By TPHS Head Coach Ernest Martinez
The Twentynine Palms varsity Wildcat football team secured a CIF home playoff game after defeating Yucca Valley High School for the 14th consecutive time Friday, October 26, in the 51st annual Kiwanis Battle of the Bell game, 53-30.
Senior quarterback Isaiah Castaneda had an outstanding game Friday against Yucca Valley scoring six touchdowns, including five rushing, and one passing touchdown. Castaneda rushed for over 237 yards and completed seven of 10 passes in an outstanding game.
Jonathan Carson, Mac Miller, and Alex Burns combined for 209 yards rushing as well. Miller led the way with 110 yards and two touchdowns on the game.
The offensive line, led by Adam Mapuatuli, George Zama, Nathaniel Brown, Larry Martinez, Glenn Reaves, and Jason Esquite, had outstanding games as the ’Cats managed nearly 500 yards of total offense.
Defensive leaders were Jonathan Carson, Brett Hope, Seth Williford, Glenn Reaves, Isaiah Castaneda, and Chris Rantzow. Carson led the team in total tackles with 13, including three tackles for a loss, and a quarterback sack. Hope was second with 10 total tackles, followed by Castaneda with eight and Rantzow with seven. Reaves and Williford combined for seven total tackles, three tackles for a loss, and a quarterback sack.
The Wildcats fell behind early in the contest against Yucca Valley, but responded with 13 unanswered points to take a 13-6 lead early in the second quarter. The ’Cats scored two more touchdowns on a 42-yard run by Castaneda and a one-yard run to take a 27-18-halftime lead. The Cats increased their lead to 40- 24 after three quarters before finally taking a three-score lead in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats had 490 yards of total offense compared to 295 for the Trojans. The team tied the record of 53 for the most points scored in the Bell game during the series, and currently leads the all-time record in victories by a total of 33 wins to 18.
The 2018 Wildcats season started off slowly, but the ’Cats were able to battle back from a 0-2-league start to finish in second place, and earn another home CIF playoff contest.
