By Head Coach Ernest Martinez
The Twentynine Palms High School Wildcat football team traveled to Desert Hot Springs and won its first league contest of the season with a 37-6 victory over the Golden Eagles.
Cason Estrada tossed a touchdown pass to Jacob Hueso to start the scoring for the Wildcats in the first quarter. The ’Cats led 16-6 at halftime, but dominated the second half, 21-0. The Wildcats gained 200 yards of total offense in the final two quarters of the game.
Junior Chris Pacheco accounted for over 115 yards, scoring three rushing touchdowns on the game. Pacheco had several long runs called back because of penalties, but led the team in total offense.
Junior Jordan Tua had six carries for 43 yards, and played well on offense and defense. The offensive line, led by George Zama, Micah Pollnow, Joel Horn, John Cook, Gabe Rangel, and Nate Brown, had an outstanding game as the ’Cats had over 300 yards of offense. Junior running back John Picena scored the final touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run.
Defensively, Tua dominated for the Wildcats in his first game of the season. He had 14 tackles, including nine solos and five assists, with seven tackles for a loss. Tua and the entire defensive line of Nate Brown, George Zama, Erik Stone, Richard Sandoval, and Gabe Rangel held the Eagles to only three yards rushing in the second half, and only 79 yards total for the game. The Wildcats’ linebackers, led by Matai Patu, Jeremiah Kirk, and Dustin Menard, played outstanding forcing five sacks, two fumbles, an interception, and a safety.
Kirk had 16 total tackles with nine assists and seven solos.
Junior corner back Josh Herne had an interception in the second quarter to stop a Golden Eagles drive.
The Wildcats will host Indio on Thursday night, with the frosh-soph game at 4 p.m. and the varsity game at 7 p.m.
