Erick also had 1 interception. Kaleb Wezdenko finished with 2.5 sacks and 5 tackles. Bobby Barjas had 3 tackles. Ryan Green finished the day with 3 tackles and 9 yards rushing.
At the end of the night, The Joshua Springs Lightning were Champions once again, for the third year in a row, they were able to travel back to Yucca Valley as Champions.The Joshua Springs Lightning won the game 56-12.
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